It’s hard to think back to a time when everyone didn’t have cell phones and smart phones. They have impacted our lives in a way that rivals that of computers, televisions, and even automobiles. Whether the impact has been more positive or negative is debatable, but no one can argue how much convenience they bring to travelers. Seasoned traveler Brad Crawford decided to showcase his favorite smartphone apps that he and his wife Stasha use on the road:

1. GasBuddy (free)

This app is a must-have when traveling between assignments. It locates any nearby gas stations and lists them in order of distance from your current location. You can change the order to cheapest prices if you want. It also has an option to change to map view. This will show gas stations on a map with a little icon above each station that tells you which station it is and what their current price is. We recently used this app and saved 34 cents a gallon by driving an extra hour to fill up. Even when you are low on gas and don’t have that luxury, prices can vary so much between short distances. You’ll be smiling all the way to the pump knowing you are getting the best price around.

Available iPhone & Android

1. Kypass ($3.99)

This app is a very slick password manager. For those of you that don’t use a password manager, your lives will never be the same once you start. To get the most out of this app, you’ll want to download KeePass on your Windows or Mac computer. This program creates a file that contains all of your passwords for every website you log into. The program will ask you for a master password to access this file. Once you create the file and get all of your username and passwords saved, you can then sync it to the Kypass app on your phone and have access to all of your passwords while on the road. Imagine having only one password to remember!!!

Available iPhone only.Android alternative: KeePassDroid

1. TurboScan ($1.99)

Turboscan basically takes the place of a scanner that would take up a lot more space than your smartphone and works just as well for documents. Simply take a picture of the document you want to scan using your phone and the app will turn it into a PDF and let you email it. It will also let you create a multi-page PDF. The app does an excellent job of cropping the document from whatever surface it is laying and lets you make adjustments if needed. We recently used TurboScan to submit our taxes online – all 28 pages! Two dollars for a fully-capable scanner is a steal!!!

Available iPhone only.Android alternative: CamScanner

1. JotNot Fax (free)

Wishing your new, two-dollar scanner had the ability to fax? Enter JotNot Fax. Once you’ve created the PDF in TurboScan, you can open it in JotNot. From there you can fax it to any fax machine for $.99 per fax (up to 5 pages). The best part is that the charges are applied to your iTunes account so you do not need to enter a credit card. This app is priceless for times when an emailed PDF is not accepted. Stasha likes to keep her resume, state licenses, and other documents saved in the TurboScan app so she can fax them in a hurry while we’re on the road.

Available iPhone only.Android alternative: FaxFile

1. Paperless ($2.99)

Our last app is for creating lists/checklists. The iPhone comes with a “notes” app, but it is nothing like Paperless. This app lets you create multiple checklists that can be synced between devices. We like to create checklists of items we want to pack with us in our car when we travel. Stasha and I can both add items to the list from separate phones and the app will synchronize our items into one list. When we think of an item we need to buy or pack, we’ll add it to the list in the days leading up to our trip. It’s also really convenient for grocery shopping. When you check an item off, it will become grayed out and move to the bottom. The next time we start our grocery list, we already have the grayed out items from our last trip. Simply touch the item and it will move to the top, waiting to be checked off again. We always have a list of the groceries we buy most often. It doesn’t sound like much, but it is by far one of the most used apps on both our phones.

Available iPhone only.Android alternative: Tasks

We hope you get as much good use out of these apps as we do should you decide to use them. We would also love to hear of any apps you like to use on the road so please tell us about them in the comments. Happy downloading and please BE CAREFUL when using your phone in the car. It is always safer to pull over or have a passenger operate the phone so you can focus on driving.

As the husband of a travel nurse, Brad Crawford sees the travel nursing experience from a different perspective. While his wife, Stasha, focuses more on the “nursing” aspect, Brad is more concerned with things like the crime rate, what the weather is like, and what sort of fun things there will be nearby. Together they have created TravelNurseHelp, a website designed to combine much of the info a travel nurse needs in one place. This blog was re-published from TravelNurseHelp with the author's permission.