A Personal Travel Guide Makes Your Trip Less Stressful

When this post goes live, I’ll be in Puerto Rico catching some desperately needed sun and relaxation (and cocktails) before the holiday season.  It’s all part of my plan to recharge and renew.  My husband Jay and I have done a lot of travelling this year with trips to Mexico, San Francisco (we got a tour of Google!) and even Orlando. I’ve really enjoyed our vacations and I’m definitely planning to take more trips next year — hopefully overseas!

I take travel pretty seriously and always prepare well in advance.  And when I say prepare — I mean stalk TripAdvisor, blogs, Rick Steves guides and travel sites for weeks on end.  OH and I ask everyone who has ever been to that destination what they recommend.  

Now there’s another resource in my arsenal.  It’s called the Trip Scout app. They provide self-guided city tours. With local tour guides who explain about the local history, culture, and food as you go along.  My friend Konrad who blogs at World Venture Project created it.  

One of the things I really like about it — it works offline.  So there’s no need to use your data or international roaming plan to access it. You can customize your map by adding additional points of interest — like restaurant recommendations from friends. It’s like hiring a local tour guide but still having the flexibility to travel at your own schedule and pace.

I’m all about time saving apps, so I like that Trip Scout means I don’t have to do tons of Internet research before a trip. Unfortunately they currently only have guides for San Francisco, Washington DC, and Philadelphia. However they do expect 10 more cities from Central and South America to be launched by the end of the year.   

Be sure to download it and let me know what you think.