How Apps Have Changed the Way We Travel

Let’s face it, the way we travel has changed — a lot. Thanks to technology, we have instant access to information — and lots of it. We no longer blindly trust a travel agent to plan our vacations anymore. Instead, we research, we study, we read, and we wait to book a hotel room until after we’ve scanned through Oyster’s honest photos and unbiased reviews, of course. And in our world of “apps,” where we can download just about anything onto our phones, studying, researching, and planning our vacations has become easier than ever. So here’s a story of a time when a lack of travel apps ruined a travel experience — and when their presence saved one.

Peruse some guidebooks TripAdvisor reviews about watching the sun rise over Haleakala Crater and you’ll start to notice some reappearing tag lines: it’s amazing, it’s a wonderful experience, the views are astounding, don’t leave Maui without seeing it. So naturally, when my family and I began to plan our first trip to Maui two years ago, the Haleakala sunrise was at the top of our to-do list.

As any good travelers would, we read the reviews thoroughly, and learned from the mistakes of those who’d gone before us. We knew it’d be cold, so we packed our Marmots and lugged hotel comforters with us as we crawled from our beds at some ungodly hour. We drove slowly up to the summit, carefully handling every hairpin turn and squinting to see the brake lights of the cars in front of us — only faintly visible in the early morning fog. We drove, and we drove, and we drove, we paid the park entrance fee, and we drove some more, and finally we reached the top.

The reviews we had trusted were accurate (for the most part). It was cold. This was a completely different Maui than the tropical breezes and bright blue skies we had become accustomed to. The fog formed an opaque curtain across the horizon, the wind whipped above the open valley, and — I’m not kidding — while we were there, it began to snow. My family and I huddled together, our faces numb and damp from the thick precipitation. This was not the otherworldly experience we had read about. Soon enough, a park ranger announced that the sun was, in fact, rising, but that it would be impossible to see through the fog. I was shocked. Even with these conditions, I somehow thought the weather would magically clear and we’d be granted the same experience as everyone else. Well, I was wrong. We saw absolutely nothing. Tired, cold, and hungry, we headed back down to sea level. Apparently, no one writes about their bad trips to Haleakala.

But this is not where the story ends. When my family and I returned to Maui this August, we were determined to rewrite our story of Haleakala. This time around we were going to get it right. We all downloaded weather apps to our phones: NOAA Radar Pro (99 cents) and The Weather Channel (free) came to our rescue one morning when the three o’clock alarm went off and both apps told us that the previously predicted sunny skies were now going to be cloudy. Thanks to our apps, we happily went back to sleep and avoided another disastrous encounter with the crater.

When our apps finally suggested a clear dawn, we were up and running (and the Four Seasons Maui provided us with free early morning coffee, pastries, and much needed blankets). With the help of Google Maps we were able to take shortcuts through local streets and avoid traffic (yes, there were actually cars on the road at that time), as good timing is crucial when it comes to watching the sun rise. Thanks to clear skies, we were able to see every — as my dad calls them “sneeze and you’ll miss it” — turn, leading us to truly appreciate the height of the crater we were slowly ascending. And when we reached the summit, we were greeted by a cloudless sky.

And so began the sensory experience we had been longing for. Our ears had popped and our lungs had compressed, but the cold air was invigorating and the first strands of sunlight widened our sleepy eyes. As the sun started to make her way above the horizon, park rangers began chanting some sort of traditional ode, a morning song to greet the rising sun. The orange light warmed the atmosphere, and we watched as everyone shed their layers and emerged into the brightness. This was the ethereal sunrise we had been waiting for all along.

Thanks to our apps, we were able to avoid the disastrous experience of our first trip to Haleakala. It’s crazy to think that one or two simple downloads was all it took to save us from disappointment. And of course, the incredible scene wouldn’t be complete without even more app usage. From the top of the crater, we were sending Snapchats to our friends (here’s a selfie from 10,00 feet!), posting beautiful Instagram pictures (#nofilter), tweeting about our morning (@HaleakalaNPS unreal #sunrise), and checking in on Facebook (Alex Creange is at–Haleakala National Park). After all, no matter how otherworldly the sunrise atop Haleakala, we’re still creatures of habit, attached to the devices we can’t live without. Besides, what’s the point of having apps if we’re not going to use them?

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