Thailand
I use a frightening amount of data on my phone, so I bought a 20 GB Thailand eSIM for $18. The setup was easy peasy and my phone worked perfectly for calls, texts, internet, apps, etc.
A one-stop shop for ride-hailing, food delivery and mobile payments in Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Book a ride from BKK to your hotel while simultaneously ordering mango sticky rice to arrive at your hotel at the same time as you. Pro move: Order up a Grab Bike to hop on the back of of a motorcycle and zip through traffic.
Japan
As someone who builds entire itineraries off hotels, restaurants and bars I’ve found on Google Maps, it was a challenge to find reliable restaurant reviews on Google in Japan. All the places we found that were 4.5 and above were average at best, and the best places weren’t even listed on Maps at all. Enter: Tablelog, a Japan-specific site that’s like a more legitimate Yelp plus OpenTable. The reviews were thoughtful and accurate, and the info on how to book a table (or when to do try for a walk-in) was endlessly helpful.
I downloaded this app to my Apple Wallet and preloaded about $10 USD so that we tap on and off the subway. You can also use it to tap to pay at convenient stores, though I never tried.
South Korea
Move your Google Maps and Uber apps to the last page of your apps because they’re useless in South Korea.
A ride-sharing app similar to Lyft and Uber.
Use it just like Google Maps to figure out how long your taxi ride will be (less than two hours from the airport if you’re luckier than we were) and how to navigate the trains and busses.
Miscellaneous/All Destinations
My go-to currency conversion app.
Where to store all your flight info.
From hotels to apartments, the selection is varied and the prices are competitive.
