I tried an online concierge service that solves the most stressful part of traveling for only $25 a day

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• Many aspects of traveling, from booking a hotel to figuring out what spots to visit, make it more stressful than it should be. 
• Journy is a personal travel planning service that relieves that tension and allows you to enjoy travel as it's meant to be experienced. 
• For $25 a day, you work with a seasoned concierge who will design the best itinerary, book hotels, and make restaurant reservations for you, all with your preferences and priorities in mind. 

Planning for your vacation should be fun and exciting, but more often than not, it's just plain stressful. The pressure to "get it right" and craft the perfect trip ends up overshadowing the whole purpose of taking vacation in the first place — to relax and enjoy yourself in a new city or country.

If you've ever tried to avoid cookie-cutter tour group packages by planning your own trip, then the experience of clicking through 20 different TripAdvisor, Yelp, and other travel site tabs on your browser to research what to do and where to go probably sounds all too familiar. The frustrating part is that even after hours of research, it's sometimes still hard to understand which places are overhyped or tourist traps until you get actually there. 

For the average traveler, the process is clearly broken. 

Susan Ho, the cofounder of Journy, experienced similar difficulties when she went on vacation to Buenos Aires and didn't have time to plan her trip in advance. A Wharton grad and former vice president at Fab.com, she teamed up with restaurant consultant and food show host Leiti Hsu to take the pain out of travel planning.

While travel concierge services have existed for years to help craft personalized experiences, they're prohibitively expensive and created with a luxury clientele in mind. Journy, on the other hand, is a personal travel planning service and mobile app that only costs $25 per day of the trip.

With Journy, customers work 1-on-1 with an expert concierge online to design a trip that's customized to their travel preferences and priorities. Recommendations are curated from an exclusive, trusted network of top chefs and local experts. Concierges can also handle restaurant reservations and hotel and activity bookings, so you can focus on the most important part of your travel: the experience. 

I recently had the chance to try Journy out for myself. Because I didn't have any trips planned for the near future, I opted for a weekend staycation in New York City. Considering I've only been living here for six months, I knew there was still so much I hadn't experienced outside of the typical tourist destinations. I looked forward to seeing how Journy could help me explore the city, and in the end, I was not disappointed. 

Keep reading to learn more about how Journy works and why I wouldn't hesitate to use the service again for my future travels. 

On the site, you'll start by choosing your destination, then taking a questionnaire about the logistics of your trip and your travel style.

Journy

Journy helps you plan travel in over 60 cities on six continents. Questions include:

• What are you traveling for? (e.g. honeymoon, business trip, family vacation) 
• Who are you traveling with? 
• What do you like to do while traveling? 

Depending on what you choose for this last question, you'll be asked more in-depth questions. For example, if you're a fan of nightlife, you can state your preferences for cocktail bars, dancing, speakeasies, and the like. 

My concierge Dave then emailed me to confirm the travel dates and ask some follow-up questions.

Journy

Based on his follow-up questions, it was clear that this was still very much my vacation. Here are some of the questions he asked:

• Are you a "see it all" type traveler, or do you prefer a more leisurely pace?
• Are there any sights, restaurants, or activities you know for sure you want to fit in? You can also let me know of any existing restaurants or plans so I can add them to your itinerary for you.
• I see you've been to NYC before, so I'll assume you'd like to skip the major tourist destinations (e.g., Central Park, The Met, MOMA, 9/11 Memorial, Empire State Building, Times Square) and instead focus on more local spots. Let me know if there's something on your bucket list you haven't ticked off yet, or wouldn't mind returning to.
• What mix of upscale vs. casual dining would you prefer? We could perhaps do one upscale meal and keep the rest casual. Let me know if that works.

Keep in mind that every Journy is 100% custom prepared for you, so plan accordingly. You should allow seven days to receive your itinerary.

Journy

From the first time my concierge emailed me to when I received my itinerary, the process took five days. Obviously depending on your own response times, the length of your trip, and other factors, this can change. 

If your intended trip is set to start in less than 72 hours, you’ll be charged a rush fee of $25 per day of your trip. Journy will confirm within 12 hours or less that it will be able to deliver your itinerary in time, or you’ll receive a full refund. 

Travel with Journy for $25 a day here

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