Google Adds Helpful Tools to Help You Travel
Travel demand is rising, and especially leisure travel has seen a spike in recent months. As vaccines become more available, many people are eager to start planning vacations again. But travel, especially abroad, is still tricky. So Google has announced a few updates to keep you informed on the latest travel guidance and explore potential destinations.
Stay Up to Date
When you look for travel information like flights, hotels or things to do, Search will let you know if there are COVID-19 related travel advisories or restrictions for your destination. Now, there are even more travel restriction details, like whether you’ll need to quarantine upon arrival or provide proof of test results or immunization records.
You can now also track travel advisories or restrictions for your destination and get email updates. If you are signed into your Google account, you can toggle “Receive an email if this guidance changes.” You’ll be notified when restrictions are added, lifted or reduced. These updates are country-specific. State-specific information is also available in the United States.
Get Destination Ideas
Google has made some updates to Explore to help you get started when you decide to travel again. Google Flights fans may already be familiar with the Explore map, which shows flight prices for different destinations if you’re flexible on where and when you’re traveling.
Now, Explore has its own tab on Google.com/travel and has been redesigned so you can browse more than just flights. You’ll see more destinations on the map — including smaller cities and national parks — and if you have a certain type of trip in mind, you can filter destinations for interests like outdoors, beaches or skiing. If you only want to see cities with an airport, select flights only in “Travel Mode.”
When you pick a destination, we’ll show you if there’s a travel advisory or restriction and, in addition to the best flights, you’ll see other helpful information for planning your trip, like hotels, things to do, the best time to visit and more.
Plan Road Trips
Road trips and staycations have been a way to satisfy travel cravings, while flying has been impossible or just a hassle. Google Maps can now help you with that as well. You can decide where to stop along the way ahead of time. When you visit Google Maps on your desktop computer, enter your starting point and your final destination, and at the top of the map you can choose from different types of places to stop like hotels, parks, campgrounds and rest stops. Select a specific location and add it as a stop.
Once your journey is planned, send the directions to your phone via text, email or the Google Maps app, so you can navigate right from your phone when you’re ready to leave.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the old king of travel rewards cards. Right now
bonus_miles_full
Learn more about this card and its features!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
