Quick Look at Google Trips
Google Trips is a new vacation and trip planning and management application for Google Android and iOS devices.
At first, I thought this was just another app that grabbed information from Gmail and other Google services, processed them, and displayed them in its interface to the user.
While it does that, it is rather refreshing that Google Trips works without that as well. The feature set is a bit limited then, but it is still providing valuable information to tourists and other travelers.
Trips enables you to type in any location you are interested in to get started. It does display an option to look up information about the current location, and may also display information about trips that it pulled from Gmail.
Update: Google confirmed that the Trips mobile application will be discontinued on August 5, 2019. Google customers may use Google Travel on the web instead. End
Google Trips
If you don't want Google Trips to do that, tap on the menu icon, select settings, and toggle the "Trips from Gmail" option there.
When you enter a new location, you get options to check it out without creating a trip. This can be useful to find out what you can do there by checking out interesting places, day plans that Google provides, information about getting around, food & drink information, and need to know information.
The information is useful, at least for the couple of places that I checked out (Bangkok, Tokyo, Dresden). While you should not expect hard to come by information, it is a good overview of what to expect.
Most interesting -- probably -- is the things to do and day plans listings. Things to do lists recommended locations and sorts them into groups.
This includes top spots and a for you section, but also things like temples, local favorites, art, or an "all places" listing that lists them all in a long listing.
The opening hours are quite handy as well and displayed for the majority of places listed by Google Trips.
Day Plans on the other hand offers one or multiple plans that suggest how to spend a day or days. This includes a number of important sights usually which are all laid out neatly on Google Maps and with information on how to get around. Options to pin additional sites, or remove sites you are not interested in, are included as well.
Favorited sites or altered trips are saved, but trips only become available on the front for easy opening if you save them. While you can open any location again by searching for it, saving trips makes this a whole lot easier.
Another benefit of saving a trip is that data is downloaded to the device so that it becomes available offline. This can be useful as you may look up information even if you don't have an Internet connection right away or at all in the target location.
Closing Words
Google Trips does not reinvent the wheel, but it makes trip planning quite a bit easier. While you can do all of that manually, for instance by pinning sites you are interested in on Google Maps, or saving information to the device, Google Trips makes all of that easier even if you cut the link to your Gmail account.
I have to say that this is a Google application that I really like and can see myself using when traveling.
Now You: What are your favorite travel apps?
I travel a lot, have never used a travel program,do not have internet on my phone. Old school map reader Also I do what the locals do not go where the tourists are. Just my style of life I guess not a sheep. Thailand is my home & on the computer it’s so difficult because so many programs keep changing to Thai even though I state I am in NZ, have language, location etc all set to English.Facebook is the worst but that’s in the wife’s name as I do not have an account. When a program tells you where to go where to eat etc chances are it will cost you much more. In Thailand internet hotel bookings always cost about 40% more not counting the added 10% + if you use a credit card. Always check hotel in person before you pay !!!! That goes for all third world countries.
I love this app. When it didn’t registered my rental car I just “tagged” the email as “Trip” in Google Inbox and soon after it showed up in trips. Trips is kinda the Trips in Google Inbox but on the phone and available offline
(@Moderator: Can you please remove my last name? – Thanks)
I’ve been trying to use the app on a real trip, there’s where you find out the app is actually not as useful as it looks. Everything works automatically so you don’t have full control of it, you can’t manually add a reservation to your trip, you can’t add your own stops to a daily plan (or remove a stop that was added automatically), etc.
So, for now, the app will be removed from my phone.
I agree with your observations. You can edit day plans, but it seems that they are limited to a certain number of stops no matter what you do. I would not use the app for that because of that.
What I like about the app is that it lists places to visit which other services do as well but it is easy enough to go through the listing and check out what is of interest to you.
Also, that the data is available locally is another plus.
I would never use automation to have the app scan Gmail to find out about reservations and such, so that is not really an issue for me.
I agree though that adding info and attachments manually would be really useful.
I tried using it for my upcoming trip and the functions are limited, exactly like what you said Aldo.
There isn’t much interactions with the App as it basically just pull information from your Gmail and provide suggestions based on their recommendations. I tried searching for a place I wanted to visit on Day Plans but it did not show up. Similarly when I try to zoom in on the maps to find the attractions/restaurants, as long as it is not within their database, I will not be able to save it into my plans.
Furthermore, I’m not sure how the function work in pulling reservations from Gmail but my experience was that it did not manage to pick up my Airbnb reservations and there wasn’t any way I could add it manually by myself on Google Trips.
I have to ask, how does this help me to reach my accommodation when I do not have data, as shown in the video.