To get the most out of your school trip and create lasting memories, you’ll need to Tweet, blog, share, snap, and shoot a much as you can. We’ve found the ten best apps to take with you on your travels.
WordPress has its own application, giving its users the opportunity to upload killer content from wherever they are in the world. School trips are fantastic for giving keen bloggers fresh material to engage their audiences with, so if you’re an online storyteller or budding journalist, then this is the app for you. You can update your blog with regular news from your school trip, and upload pictures and videos, to let your family and friends back at home enjoy the journey with you.
When travelling, you always think you’ll remember the sights and sounds of where you’ve been – but when you come to write it down, everything disappears like a sieve. Evernote is a free note-taking application that lets you scribble down and save musings wherever you are. If you don’t have time to write up your blog posts whilst you’re wandering around the Vatican or taking in modern masterpieces at MoMA, this is the perfect place to store your thoughts ready to write up later.
A picture tells a thousand words, and that’s why Instagram is such a great app to take away with you. You can use it to either capture snaps of your classmates, or take some professional-looking pictures of iconic scenery and upload them straight to the web.
One of the best things about this app is the photo editing functionality, which can transform the look and feel of your picture using cool effects. If you’re a fan of tinkering, there are some amazing apps that you can use in conjunction with Instagram, such as Colour Splash and Pixlr-o-matic. Of course, when you’re taking pictures of mind-blowing monuments, you might not need to add fancy effects. On Instagram, you can opt for the classic #nofilter look too.
If you’ve ever tried to write about a trip, you’ll know how difficult it is to try and capture the atmosphere of millions of New Yorkers bustling through Times Square with words, or remember how the local Parisians speak on a French language trip. Audioboo is a simple application that lets you record ‘soundbites’ and publish them directly to the web, Facebook or Twitter. The clips you gather could be a fantastic way to jazz up blog posts and give the people back at home a real flavour of your adventure.
If you see yourself as rather a budding film-maker, then there are some great video-editing applications that will help you to create your blockbuster without paying too much. The iMovie app is the one for those who want to get really creative and play around with their footage. However, Magisto is a completely free app that allows its users to create professional looking short films with just a few clicks of a button. Just upload your video, select a ‘style’ and a soundtrack and write a title – and you’re done! Perfect for filming all the street artists on the likes of the Ramblas in Barcelona!
If you see yourself as rather a budding film-maker, then there are some great video-editing applications that will help you to create your blockbuster without paying too much. The iMovie app is the one for those who want to get really creative and play around with their footage. However, Magisto is a completely free app that allows its users to create professional looking short films with just a few clicks of a button. Just upload your video, select a ‘style’ and a soundtrack and write a title – and you’re done! Perfect for filming all the street artists on the likes of the Ramblas in Barcelona!
For those that just want to cut short, fun clips that will look cool on a blog or entertain friends back home, Tik Tok could be the platform for you. Tik Tok is a mobile service that lets you cut together short videos that play on a loop. There are also a variety of editing options, filters and music to feature in your content - so why not give it a try!
If you’re worried about overspending on your school trip, the XE Currency app is the ultimate financial companion. This app will let you know in real-time how much money your breakfast bagel costs in New York, or how much gingerbread you can buy for your Polish zloty.
This one’s handy if your language skills are a bit rusty – so no cheating French language students! The Google Translate app can translate words and phrases between 64 languages, and even gives audio translations to make it easier to communicate abroad.
Going away from family and friends can be a bit daunting, so it’s important that you work out how you’re going to stay in touch. With Skype, you can sync up to the WiFi in your hotel or café of your choice and call home really cheaply. And if both you and your family members sign up for Skype before you head off, then you will be able to talk to each other for free as long as you have an internet connection. This applies to both video and voice calls, so you won’t even get a chance to miss their faces before you’re back home again!
Last but by no means least, Field Trip is a new app that has been developed to send fascinating and sometimes secret information about your locality straight to your phone. This can be anything from local history and hidden gems to the most unique places to shop, eat and drink - it’s like your own personal tour guide.
If you’re interested in taking your students on an educational trip, contact us today to request a quote.