The mid-year break is approaching and almost everyone is just about ready to throw out their lecture notes to kick back and relax.

If you’re someone who loves to spend the break escaping the winter cold and heading off with a group of mates to overseas, you’re most likely in the middle of your planning right now. But with uni assessments still in place, it can be a little frustrating trying to focus on booking cheap flights and scoring at least a credit on your business report.

Here are six apps that will help you get the planning down pat before flying off.

Hostelworld

This app is perfect if you’re at the very beginning of trip planning. There are heaps of apps and sites for deals on hostels and hotels, but Hostelworld is highly recommended, especially if you’re on a low budget trip.

Similar to Airbnb, you can adjust the filters including price range, room type, facilities and distance from city centre. When booking, it’s 100 per cent confirmed and in the very unlikely event where something goes wrong, they’ll give you a full refund with an additional $50 towards future bookings.

Also, hostels have lost the stigma of being cheap and crappy — the standards have risen and you can expect some pretty great facilities from where you stay.

Maps.Me

Maps.Me is a great app to keep you from getting lost. You can download the map of the place you’ll be visiting on Wi-Fi, and then use it offline later. The app also lets you “discover nearby” where it recommends great places for food, attractions and free local guides in your location.

Currency Calculator

We think to ourselves, “Oh yeah, when I go to London it’ll just be double the Australian currency”. Wrong! Currency conversions fluctuate all the time, and working on a rough estimate all the time can mean you spend a lot more than you intend to. The app is super handy for figuring out your budget prior to leaving, and doing routine check-is throughout.

TripIt 

This app is a wonderful place to store all of your travel docs and have all the logistics down packed for flights, accommodation and any rentals or activities. TripIt helps you avoid sticky situations where you might accidentally double book or book your flights on the wrong dates to your accommodation.

Trafari

Trafari is basically like Tripadvisor — another great app to check out – but made specifically for young travellers. You can share reviews and advice after a great or shitty experience at a restaurant, a nightclub or hostel. It’s highly recommended to check out before arriving so you have some ideas up your sleeve about what places not to miss out on and have the best possible time when exploring that new, unfamiliar city.

Packr

Packr is your go-to checklist when packing for your getaway. After downloading the app, it tries to understand who you are before giving you your checklist. It asks for your gender, what countries you’re visiting so they know what season you’re going in, if you’re going for business or leisure and also lets you select the activities you might be doing on your trip such as skiing or water sports.

Then, they create a personalised list of necessities you might not even have thought of packing. The only downfall is that if you’re doing a multi-destination trip, a.k.a “Packr Premium”, they want you to start paying. Not so fun.

Stay safe and have an awesome mid-year break — the countdown is on!