3 Tools to Support Transformative Travel
a curated list for the new moon
New Moon /May 16, 2026
One of the themes that sometimes pops up in my writing is Transformative Travel. Maybe it comes from my Sagittarian sun sign, maybe I got some of it from my dad who loved to travel and worked for the Automobile Club of America for many years (I learned how to fold maps at a young age!).
I’ve always felt most “myself” when on a journey, and I believe that travel has the potential to open our hearts and minds in all kinds of ways.
Some of the adventures I’ve shared here on Substack…
Just a couple of weeks ago I returned from another great trip to Slovenia, a small country in central Europe, to get to know the land that my grandparents on my mom’s side immigrated from. I’m still digesting the experience and not quite ready to write about it.
But I did want to share a few online tools that I find super helpful. If you’re someone who also comes alive when you travel, you might appreciate these three apps/websites. I’m not a big app fan and try to simplify my digital life as much as possible, but in the case of these three apps I make an exception because they so greatly enhance my travel experiences.
1 Atlas Obscura
Let’s start with this one because it’s just so much fun! Atlas Obscura calls itself “The definitive guide to the world’s hidden wonders… From ancient relics to roadside oddities, we connect you to the best of what’s out there.”
That’s a big claim to make, but I think they actually pull it off.
AO is a company with employees and web developers who work on this vast project, but it’s also a global community of more than 32,000 explorers who contribute to an open-sourced database of listings. When you dive into the website or app, you’ll find oddities like a Japanese island ruled by cats, a secret apartment atop the Eiffel Tower, and a Peephole Cinema theater in San Francisco, a literal hole in the wall where you can watch silent movies.
Before I head to a destination, I’ve started to check AO to locate unique spots I not might otherwise know about. I’ve even contributed a couple of photos to the listing for Los Luceros Historic Site near my Northern New Mexico home.
Whether you search the website or go another step further to download the app and contribute your own magical destinations, you can easily get lost for hours on Atlas Obscura.
2 Tripit
Tripit is a very practical addition to this list. I’ve been using this app for more than a decade and love how it simplifies the process of creating an itinerary, especially for trips that have multiple destinations and a variety of travel modalities.
Once you set up your Tripit account, you forward confirmation emails from plane or other transport tickets, hotel or Airbnb reservations, and shuttle services, and the app will magically create your itinerary to help you stay organized as you travel. It’s like having your own personal assistant!
You can easily go into the itinerary to make edits or add new plans, such as lunch with a friend in a city you’re visiting or a work meeting. You can also add documents like PDFs or QR codes to your plans.
While on the go, Tripit provides some cool features to help you find your way around, like links to maps of airports and terminals, and directions to your hotel. You can also share your itinerary with anyone you’d like, and they’ll see changes you make synched on their copy.
There is a “Pro” version of Tripit with more bells and whistles that costs $49 a year, but I’ve always used the free version and it works fine for me.
3 Polarsteps
I have my friend Yael to thank for introducing me to Polarsteps. She used it as kind of a travel journal when she set off on a year-long Shmitah adventure to Costa Rica and other destinations.
The app creatively combines geotracking with blogging so that your followers can literally see where you are on the planet, and then read about your adventures and enjoy the photos you share. They can also leave comments or ask you questions, so you feel like they’re along for the ride with you!
I love using Polarsteps when I want to share my journeys in a more intimate way with a small circle of friends rather than posting things on social media. It’s also a great way to remind myself of the highlights of my travels, places I’d like to return to, people I’ve met along the way.
Polarsteps also has some features I haven’t used, like the option to create a book based on your entries after you return from your travels.
I realize not everyone is a fan of having your every step tracked by an app, but in this case I trust the Amsterdam-based group of explorers who set up Polarsteps and feel okay with this info being shared with a small group of friends who I invite to follow me. There are no ads in the app (at least not yet), and that goes a long way to help me feel like my experiences aren’t being data-harvested and commodified.
BONUS!
If you’ve read this far, you deserve a great poem : ) Here’s my absolute favorite transformative travel poem:
For the Traveler
by John O’Donohue
Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.
New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that know you well
Will pretend nothing
Changed since your last visit.
When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:
How you unexpectedly attune
To the timbre in some voice,
Opening in conversation
You want to take in
To where your longing
Has pressed hard enough
Inward, on some unsaid dark,
To create a crystal of insight
You could not have known
You needed
To illuminate
Your way.
When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.
A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.
May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.
May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you.
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Thank you!
Nice, Maia! I've seen the Atlas Obscura book; can't wait to check out their website!
Maia, thanks for the introduction to these apps. You gave a wonderful description of each. I’ll share them with my husband, he’s the app man.