Planning your next adventure? Learn how to get started with Travel Outenza: create your first trip, invite travel companions, personalize your travel dashboard and organize your journey in one place.
Planning a trip should be exciting. But between booking flights, finding hotels, saving places you want to visit, and organizing activities, things can quickly become complicated.
That is one of the main reasons I created Travel Outenza. I wanted a travel planning app that could bring everything together in one place. Something that would be useful not only while planning a vacation at home, but also when actually traveling.
During my own trip to Japan, I had the opportunity to put Travel Outenza to the test. Having quick access to my itinerary, saved information, currency converter, and travel details made a real difference.
Now I want to show you how to get started. In this beginner's guide, we'll use a trip to Japan as our example, with Tokyo as our main destination. I'll walk you through creating a trip, personalizing your dashboard, and discovering the features that can make your next adventure easier to manage.
Whether you're planning months ahead or have already arrived at your destination, you can start using Travel Outenza at any stage of your journey.
Create a new trip and choose your destination country and cities.
Name your trip and add your travel dates.
Invite your travel companions by email.
Start from scratch or use a travel template.
Personalize your trip with a background and check your trip settings.
Use your travel dashboard for weather, upcoming activities, quick-access shortcuts, the currency converter and local language tips.
Every adventure starts somewhere. In Travel Outenza, it begins by creating a new trip.
Open the app and select the option to create a trip. This is where you'll enter the basic information that helps Travel Outenza organize your travel experience.
The first thing you'll need is a destination. For this guide, let's imagine we're planning a vacation to Japan.
Select Japan as your destination country, then give your trip a name. It can be something simple, such as "Japan 2027", or something more personal, like "Our Japanese Adventure".
I recommend choosing a name you'll recognize easily, especially if you plan to organize several trips in Travel Outenza. Next, add the cities or areas you plan to visit. For example, you might begin in Tokyo before continuing to Kyoto and Osaka. You can include multiple destinations depending on your travel plans.
These details help Travel Outenza personalize your travel information, including maps and destination-related features.
Next, select your departure and return dates. These dates provide the foundation for organizing your itinerary and keeping track of the days you'll spend at your destination.
Even if you haven't planned every activity yet, entering your travel dates will help you build your schedule later.
Are you traveling alone, with your partner, or with a group of friends? Travel Outenza allows you to invite other people to join your trip. Simply enter their email addresses and send an invitation.
This is particularly useful when several people are planning the same vacation. Instead of keeping important travel information scattered across group chats, emails, and individual notes, everyone can be connected to the same trip.
You can also manage your travel companions later through the trip settings.
Before completing your trip setup, you can choose how you want to begin. Travel Outenza offers two options:
Start from scratch: Create an empty trip and build your itinerary exactly the way you want.
Use a travel template: Get started with a trip template shared by another Travel Outenza traveler.
Templates can be a useful source of inspiration, especially when you're visiting a destination for the first time. Personally, I often enjoy starting with a blank itinerary. It gives me the freedom to build a journey around my own interests, favorite places, and unexpected discoveries.
Once you're satisfied with your selections, click the create trip button.
Your first trip is now ready!
Once you've created your trip, you'll be taken to your travel dashboard. This is your personal overview, where important information about your journey will appear. At first, some sections may be empty. That's expected, because we haven't added our activities and travel plans yet.
Before doing that, I recommend spending a few minutes customizing the trip. Look for the settings icon in the upper-right corner of your travel dashboard.
One of the first things you can do is personalize the appearance of your trip. You can choose a travel template or customize your background image. For our Japan adventure, I would choose something that immediately reminds me of the destination. Perhaps the Tokyo skyline, a traditional Japanese street, or a beautiful view of Mount Fuji.
It may seem like a small detail, but it makes opening your travel dashboard a little more exciting. After all, part of the fun of traveling is looking forward to the experience.
While you're in the settings, make sure your destination details are correct. For this example, we've selected Japan as our country and Tokyo as our destination.
The selected country influences the local greeting displayed on your dashboard, while destination information helps tailor the map and other location-related content. You can also review your travel companions and invite additional people if your travel plans change.
When you're happy with everything, save your changes.
Now return to your travel overview. You'll notice that your dashboard has started to take shape. Your selected background is visible, your destination information has been updated, and Travel Outenza welcomes you with a greeting inspired by the country you're visiting.
For Japan, you'll see a Japanese welcome message. It's one of those small features I enjoy because it helps create a connection with the destination before the trip has even started.
But your travel dashboard is much more than a welcome screen.
Your dashboard includes weather information for your selected destination. For our Tokyo trip, we can check the current weather conditions in Tokyo. If your vacation is still several weeks away, this is a fun way to keep an eye on the destination. Once you arrive, it becomes even more practical when deciding what to do during the day.
Another important part of the dashboard is the upcoming activities section. Right now, it might be empty. However, once you begin adding attractions, experiences, and scheduled activities to your itinerary, your upcoming plans will start appearing here. This gives you an easy way to see what's happening next without opening your entire itinerary every time. We'll explore how to build your day-by-day travel schedule in the next guide.
One of my favorite things about Travel Outenza is the collection of shortcuts on the travel dashboard.
When you're visiting a new destination, you don't always have time to search through multiple menus, emails, and documents. You might be standing at a train station in Tokyo, looking for a booking confirmation, or trying to remember the name of a restaurant you saved earlier.
That's when having important information organized in one place becomes particularly useful. Travel Outenza includes quick-access shortcuts to features such as:
Your travel itinerary and daily plans.
Tickets and important travel documents.
Maps and places you've saved.
Hotel information.
Your travel diary.
Other useful information connected to your trip.
As you add more content, these sections become more valuable.
I experienced this myself during my Japan trip. Having a familiar place to find the information I needed saved me from constantly switching between apps.
Have you ever found something you wanted to buy abroad but weren't quite sure how much it cost in your own currency?
During my trip to Japan, this happened regularly. Prices are displayed in Japanese yen, and converting unfamiliar amounts into Norwegian kroner isn't always something you want to calculate in your head. That's why we included a currency converter in Travel Outenza.
You can access it from your travel dashboard and enter an amount in your destination's local currency. The converter helps you see the approximate value in your preferred currency. You can also update the exchange rate when needed.
Whether you're shopping in Tokyo, comparing restaurant prices, or deciding whether to book an extra experience, it can be a practical tool. Remember that actual card charges may differ because of exchange rate changes and fees from your bank or card provider.
Collect the places that inspire you, build a day-by-day itinerary and keep every ticket, booking and note in one place.
Free to start. Save the places from this article to a trip, plan your days and share the trip with your travel companions.
Traveling is about more than visiting famous attractions. For me, one of the best parts of exploring a new country is learning about its culture, language, and everyday life. That's why Travel Outenza includes features designed to help you discover something new along the way.
On your travel dashboard, you'll find a section dedicated to learning the local language. The content automatically changes every hour, giving you new opportunities to discover words and expressions.
If you're visiting Japan, this might help you learn basic Japanese greetings, polite expressions, or useful everyday phrases. You don't need to become fluent before your trip. Even knowing a few words can make interactions with local people more enjoyable. And if you're waiting at the airport or sitting on a long train journey, it's a useful way to pass the time.
You'll also find destination-related facts and information. As you add locations and other details to your trip, Travel Outenza can make this content more relevant to your journey.
My goal is for the app to do more than organize travel information. I also want it to encourage curiosity and help travelers discover more about the places they're visiting. If you are planning a trip to Japan, the Japan National Tourism Organization is also a useful official source for travel information.
Traveling with friends or family? Then you might want to try Travel Challenges. This feature introduces questions and challenges that you can enjoy with your travel companions.
You can activate Travel Challenges in your trip settings. We're continuing to develop this part of Travel Outenza, with the goal of making it an entertaining addition to the travel experience.
Imagine testing each other's knowledge about Japan while relaxing after a day of exploring Tokyo. A little friendly competition might be just what you need.
At the bottom of your travel dashboard, you'll find information about the people joining your trip.
I recommend keeping their contact details up to date, including phone numbers.
You probably already have your partner's or friends' phone numbers saved on your phone.
But when traveling, having important contact information available in your trip overview can be useful too.
If your group gets separated or something unexpected happens, it's helpful to know where to find the details you need.
It's a small preparation that can make traveling together a little easier.
Congratulations! You've now completed the first steps of setting up your journey in Travel Outenza. You've created a trip, selected your destinations, invited your travel companions, and personalized your dashboard.
You've also discovered several features that can help make your vacation easier to organize. But we're only getting started.
The real value of Travel Outenza becomes clear when you begin adding all the places you want to visit, the activities you've booked, and the details you'll need along the way.
Perhaps you discovered a little café on Instagram that you want to visit in Tokyo. Maybe you've already booked an exciting experience in Kyoto, or saved the address of a shop you don't want to miss. Travel Outenza helps you bring those pieces of your journey together.
You can build your itinerary gradually, whether you're sitting at home planning your vacation or already exploring your destination.
The more relevant information you add, the more useful your travel companion becomes.
Travel Outenza is a digital travel planning app designed to help travelers organize trips, create itineraries, save destinations, manage travel information, and access useful tools while traveling.
Yes. You can create a trip and continue adding activities, destinations, and travel information even after you've arrived at your destination.
Yes. Travel Outenza lets you invite travel companions by email, allowing multiple people to be connected to the same trip.
No. You can begin with your destination and travel dates, then gradually add places, bookings, activities, and other information as your plans develop.
Yes. Travel Outenza supports travel templates shared by other travelers, giving you an alternative to creating an itinerary from scratch.
Yes. Travel Outenza includes map-related features and a currency converter, alongside tools such as travel itineraries, saved places, tickets, and destination information.
Create a new trip, choose your destination country and cities, give the trip a name and add your travel dates. You can then invite travel companions by email, choose whether to start from scratch or use a travel template, and personalize your travel dashboard.
Travel Outenza was created by Tomas Eskeland. The idea grew out of planning a trip to Japan, which you can read more about in How Planning Our Trip to Japan Became a Travel App.
In the next guide, I'll show you how to start filling your trip with the places you want to visit, experiences you're looking forward to, and important travel information.
We'll take a closer look at creating a practical day-by-day itinerary and using Travel Outenza as your travel companion throughout the journey.
Continue to Part 2: How to Create a Travel Itinerary with Travel Outenza.
Haven't created your first trip yet?
Visit travel.outenza.com and start planning your next adventure.
Collect the places that inspire you, build a day-by-day itinerary and keep every ticket, booking and note in one place.
Free to start. Save the places from this article to a trip, plan your days and share the trip with your travel companions.
How to Get Started with Travel Outenza: Your Complete Step-by-Step Guide
More inspiration for the same part of the world.
Travel Outenza GuidesBook hotels, experiences and transport straight from your saved places in Travel Outenza. Here is everything new in the trip planner app.
Travel Outenza GuidesSave places you want to visit – from Instagram, Explore or a trip – and keep them in your own travel library. This guide shows how Saved, My Saved and the maps in Travel Outenza work together.
Travel Outenza GuidesPlanning a trip is one of the most exciting parts of traveling. From discovering new destinations to organizing flights, hotels, and unforgettable experiences, every detail brings your next adventure a little closer.
