Launched in September 2016, Google Trips is a simple, easy-to-use app that is built to be the smart travel assistant. From storing reservations to planning your day, it pretty much handles most of the things. What’s more, it even works offline and sports an impressive interface. So what are we waiting for? Let’s jump right in and see the many features of Google Trips.
1. Offline Feature
If you’re a regular Google Maps user, you must be familiar with the idea of offline maps. The good news is, the same feature has been extended to Trips as well. Not only this saves data, especially while on international roaming, it also makes sure that you aren’t stuck anywhere remote just because you lost connectivity to the internet.
2. Reservations Bundled up
Google Trips first asks you to sign-in using your Gmail ID. And once you are in, it will pull the reservation details — like flight details or hotel details — from the mailbox and keep it ready for you. In the old version, Trips would only parse your Gmail and find the details and add. However, in the updated version, reservations can be added manually as well. Tap on the plus icon on the bottom right corner and choose the appropriate option. All you need to do is type in the hotel name or flight number and Google will take care of the rest.
3. Plan a Trip
Beyond the data that it extracts from Gmail, you can also plan a trip using on your own. The entire world is open for you to search, all you have to do is type a couple of letters. Once all the destinations have been added to the app, it will feature on the main page, with the option to download an offline map for the place.
4. Auto Day Plan
If you are going for a vacation to one of the big shot cities of the world, Google Trips even has a Day plans feature lined up for you. This feature is available for the top 200 cities and includes a list of popular itineraries with the city’s attractions, markets, pubs, and museums. The itineraries are publicly sourced and also includes an equivalent of the I’m feeling lucky feature. This option — available in the right corner of the card in the form of a red magic wand — will auto assemble a set of travel attractions in the city and lay out a day-long adventure for you. Among the things that can be customized in this tab is the option for the time and day of the trip or a day plan. Plus, you can also choose the day, just in case, a place that remains closed on a particular day doesn’t ruin your adventure. What’s more, depending on the real-time weather and time, these inputs are customized accordingly. So if you’re headed for a rough weather it would suggest more of indoor activities.
5. Skip the Food Hunt
When you’re on vacation, you’d want to eat at the nicest place and get to know the local cuisine also. It’s a bit of a hassle to search for a good place to eat and well, Google Trips has you covered in that aspect too. From the top restaurants to the famous street food stalls, it will line up all the food hunt for you to explore. Based on the place that you are traveling to, Trips will also give you an overview of the city’s food specialties, along with the details on nightlife and restaurants timings.
6. More Adventure
I am in the habit of searching for places to visit after I’ve landed at a particular place. Not much a planner, you see. Well, after I got Trips installed, it eased out the process of locating the local hotspots. Disguised in the form of Disguised in the form of Things to do, Trips has everything in its kitty — whether it’s locating a museum, a famous bridge or a popular watering hole.
7. Getting Around
Perhaps the most important aspect of any vacation is the conveyance part — from the airport to hotel or moving around the city. Trips bundles in neat details of all the travel arrangements in the city. For instance, the distance between the city and the airport or the cost/time that it would take to get there. Plus, you can even find the contact numbers of car rentals or how much would a taxi cost in average. I bet you’ll be surprised at the amount of information that the app contains. Please note that this feature isn’t available at all locations.
8. Minute Details
When it comes to Google, it has everything down to the minute details. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise when this lightweight app can display every little things-to-know. One can compare it to the digital version of a little guidebook, the only difference being you can customize it as per your wish.
9. It’s Everywhere
Google Trips is everywhere. It doesn’t just have your future plans, it also bundles up your old vacations as well. If your email contains any old flight details or car rental details, it would parse them and feature those as part of the old trips. Trips managed to fish out a trip that I had way back in 2013. It’s not entirely polished, though. While it fished out my Mumbai and Chennai details seamlessly from the yesteryears, it failed to see that my trip to Bangalore was not really a trip — well, I lived there at that point in time. So yes, there are a few corners which need to be polished.
10. Explore
What’s more, if it can’t find any trip details, it would just suggest you explore the places near you. And who knows, you might end up discovering a new tourist haven near your place. In its nascent form, Google Trips has a slew of features that make up a decent travel app. Though it lacks the edge of a pro app, it makes up for it in the form of minute details and the built-in Google services like Maps. For the privacy concerned folks, you might want to skip it. But for the rest of the folks, it’s an app worth trying for it’ll give a new meaning to stress-free travel. Also See: Is this 2-in-1 power bank a good fit for your travels?
