As the last long holiday in the first half of this year, May Day is just around the corner. With the 3+X leave combination, many people have more time to spare—why not take a trip abroad and explore a few major cities?
Data from multiple travel websites show that popular outbound travel destinations this year include Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States, with travelers often choosing trips lasting 5–7 days.
Sandy beaches, ocean waves, coconut trees, hammocks, adrenaline-pumping extreme sports, beautiful city squares… With only a week left until the May Day holiday, Da Bohai is already itching to go.
As someone who’s detail-oriented and hates being unoriginal, Da Bohai has preferred independent travel since her student days. Moreover, she refuses to use mainstream apps. To make your travels more local, money-saving, and hassle-free, here are four niche apps we recommend—one for each need—to help you win big without trying too hard.
A. Which airline app is the best?
Flight deal search app Hopper
——Tells you the best travel dates
Airfare is a major expense when traveling abroad, especially to Europe and America, where saving time and money is the top priority. To minimize your flight budget, Hopper is our top pick—recommended by Da Bohai, who’s been saving money for 18 years.
Hopper’s logo is a little rabbit on the run. This bunny analyzes “billions” of flight price data points to help travelers find the best times to plan their trips and buy tickets. The company claims it can save users up to 40% on airfare, and guarantees a 95% chance of finding a cheaper ticket—or at least the lowest available price online.
Hopper has a very clean interface. After entering your departure and destination, you can use its “Watch a Trip” feature to track prices for a specific route. When flight prices drop, Hopper sends push notifications, along with info on whether the price might drop further. It’ll also alert you if prices are about to rise.
Additionally, Hopper offers a “When To Fly” feature that uses different colors on a calendar to clearly show which travel dates can save you the most money, while also helping you find airports with lower fees and shorter layovers.
B. Tasty fun all in one place
Destination info app TripAdvisor
——Shares real reviews from 500 million travelers worldwide
A highly professional travel information website where you can plan trips based on your destination. It has a very user-friendly Chinese app, making it super convenient to use.
For your chosen destination, it provides detailed info on attractions, food recommendations, hotels, and more. The hotel section includes many comments from foreign users, who often focus on service and cleanliness—very helpful insights. The site also has a price comparison tool to check rates across different ticket platforms.
When traveling in small European cities, it’s important to book restaurants in advance. Due to local dining habits, even relatively local spots may be fully booked every night, appearing empty yet still turning people away—so it’s safer to book ahead.
As someone who appreciates good design, I have to say TripAdvisor’s UI/UX is excellent. There are tons of travel guides, all beautifully formatted. Plus, TripAdvisor supports offline maps—just download them beforehand, and you can use them without internet access, which is essential in case you end up somewhere without WiFi.
C. Maps that are totally slick
Navigation app Waze
——Thousands of Wazers help you master road conditions
The other day, an Australian friend complained to Da Bohai that even foreign taxi drivers take detours—pretty unfair. So whether you’re taking a cab, using Uber, or driving yourself, knowing the best route in advance is crucial.
Unlike domestic map apps, Waze is a crowdsourced product—a community-based navigation app that provides traffic info and routing services. Thanks to real-time traffic data from users, you can find the best routes. And as long as you keep Waze running while driving, you contribute valuable road and traffic info to your area. You can also manually report accidents, hazards, police, and other traffic situations. The interface design is also super cute!!
For international travelers, Waze stands out with fast, accurate positioning, and it gives early warnings about upcoming traffic jams. Compared to apps like Gaode or Baidu Maps, it offers more comprehensive info. User reviews put it well: “Waze isn’t just about helping you find your way—it’s about keeping you from getting stuck in traffic. Thousands of Wazers work together to master the roads.”
Foreign road networks are highly detailed, and Waze includes many lesser-known roads, sometimes leading you through small alleys—you might even discover unexpected scenery.
D. Say goodbye to pricey international calls.
Communication app BOBO Talk
——Affordable international calls, dial anywhere in the world
Accommodation, meals, and transportation are all sorted out, but communication becomes the next concern. Over the years, renting a portable Wi-Fi, buying an overseas data SIM card, activating international roaming, or even scrambling for free Wi-Fi whenever possible can all solve the internet access issue. Checking a map, booking a hotel, or posting on social media isn’t a problem. Once you’ve bypassed that “wall,” you can even happily scroll through Instagram and post on Twitter.
However, having internet access doesn’t solve all communication scenarios. Losing your passport, making a restaurant reservation, handling urgent work tasks, or receiving a boss’s emergency call—these unexpected situations often happen during Da Bo Mei’s travels. In work situations, a phone call is more widely accepted than WeChat; in truly urgent moments, a phone call is far more efficient than a bunch of messages.
But—voice calls that cost one or two yuan per minute are still pretty expensive.
So how do you make international calls? Da Bo Mei is about to unveil her top-secret communication tech—BoBo Talk.
Rather than calling it an app, it’s more like an affordable international calling service. Because with BoBo, calling from China to abroad, from abroad to China, from China to China, from abroad to abroad, receiving calls in China, or receiving calls abroad—all no problem. Calling mobile phones or landlines? Not an issue. No matter where you are, the caller ID shown to the other party will be your usual mobile number. From the ring to the answer, a BoBo call is indistinguishable from a regular call.
With such a thoughtful piece of tech, how attractive are the call rates?
First, calling from any country back to China
Only 6 fen per minute.
Six fen per minute.
Six fen.
Fen.
Second, calling from China to any country
The U.S.: 6 fen
Japan: 2 mao
The U.K.: 4 fen
France: 6 fen
……
Costs are displayed in real time, clear and transparent—say goodbye to those outrageous phone bills. Bye-bye~
In fact, the ultra-minimalist BoBo Talk is super practical both domestically and internationally. No spam, ads, or virus links to worry about. Its interface is similar to a regular phone dial pad and also supports Bluetooth headsets, wired headsets, the phone’s earpiece, and speakerphone modes. Your contacts are clearly displayed—if you enter a number or the first letters of a name, it will automatically search your contacts and instantly provide the best match.
For someone like Da Bo Mei, who has the memory of a goldfish, using the iPhone’s built-in phone that doesn’t support recording is really annoying. BoBo’s super thoughtful call recording feature is a favorite of Da Bo Mei.
Enough said. There are so many ways to explore the world, whether for a short or long time—you don’t have to quit your job to see it properly. So grab your money, bring your BoBo Talk, and set off quickly at the tail end of spring.