When you’re on a trip, thorough planning ahead of time can go a long way in making your time enjoyable, but there are some inevitable snags that can really put a damper on your vacation. Luckily for the human race, and because necessity is the mother of invention, there is quite the array of online and non-digital tools at our disposal to address even the most minor of inconveniences. We present to you a few tried-and-true tools and tips:

Do you always seem to forget to pack one essential item every time you travel and wish you had relied on a list? PackPoint does just that. The app takes the stress out of packing by customizing a list of what you need in your bag based on the length of your trip, the weather in your destination, and the activities you have planned along the way.

We know this seems basic and obvious, but Google Maps can really be your best friend on a trip. The app and the desktop version both have incredibly useful features that make the service as functional as possible — so, no, it’s not just an online map. For example, the app works offline (which is oftentimes a godsend if you’re traveling without a data roaming package or just get stuck somewhere without connectivity), and allows you to save and label locations if you want to plan your daily itinerary ahead of time.

For the cultured traveler heading to Europe, we can’t recommend Rick Steves Audio emphatically enough. The app has a large library of self-guided walking tours that cover a long list of historic and cultural sites all around the continent, which is perfect if you want to actually know why you’re looking at half-destroyed pillars in Athens, or want someone to “talk” to you as you roam around a city rich with history.

Flush: If you’re traveling light and happen to be out on a daylong excursion in a city without a clear idea of when you’ll next find yourself with, ahem, indoor plumbing Flush (here for iOS users and here for Android) can come in handy. The app maps out the precise location and details of public bathrooms for most major cities. Flush gives you tips on how to get there when to access it and a rating on cleanliness.

And while we’re on the topic of bathrooms: For those of you who haven’t discovered the beauty of having a portable shatafa when you’re in a country where toilets don’t have them built in, we present to you Fresh Buzz. The frankly groundbreaking product changed many an Egyptian life when it hit the market four years ago, and works great both for short trips outside the country and for those of you who live abroad but aren’t blessed with a built-in shatafa.