If you are driving across town, you could make a case for using a GPS. If you are going out of town, you’ll certainly want a GPS. But, if you are traveling internationally, and you can’t read the language, there’s no way you should ever leave home without a GPS. For the latest trip to Norway, TomTom’s International GPS app for Android was the program of choice.
We’ve long been fans of TomTom GPS devices, having used both their hardware devices and their smartphone apps. In the US, anywhere we go, we depend on the TomTom GO 600 to get us there.
For this trip, we were looking at a 10 day self-driving tour of Norway, by Artisan Travel in the UK. Since Norwegian is not among my list of languages, some assistance would definitely be needed.
The TomTom International GPS app for Android was easy to load on my Samsung S4 and the screen provides a nice size viewing area for a GPS app. From the time I arrived at Tromso airport in the north of Norway, I was able to find every city I needed to drive to. The directions were straight forward and easy to follow.
Tromso is particularly challenging with a number of one-way streets and roads hidden in mountain tunnels. That’s the only place I’ve ever encountered round-a-bouts, inside a tunnel. So strange.
The only surprise to using this app was that it didn’t have as many POI’s (points of interest) loaded for Norway as I’m used to having in the USA. You’ll find gas stations, ferry terminals and airports, but it didn’t have hotels.
When traveling in an area that you are unfamiliar with, one of the main advantages of a GPS app for me is being able to quickly take a side trip and then get back on course simply and easily. See something off the highway you want to explore? Go for it. Then, simply hit “Recent Destinations,” pick where you were originally headed, and it’ll put you right back on course.
Check out the TomTom International app for yourself and never get lost again…unless you want to.
Disclosure: TomTom provided the app to try on this trip.
