Six Essential Apps for any Motorcycle Trip
These are the apps we wouldn’t leave without
There are of course dozens of handy apps, but to be honest, Maria and Aidan like to keep things to the minimum. After all, the point is to explore and find things out for ourselves; not to verify what the interweb tells us. That said, a little help can go a long way, especially in those few yet intensely miserable situations, like riding in the pouring rain for the third day in a row, dreading having to pitch a sodden tent and crawling into a damp sleeping bag. If only there was an app that could find us an affordable hotel with safe parking and a hot shower…
Over years of long and short distance travel, there have been six apps they have used time and again.
Google (Offline) Maps
I like riding with paper maps, spreading them out on the tent floor each evening, marking the route we’ve come and searching for the most promising-looking, squiggly route we can find for the next day. There is something satisfying in having the entire area, or even country, spread out in front of me, and seeing where I find myself within it. A tiny phone screen can never quite do that justice.
Usually leading the way, Aidan likes to ride analog, having memorised our planned route and following road signs. It’s a fun challenge and forces him to look around. But when he’s trying to navigate an unknown-to-us city, or looking for that hidden place someone told us about, he just follows Google Maps.
Why offline maps? It is surprising how often we don’t have cell reception, even in our home country. So when we do have WiFi, the two download a set of detailed offline maps covering any potential area we might be tempted to ride to in the next few days, until we have Wifi again to update the map selection. That way we can roam at will, safe in the knowledge that the GPS will locate us, if we get too lost.
Aidan found Google Maps is usually accurate, except perhaps in less visited areas, like Venezuela, or places where things have recently changed fast, like a few parts of Baja and Patagonia. Here, Google may not have marked the newly built main route and might send you along the old, now no longer maintained road. But it’s nothing that can’t be conquered with common sense and asking around, if in doubt. (For fast-changing cities in South America, people use Waze. If Google Maps becomes unreliable in a certain area, we just ask the locals what they are using.)
When online, the reviews of hostels and hotels can also be a helpful indication as to whether safe parking exists and what the conditions are really like.
Windy
I have to admit it; I’m a fair-weather rider. The three of us are, really. If we must, we will brave freezing cold and sodden rain. It still beats a day in the office. But we don’t much enjoy such weather. Maria usually tucks me safely into the cozy top box. That keeps my fluffy fur dry, but I don’t see a thing of the places we are rolling through. And since we don’t all fit into the top box, the two of them don their rain gear and switch to survival mode, enduring, rather than exploring. Kinda a shame…
So, when we can, we adjust our plans according to the weather, changing direction to chase the sun. That’s all very well, but in some places, it can be necessary for survival to take the weather into account. Such as planning to reach a town with hotels, when the sub-zero temperatures are too cold for our camping gear, or finding wind shade when the gusts threaten to snap the tent poles. Sudden snowstorms might close mountain passes, and in Patagonia, the winds can actually be too strong to ride through.
In such places, the Windy app has been an essential tool for planning the next day’s ride. Regrettably (but understandably) it is only available online. It is highly accurate and reliable, showing wind strength, precipitation type and amount and approaching thunderstorms, as well as temperature, of course. Without it, we would have had a much harder time crossing Patagonia and the high Andean passes. It was useful, even in more amiable climates, where it warned us to get the tent up just in time before the heavens opened.
Pitching our tent in the much-needed wind shade of a ruined house. Outside the gusts would have snapped the tent poles.
iOverlander
Ok, this is not news. But it remains one of the best, open-source information banks. With two caveats: Firstly, some information is very outdated, so that hotel with safe parking may no longer exist, that gas station may long be out of business, and those hostel prices may have skyrocketed. So Maria always checks how recent the reviews are, and how frequent. And of course, to help others do the same, she tries to add a latest review herself.
Secondly, the app is used by all overlanders. Many marked wild-camping spots might be suitable for sleeping in a camper, but not so much for being exposed in a tent. It can feel quite safe to park a van in a quiet street in the middle of a town, but I certainly wouldn’t pitch my tent there. On the other hand, a comment about the access road being nigh impossible, might be more applicable to a big rig, than to our off-road capable motorcycles.
The trick is to read through the comments and look at the photos (regrettably only available if online), compare that to the terrain Google Maps places the spot in, and to make an educated guess as to its suitability.
Booking.com
Mostly we love to camp, ideally wild-camping far from anywhere. But every now and again we are curious about a town or city, or we just need to stay in civilization to get some gear or spare parts sorted out. Of course, it is possible to ride around a place in search of a hotel, and the traveler grapevine often has some great recommendations. But when it comes to big cities like Buenos Aires or Quito, Aidan prefers to research where to stay online, not least because he can also check which areas are considered safe, and offer the kind of things we’re interested in.
The difficulty is finding out whether they have safe parking. Often people mention parking on iOverlander. But what might feel safe for a camper van, might be less so for a motorcycle. In many cities cars are safe to park on the street, but no one would consider leaving their motorcycle out overnight. On Booking.com hotels have the option to show that they have “parking on premises” which is usually a garage or gated secured parking. So even if we don’t book the hotel through the app, we know that they likely have what we need and we can ride straight there.
Often the ‘safe parking’ generously ended up being inside the hotel’s reception
We may not use the app to book the hotel. Paying directly at the counter often saves the app's fees for the proprietor and us. If, however, the app applies a bunch of discounts, and the price quoted by reception is higher, we can ask for the reduced price. If they refuse, we ask for their WiFi, go outside, book on the app, then come back in, announcing we have a booking. Though usually it doesn’t come to that.
Airbnb
Every now and again, we need a longer break. Of course, if we’re already in a nice place, we just stay longer. But sometimes we plan such a break in advance, like where to spend Christmas on a several-year-long journey, or where to give the bikes a much-needed overhaul. For this, hotels might work. But to be honest, we prefer an apartment of sorts, where we have all my creature comforts and our own kitchen to cook in. So Maria ends up using Airbnb quite a bit, as it’s a familiar app, her account is already set up, and it works in most countries.
One comment about the parking though: many hosts will advertise parking, sometimes even “parking on premises”, but whether they actually have safe parking for a motorcycle often gets lost in translation. So before booking, she reaches out to the host and just confirm that they have gated and secured parking for our bikes.
While most people probably have WhatsApp, it is worth a mention here, especially if you are traveling to Central- and South America. In many countries, the use of WhatsApp is free with any kind of mobile phone data package. So everyone uses it for everything.
Businesses communicate via WhatsApp, not via email, which turned out to be a real blessing when trying to source new tires and spare parts. With the handy translation features, it was easy to enquire about availability, even in a language Maria and Aidan speak very little of, and they were able to find what they needed without missioning around the city for days, heading from one recommended place to the next.
These guys generously decided to serve up lunch when we popped in to pick up the tires we ordered
Most accommodations also use it for any sort of communication, making it easy to ask about parking info, confirming bookings, and requesting an extension to the stay when a place is just too good to leave.
And in many countries people have added us to WhatsApp biker groups for any bike-related chit-chat, events, and also to reach out for help in an emergency. Bikers and travelers we met, often swapped contact details and then stayed in touch via WhatsApp, inviting us for drinks or meeting up further down the road.
