Travel Apps Can Help You Save Money and Time​

Travel Apps Can Help You Save Money and Time​

Avoid traffic and fill up economically

Google Maps is already installed on all Android devices and available for iPhones, but road trippers should consider loading Waze. Also owned by Google, Waze is the world’s largest community-based navigation app.

By crowdsourcing traffic and road info from millions of users known as Wazers, the app gives you real-time information on the roads around you, including accidents, construction zones and speed traps. The goal is to give you the fastest and safest route to your destination.

The smart navigation app Nexit not only helps you get from point A to point B quickly, but also recommends stops along the way, such a gas station or restaurant you requested. Nexit won’t recommend a stop that’s behind you, like other mapping apps might do, even if it’s a little closer.

Nexit can save you money in addition to time. It will show you the cheapest gas and a hotel room within your specified limit. You can book your room from the app and load your loyalty cards to get rewards. Nexit is available now only for Apple devices.

Gas prices might be a deciding factor on whether you travel near or far this year. GasBuddy says it saves users an average of $340 a year on gas.

The app shows you which nearby stations have the lowest prices and provides maps if you don’t know an area. View gas stations by distance or price, plus you can see prices for regular, mid-grade, premium and diesel fuel.

GasBuddy has an optional card and rewards program that will help you save even more. It also can help you budget with a trip cost calculator, tips and tricks to use less gas, car recall info and optional in-app challenges you can accept to win free gas.

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Find Out How Sports Streaming Is Changing the Game

Find Out How Sports Streaming Is Changing the Game

wrigley field's scoreboard on opening day

wrigley field's scoreboard on opening day

Quinn Harris/Getty Images

A general view of Wrigley Field before the game between the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers on Opening Day at Wrigley Field on April 07, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois.

How do I know where my game is?

Having more to watch also means finding your game may be more difficult. The just-concluded NCAA men’s basketball semifinals and final used to air on CBS. This year they were on TBS. Hulu and ESPN+ stream National Hockey League games. But ABC, ESPN and TNT broadcast NHL games you might see through your cable package.

The best way may be to conduct a basic Google search. When it comes to baseball, cable TV and DirecTV remain the most reliable way to watch your local team, Swann says. They are the most likely to carry your regional sports network compared with other options.

“But if you go with cable or DirecTV, you’ll have to pay their prices, which are more than what live streaming services charge,” he says.

Die-hard baseball fans willing to cut the cord and give up other pay TV services may find it’s worth spending $139.99 annually to get the MLB.tv streaming subscription. The service lets you watch live and on-demand home and away broadcast feeds for every Major League game with one big catch: Unless you’re out of town, your home-market games are blacked out.

That may be too expensive if you’re more of a casual baseball fan or have limited income. Do you subscribe to the baseball package and give up, say, your $19.99 a month premium Netflix subscription, or perhaps your $14.99 a month tab to watch HBO Max in 4K without ads?

The NBA sells League Pass subscription packages to watch all its live basketball games for one team for $13.99 a month, with certain blackout restrictions, or $29.99 a month to stream all the teams ad free, again with restrictions.

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