I love to travel and usually do a poor job researching the locations that I am traveling to. I have found a great smartphone app that I use when visiting National Parks, which requires very little pre-trip preparation. The GyPSy Guide app gives me and my passengers an audio tour by providing directions and local tips, and tells us stories based on our location at the time. The speaker or moderator whom we have nicknamed George, will tell us when places of interest are coming up. He will tell us about parking situations at the stops and will tell us the places we really need to stop to visit and the places that are not very interesting.

No cell signal is required to listen to the tour. The app determines your location by using GPS signal provided by satellites and your smartphone’s GPS chip (hence the capital G P and S in the GyPSY Guide name). It does not use cellular data and it does not use cellular minutes. I can play the tour via the car stereo system so everyone in the car can hear it. 

Individual GyPSy Guides can be purchased from the Apple app store and GooglePlay store. Each tour is individually priced depending on the length of the tour and number of audio points. The average price is probably $7.99 per guide. Some of the guides can be purchased in combo packages, such as Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. I have purchased and used the guides for Arches/Canyonlands, Yellowstone/Tetons, Zion/Brice, Going to the Sun Road (Glacier National Park). My passengers and I have enjoyed them all.  

One of the GyPSy Guides in the Apple App store

One of my cousins has visited Yellowstone National Park nearly every year since she was about seven years old, which would be over 50 years. I played the Yellowstone Guide with her in the car and she enjoyed it and actually learned several new facts about the park. Another cousin and I decided at the spur of the moment to visit the Grand Tetons. We didn’t have cell service or maps, but I had my trusty Yellowstone and Grand Tetons Combo GyPSy Guide to guide us through the park. We really had a great tour.

The GyPSy Guides are not just for National Parks, but are available for other popular locations such as the Great Ocean Road in Australia, Kaui, Maui, and Oahu.

Happy trails!

~merry~