It seems like there’s always a new travel app popping up these days these days, and as both a traveler and a travel blogger, I tend to try out a lot of them. From useful communication and translation apps to apps that help you link up with other travelers in the area, there is literally an app for for everything…except they aren’t all always that great.
I’m not a hug fan of new apps that require you to upload all of your photos and grow a following; I’ve spent way too many hours neurotically mastering Instagram to just start all over again. I’m also not always the biggest fan of link-up apps, because; A) It’s kind of creepy and dangerous, and B) When I’m traveling I want to be experiencing the place and meeting people as I go, not trying to fit in making plans with random people on top of all the plans I’ve already made for the trip.
But wait! Wouldn’t it be genius if there was a travel app that didn’t require you to re-upload all of your travel photos in order for them to be seen, and allowed you to swipe left or right on photos of places in order to match you with a trip rather than a date??
There is! Hooray! It’s like a Tinder for travel except you’re swiping right on places you like rather than people you like. It’s called Laika, and the point of it, other than to be amusing and induce wanderlust, is to spot trends in the types of places you like in order to smartly “match” you with a tour or location it thinks you would like.
So for instance, when I first was testing Laika out, I swiped left and right on a ton of photos all just based on if they appealed to me or not. After about ten or so swipes, a screen popped up saying “It’s a match!” and of course low and behold it was a waterfall tour in a jungle in South America. From there you can click to see more information about the location and the tour, and you can add it to a wishlist or even book it straight from the app!
But, since I had already made plans to travel to Asia for a month, I wanted to see if I could just search through all of Laika’s tours to see if anything suited my plans.
After perusing through a few tours, finally I got a match, yay! And it was actually a photo of a place I had wanted to go to in Tokyo, but didn’t know the name of, double yay! So I got the directions right from the app, and followed it to the same exact spot that was in the photo on Laika!
So you can use Laika like I did to find things to do in an area you’re in or going to; there’s no geo filter like on Tinder, so you can technically “match” with any place in the world. Or, you can just use it to fuel your wanderlust and get ideas on where to go for your next trip! With Laika’s smart algorithm and large database of destinations and tours, you’re bound to get hooked, and maybe even booked!
Disclaimer: This post is in collaboration with Laika Travel, however all opinions and photos are my own! Otherwise I wouldn’t post about it…Ok this disclaimer has become too long..and first-person-ish. Ok so safe and many travels!!!
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