When you set out on a long road trip, you have to carefully prepare and plan for it. You need pack essential items like food, clothes and emergency tools and accessories. You will also need to perform essential checks on your car to make sure it is performing well and that there is no outstanding repairs or maintenance issue.

You may have done all this. But you also need to prepare for boredom and the inevitable stops you need to make. You can download apps that will help make your long drive beable. Read on to find out some useful apps that you can use while on a long road trip.

Gas Buddy

If you go on such long trip occasionally you would clearly know about the value of each cent of fuel. Gas buddy is an application that lists and sorts gas stations, the fuel prices as well as their locations on a map. You can efficiently plan your fuel refilling with this regularly updated and resourceful application. You can also search and filter search the prices based regular, midgrade or premium fuel types.

Waze

This is somewhat similar to a social networking site but works for road assistance by helping us avoid huge traffic blocks on our route. This works by gaining information about unexpected traffic blocks (like due to accidents, poor weather etc) directly from its users. More the number of users better are the efficiency of this application. You can connect with your friends on the app with the help of other social networking sites. The application also makes life easier for the user by rerouting them if any traffic situations arise in the normal routes. The app uses the GPS feature as well as maps on your smart phone. Read more about Waze here.

iExit

Suppose you are driving through a lonely road which you or your fiends have no idea about. The situation can be worse if you are running low on fuel or if you are really tired. If this happens to you, you need an app that can identify the location of a good food stall, gas station and resting spot all of which is nearest to your current location. This is exactly what iExit is intended for. It displays an easy and simple list of all nearby services. The services can vary from small food stalls to huge supermarkets and gas stations. The app also provides options for filtering the searches: ‘24 hour service’, ‘pet friendly’ etc.

Stitcher or Player.FM

Stitcher and Player FM are two apps that gives you access to an almost unlimited range of shows and podcasts to keep you entertained throughout the trip. You can listen to your favorites or consider a recommended list based on the interests of your facebook friends. The Stitcher app in particular offers a car mode and the iOS version even grants you the offline mode that would save a lot on your data bills. This app is very user-friendly and with a few taps you can access over 150000 of on-demand shows.

Spotify

If you want to set the mood for your long road trip, Spotify can help. You can create your own playlist of songs from your favorite artists and their albums. Or you can simply play the playlists that Spotify or other users have already created. This is also a great way to expand the list of artists and songs that you follow.

These are but 5 apps that will help you enjoy your trip, or at the very least, they will make the long trip bearable.