Find Penguins

Thirty-five years ago, I traced my travel through the United States with a pen and a map book. I still have that map book, and I often get it out and reminisce about my trip from a long time ago. However, with my bucket list trip to Europe later this year, I am sure there is a killer app that could help me map my journey, figure out the best routes, and discover the best travel spots I might not have heard of yet.

One app candidate, FindPenguins, is like Google Maps, with some additional features to make it a friendly trip. Part travel tracker, part travel journal, the app keeps track of where I will travel, where I will be going, and who I want to share that journey with.

By turning on the Travel Tracker, the app will start tracking my trips and even detect whether you’re travelling by car or plane. Waypoints are created by my phone checking my movements every 5 to 10 minutes. The app does all the work of mapping out the direction I am going in. The app uses a combination of GPS, WiFi and cellular data. It continues to work even when my phone is switched to Flight Mode – and only takes up about 4 per cent of extra battery when the Tracker is switched on. I can also share the trip with others by sending them an email linking to my profile. They can create their own profile on the app and tap ‘Follow’ to receive your trip updates in their feed.

I am new to this app, so I will test it on my next week’s trip to Bright.
This way, I can set up and optimise my profile and learn how to follow and add travellers so that you get the best sharing experience.