Shifting to a new city comes with its own set of hassles. You have to find a place to stay, haggle with apartment owners, disclose personal information like whether you eat meat, stay out late, and how much you earn. Then there’s Wi-Fi, air conditioning, cable TV and other services to take care of. And that’s just the beginning. From getting furniture to figuring out food and modes of transport while handling work in a new city, the process can bog you down completely. We list a few apps that can help ease the transition.
Find a place to stay
Do you eat meat? Are you married? How long do you plan to stay? Save yourself these and other probing questions by simply renting an apartment from an online home rental company like Nestaway (Android, iOS; Nestaway.com). Search a place, visit it, pay a token amount to book it and move in. The house is furnished, with a ready kitchen, appliances and Wi-Fi, so you just need to carry your suitcases. Nestaway is available in Bengaluru, Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai. Grabhouse (Android, iOS; Grabhouse.com), a Quickr company, provides services in these areas as well as Kolkata and Chennai. It offers what they call cocoons, aesthetically done apartments. Bengaluru also has the option of RentMyStay (Android; Rentmystay.com), which rents out furnished flats on a daily or weekly basis, for up to 11 months.
Rent a bed or washing machine
Waiting for your furniture to arrive or don’t want to invest in a new washing machine? Hire a sofa-set or a bed or an appliance like a refrigerator, washing machine or even a television set from Furlenco (Android, iOS; Furlenco.com) in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune or Gurugram. Rental packages for a single bedroom begin at Rs1,150 a month for a single bed and side table, while at City Furnish (Cityfurnish.com) this would cost Rs900 a month in Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Pune. Grab On Rent (Android, GrabonRent.com), which operates in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, also offers cycles, fitness equipment, camping tents and barbeque sets.
Figure out your daily travel
Don’t want to coordinate with an Ola or Uber driver every day as you get used to a new city? Hire an Activa, KTM or Harley two-wheeled vehicle in Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai or Pune from Rentongo (Android; Rentongo.com), starting from Rs300 per day. You can also opt for the shuttle buses that ply on major city routes through Cityflo (Android, iOS; Cityflo.com) in Mumbai; ZipGo (Android, iOS; Zipgo.in) in Bengaluru, Jaipur, Mumbai and NCR; Easy Commute (Android; Easycommute.co) in Hyderabad; and Shuttl (Android; Shuttl.com) in Delhi-NCR which offers an air-conditioned bus for a single-day trial for Rs50 as a trial for anywhere in Delhi-NCR. All these apps also offer live-tracking of the bus, to ensure you don’t miss it.
Order homemade food
While you are setting up your kitchen, you can order homemade food online. There are many tiffin options for metros. Spicebox (Spicebox.in; Rs80 onwards) makes ghar ka khana with minimum spices and oil, and offers a monthly menu, with no repeats, for Mumbai.
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