While travel is loaded amid the rise of the Omicron variant, people are still dreaming of their next getaway. There are even new apps to make travel planning and enjoyment easier. A number of these were introduced (and some old favorites updated) when travel was at a standstill. Wondering which one to try? Here’s a selection of thoughtful solutions – how to turn reward points into a hotel suite, join a ranger for a hike in a national park, hear the story of the place you’re passing through, see the latest travel protocols. Covid-19 – To help you tap and slide your way into what will hopefully be another year of adventures.
National park service
From Acadia to Sion, there is finally a single official park service application for the more than 400 American national parks. Created by National Park Service staff, the app puts handy information – such as fees, schedules, routes, webcams, where to find food and toilets, news and events in the park (visits to walk, conferences, volunteer opportunities) – right at your fingertips. Search for parks near you or search for them by name, state, activity (like horseback riding, caving, dog sledding) or by subject (African American heritage, climate change, volcanoes). Depending on the app, a visit to Alaska is a must if you want to dog sled in national parks and reservations, but if horseback riding is more your speed, there are dozens of national sites to choose from. Download park details for offline use on mountain trails and other places where you don’t have cell service, and keep a list of parks you’ve visited. No cost.
HearHere – Road travel companion
When considering a road trip, a number of images may spring to mind – and Kevin Costner is probably not one of them. Yet that may be about to change. The actor and director is a co-founder of HearHere, an app that uses your location and interests to play audio clips (some narrated by Mr. Costner) about the history, culture and natural wonders of the places you pass through. . There are bits and pieces about the things you see (like landmarks) and the things you don’t see, like people who have walked the earth before you. The app, which launched last year, recently announced an expansion, from stories of road trips on the West Coast to more than 8,700 stories across the United States, including details on early history of Portland, Maine; the burning of Washington by British troops in 1814; and the first racially integrated housing in Philadelphia. Available only on iOS. Cost: free for the first five stories; after that, $ 29.99 for unlimited access for 30 days; $ 35.99 for a one-year unlimited subscription; $ 69.99 for three years.
Bublup
Bublup is a cloud storage service where you can save and organize all kinds of content (photos, videos, documents, links, PDFs) in nice folders and, if you want, share them with others. For example, suppose you are planning a trip to Vermont. With just a few clicks, you can create a vacation record and choose from the templates in the app to add a packing checklist and a note on the things you want to do. You can easily forward flight or rental car confirmation emails, import inspiring photos and videos, and add links to travel articles and potential bed and breakfasts. One of the things that makes the app (and the desktop version) enjoyable for visual planners is that you can choose colors for your folders or even put your own photos on the front and as background images on the side. inside. Every type of content you add to a folder (whether it’s a link or a photo) appears in its own storage box, making scrolling through information less like a job than it does. to vacation. To get started, try Bublup’s ‘vacation planning’ template which has handy folders for flight info, food and drink, location, accommodation options, and must-see sights, which you can then customize. . Tap ‘invite’ to allow other travelers to view or collaborate in planning your trip by adding and editing content. For more ways to use the app to plan a vacation, check out the Bublup blog. Cost: free for three gigabytes of storage; more storage and features from $ 2.99 to $ 9.99 per month or, if paid annually, from $ 27.60 to $ 94.80. Price details: Bublup.com/premium-features.
