I'm getting excited for this! I'll be driving the Trip Hopping van up from Phoenix, already posted the rideshare, but let me know if anyone needs a ride to or from.
This is underway! Good times here in Phoenix, we posted an update today that improves the map, flight search, and also opens the app up to people who aren't logged in. If you wanna join us here in Phoenix, just reach out. Cheers!
Looking for someone to go hitchhiking with, or looking to form a group for a road trip? Whatever kinda travel companion(s) you're looking for, you can now find them here. Just go to the "Travel Companions" page (you'll find it on the top right dropdown menu) and flip the switch to become discoverable yourself.
You can let people know what kinda trip you're looking to go on, the perfect travel buddy, and you can be as specific of vague about the location and time you'd like to go. Then, go ahead and look at everyone else who's open to finding a travel companion.
You might also notice we've just added a ton of "Preferences" you can add that will show up on your profile to give others a clue as to your travel style, and also let's Trip Hopping adapt to your style. The more you fill out, the more the app can show you more focused results when you search for Transportation, Accomodation, and Exploration options.
For example, go to my profile and you'll see I often Hitchhike, Stay with Hosts, and love Multi-day hikes, Waterfalls and Breweries & Beer Bars. I know I'm not alone. You can even share your Travel Skills, which may come in handy as we expand our travel-jobs features, or if you'd like to host someone who's an expert Gardener for example.
These new features have limitless implications and we'll continue to improve them as we get more feedback. So, keep enjoying the summer and keep on hopping, friends.
I think Burial Brewing is the clear winner in town, but I just wanted to leave this thread up here in case anyone wants to suggest otherwise. So many epic beer spots in town with great IPAs, great views, good vibes and more. But stouts... I think it's Burial.
Now on the "go" page you'll see prices and schedules for buses and trains in much of the world. You could already see flights, rideshare, hitchhiking spots and articles and other ways to travel, but buses are often cheap and an easy way to get around. I'm excited to have this feature working and hope you are too. Let me know what you think and I'll continue to improve upon it and everything else as well. Good times!
February and early March have been busy for Trip Hopping. It's feeling more like the go-to travel app I've always envisioned.
Earlier this month I added "Places" and Travel Partners and posted about that, so give that a read or just check out how you can add favorite places and find someone to travel with.
Since then...
- The Android app is public! You can search "Trip Hopping" in the Play Store (or click the link in this post) to download the app. Besides being a bit faster and more convenient, the app allows you to get notifications, import your phone contacts to see them on the map, as well as see thousands of rated hitchhiking spots around the world.
- Also, email notifications work better now, so app or not, you shouldn't miss a message or comment on your trips and notes
- Profiles are cleaner and you can see people's trips on the map
- Shares/posts are more prominent and easy to add (this is one!), even from the map (long press or right click anywhere to add something cool). Defined categories like "Travel Work," "Creative," "Discussions," and more.
- Active users can apply to be an ambassador or pollinator, if you're excited about organizing events with travelers and expanding the community.
- The GO tab now has more rideshare results in the US and Canada, ferries, the most relevant hitchwiki articles, and more ways to add your own tips (like a lesser know local bus/shuttle site)
- Big design and map updates. On desktop the site now looks AWESOME, with the map exposed at all times showing all your friends, public notes, search related markers and all kinds of goodness. You'll discover your favorite feature just by poking around. Long press anywhere on the map for a menu to search there, add a note, add a trip, or see the weather...
- Weather! Simple, but convenient, a three day forecast is now available on the map and on the Explore page. If the icon background is slightly red, it means sometime in the next three days there's wind, rain, or freezing temperatures expected. No background means happy days.
- New hosting options. Besides hosting couch-surfers, you can opt in to accept requests for work-exchange, house/pet-sitting, and short term rentals for those who are less interested in being social and want to pay a few bucks
- Creative content: You can now add more links to your profile for your creative travel content, like a youtube channel, Instagram page or podcast. Members are also encouraged to share creative content links on the "Shared Travel Content" page. It's awesome to see all our members creative stuff in one place!
- You can add trips without dates and decide if it's a "bucket list" future trip, or just somewhere you've been in the past you want to add to your trip map
- Lots of optimizations to code and image handling and other subtle features. Things are getting awesome!
That's the quick rundown, so go ahead and click around and see what you can find. The more you use Trip Hopping, the more you'll discover. Is there a feature missing? Let me know, maybe it'll be the next addition.
Happy travels all!
A couple new features got pushed live here on Trip Hopping.
The first is Places. You'll now see places and be able to add favorites on the Explore tab and map. By default you'll see local places like breweries, trails, and the like; you can change the grouping of categories to show monuments/touristy stuff, or coffee shops & co-working spaces, nature-focused spots, or you can search for whatever place/business you want.
You'll see places most favorited by other members nearby, so share yours with the rest of us. You'll see these on the Explore tab, and by clicking the place icon filter (just below the search box) you'll see more.
Travel Partners is another experimental new feature. Tap your profile icon in the top right of the app and in that menu you'll see "Travel Partners." Here you can turn on/off whether you'd like to be discoverable, and you'll see others looking to travel together. Pretty simple for now, but should be fun and we'll improve it over time.
Have fun Hoppers!
Went to Ramble West last night and can confirm: happiness occurs there as well.
I love Chico, and over the years the brewery scene has gotten even better. It used to just be Sierra Nevada, which alone was awesome, but now there's many more. One time I went to every brewery here in a day (video linked), but now there's even more. I'll be checking out "Ramble West" while in town this time, a new one for me, but besides Sierra Nevada I'm a huge fan of Secret Trail and the Baltic Porter (and whatever other one-off magic they may be pouring).
Like Trip Hopping and want to help make it better? Come to Arizona this February and contribute whatever skills and good vibes you've got. You'll have a comfortable place to stay, tasty meals, and some fun excursions while we spend the month making Trip Hopping stronger, more interesting and accessible to travelers and hosts around the world.
Message me directly and let me know your skills and what you're interested in contributing and we'll go from there. The app is written in Flutter, and of course developers of all types are extremely helpful. Designers of all sorts as well. Even if you don't have a niche techie skill you may still be valuable as there are some research and data entry tasks that can be done. Good vibes welcome!
Welcome! Glad you're liking it so far. Are you actually in Georgia right now? I'm just outside of Kutaisi right now.
Kenny here, creator of Trip Hopping, I hope everyone is enjoying it. I'd love some help to improve this from fellow travelers, designers, coders, researchers, and anyone with an inkling to make things better. I've most recently gotten the "go live" feature working well, it's nice to see people on the map. I've also begun integrating with Nostr, which is a decentralized protocol which allows for all kinds of unique interoperability. The Android app is being tested and nearing a public release, and there are so many more features waiting to come alive.
So, a "brew" later this year would be great, just a gathering of folks down to improve the site. Arizona is a front-runner for the location, but it really could be anywhere. I'm just leaving this note here for anyone who wants to reply or contact me directly. Even if you can't join the Brew in-person you could still make a big difference. But also we'll literally be brewing beer, so... you might wanna be there.
Thanks Hoppers!
I'm here in Georgia at least another couple weeks, possibly longer if I continue enjoying it. Anyone have suggestions on the best hikes that result in high up awesome views? I'm also on the lookout for amazing beer, so send any microbrewery tips my way. Good times!
Hello, Nostr! It is me again.
Hello world! #introductions