Just Ahead voted a top five best new travel app

With the start of a new year, travelers, adventurers and families are considering their next big trip. With the National Park Centennial celebrated on August 25, 2016, trips to the national parks are a priority. National Parks offer tremendous variety of landscapes, monuments and areas to explore. To help travelers in national parks, Just Ahead offers a smartphone app for road tripping through national parks. 

Recently voted a top five Best New Travel App by USA Today 10 Best readers, Just Ahead offers distinctive GPS-guided smartphone audio tours of the country’s most dramatic landscapes. The app has produced 13 audio tours covering 15 national parks and monuments, and is gearing up to extend its coverage nationwide. Scheduled for early 2016 release are Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee, Petrified Forest National Park and Canyon de Chelly in Arizona, and South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, and Badlands National Park.

While many travelers try to check off the highlights of certain locales, Just Ahead wants to give travelers more than just the bullet points. This app offers professionally written and narrated audio tours. The app offers informed travels more of an experience as they explore the national parks.

Just Ahead utilizes GPS technology to know exactly where drivers are on the road, and delivers stories and maps relevant to their exact location. The groundbreaking app points out not-to-miss features while also helping drivers avoid getting lost. It suggests directions and tells drivers why they should turn or not, what they should do after a turn, and the best direction to take if there are multiple route options.
 
Just Ahead guides are currently available for the following National Parks: Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Zion & Cedar Breaks, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands & Arches, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Rocky Mountain. Many additional park and road-trip guides are in production.

The Just Ahead app is a free download available through the Apple App Store (iPhone) or Google Play (Android), and each destination guide is available as an in-app purchase. Guides range from $7.99 to $9.99 and include a free trial and free guide updates.

Chicago Travel and Adventure Show opens the doors to your next trip

With airline ticket prices becoming more affordable and gas prices plunging, families are ready to possibility of a family vacation. From a couple hour trip to a daylong plane ride, the Chicago Travel and Adventure Show can spark your curiosities for your family’s next big adventure. Held January 23 through 24 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, the 2016 Chicago Travel & Adventure Show gives travelers and dreamers the chance to explore their vacation possibilities. 

The 2016 Chicago Travel & Adventure Show seeks to appeal to all types of travelers. From the casual weekend getaway to the epic international adventure, the expo will appease all types. The show will feature 350 exhibitors, travel experts and interactive exhibits. 

“Our show guests are really in for a treat this year as we’ve expanded the expo in all areas,” says Travel and Adventure Show CEO John Golicz, who also serves as executive editor of the popular travel website 1000TravelTips.com.  “Visitors will leave the show with the insights and travel planning tools they just can’t find anywhere else.”

New exhibitors for the 2016 show include Down Under Endeavors, Skorpios Cruises, Portugal Motorcylce Tours, Arizona Office of Tourism and Door County Visitors Bureau. In addition to these new exhibitors, the show’s official travel agency partner, AAA, expands its participation. With its commitment to providing one-stop destination of all things travel, AAA will feature booth for Disney Destinations, Holland America and Rocky Mountaineers. 

“AAA has expanded its participation in the Travel & Adventure Show for 2016 with more of our world-class partners participating in our exhibit area as well as an enhanced show special offer for attendees with direct booking opportunities right at the show," said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA Travel. "In addition, we will again be sponsoring the Destination Theater throughout the weekend with many of our partners presenting throughout the show. All attendees who stop by the AAA booth will have the chance to enter and win an European River Cruise for two from Uniworld Boutique River Cruise.”

In addition to the plentiful information at the show, guests have many opportunities to have fun. Guests can get a photo of themselves in front of one of many exotic locales at the show’s green screen studio, ride a camel and try out a Segway rides on the show floor.

The Chicago Travel & Adventure Show takes place at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center.  January 23-24. On Saturday, the show opens at 9:30 a.m. for travel professionals, with general public hours set from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. On Sunday, the show floor opens at 11 a.m, and closes at 4 p.m. Single day tickets ($16) and two-day tickets ($25) can be purchased at http://www.TravelShows.com/shows/Chicago.  Children 16 and under are free.