7 Utilities that will be useful for British life!
Starting a new life in London can be daunting. Here are a few ideas from the web to help you settle in and find your way around.
City mapper
This is a navigation application. In London, we often use subways and buses, but this is a handy app that teaches the best route by combining them.
The main difference with Google map is “to present all means of transportation”. You can easily find the location of the rental bicycle stand that you often see in the city.
A personal favourite point is a function that displays the calorie expenditure when using each travelling means. It is good to take a walk for the coming season so it is good to take a walk while watching City Mapper while consuming calories.
Google Maps
It is Google Map you all know. In addition to the function as an ordinary navigation application, I think that having the high affinity with Google information is the most advantage here. I think that there are many people who usually know how to use, so I will show you how to use it.
Travel editing:
- First, create one Gmail account to share with your family (or travelling member). And, when you look up the place you want to go before travelling, let ‘s put a ☆ mark and record’ Want to go place list ‘on the map. When you arrive at your destination, the whole family logs in to the shared account with the Google Map app. Then everyone can easily share the “Want to go” list.
- For example, if each place you want to go is also displayed on the same map, you can see that “the two destinations are surprisingly close together” and so on, I think that you can work efficiently even after you arrive at the site.
Gourmet’s edition:
- If we could know the delicious shops in advance, we will only look it up. However, I think that there may be times when it comes to “going out for a while” on the road. In such a case, let’s ask the Google Map, not only the shops that you know. If you think that you want to eat Asian food, search “Asian Food” on Google Map and you will list from Chinese to Thai cuisine. However, as there are times when it is not the latest information about opening hours, we recommend that you check on the website of the store if you decide where you want to go.
Bus Times London
London is a navigation app specialised for buses. As London’s bus network develops, it feels complicated until it gets used to it. In particular, there is more than one bus stop in one place name. For example, there are six OH, RC, RG, OQ, OF and RF bus stations with the place name Oxford Circus Station, which makes it more complicated than Japan. On that point, if you use this application, it will show you how many minutes the next bus will be, and which bus stop you should visit.
BBC News
This is BBC’s news application. The nice thing about this application is that there is video delivery. It is convenient to see the news that it feels long when reading with letters, if it is about 2 minutes of movie doubles as English study, it can be seen in the gap time.
And the reason why you want to download this application is to have LIVE delivery. If you can access the information of the video even in the event of an emergency, you can know a lot of things. I want to keep in mind that I get information firmly by myself so that I can act calmly no matter what happens.
Meetup
When I first arrived in London, I do not get to know a lot of acquaintances and I do not think there are few opportunities to go out. There is also an information site for Japanese, but this application is recommended to meet with people living in the field through hobby.
If you register your hobbies and interests, then events that are interesting will be introduced from the place and schedule. From hiking to English conversation group, many hobby circles are registered, just choose what you care about! Message exchange can also be done easily online. Those requiring entry fee can be settled with credit card in advance, and it is smooth. Please join us with friends and family and make use of it to create opportunities to meet local people! (※ Please select each participant’s event to participate in the event.)
(※ This application has some apps, but the PC site is easier to see on a big screen, so the first registration etc. is done from the PC We recommend you to do it.)
DOJO: City Discovery
If you get information on newly made restaurants and cafes, this application is recommended! In addition, information of the event etc. is also listed, so please do use it!
This is a popular messenger application in the UK and the United States (parent company is Facebook). The function is similar to LINE, you can register using a mobile phone number and exchange messages with friends. Unlike LINE I feel lonely that there is no stamping function, but this one is a major service worldwide.
VPN Cat Master
As an extra edition, I would like to introduce a method of watching Japanese television on a smartphone. As you know, Japanese TV program distribution service (TVer) and Amazon Prime video can be viewed only when accessed from Japan. Even if you visit from the UK, it will be displayed as “Restricted viewing in your area.” However, if you use VPN (Virtual Private Network), you can watch and listen. With VPN, even if you do not physically access from Japan, you will be accessing from Japan under the virtual environment (If you want to know more, please check it out).
Usage:
- First, launch VPN application and make VPN connection
- Once you have a VPN connection, you will probably see “VPN” next to the WIFI mark
- After that, when launching TVer or Amazon Prime, the communication speed is displayed slow.