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The best apps for people who travel alone

LONDON — No matter how much you do it, travelling can be intimidating.

LONDON — No matter how much you do it, travelling can be intimidating.

It is perfectly natural to be nervous about visiting a foreign place on your own, whether you dread getting lost or feeling lonely, or just not knowing what to do when you are eating dinner alone.

But do not order that cheeseburger from room service — download these four apps, which will help you feel more sure-footed abroad.

Even if you have started your trip alone, you may end with a network of new friends.

Audio City Guides You will Actually Love

The founder and former chief executive of Groupon, Mr Andrew Mason, has discovered a new industry to disrupt: The audio guide.

His latest app, Detour, launched in 2015 offers immersive, offbeat audio tours in just a handful of (largely West Coast) cities.

This week, it is expanding to include 115 tours in 17 international markets, from Portland, Oregon, to Paris.

Many are narrated by influential locals. In New York, for instance, Harlem’s first globally-recognised chef, Marcus Samuelsson, offers a highly personal walking tour through his neighbourhood.

In Washington, there is a tour about the history of espionage, narrated by two former intelligence officers. The focus on documentary-style storytelling means that the experience is more like listening to a compelling podcast than an audio version of Lonely Planet.

Bonus: The guides have built-in GPS, which means you will never hear about a place before you actually arrive there.

Free for the iPhone and Android devices. Tours cost US$5 each.

Group Tours That Do not Feel Touristy

Peek lets you choose your own adventure in 22 cities around the world, generally in the company of like-minded travellers.

It offers a curated list of activities from vetted third-party operators, ranging from bike tours to food crawls and themed excursions, such as a James Bond tour of London with lunch at Heatherden Hall (which served as the Spectre headquarters in From Russia With Love), or a day riding ATVs in Eldorado Canyon, just outside Las Vegas.

The app maintains real-time availability and a best-price guarantee so you can book online, worry-free, and even last-minute.

Free for the iPhone and available on the Internet.

Communal Dinners in Local Homes

EatWith is the Airbnb of restaurants: It allows locals in 200 cities around the world to open up their homes for hosted group dinners.

Put in your desired dates and destination and you will be able to scroll through a variety of menus, some paired with cooking classes.

In Paris, for instance, you can learn to make a souffle and then have a late lunch at a local’s apartment in the Marais; in Barcelona, you can crash a Mediterranean-style Shabbat dinner, complete with Zaatar-infused challah and lamb kibbeh.

Available on the Internet only.

Safety First

All solo travellers encounter nagging thoughts about safety at some point or another; for women, it can be an especially pervasive concern.

Enter personal safety apps such as Companion and SafeTrek. The former lets you channel your location to designated friends, family, or companions, and includes an “I Feel Nervous” button that will get their attention.

It also lets you skip that precautionary step and go straight to calling the police.

Available free for the iPhone and Android devices.

By comparison, SafeTrek cuts right to the chase. It asks you to press a button on the screen as long as you feel safe; if you let go, you are prompted to enter a predetermined four-digit pin code, or the app will automatically summon the cops to wherever you are.

Subscription is US$2.99 per month and is available for the iPhone and Android devices. BLOOMBERG

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