I love to travel abroad and am lucky to have done quite a bit pre-kids. Because now? Please. Luckily, with the cool new Findery app, I can still uncover known and unknown gems about my dream destination, Paris, and anywhere else in the world
The app is a mobile version of the Findery website and is a mix of social network, social discovery and incredible travel resource all rolled into one. It was created by start-up rockstar Caterina Fake, who founded Flickr and Hunch (hello!), and she clearly knows how to build an awesome app, too.
The app is like a crowdsourced personal travel journal that gives you unique and personal information about locales that you’d never find in a traditional travel book. It allows you to find historical notes, anecdotes, photos and stories from other people who have left them in the locations they have visited, and made available for you to read.
As for the social aspect, you can follow other people on their travels, create private travel circles, share public diaries of your journey called Notemaps, or just peruse the Notemaps of other globetrotters via a timeline. My own feed featured notes from Hawaii, Hong Kong, Chicago, the LEGO Museum, Zurich, Columbia, and a pub in Ireland, in case you need an example of how varied the information is.
While the Findery app can of course help with vacation planning, it’s also just fun to read about others’ adventures and to peek at all those notes. And when you’re on your own travels, it’s important for you to share your own knowledge too. Clearly, the more people that use the app, the more populated it becomes with amazing insider knowledge of the best museum in Prague, the singing waiter at a restaurant in Little Rock or the best taco joints in the US.
As for this mom who’s not traveling internationally any time soon, at least for now I can enjoy reading up on all the insider info on Paris, and hoping one day I’ll get to try the best croissant in the city for myself.
Findery app is available for free on iTunes.
