What it’s like using travel startup Journy

You may remember that time I decided to do whatever startup Journy told me to do during my trip to Berlin with my mom. Well, I mostly stuck to that plan and we had a really good time.

Here’s a quick recap. Journy is designed to function somewhere in between a high-end travel service and a DIY approach to jetsetting. For $25 a day, Journy will act as your personal concierge for your trip, handling everything from planning to booking tables at restaurants and rooms in hotels. When you’re out and about, you can access your Journy itinerary via the iOS app or via a downloadable pdf file.

Day one in Berlin kicked off exactly how Journy had planned for me, starting with heading to a coffee shop near the hotel and then Checkpoint Charlie. With each activity Journy suggests, there’s a description that goes along with it. Journy described Checkpoint Charlie as “a plaintive reminder of the city’s Cold War days. One of the most prominent border crossing spots for foreign visitors in pre-1989 Berlin, this checkpoint is a grim reminder of the city’s progress over the past 27 years.” And before visiting the East Side Gallery (pictured above), my mom and I knew that it was once part of the Berlin Wall and had since been transformed into a collective work of art.

All in all, my mom and I did most of what Journy had suggested, but not always in the order it suggested. My ask to Journy for future iterations is to make it possible to self-edit my agenda, rather than have to contact the concierge (who’s not available 24/7) in order to make changes.

To see what I mean, take a look at the screenshot on your right. The first thing my mom and I did that day was reflect at the Holocaust Memorial. Next, we made a short walk over to the Brandenburg Gate. But we decided to stroll down Unter-Den-Linden the day before, which meant the rest of our day was off track.

Another issue I had with it was, while the food recommendations were amazing, my mom and I showed up to a restaurant to realize my Journy concierge did not make the dinner reservation they said they had booked for us. It wasn’t a problem because the restaurant wasn’t busy, but still.

Anyway, for only $25 a day per itinerary, Journy is great and I can’t really complain. It beautifully displays a bunch of activities you can do during your trip, breaks it down by day and then plops it on a map — all within one app. For my next trip, if my final destination is one of the 60 cities across five continents where Journy is available, I’ll likely use it again.

Featured Image: TechCrunch/Megan Rose Dickey