6 travel apps for making your summer vacation plans

As National Lampoon can attest, summer travel rarely goes according to plan.

The list of things that can go wrong on a summer trip is endless: running out of gas, losing a wallet, finally getting to the final destination just to discover that it's closed ...

Technology can help.

For nearly every stressor that pops up around summer travel, there's an app to help travelers smooth things out. But as for dealing with a dead relative in the back seat? No app for that. Yet.

Credit: Mashable composite, Luke Pamer

Sidekix

Sidekix is the travel app for perambulators.

Users tell the app their interests — nightlife, art, shopping, food or culture — as well as how long they'd like to walk, and if they need to make any stops, say at the ATM or grocery store. Then Sidekix generates a route.

Credit: screenshot / sidekix

Users can also send their route and end destination to friends and family to meet up on the route.The app is currently available for 15 cities across the world, with plans to expand in the near future.

Esplorio

For those who view vacation as an opportunity to feed the social media beast, Esplorio is waiting in the App Store.

Esplorio bills itself as an "automatic travel journal," aggregating content from users' social media networks, their phone's location history and the camera roll to generate a digital travel journal.

Credit: esplorio

Esplorio can also turn the digital memories into physical postcards that users can send to friends and family back home.

MydistriKt

MydistriKt was developed to help locals give updates ontheir own little corner of the world — no matter where that happens to be.

The app features content from unexpected places, from the Wisconsin countryside to Nepal, as well as to often-visited spots like London to provide a wealth of recommendations for travelers who really want to live like a local.

Credit: screenshot / mydistrikt

The app's users currently spread across 146 countries, representing 4,500 different "distriKts" around the world.

Eventurist

Eventurist makes travel easy for opportunists.

Travelers who prioritize once-in-a-lifetime trips will love Eventurist's special event recommendations and trawling of the best flight deals.

Credit: screenshot / eventurist

So whether the app recommendsflying to Sweden for a music fest or the cheapest tickets ever for a flight to Florida, Eventuristhooks travelers up for a memorable experience.

Prava

There's nothing quite like traveling with friends: memorable and fun, but simultaneously stressful and trying.

Credit: Prava

Prava aims to keep everything organized and within easy reach of everybody on the trip, meaning no more juggling Google calendarinvites, group chats and Venmo expenses.

It's currently only available for Android devices, but iOS is coming soon.

myTSA

After all the furor surrounding TSA wait times at airports around the country, it's understandable to be a bit freaked about flying this summer.

A screen shot of the myTSA app Credit: mashable

For those very concerned with missing a flight, download the myTSA app to keep an eye on wait times at each terminal.

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