Use Google Trips to Plan a Vacation

Edited by Chris Stipe, Maria

6 Parts:
Before Your Trip
Discover Your Destination
Plan Out Your Days
Add Some Extra Info
Download Everything You Need
Comments
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Looking for an app that can help you manage and plan your next vacation? Well, the good news is you can with Google Trips. By using Google Trips to plan a vacation, you will be able to make your planned vacation amazing. This app from Google, makes it feel like having your own personal traveling assistant right in the palm of your hand.

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Google Trips is a free app that is available on both iOS and Android devices, will organize hotel reservations and plane tickets, give you personal recommendations from Google (based on your Google history), and even provide you with editorial guides to over 200 different cities. And the greatest function of all is the app works offline, so you don't have to worry about incurring expensive data fees. Simply download everything you need before you leave to your device, which includes walking directions and maps and you're good to go.

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So, if you're ready to get starting using Google Trips to plan your vacation, and want to know all you can do in the app, continue following the guide below.

Before Your Trip

Before you can plan and organize your perfectly planned vacation with Google Trips, you will need to get everything set up by doing a few things first.

  1. 1
    To begin, you will need to first download the app
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    1. For Android devices, you can download the app from the Google Play Store.
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    2. or from the iTunes App Store for iOS devices.
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  2. 2
    Once you load the app for the first time, tap on the "Get Started" button
    .
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  3. 3
    The app will ask for permission to access your Gmail account, which you want to allow to get the most out of the app
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    1. The app will then scan yours through all your emails for any emails that contain flight and reservation details.
    2. It uses this information to automatically create new "trips" so you have no trouble seeing where you are going and when.
    3. Go to "Reservations" in the app within the trip to see all the extracted information which includes things like flight times, gate numbers, hotel locations, links to relevant emails, etc.
    4. You can, however, do all of this manually if you choose not to allow Google Trips to have permission to access your Gmail account.
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  4. 4
    Don't have any trips planned
    ?
    Not to worry, once the app loads, you should see a screen similar to this one below.
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  5. 5
    Swipe left or right with your finger on the images under "Explore" to see if any of these destinations interest you
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  6. 6
    Got one in mind
    ?
    Tap on the "Where do you want to go?" box
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  7. 7
    Type in your destination and then tap on it from the pop-up list
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  8. 8
    Once you either have a destination already selected or have searched and selected one, we can proceed on to the next area
    .
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Discover Your Destination

Now that we have initially set up the Google Trip app for everything you need before your vacation, let us move on to the next part, discovering what you can do in the city that you plan to visit.

  1. 1
    Tap on "Things to do"
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  2. 2
    Here, you will find everything from the "Top Spots" to go and visit the best "Food Spots" to check out when you are hungry and ready to eat
    .
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  3. 3
    Scroll through the list of "Things to do" by swiping your finger either left or right
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  4. 4
    Tap on the option you wish to view the results of
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  5. 5
    From your menu selection, you can then tap on (in this case) a restaurant you want to know more about and decide to try or not when you are at your destination
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    1. While the information is a little basic, it is loaded with user reviews to allow you to get an idea of the business' reputation, etc.
    2. It also show you the location on the map, to let you see how close and the time required to get there.
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  6. 6
    Simply save any selections that you want to explore when you arrive and they will be stored in the "Saved places" section of the app for you to view when you're ready.
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  7. 7
    You can repeat this process for any type of selection, whether it's food, or visit local tourist attractions.
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Plan Out Your Days

While having a list of the best places to visit like restaurants and the top attractions is a great way to start off your vacation, being able to plan out your days will allow you to make the most out of your vacation by planning your days ahead of when you arrive.

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  1. 1
    Tap on the "Day plans" section of the app
    .
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  • 2
    For many of the cities, you will be given suggestions based on the time you'll be there, how others have spent their time there and the places you saved
    .
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  • 3
    While you can create your own day trip from scratch by pressing the "+" button, it's less fiddly to just edit one of the existing ones
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  • 4
    Tap on a day plan that interests you
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  • 5
    From here you will be shown the map with the starting point to the end point on this day trip
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    1. They will be numbered in order and show you the route to take.
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  • 6
    To edit any of the specifics in this day plan, tap on the pencil icon
    .
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  • 7
    If you want to see the various sites established in this day plan, swipe left to right at the bottom of the screen
    .
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  • 8
    Tapping the location at the bottom will bring up more information, store information and hours, as well as user reviews
    .
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    • Add Some Extra Info

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    While now you should have a great understanding of how you want and can spend your time on your vacation, there are probably some other tidbits of information that you would like to take with you too. Luckily for you, this can be done in the "Reservations" section, where you can save your own "Notes", to access them even when you are offline.

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    Unfortunately, the "Notes" section is limited to just text, so you will be unable to add or save any pictures. However, it still provides a useful area and space to add any extra information about your vacation that you need to take with you,

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    Download Everything You Need

    It's a great and useful tool when all the information you need is available offline too. And it's very easy and simple to do as well. All you have to do is:

    1. 1
      Tap on the slider beside "Download Rome" and Google Trips will download pretty much everything about the city to your device
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      1. This includes everything from access to an offline map, all your saved places, notes, saved day plans, etc.
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    2. 2
      In the case of this guide, it's "Download Rome", but the city name would change of course based on the trip you are taking or have already planned.
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    Are you ready to give Google Trips a try? Well, right now it's available for free and for both iOS and Android devices. You can download it from the Google Play Store for Android devices or from the iTunes App Store for iOS devices.

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    Already a user of Google Trips? Has it made vacationing easier for you? What other features would you like to see added that are missing from this fabulous app?

    If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

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    Article Info

    Categories : Vacation Apps | Trip Planners

    Recent edits by: Chris Stipe

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