Second Opinion

Second Opinion is a reviews show about anything and everything under the sun. If we can experience it, we can review it.

Google Trips Review

Episode #22

Ian and his mom Amy enjoy traveling together, but usually Amy relies on travel books to find attractions. On a recent trip to Chicago, Ian planned everything out using the Google Trips app; can it completely replace an expert travel guide?

Overview

  • Google Trips - Travel Planner - Android Apps on Google Play
  • Google Trips – Travel planner on the App Store
  • App for trip planning
  • Integrates into the rest of the Googleverse
    • Location info sourced from Google Maps, Wikipedia
    • Reviews from Google Maps
    • Tickets, reservations, bookings that are emailed to your Gmail automatically appear
    • Anything you star in Google Trips appears in Google Maps
  • Sections in the app
    • Reservations
      • Either appear automatically, or you can add them manually
      • Can send details of reservations to others via email
    • Things to do
      • Does well at surfacing attractions you might not be able to find just by searching around on Google Maps
      • Listed by category - top spots, nearby, on a budget, etc
      • Each attraction has
        • Pictures
        • Average Google Maps rating
        • Paragraph summary (my “tour guide factoids”)
        • Map
        • Business hours
        • Phone number
        • Top reviews
    • Saved places
      • List of attractions you've starred
      • Appear in Google Maps
    • Day plans
      • User-created strings of attractions
      • Heavily depends on how popular a destination the area is
      • You can create your own
      • App can magically make one for you, with some preferences like morning/afternoon/full day or favoring saved places
    • Food & Drink
      • Overview is a custom summary of the area in question
      • Top Spots shows the highest-rated restaurants from Google Maps
    • Getting around
      • Gives info on public transit, taxi/riding services, drivability, and walking/biking
    • Need to know
      • Emergency numbers, hospital information
      • Popular shopping areas
      • Money - currency and tipping practices
      • Internet access
    • Works best if planning a visit to a larger metro area
      • In smaller areas, all “custom written” stuff is missing, only has Google Maps locations
    • Does not do well at telling you the prices of attractions

Attributions