The Social Discovery App For Connecting When You Travel

This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Badoo

It's no secret I've caught a serious case of the travel bug. During the summer I'm constantly planning trips, searching for new places to discover or scouring Pinterest for the best travel inspo. Whilst I'm away, one of my favourite things to do is talking with locals or fellow travellers to get the low-down on the area, from incredible restaurants to hidden beaches I've found some really special places thanks to connecting who know the area well. In Sorrento, for example, Dave and I made friends with two lovely Italian guys who ran an Irish bar and not only did they help us discover a couple of amazing restaurants, but told us about these hidden ruins and lagoon on the cliff edge of Sorrento and our day there was actually the best part of the holiday.

Whilst we were lucky to meet our welcoming Italian friends, I've always thought it would be great to make these connections before I travel – especially as I'm considering a solo-trip to Indonesia in the next few months. It's great to have as much information and inspiration (I ususally create a Pinterest board for each trip!) before you go.

That's where social discovery app Badoo comes in. With over 300 million users to date, it's the fastest growing app for meeting new people. You can chat with people with similar interests, even use it as a social dating platform (I've already had my single girl friends to download it!), but of course if, like me, you're just interested in making new friends or connecting with people in a specific area then that's totally cool too. You can easily choose these settings in-app with the make new friends, chat or date options. What I also love about this app is it's verified photo feature. When you sign up you're asked to verify your profile by sending an image of yourself doing a specific gesture. Of course, you can opt our but it'll mean you won't be viewed by others who have chosen only to connect with verified users – super safe!

What makes it great for travelling is the location feature – you can search and select a location anywhere in the world to connect with fellow Badoo users. I'm off to Benicassim festival in Spain next week and still haven't booked my hotel (always leaving everything to the last minute), but in a few quick taps of the app I'm able to connect with local guys and girls in the area and I'll be asking their tips on where's best to stay! This tool I think would be so great on a solo trip too. Whilst I'm excited about travelling alone, waltzing up to new people and making friends still seems quite daunting to me, so making a few connections with like-minded people I could chat, meet up or share tips with before I go makes the whole process a little less intimidating.

I'd love to hear what you guys think – I'm so excited about using this app for my travels over the next few months! Badoo is free to download on the App Store, Google Play, and Windows Store.

New App: 2sides2me

2sides2me app is available on the App Store here & on Google Play here

Happy Monday! I'm kicking off this weeks posts with a brand new app, if there's one thing you do this bank holiday monday its got to be downloading 2sides2me. 2sides2me is a Selfie app designed for beauty gurus and fashionista's alike, giving them the ability to post two photos together. By simply touching and holding down on the image, it reveals another- so as you can imagine this is perfect for things like make-up before and afters and ootd's.

The touch and hold down feature is great because it makes the content more engaging, people actively press down on each image for it's full effect rather than simply scanning and scrolling past. It's an awesome way to generate interest and activity from your followers- I had a comment on my 'Which outfit is best?' photo within minutes of signing up! What's also really cool is that theres a messenger app built in so you're able to share publicly and privately communicate with followers all in one place.

Some ways in which fashion and beauty lovers can showcase their creativity on 2sides2me;

- Sharing different views of an outfit, which is great because different angles and viewpoints always add dimension to a look.

- How two different outfits look styled with a particular piece, for example 'Ways to wear this handbag' 

- Posting two photos and asking your followers which outfit or look is best, couldn't we all use a little help deciding which outfit to wear in the morning?!

- Before and after photos. So that's make-up looks, beauty product reviews, outfit before and afters- the list is endless!

2sides2me is also completely free to download, and starting today they've got a competition running with the chance to win this amazing Micheal Kors Fulton crossbody bag (click to view). Simply upload an #ootd (be sure to include the hashtag) and the best outfit of the day wins! Let me know once you've downloaded and I'll make sure to follow back, can't wait to see what you guys post!