- Learn Spanish before you go
Most pilgrims you’ll meet speak English but most locals you’ll interact with don’t. I warmly suggest you make an effort to pick up at least some basic Spanish phrases.
What do you know … there is an app for that, called Duolingo.
It makes language learning fun. It also helped me convince most fellow pilgrims as well as some locals that I can actually converse in Spanish.
- Translate to/from Spanish on the go
You can’t read the menu in Spanish ?… have no fear, Google Translate is here, for iPhone and Android It even does voice-recognition fairly well. Download Spanish for offline use.
- Offline map
I used MapsMe and I loaded Camino Frances GPS track. Although the Way is well marked, this app came very handy on several occasions.
- Guidebook
I used the ebook Walking Guide to the Camino de Santiago by Gerald Kelly. For my next Camino Frances I’ll be getting eCamino app which is based on John Brieley’s book, by far the most popular Camino guide in English.
For planing daily stages and deciding on which albergue to grace with my presence for the evening, I downloaded the pdf with Albergue list (latest version can be found here)
- Blogging
For me, the best platform for mobile blogging is free wordpress.com, available for iPhone and Android. For me a blog was a convenient way to update friends/family on my progress and I wanted to ensure I’d remember and savour as much of the Camino experience as possible ( I wish I took even more photos and videos).
- Photo sharing and backup
I found it convenient to be able to share photos automatically and to make sure they are backed-up online. There is … naturally … an app for that as well, called Dropbox, for iPhone and Android. Here is how it works; you setup the account at www.dropbox.com, install mobile app, follow instructions to automatically setup auto-backup of photos when on wifi.
Share a web link to your Camera Upload folder with your friends/family. On the Way, start the app when you are on wifi, new photos will be automatically uploaded and visible on that link. Additionally, if something happens to your smartphone, the photos are securely stored on-line.