Use Google Trips to Plan a Vacation
Edited by Chris Stipe, Maria
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.
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.
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.
- 1To begin, you will need to first download the app.Advertisement
- For Android devices, you can download the app from the Google Play Store.
- or from the iTunes App Store for iOS devices.
- 2
- 3The app will ask for permission to access your Gmail account, which you want to allow to get the most out of the app.
- The app will then scan yours through all your emails for any emails that contain flight and reservation details.
- It uses this information to automatically create new "trips" so you have no trouble seeing where you are going and when.
- 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.
- You can, however, do all of this manually if you choose not to allow Google Trips to have permission to access your Gmail account.
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8Once you either have a destination already selected or have searched and selected one, we can proceed on to the next area.
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
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5From 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.
- 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.
- It also show you the location on the map, to let you see how close and the time required to get there.
- 6Simply 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.
- 7You can repeat this process for any type of selection, whether it's food, or visit local tourist attractions.
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.
- 1
Add Some Extra Info
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.
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,
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
- 2In 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.
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.
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.