Traveling to a country which you haven’t a clue about their local language can be challenging. But with technology these days creeping closer into our lifestyles and livelihood, the world of people and travel has changed. Travel passionate techies are pinning the smart-user travellers with new apps and cool gadgets to ease travel hassles and enrich their travel experiences.

I was invited to test drive a new travel app called TripScout at Bangkok, Thailand, initially but due to change of travel plans I rerouted to Vietnam; the land of rivers of water and motorbikes. Being a solo female traveller,  finding the best eats and pit stops between preplanned itineraries and places of interests in a land full of motorbikes can be daunting. It can be very challenging and scary for first timers as well! But with a little help from the TripScout travel app, I managed to see a picture embedded street map of where I am and the landmarks I am supposed to go. TripScout shows tiny thumbnail pictures of famous landmarks, museums, tourist points of interests, and even some interesting places to check out in between.

TripScout, with its mission to bring forth a new generation of travel by providing local and realistic self-guided tours, is currently named the top travel app by USA Today. Within a short time span from its release, it has gained a load of recognition and usership in the travel sphere.

The TripScout app is free for download on both GooglePlay and Itunes AppStore. You can easily search for your destination in the navigation menu at the bottom of the page under ‘cities’. Once you have located your destination of travel, simply purchase the entire pre-loaded city map that will cost you just a small amount from USD 1.99 and above. To me, this is totally worth it as it takes the load off from planning where to go, hunting the famous Instagrammable hotspots and landmarks, finding what to eat and what to do in between. I can use the map as my main guide and expand my exploration further out of the area as I travel along or if I already have done my own research of spots to drop by and take a look. 

While Google Maps may show the untranslated local names of places and shops, TripScout provides an English name, or the user’s device’s default language, for users to easily understand and know the descriptions of those places exactly and for future reference. The map on TripScout is also clean by removing a lot of other listings of other shops, businesses, hotels and building names. By clicking on the thumbnail, you get to see a summarised description and information of the place, it’s address,  directions from where you are, average costs for goods sold there as well as a hyperlink for more information shared on social media on the location.

Although not much places or hotspots are listed in Ho Chi Minh, it is still a great help for those travellers who are in transit like me. I only have about 12 hours to tour this beautiful city before heading back to the airport for my connecting flight. TripScout is a relatively good app even for first time solo travellers who need romanised tags of specific landmarks in cities they visit without the noise of all the shops and businesses listings on Google Maps.

Thanks and ciao TripScout! Looking forward to more exciting city guides from you for my next adventure! 

For more exciting TripScout’s destinations, please visit tripscout.co to get ready for your upcoming ‘bucket list’ adventure.