Why the Tripit app is my preferred travel planning companion (Blog #29)

Welcome to my latest blog in which I will be sharing my experience of the Tripit travel app. This light review is of the free version of the app.

Why use a travel app? If you're like me you love having all of your travel plans in one place, not scattered over various email threads or numerous booking apps. I like being able to go to one place (app) and to see my dates, times places, reservations, travel itineraries etc. all set out under one heading. 

So organisation is the name of the game, and for me Tripit fits the bill. 

After you've downloaded the app you'll need to create an account linked to the email address to which your travel plan confirmations are normally sent. This is because you're going to link this email address to Tripit so that TripIt can automatically extract relevant details from the emails and creates a master itinerary for a trip, including flight details, hotel reservations, rental car information, and more. Sometimes, but not often, Tripit is unable to 'read' an email, but not to worry because you can forward your confirmation emails for flights, hotels, rental cars, and other travel reservations to TripIt's email address, which is plans@tripit.com.Tripit will then build your travel plans for you. You can also build your own trip within the app and add as much or as little detail as you want.

Here's two examples of Tripit's benefits based on two recent trips I made. The first was a stay at a lodge in the Lake District. I booked with the company online, Tripit picked up the confirmation email and created the trip for me, including check-in and check-out days and times, the address, telephone number, and email address of the lodge site. There were also useful guides to restaurants, cafés, bars, shops, ATMs, pharmacies, and hospitals. There was the ability to get directions and transportation options. Very comprehensive and very useful, and all in one place! 

The next trip was a trip from the UK to California involving three flights out and three flights back. I booked directly with the airline, and once I had the confirmation email Tripit got to work building my itinerary, which included carriers, flight times, numbers, terminals and gates (when and where available) and my seats. The airline's confirmation email two days ahead of departure included slight alterations, which were picked up and amended by Tripit in the original itinerary. Very clever, very helpful.

You can access your itineraries anytime, anywhere, either through the TripIt website or mobile app. This allows you to view your plans even when you're offline.

If you need to, you can also share the itinerary with friends, family, or colleagues.

Overall, TripIt streamlines the travel planning process and helps me stay organized and informed throughout my trips.

One other benefit is that Tripit stores all my previous trips, which apart from allowing me to review and revisit itineraries, is a nice record of all those trips I have made, which according to Tripit's data are:

A nice little extra that comes with the free version.

I have tried out numerous travel apps over the years, but haven't found anything that's half as good as Tripit.

I would recommend Tripit to anyone who travels and who likes or needs to be organised.

I have five go-to, must have apps that I use for travelling: Packing List before I set off; TripAdvisor to plan my activities while I am away; Tripit while I am actually en route; JourniBlog for journaling; and Blogger for blogging on the go. 

You can catch me on my various social media channels (see above). 

Hope to see you next time with another travel/photography blog.

© Mike Young 2024.