How Planning Our Trip to Japan Became a Travel App
How a messy pile of Instagram saves before our trip to Japan became Travel Outenza, and what two weeks in Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka taught me about planning a trip.
An idea born while planning a trip to Japan
A few months before Kaja and I set off on our trip to Japan, the planning had taken over. Every time we found an interesting restaurant, an unusual shop or a must-see attraction on Instagram, we sent it to each other or saved it somewhere.
Before long, our trip was spread across a shared Google Maps list, saved Instagram posts, Facebook links, screenshots and an itinerary we had received as a PDF. Where had we saved that restaurant? Had we already added the shop from YouTube? And how would we find any of it once we were actually standing in Tokyo?
I wanted one place where we could both add places, adjust our plans and keep track of the practical details. Not a static document, but a living travel plan we could build together before and during the trip. At first, I had no intention of making an app for anyone else. I just wanted something that worked for us.
Everything in one place
I started with what our existing apps were missing. The most important piece was a day-by-day itinerary that could import information from PDFs and other documents. Next came an overview of hotels with addresses, phone numbers and booking details, and a section for the essentials: emergency numbers, embassy contacts and information about the people travelling with us.
All the places we had found on social media needed to sit on one map, sorted into categories such as restaurants, shopping, hotels and attractions, each with its own icon. I added distances between places and one-tap directions in Google Maps, because the app had to be useful while we were walking around Tokyo, not just while we were planning at home. For places we had found through an Instagram video, I kept the original link so we would remember why we wanted to go.
Then came the extras: weather forecasts, a travel journal for short notes and photos, and Japanese words and phrases to practise. I also added facts about the places we would visit and small quizzes we could compete in on the long flight.
By the time our plan was finished, it was quite extensive, and a new thought struck me: why shouldn't other people benefit from all this work? That led me to build ways to export and share travel plans, so others could use them as a starting point for their own trip.
The real test started at the airport
Before we left, everything worked in the development environment. Now I would find out whether it worked in real life.
At the departure airport, we got talking to other travellers heading to Japan, and several of them wanted to try the app. Getting started wasn't as smooth as I had hoped, but they were patient and positive, and I wrote down their feedback for later.
Landing in Tokyo revealed a feature I had completely forgotten. After a long flight, we stood in a busy airport surrounded by signs and train lines we didn't recognise. Our hotel address was saved in Travel Outenza, and Google Maps could give us directions, but what we really needed was a simple explanation of how to get from the airport to the hotel.
We bought Suica cards, as several people had recommended, and found the train we thought was right. The journey should have taken about an hour. An hour later, we realised we had been going in the wrong direction the whole time. Not quite the start we had planned.
We did eventually reach the hotel, and ended the evening with a cold beer at the Asahi Sky Room, looking out over Tokyo. I had found the place before the trip and saved it in the app. At that moment, all the preparation felt worth it.
Tokyo: a map full of saved places
Over the next few days, we used the app constantly, especially to find shops and other places we had saved. Tokyo has so much to see, and being able to open the map and spot saved places nearby was the feature we relied on most.
Two weaknesses became clear. The first was public transport: it wasn't easy to work out the best route between locations, especially on days with several stops. The second was local knowledge. We spent a few days at a conference in the Shiba area, where we had saved very few places, and it showed. It would have been so useful if other travellers could share their own recommendations, whether a small restaurant, an interesting shop or a hidden gem we would never have found ourselves.
We also discovered how easy it is to send luggage from one hotel to the next in Japan. I wish we had known that before we left, and it's exactly the kind of practical tip I want the app to offer.
Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka: you can't do everything
By the time we reached Kyoto, our map was packed with temples, restaurants, shops and nightlife. We used Travel Outenza all the time, both out in the city and at the hotel planning the next day, and added new places as recommendations came in along the way.
One of the places we were most excited about was Otagi Nenbutsu-ji, a temple known for its roughly 1,200 stone statues. We had been told to go early, so we did, and ended up spending two to three hours there. After a late lunch, we stumbled on the Future Train Kyoto Diner & Cafe, which we hadn't saved anywhere. The concept was so unusual that we had to try it. The food wasn't the highlight of the trip, but we came away with a good story. By the time we had wandered back through the streets, it was evening, and several planned stops had to go.
Hiroshima, a day trip on the Shinkansen, followed the same pattern. We had discovered the stamps you can collect at train stations and attractions, and once you start, you always want one more. We saw a lot, but nowhere near everything we had planned, and I wish we had given the city more time.
In Osaka, our last stop, we kept making the same mistake: a place looked close on the map, then turned out to be a long walk away. We used the app to navigate to sights such as Osaka Castle, where we also saw how crowded Japan's most popular attractions can get.
The lesson from all three cities was the same. It's easy to fill an itinerary with exciting places, but you also need time to eat, walk between them, stop for a coffee and discover things you never planned. That's why I want Travel Outenza to do more than collect places. It should help travellers see how much they can realistically fit into a day, including travel time, the best time to visit, expected crowds and whether tickets should be booked in advance.
Travel Outenza
Plan your Japan trip in one place
Save places, bookings and day plans on one map with Travel Outenza.
Free to start. Save the places from this article to a trip, plan your days and share the trip with your travel companions.
What the trip taught me about the app
Japan impressed me more than I expected. Despite the crowds and the pace, the people, the culture, the food and all the small details made me want to go back.
The trip also let me test Travel Outenza in exactly the situations it was built for: finding our way, planning the next day, discovering new places and changing plans on the go. Not everything worked. We hit bugs and missing features, and I came home with a long list of improvements. But the core idea held up. Our information was in one place, saved places were easy to find, and we never had to dig through messages and screenshots to remember what we had planned.
What's next for Travel Outenza
What started as a personal project for one trip has grown into something I hope many travellers will find useful. Next on the list:
Better guidance on public transport between places
Smarter day plans that account for travel time and realistic pacing
Ways for travellers to share places and recommendations with each other
A richer travel journal for keeping the memories from each trip
Feedback from real travellers shapes these priorities. I want to understand what works, what's missing and what actually makes travelling easier.
My 7 tips for your first trip to Japan
Get a Suica card early. It makes public transport and small purchases much easier, and digital versions work straight from your phone.
Set up an eSIM before you leave. Having internet the moment you land makes navigating an unfamiliar city far less stressful.
Bring a power bank. You'll use your phone all day for maps, photos and travel information.
Plan no more than two major attractions per day. You'll find plenty along the way, and you need time for the unexpected.
Carry a small bag for rubbish. Public bins are surprisingly hard to find, so keep your rubbish with you until you find one.
Learn a few Japanese phrases. A small bow and an arigatou gozaimasu (thank you very much) go a long way.
Respect the queues. Queuing is taken seriously, especially at stations and on trains. Follow the markings and the people around you.
Quick answers
What is Travel Outenza?
Travel Outenza is a travel planner app that gathers your saved places, bookings and day-by-day itinerary on one map. It was built while planning a two-week trip to Japan and tested on that trip in Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka.
How many attractions should you plan per day in Japan?
Based on our trip, no more than two major attractions per day. Distances are longer than they look on the map, popular sights are crowded, and places like Otagi Nenbutsu-ji easily take two to three hours.
What is the hardest part of getting around Japan as a first-time visitor?
For us, it was public transport: finding the right train from the airport and the best route between several stops in one day. A Suica card and an eSIM made it much easier.
This is only the beginning
It's a little funny that Travel Outenza started with too many saved Instagram posts. All I wanted was a better way to organise our trip to Japan. Instead, I ended up building an app that I now spend a lot of time improving and sharing with others.
If you're planning a trip, I'd love for you to try it. Gather your places, bookings and day plans in one spot at travel.outenza.com, and tell me what you think. Honest feedback from real trips is how the app gets better.
New to Travel Outenza? Start with how to get started with Travel Outenza, then follow our step-by-step guide on how to create a travel itinerary.
Tomas Eskeland, founder of Travel Outenza
Travel Outenza
Plan your Japan trip in one place
Save places, bookings and day plans on one map with Travel Outenza.
Free to start. Save the places from this article to a trip, plan your days and share the trip with your travel companions.
On the map
How Planning Our Trip to Japan Became a Travel App
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