Hello World!

“Hello World” that’s usually the first thing you learn to code. Simple, straightforward and easy…similar to our aim for TripLinks.

TripLinks is a platonic meetup App aimed at business travellers. If you have ever had to ask for a table for one or ordered room service instead of venturing out into a foreign city you’ll understand the problem.

You travel to amazing places but all you see is the inside of a taxi, a meeting room or a hotel. Why? Why aren’t work trips more fun? We think the answer is very simple — it’s because you don’t have people to share the experience with you.

It’s horrible having to ask for a ‘table for one’ in a restaurant. I hate doing it and I’m not the only one. When we came up with the idea for TripLinks we spoke to hundreds of people: friends, family, colleagues, strangers on the train…amazingly some of the most successful and confident people we met said they hate eating alone as well. Someone said it’s a form of public humiliation another said it’s like announcing to the world that you’re a loser. Of course, that’s not the case…but that’s the way it feels and that affects how you experience the world.

When you go on work trips you mostly get paid from 9–5, you don’t get paid for the in between time you have to spend away from your friends, family, adorable pet hamster. You should enjoy this time. It makes you a happier person and it means you and your company will get more value out of your work trips.

So we had a problem…how to solve it? We looked at current solutions and couldn’t find anything. You can post ‘shout-outs’ on Twitter, Facebook etc but this didn’t seem to work. We needed to build our own solution that simply put people in touch with other uses who were in the same place at the same time. It didn’t want to be a dating or hookup service and it should be really simple, safe and secure.

We came up with TripLinks. We don’t have a fancy matching algorithm based on likes/dislikes, we don’t use photos — there’s no swiping to like other users. It does mean you don’t know who you’re going to meet but we think that’s half the fun.

It’s really simple. Download the app, login with Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin or an email and get started. Post an event, for example; say you’re going to be in Berlin on 15 Dec, say that you want to have dinner and tap post. The event then becomes visible to everyone in the App. Others can ask to join. The details are then confirmed within the App. No need to exchange emails or numbers.

Use TripLinks in so many different ways…share dinner, have a coffee, find a conference buddy, play a round of golf, take a city tour, watch a play…just add people!

Someone summed it up recently by saying ‘So you meet up with complete strangers…is that a good idea?’ and before I could answer they had thought about and said ‘I suppose that’s no different to AirBnB or Uber.’

The thing about strangers is, they stop being strangers once you meet them…very quickly you realise the stranger you saw is actually a son, daughter, husband, wife, father, mother…someone who has a life story which is actually quite interesting.

Ultimately TripLinks is about making your trips more fun and hopefully making you see that stranger on the plane/train/bus as a real human being.

Try it today — download from Apple iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/triplinks/id1053479489?mt=8

or Google Play Store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.triplinks

Happy travels!

Mark @ TripLinks