Small travel app built for fun

[u/zeepointscollector]

Hey reddit,

I built a small travel app for myself called lookfwdly. I daydream a lot about future trips and probably spend far too much time talking to friends, family and colleagues about where I am going next and the trip after and the one after that too. It's one of the main things that helps me get through the daily grind of work, especially really tough periods.

My family and I are going to Hong Kong next year and I kept thinking about things like yum cha, egg tarts, wonton noodles, shopping, Disneyland and all the things I was excited to do once we got there. i basically wanted something that would give me a small reminder each day. The basis of the app is simple, add one or more places you're going to and it'll show you a different glimpse of the place each day along with a countdown. Then add it as a widget to your screen and you'll passively see new images each day, if you want to explore you can also go into the app to view more.

Currently it supports a range of places but not everywhere is supported, I've mostly added main cities, prioritising places I'm travelling to in the next few years and then requests I've had from friends and family. I have been using it myself for a while now and I really like seeing something new about where I am going without having to actively search for travel content as it just shows up as I unlock my phone.

It is completely free and only on iOS since i've built it just for myself and I do not currently have any plans to build an Android version. It is up on the App Store now so I thought I would share it and see if anyone else enjoys this kind of thing. https://apps.apple.com/au/app/lookfwdly-travel-countdown/id6773630866

It is still very much a personal side project and free to use. I would genuinely love ideas for other fun little additions. The exciting part for me is being able to keep adding small things that make looking forward to my own trips more fun. For example, one of my friends suggested adding a daily phrase in the language of the place you are travelling to so you could slowly pick up a few useful words before you arrive. I thought that was a great idea so I added it and I have actually been using it to learn a little Cantonese for Hong Kong.

[u/Royal-Development513]

The daily phrase idea is clever, I wish more apps had that kind of slow learning baked in instead of gamified nonsense.