If you and your family enjoy exploring in the comfort of your car, Just Ahead is a must. This handy mobile app turns your smartphone into a hands-free audio tour guide that notably contains more points of interest and anecdotes than other audio travel guides. Awarded the 2014 North American Travel Journalists Association Award for the Best Travel App, Just Ahead is professionally written and narrated, immersing you in an entertaining, informative and accurate scenario instead of fragmented, often inaccurate crowdsourced commentary.
And Just Ahead doesn’t even require cell phone coverage or Internet connection. Utilizing GPS, it knows precisely where you are and delivers narratives and maps relevant to your immediate surroundings. This hands-free, driver safe and easy to use app also helps keep you from getting lost by providing suggested directions, telling you why you should or not turn, what to do after the turn, and sifts through multiple route options to recommend the best direction. The audio guides are also less costly than most printed travel guides which quickly become outdated and can be a driver distraction. And they are frequently updated so you can focus upon the beauty your surroundings instead of the words on a page or fear of taking a wrong turn.
On the tech side, founder and CEO Gregory Morse, who honed his technical, corporate and leadership skills in Silicon Valley, is an avid adventurer, instrument-rated private pilot, long-distance cyclist and sailor. Editor Bob Howells, one of the travel industry’s most experienced and respected journalists, has penned articles about national parks, the environment, and adventure travel for National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic Traveler, Outside, Men’s Journal, Smithsonian, Travel + Leisure, and many others. He also co-authored three National Geographic books: Guide to the National Parks of the United States, Secrets of the National Parks, and Ten Best of Everything: National Parks and has twice won the Lowell Thomas Gold Award for adventure travel writing and, in 2009, was named the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year silver award winner.
Currently, Just Ahead audio guides cover five national parks –Yosemite, Zion and Cedar Breaks, Bryce Canyon, Joshua Tree, and Death Valley. An additional 12 national park guides for Grand Canyon, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, Petrified Forest, Canyon De Chelly, Monument Valley, and Mesa Verde are soon to be released. Because the US national parks are national treasures visited by 292 million people annually from around the world, the company felt this was the best way to introduce its award-winning app. Future guides will include major road trip destinations including California Highway 1, Route 66, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Hawaiian Islands, and many others.
The Just Ahead app is a free download with each destination guide costing $7.99 – $9.99 as an in-app purchase which includes a free trial and free updates. For more information and downloads, go to http://www.justahead.com/
