Google Trips is a very useful app for travel, and Google has taken to their blog to show five particularly great uses for it. Google Trips can act as your booking and reservations hub with things like hotels and restaurants, for starters. The app also aggregates information from your Gmail and other sources to keep you informed of any change of plans. You can also check train and bus schedules, and manage any applicable reservations. The app also allows you to download important things like local maps, allowing you to conduct most of your trip offline. As a finishing touch, Google has aggregated data from Google trips to show some of the most popular travel destinations among users over the past year. Right now, that list consists of Vancouver, Venice, Lisboa, Barcelona, Montreal, Athens, Santiago, and Denver.
The reservation management feature is fairly simple. You can manually enter your reservations or they can be pulled from relevant data on your device, then Google Trips allows you to manage those reservations, and even share them with others to let them know where you’ll be and when. Management of travel arrangements is quite similar, but you’ll also be notified of any last minute changes, and be able to view all details of a given ride in the app. You can also add in things like the confirmation number, or even custom notes.
Managing mass transit via train or bus is also a snap. You can view travel options that will help you get around in the area you’re headed to. From there, you can add a trip manually to get help with making the reservation, if applicable, or it can be pulled from your email and other sources, like the other items on the list. The offline option, perhaps one of the handiest on the list, allows you to download your entire itinerary, including maps and attractions, for offline use. Since mobile carriers are just getting around to making normal use of your device feasible while abroad, many will find this feature quite useful. There are many other uses for Google Trips, of course, but these five were Google’s pick for some of the best.
