July 4, 2025 • 11 mins
Mike Yardley travels a lot. He's the resident traveller on Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, always trying something or some place new.
As a result, he's tried out many of the apps available for travellers, and has a few he would call his favourites.
Read his full article here.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from news Talks at be.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Mike Gardley's our travel corresponding Good morning.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I am gripped by the green Eyed Monster, Jeck Tame.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's so rich coming from you. I just feel like
you that we can never hear those words out of
Mike Gardley's voice. We I mean, he's You've spent the
last month telling us about your excursions in the Galapagus Islands.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
This morning. I woke up this morning and I seem
very jealous that all those people have been to an
Oasis concert overnight. I am so endious that. And then
I hear you in Costa Rica.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Ah, I know, it's amazing. I'm very very lucky. I'm
only here for I think we're here for like six
days or a week or so, so we're not seeing
all of the country. And I'm this is the first
sort of dipping the toe into adventure with children, which
is a new stage of life for me, and so
I'm just kind of just trying to, you know, learn
the balance between the things that I might have once
(01:05):
done or the things that you know, might need to
be held off a little bit. How many things can
be crammed into a day, those sorts of things, you know,
you know, whether or not the the the flooded four
wheel drive tracks should be navigated today, or whether or
not we should just go for a go, go for
the Tarsil road instead, that kind of that kind of true.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, it's start, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
And great to great to you know, to be in
a place where we can expose the kids to a
little bit of culture. So I'm very lucky, indeed, but
this morning I wish we'd had you last week. Actually,
you have some fantastic advice your favorite travel apps, and honestly,
with the advent of cell phone technology in the digital age,
traveling has arguably never been easier. So what is your
(01:53):
preference to Google Maps?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah, well, I do love Google Maps if I'm road tripping,
and obviously Google Maps has become a fixture in our lives.
But if you're overseas, say on foot or on a
bike or taking public track sport, I actually reckon City
Mepper is a better option. And the reason for that,
Jack is that just as very very steavy, the way
(02:15):
it optimizes your journey to give you the quickest route
from where you are and where you want to go,
and then they've got some other little funny features like
the walking and ciphering options will show you the calorie
burn and compare it to food and drink, you know,
like one and a half lavees or a cheeseburger. And
then it's also integrated with Uber, so if you go
(02:38):
on city Mepper and you need an Uber you can
actually book it from that app. And about four hundred
cities worldwide.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Right, okay, well that's interesting. Yeah. I am usually then
a Google Maps as well, but I have been using
ways okay wad which I think is they use that
and maybe in Brazil and a few other countries as well,
which is kind of.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Very South America.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, yeah, but they people add was very South America
because that people add the hazards so other moment, so
when you drive along it says in one hundred and
fifty meters there will be a giant pothole. And I
mean in South America, every one hundred and fifty meters
as a giant pothole. But these are the biggest of
the big potholes. These are the Olympic sized swimming pool
hothole potholes, so that can be quite useful too. Are
(03:20):
you're a stand of Trippet.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I am. I'm a virgo, so I have a tragic
obsession trying to be several organized. So yeah, Trippet is
right up my street, deeck. So what you do is
you get the app, you load in your email address,
send it all of your reservations in your boxings, you know,
whether it's flights, car higher, hotels, tours, and Trippet just
automatically curates the lot into this beautifully organized itinery and
(03:46):
you can sync it with your calendar. You can send
the Trippet itinery to friends and family, really shareable. And
then there's also a paid premium version which I've actually
been checking out and it's very accurate. So it's got
all these live smart features. So if you've got like
a delay or disruption, you know, airport or whatever, you'll
get a notification. You'll get real time risk alerts. So
(04:08):
let's suppose you somewhere and there's a terror attack, boom,
it will tell you straight away, gate change information at
the airport, all that sort of stuff. It's like a
one stop shop.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
That's so good. Oh yeah, I mean that's I didn't
even know that it existed. That sounds like a really
really useful little bit of technology. And what about for outdoorsy,
nature loving travelers, what ever would you recommend? What should
they download?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
There are so many options, but let me super quickly
give you four. First of all, do not leave home
without downloading all trails producer Libby and I we are
raving fans. There's over a four hundred and fifty thousand
trails listed there at the moment, and it's regularly updated
by the apps. Global users lots of searchable tracks wherever
(04:55):
you happen to be or are heading to, and even
for like off the grid hikes, you can easily use
the downloadable maps and it will still be GPS tracking
the available on those as well. For Stargaze and Jack
iPhone users. A lot of iPhone users will have the
night Sky app. If you're on Android, downloads Delarium. I
(05:17):
love Stlarium, So with both apps you can pinpoint constellations
and planets overhead by simply pointing your phone into the sky.
And then there's all the other superical things like where
is the International Space Station at the moment? And when
is it going to fly above me? Also speaking of
big things, peak Lens I love peak lens. So this
(05:38):
app allows you just point your phone at any mountain
pretty much in the world and you will find out
what you were looking at. And similarly to your experiences
in Costa Eca, I must mention birding. When I was
an ecuador at Mishpi Lodge, I came across Merlin bird.
This is such a cool lapse. So this swiftly identifies
(06:01):
exactly what bird comes into view of your phone, and
then it's stacked all these fun facts. It gives you
bird call, so you can talk to the bird. And
it works worldwide, and it even worked on the house
sparrows outside in my backyard this morning. Great fun, quietly, addictive,
quietly yeah, yeah, very good.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So do you could you know the neighborhood bird counts
on at the moment right?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yes, exactly. This would be great for that.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, this would be perfect for that. Okay, great, So
what about for food and drink? Any good advice?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah? For food is I would say go with in
the know local knowledge every time, and a really good
app for that is yelp. You may have come across
yelp Jack. It's very popular in the States. In fact,
I've noticed Americans they will use Yelp, you know, sort
of like second nature when they're going out. So it's
(06:54):
actually available all around the world, but really good for
staking up the best eats and the destination you're going to.
You can bok reservations directly in the app. You can
order take away food on the app. So yeah, Yelp
is And if you're look a bit of a coffee snob,
oh my goodness, I've only recently come across this this
roasters app rstrs and your cup will run us over.
(07:18):
So it's got about seventeen thousand cafes and more than
one hundred countries and it's all focused on specialty artisan roasters.
There are a lot of on this app, which I
was impressed to see, but yeah, we'll come with like
tasting notes and recommendations and reviews. Rstrs really good.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Oh nice. So I know you like finding kind of
quirky sites and attractions on your travels. There anet for that.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
There is I adore Atlas Obscurer. They have a website
as well. It's all free, but they are nothing beats
uncovering those offbeat, curious, less trafficked experiences, and Atlas Obscura
has become like my Holy Grail guide to hit in Gym,
so I checked this morning. I've currently got twenty thousand
(08:04):
unexpected sites and landmarks worldwide and may each come with
your own little curious story. So it's well worth a
dip Atlas Obscurer.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Nice and what would be the most kind of creative
new traveler that you've come across.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Well, I haven't tried this personally, but several of my
mates have been swearing by nanny Bag. So it's essentially
a problem solver as to where you can leave your luggage.
So let's suppose you're staying at an airbnb. You want
to spend all day in that destination, but you've got
to check out at ten, or perhaps you've got a
few hours to kill somewhere but don't want to clatter
(08:39):
your heavy suit case across cobblestones. This is where nanny
Bag enters the fray. So nanny Bag links you up
with like shopkeepers, hoteliers, businesses, train stations, anywhere that offers
safe storage space for your baggage. So it comes to
the location map, real time reviews, all the storage costs
are listed and it's worldwide.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Very cool, amazing, that's such a good idea, such a
simple idea, but it's such a good idea. Yeah, okay,
can I aid one more? Mike? Can I just say
this is a really simple one, and I promise I'm
not being paid to say this, but I use Wise?
Do you use Wise?
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yes? I've come across Wise. Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
So it's basically it's like a it's kind of like
a like a debit card that you can use overseas.
But they have much much more competitive rates for exchange
rates than banks, So you kind of pay a small
one off fee for each of exchange that you do,
and you get the real time exchange rates. So if
you google an exchange rate between countries, you get that
as opposed to getting the bank one. And then you
(09:38):
can set up on the app you can set up
automatic transfers. So, for example, if the New Zealand dollar
was really weak as it has been against the against
the green back, you can wait until you can say, right,
if the US dollar hits sixty six cents at any time,
then I want you to transfer the two hundred dollars
I've got on here into US dollars immediately. So you
(10:00):
can set up kind of a threshold where the automatic
transfers happen, so I use that and I also like
having it because when you travel, I don't want to
have my kind of credit card on me all the
time because I feel like if I had it taken
off me or was stolen or I lost it or something,
then you know, potentially on the hook for a lot
more money than and you can kind of you know,
be by having a pre loaded debit card and the
(10:22):
app wise that goes along with it. You can kind
of stay on stay on top of things that way
as well. My we tip.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, that's a good recommendation. I know a number of
people have been using it recently and yeah they reckon.
It's been very very trusty. Yeah, it's so.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I mean it's it's just a visa it's you know,
it's basically because you can get a physical visa card
with it as well and the app so you can
use both, which I just find it. I find it
super reliable and like so for this trip, because we
were going to Canada and Costa Rica, I could exchange
some money into Canadian dollars and exchange some money into
the the golon is which are used here in Costa Rica,
(10:56):
and then also have some US dollars on there as well,
so you can have multiple currencies. So yes, why is
the name of that which is my rec foundation? Very good?
All right, I thank you so much for that, really
appreciate it. We're gonna make sure that Mike's top apps
for heading out in your next adventure are up on
the News Talk's EDB website so you can make sure
they are downloaded before you depart.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks EDB from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from news Talks at be.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Mike Gardley's our travel corresponding Good morning.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I am gripped by the green Eyed Monster, Jeck Tame.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's so rich coming from you. I just feel like
you that we can never hear those words out of
Mike Gardley's voice. We I mean, he's You've spent the
last month telling us about your excursions in the Galapagus Islands.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
This morning. I woke up this morning and I seem
very jealous that all those people have been to an
Oasis concert overnight. I am so endious that. And then
I hear you in Costa Rica.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Ah, I know, it's amazing. I'm very very lucky. I'm
only here for I think we're here for like six
days or a week or so, so we're not seeing
all of the country. And I'm this is the first
sort of dipping the toe into adventure with children, which
is a new stage of life for me, and so
I'm just kind of just trying to, you know, learn
the balance between the things that I might have once
(01:05):
done or the things that you know, might need to
be held off a little bit. How many things can
be crammed into a day, those sorts of things, you know,
you know, whether or not the the the flooded four
wheel drive tracks should be navigated today, or whether or
not we should just go for a go, go for
the Tarsil road instead, that kind of that kind of true.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, it's start, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
And great to great to you know, to be in
a place where we can expose the kids to a
little bit of culture. So I'm very lucky, indeed, but
this morning I wish we'd had you last week. Actually,
you have some fantastic advice your favorite travel apps, and honestly,
with the advent of cell phone technology in the digital age,
traveling has arguably never been easier. So what is your
(01:53):
preference to Google Maps?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah, well, I do love Google Maps if I'm road tripping,
and obviously Google Maps has become a fixture in our lives.
But if you're overseas, say on foot or on a
bike or taking public track sport, I actually reckon City
Mepper is a better option. And the reason for that,
Jack is that just as very very steavy, the way
(02:15):
it optimizes your journey to give you the quickest route
from where you are and where you want to go,
and then they've got some other little funny features like
the walking and ciphering options will show you the calorie
burn and compare it to food and drink, you know,
like one and a half lavees or a cheeseburger. And
then it's also integrated with Uber, so if you go
(02:38):
on city Mepper and you need an Uber you can
actually book it from that app. And about four hundred
cities worldwide.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Right, okay, well that's interesting. Yeah. I am usually then
a Google Maps as well, but I have been using
ways okay wad which I think is they use that
and maybe in Brazil and a few other countries as well,
which is kind of.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Very South America.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, yeah, but they people add was very South America
because that people add the hazards so other moment, so
when you drive along it says in one hundred and
fifty meters there will be a giant pothole. And I
mean in South America, every one hundred and fifty meters
as a giant pothole. But these are the biggest of
the big potholes. These are the Olympic sized swimming pool
hothole potholes, so that can be quite useful too. Are
(03:20):
you're a stand of Trippet.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I am. I'm a virgo, so I have a tragic
obsession trying to be several organized. So yeah, Trippet is
right up my street, deeck. So what you do is
you get the app, you load in your email address,
send it all of your reservations in your boxings, you know,
whether it's flights, car higher, hotels, tours, and Trippet just
automatically curates the lot into this beautifully organized itinery and
(03:46):
you can sync it with your calendar. You can send
the Trippet itinery to friends and family, really shareable. And
then there's also a paid premium version which I've actually
been checking out and it's very accurate. So it's got
all these live smart features. So if you've got like
a delay or disruption, you know, airport or whatever, you'll
get a notification. You'll get real time risk alerts. So
(04:08):
let's suppose you somewhere and there's a terror attack, boom,
it will tell you straight away, gate change information at
the airport, all that sort of stuff. It's like a
one stop shop.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
That's so good. Oh yeah, I mean that's I didn't
even know that it existed. That sounds like a really
really useful little bit of technology. And what about for outdoorsy,
nature loving travelers, what ever would you recommend? What should
they download?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
There are so many options, but let me super quickly
give you four. First of all, do not leave home
without downloading all trails producer Libby and I we are
raving fans. There's over a four hundred and fifty thousand
trails listed there at the moment, and it's regularly updated
by the apps. Global users lots of searchable tracks wherever
(04:55):
you happen to be or are heading to, and even
for like off the grid hikes, you can easily use
the downloadable maps and it will still be GPS tracking
the available on those as well. For Stargaze and Jack
iPhone users. A lot of iPhone users will have the
night Sky app. If you're on Android, downloads Delarium. I
(05:17):
love Stlarium, So with both apps you can pinpoint constellations
and planets overhead by simply pointing your phone into the sky.
And then there's all the other superical things like where
is the International Space Station at the moment? And when
is it going to fly above me? Also speaking of
big things, peak Lens I love peak lens. So this
(05:38):
app allows you just point your phone at any mountain
pretty much in the world and you will find out
what you were looking at. And similarly to your experiences
in Costa Eca, I must mention birding. When I was
an ecuador at Mishpi Lodge, I came across Merlin bird.
This is such a cool lapse. So this swiftly identifies
(06:01):
exactly what bird comes into view of your phone, and
then it's stacked all these fun facts. It gives you
bird call, so you can talk to the bird. And
it works worldwide, and it even worked on the house
sparrows outside in my backyard this morning. Great fun, quietly, addictive,
quietly yeah, yeah, very good.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So do you could you know the neighborhood bird counts
on at the moment right?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yes, exactly. This would be great for that.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, this would be perfect for that. Okay, great, So
what about for food and drink? Any good advice?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah? For food is I would say go with in
the know local knowledge every time, and a really good
app for that is yelp. You may have come across
yelp Jack. It's very popular in the States. In fact,
I've noticed Americans they will use Yelp, you know, sort
of like second nature when they're going out. So it's
(06:54):
actually available all around the world, but really good for
staking up the best eats and the destination you're going to.
You can bok reservations directly in the app. You can
order take away food on the app. So yeah, Yelp
is And if you're look a bit of a coffee snob,
oh my goodness, I've only recently come across this this
roasters app rstrs and your cup will run us over.
(07:18):
So it's got about seventeen thousand cafes and more than
one hundred countries and it's all focused on specialty artisan roasters.
There are a lot of on this app, which I
was impressed to see, but yeah, we'll come with like
tasting notes and recommendations and reviews. Rstrs really good.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Oh nice. So I know you like finding kind of
quirky sites and attractions on your travels. There anet for that.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
There is I adore Atlas Obscurer. They have a website
as well. It's all free, but they are nothing beats
uncovering those offbeat, curious, less trafficked experiences, and Atlas Obscura
has become like my Holy Grail guide to hit in Gym,
so I checked this morning. I've currently got twenty thousand
(08:04):
unexpected sites and landmarks worldwide and may each come with
your own little curious story. So it's well worth a
dip Atlas Obscurer.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Nice and what would be the most kind of creative
new traveler that you've come across.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Well, I haven't tried this personally, but several of my
mates have been swearing by nanny Bag. So it's essentially
a problem solver as to where you can leave your luggage.
So let's suppose you're staying at an airbnb. You want
to spend all day in that destination, but you've got
to check out at ten, or perhaps you've got a
few hours to kill somewhere but don't want to clatter
(08:39):
your heavy suit case across cobblestones. This is where nanny
Bag enters the fray. So nanny Bag links you up
with like shopkeepers, hoteliers, businesses, train stations, anywhere that offers
safe storage space for your baggage. So it comes to
the location map, real time reviews, all the storage costs
are listed and it's worldwide.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Very cool, amazing, that's such a good idea, such a
simple idea, but it's such a good idea. Yeah, okay,
can I aid one more? Mike? Can I just say
this is a really simple one, and I promise I'm
not being paid to say this, but I use Wise?
Do you use Wise?
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yes? I've come across Wise. Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
So it's basically it's like a it's kind of like
a like a debit card that you can use overseas.
But they have much much more competitive rates for exchange
rates than banks, So you kind of pay a small
one off fee for each of exchange that you do,
and you get the real time exchange rates. So if
you google an exchange rate between countries, you get that
as opposed to getting the bank one. And then you
(09:38):
can set up on the app you can set up
automatic transfers. So, for example, if the New Zealand dollar
was really weak as it has been against the against
the green back, you can wait until you can say, right,
if the US dollar hits sixty six cents at any time,
then I want you to transfer the two hundred dollars
I've got on here into US dollars immediately. So you
(10:00):
can set up kind of a threshold where the automatic
transfers happen, so I use that and I also like
having it because when you travel, I don't want to
have my kind of credit card on me all the
time because I feel like if I had it taken
off me or was stolen or I lost it or something,
then you know, potentially on the hook for a lot
more money than and you can kind of you know,
be by having a pre loaded debit card and the
(10:22):
app wise that goes along with it. You can kind
of stay on stay on top of things that way
as well. My we tip.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, that's a good recommendation. I know a number of
people have been using it recently and yeah they reckon.
It's been very very trusty. Yeah, it's so.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I mean it's it's just a visa it's you know,
it's basically because you can get a physical visa card
with it as well and the app so you can
use both, which I just find it. I find it
super reliable and like so for this trip, because we
were going to Canada and Costa Rica, I could exchange
some money into Canadian dollars and exchange some money into
the the golon is which are used here in Costa Rica,
(10:56):
and then also have some US dollars on there as well,
so you can have multiple currencies. So yes, why is
the name of that which is my rec foundation? Very good?
All right, I thank you so much for that, really
appreciate it. We're gonna make sure that Mike's top apps
for heading out in your next adventure are up on
the News Talk's EDB website so you can make sure
they are downloaded before you depart.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks EDB from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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