Voyage Travel AppsApps for the Adventurous.2022-09-20T12:00:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/Simon Fairbairnsimon@line-in.co.ukTrail Wallet: End of an Era2022-09-20T12:00:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-end-of-an-era/<p>After ten years and with over 500,000 downloads, Trail Wallet is shutting down.</p>
<h2 id="what-happens-next">What Happens Next</h2>
<p>If you already have the app, it will continue to run and you can carry on using it as before.</p>
<p>However, the backup system has become unreliable and I will no longer be providing support or updates for the app. If something happens to your device, you could lose all of your data.</p>
<p>Therefore <strong>I strongly advise you export your data now</strong>.</p>
<p>To do this, from the Summary screen, tap the Share icon in the top right (box with an upwards arrow). Make sure All Trip Data is selected, then tap Export as CSV.</p>
<p>This will give you a spreadsheet of all the data you've ever entered in to Trail Wallet.</p>
<p>If you have been uploading images of receipts, follow the same steps but this time tap Export Images. Depending on how many images you have, it might take a while for Trail Wallet to download and export them.</p>
<p>You'll find an Image column in the exported spreadsheet which will show the image file name for that entry, if there is one.</p>
<h2 id="why-trail-wallet-is-shutting-down">Why Trail Wallet is Shutting Down</h2>
<p>When the pandemic hit, sales fell to zero and they have struggled to recover ever since. Out of necessity, I moved on to other projects. The app continued to work well on iOS 14 and 15 but it seems with the launch of iOS 16, the backup system is no longer reliable.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the amount of work involved in modernising it is prohibitive and so I've made the difficult decision to shut the app down.</p>
<p>It has been one hell of a ride, and I want to thank every single one of you Walleteers who gave this little app a try.</p>
<p>I appreciate you all.</p>
<p>Much love,</p>
<p>Simon</p>
Trail Wallet Tips: Backup and Restore2018-10-04T18:45:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-tips-backup-and-restore/<p>Trail Wallet is but an empty purple shell without the entries that you add to it. Your personal expenditures are the life blood that pumps through its little transistor veins.</p>
<p>The last thing we want to have happen is for that life blood to leak out everywhere. Trail Wallet has an automated backup system that takes a daily snapshot of all these little spending platelets (I think that's probably far enough...) and uploads it to iCloud.</p>
<h2 id="how-to-enable-backups">How To Enable Backups</h2>
<p>If you are signed in to iCloud on your device (and you have enough free iCloud space), then Trail Wallet will automatically start uploading daily backups in the background. You don't have to do anything.</p>
<p>Trail Wallet stores the last ten backups, and old backups are only erased when a new one is created. This means that if something happens to your iOS device while you are travelling and it takes you a few weeks to get access to another one, Trail Wallet should still show the ten backups from before your iOS device was lost.</p>
<h2 id="image-backups">Image Backups</h2>
<p>Image backups work a bit differently.</p>
<p>Images are still automatically backed up to iCloud when you add an image to an entry, so no worries there.</p>
<p>However, they are stored separately from the data backup to prevent them taking up too much of your iCloud storage—making 10 copies of your entire Trail Wallet image collection would use up a <em>lot</em> of space.</p>
<p>I'd get emails. It would be a whole thing.</p>
<p>When you delete an entry that has an image attached, Trail Wallet marks that image for deletion from iCloud.</p>
<p>If you subsequently restore a backup that still has that image attached to an entry, then the image will no longer be marked for deleting.</p>
<p>After 30 days, of its still marked for deletion, Trail Wallet will then delete the image permanently from iCloud to prevent it taking up space.</p>
<h3 id="exporting-photos">Exporting Photos</h3>
<p>If you use the images stored in Trail Wallet for any official purposes (e.g. taxes), we recommend you regularly export all of the images.</p>
<p>We do it at the end of the month (I say “we”, but I really mean Erin). She exports all of our expenses and their attached images and stores them with the rest of our accounting.</p>
<p>To export images, from the Summary screen, tap the Action icon in the top right (box with the upwards arrow), select the range of data at the top ( All Trip Data, Current Trip Data, or Selected Dates), then tap Export Images.</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2018/action-example.jpg" alt="Two screenshots of Trail Wallet. On the left hand side, the action button at the top right of the Trips screen is highlighted (box with an upwards arrow in it). On the right, the various options for export are highlighted, including a button that says 'Export images'" class="mx-auto " />
</figure>
<p>You can deposit them anywhere that accepts images or Airdrop them to your Mac.</p>
<h3 id="exporting-individual-files">Exporting Individual Files</h3>
<p>If you just want to export an individual image (or you want to export the data backup to send to me for debugging, say…), you can do this too.</p>
<p>From the Summary screen, tap the Action button, then tap “Export Backup”. Here you will see a list of all of the backups and images currently stored by Trail Wallet.</p>
<p>You can tap on any single entry in this list and Trail Wallet will give you the option to export it.</p>
<h2 id="manual-back-up-and-restore">Manual Back Up and Restore</h2>
<p>To start a manual backup, or to restore an existing backup, from the Summary screen, tap Trips -> Settings -> Restore and Backup.</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2018/trail-wallet-backup-progression.jpg" alt="Three screenshots showing the progression of the above." class="mx-auto " />
</figure>
<p>Here you can see if iCloud is enabled and get a list of your current backups. The cloud emoji indicates that the backup is safely stored in iCloud. The disk emoji indicates that a local copy is available (i.e. that it is available offline).</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2018/trail-wallet-backup-list.jpg" alt="Screenshot showing the list of backups with the icons mentioned above." class="mx-auto 48 " />
</figure>
<h3 id="backing-up">Backing Up</h3>
<p>Tap <code>Backup Now</code> to initiate a backup immediately. As soon as the backup is complete, Trail Wallet will attempt to upload it to iCloud.</p>
<p>Trail Wallet will use your mobile data to do this unless you explicitly tell it not to—go to the iOS Settings app -> Trail Wallet and switch off Mobile Data if you don't want Trail Wallet to use your data allowance.</p>
<p>If you don't have internet at the time of backup, then Trail Wallet will mark it for upload and iOS will upload it in the background the next time you are online.</p>
<p>You don't need to be in the app for this to happen.</p>
<h3 id="restoring">Restoring</h3>
<p>To restore a backup, tap on one of the rows listed under <code>Data Backups</code>.</p>
<p><strong>Warning: restoring a backup will first delete all of the current data on your device.</strong></p>
<p>Trail Wallet will download the backup file from iCloud if needed, then delete all your current data, and replace it with the backup data.</p>
<p>Hopefully you’ll never need to know that all this exists and you can happily use Trail Wallet without thinking about it.</p>
<p>But if something does happen, then it's good to know I've got you covered!</p>
<p>Simon</p>
Trail Wallet 3.4.4 Available Now2018-06-28T15:42:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-3-dot-4-4-available-now/<p>This version introduces new UI to help manage the bulk exporting of photographs. I'd had a few reports that not all of the photos taken on a trip were being exported and, when Erin came to do our budgets, she started hitting the same issue.</p>
<p>All of the photos are stored in a special iCloud directory. Once a photo has been uploaded to iCloud, the system may delete the local copy from this directory if it detects the device is low on space.</p>
<p>When an app requests a photo, iCloud will first check to see if it is available locally in this directory and, if not, download it from the cloud.</p>
<p>The problem was that the share sheet would not wait for a photo to download before attempting to share it and would only share the photos that were present on the device (and ignore ones only in the cloud).</p>
<p>This version of Trail Wallet fixes this and gives you control over what you want to happen when exporting images.</p>
<p>If the app sees that they are all downloaded, then it will work as before. If not, it will now give you the opportunity to download the missing photos first or, alternatively, will export only the photos that have been downloaded and are available.</p>
<p>If you've had issues with image export, then Trail Wallet 3.4.4 should fix them and it is <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA">available now from the App Store</a>!</p>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Trail Wallet is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
Voyage Travel Apps and the GDPR2018-05-28T14:14:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/voyage-travel-apps-and-the-gdpr/<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA">Trail Wallet 3.4.3 is out now</a>! It's a small bug fix update but it does also remove the crash reporting framework we were using.</p>
<p>This is because of…</p>
<h2 id="the-gdpr!">The GDPR!</h2>
<p>The General Data Protection Regulation is a new EU law concerning privacy. It puts strict limits on what companies handling private information can do with that information.</p>
<p>Trail Wallet was using Fabric (which is owned by Google) for crash reporting. Unfortunately, it has the ability to collect more information than it needed and it also had the ability to collect arbitrary information from every device (Trail Wallet was <em>not</em> doing this, btw—we were only interested in the crash reporting).</p>
<p>This was enough to potentially put it in violation of the GDPR without significant work. So we have removed it and we are now relying on Apple’s built-in crash reporting.</p>
<p>However, this is explicitly opt-in only. You have to agree to send us the data.</p>
<p>When you first set up a new device (or install a major new version of iOS), you’re asked whether or not you'd like to share App Analytics with developers. It is <em>extremely</em> helpful if you agree to do this. Apple is pretty good about privacy so no personal data is shared, only aggregated metrics and, most importantly, crash logs.</p>
<h3 id="enabling-app-analytics">Enabling App Analytics</h3>
<p>To enable App Analytics in iOS 11:</p>
<ol>
<li>Go to the device Settings app</li>
<li>Tap on “Privacy”</li>
<li>Scroll to the bottom and tap “Analytics”</li>
<li>Make sure “Share with App Developers” is switched on</li>
</ol>
<p>If you decide not to, that's totally cool. Should you have any issues with Trail Wallet in the future—especially if it involves a crash—it would be helpful if you could switch on App Analytics and then make Trail Wallet crash again a few times so that we can get sent the reports. You can then switch off Analytics again afterwards.</p>
<p>We believe that the GDPR is a step in the right direction for user privacy. While dropping Fabric is a little less convenient for us, we really don't want your personal information. We don't use ads in our apps and all of your app data is stored on your device and in your iCloud account which we don't have access to.</p>
<p>Thanks for your continued support (also, did we mention that we updated our <a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/privacy-policy/index.html">privacy policy</a>?)!</p>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Trail Wallet is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
April Update2018-04-30T22:38:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/april-update/<p>(Published on the 30th April at 22:00 GMT, so it counts.)</p>
<p>April has seen me continue with my adventure game development. I now have a <a href="https://simonfairbairn.com/building-adventurekit/">name for my engine</a> (<em>AdventureKit</em>) and a <a href="https://simonfairbairn.com/adventurekit-roadmap/">roadmap for its development</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://simonfairbairn.com/getting-stuck/">I got stuck</a> for a bit as we <a href="https://www.neverendingvoyage.com/">started up on our travels</a> again but since then we have settled in Lecce in Puglia, Italy, for a month and I am now back at it.</p>
<p>I have also been <a href="https://simonfairbairn.com/tag/lecce/">practicing my environment drawing</a> while trying to develop a visual style for how I might want the game to look.</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://simonfairbairn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Character-In-Lecce.jpg" alt="Illustration of a Lecce piazza with a dude in a trenchcoat standing on the right hand side" class="mx-auto " />
</figure>
<p>(Strangely, my desire to hit the cafes to draw the effortlessly beautiful piazzas here often happens to coincide with aperitivo time which is a mere coincidence, I assure you.)</p>
<h2 id="trail-wallet-photos">Trail Wallet Photos</h2>
<p>We have been using the heck out of <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA">Trail Wallet</a>'s new photos feature, completely relying on it to store our receipts for our business expenses.</p>
<p>Erin was hesitant at first because she knows who wrote the code but I talked her into it and, so far, it seems to be working like a champ<sup class="footnote-ref"><a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/april-update/#fn1" id="fnref1">[1]</a></sup>.</p>
<p>If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it. In my completely objective and unbiased opinion, it's pretty great.</p>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Trail Wallet is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
<h2 id="may-plans">May Plans</h2>
<p>We are in various parts of Puglia for May then we hit Rome, where we'll settle for another month.</p>
<p>In between all of our travelling, I hope to have version one of the AdventureKit engine finished by the end of the month.</p>
<p>Then again, I hoped to have my first game released four years ago, so who knows what will happen!</p>
<hr class="mt-8" />
<section class="pt-4 footnotes text-sm italic text-vta-accent">
<ol>
<li id="fn1" class="footnote-item"><p>It might reassure you to know that the app puts all of the photos directly into iCloud to get them off the device as quickly as possible should the worst happen. <a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/april-update/#fnref1" class="footnote-backref">↩︎</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</section>
Voyage Travel Apps Update2018-03-28T11:46:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/voyage-travel-apps-update/<p>Oh boy. Once a year, huh? That's how often I update this thing?</p>
<p>Woof, I am <em>bad</em> at this.</p>
<p>I hope no one uses the frequency of blog posts to help them gauge whether <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTAUpdate">Trail Wallet</a>—our app and a primary source of our income—is in active development. One post a year would not, I imagine, be very reassuring.</p>
<p>Anyway, never mind, never mind. How are you? Things good, I hope?</p>
<p>I am great, thanks! A lot of things have happened that I should have written about on here, but didn't.</p>
<p>Christmas, for one. It was awesome! We’ve been in the U.K. all winter hanging with friends and family and doing some back to back housesits.</p>
<p>Then there's the fact that Trail Wallet turned five years old in December.</p>
<p>That's right: Five. Years. A veritable lifetime in app years and the single longest job I've ever held down.</p>
<p>If you are or have been a user or supporter of Trail Wallet then thank you, so much, for helping me prove to my parents that I can stick to something for more than a year or two!</p>
<h2 id="new-features!">New Features!</h2>
<p>To celebrate its fifth year, I finally added a feature that I probably should have added in its first—photo support!</p>
<p>Yes, Trail Wallet 3.4 was released and came with that most requested of features—the ability to take pictures of receipts (or buildings, or clouds—anything really, it doesn't discriminate).</p>
<p>If you’ve been saying to yourself “I’d love to try this app, but I want to store photos of <a href="https://www.google.com/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=Pomeranian&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=">random Pomeranians</a> alongside my latte entries”, then this update is for you!</p>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Trail Wallet is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
<h2 id="new-adventures!">New Adventures!</h2>
<p>Having reassured my parents that I can stick to something, I now wish to upset them all over again by embarking down another and even more ambitious path—building and publishing my own adventure game!</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://simonfairbairn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-03-12-at-16.15.31.jpg" alt="Screenshot of my adventure game prototype" class="mx-auto " />
<figcaption class="text-vta-accent text-center text-sm italic mt-2">Screenshot of my adventure game prototype</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I have loved adventure games since I first played The Secret of Monkey Island on an Amiga 500 back in the early 90s and I am impossibly excited and also bone-chillingly petrified to finally be making my own.</p>
<p>I am writing about the process over on my <a href="https://simonfairbairn.com/">personal blog</a> (where updates are somewhat more frequent than here). If you want to see a possibly glorious triumph but more likely messy (albeit fun!) disaster unfold slowly over the course of several months, then head on over to <a href="https://simonfairbairn.com/">simonfairbairn.com</a>.</p>
<p>Rest assured that Trail Wallet will continue to receive a lot of love and support throughout this new chapter!</p>
<p>Until next time, thanks again for an unbelievable 5 (and a bit) years!</p>
<p>Simon</p>
<p>P.S. I am much better at sending out newsletters than I am at writing blog posts (there was only a six month gap between my last two emails as opposed to nine for the blog). <a href="https://voyagetravelapps.com/contact/">Sign up here</a>.</p>
Barista! and WTMaths Released!2016-05-16T11:28:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/barista-and-wtmaths-released/<p>Voyage Travel Apps is pleased to announce the launch of two brand new apps—<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1017666438">WTMaths</a> and <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1062187797">Barista</a>!</p>
<h2 id="barista!">Barista!</h2>
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2016/barista-icon-256.png" alt="Barista! App Icon" class="w-32 sm:float-left sm:mr-8 sm:pt-2" />
<p>Barista! is a fast-paced coffee creation game. Can you fulfil all of the orders and get to the end of the day before your grouchy boss Jim fires you?</p>
<p>Orders appear on the blackboard and you've got to get 'em made before the time runs out!</p>
<p>With four different types of drinks with various combinations of cups, espresso shots, and mixers, can you harness the power of caffeine to keep track of it all and survive the day or will the pressure grind you up like so many medium roasted beans?</p>
<ul>
<li>Four different drink combinations with up to 3 shots per drink to keep you on your toes!</li>
<li>Bonus Busy Days where you can double your earnings—if you can keep on top of things!</li>
<li>Up to four orders at once to really test your cool under fire!</li>
<li>Many levels of coffee-making mayhem!</li>
</ul>
<p>Barista! is our second game, and is available for free on the App Store.</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1062187797"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Barista! is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
<h2 id="wtmaths">WTMaths</h2>
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2016/wtmaths-icon-256.png" alt="WTMaths App Icon" class="w-32 sm:float-left sm:mr-8 sm:pt-2" />
<p>WTMaths is a GCSE mathematics practice app covering the entire GCSE Maths syllabus. With over 700 original questions, learning maths has never been easier!</p>
<p>Simon's dad is a qualified GCSE mathematics teacher and they worked together to produce <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1017666438">WTMaths</a>, a comprehensive app based on England’s new GCSE(9-1) syllabus. It can be used by anyone interested in getting further practice with core mathematics topics.</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: sm:float-right sm:ml-8 sm:pt-2">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2016/iPhone5s-03-graphs.png" alt="A screenshot showing an example question from the WTMaths app" class="mx-auto 48 " />
</figure>
<p>Get an at-a-glance overview of everything you've covered and what areas need work, then get started with a comprehensive range of interactive questions.</p>
<p>The questions give you real-time feedback on your progress and cover all of the important GCSE maths topics, all laid out in a clear and easy-to-use interface.</p>
<p>Want to know more? Each question is linked to an online resource that dives deep into each subject area, walking you through everything you need to know about GCSE maths.</p>
<ul>
<li>Each topic is tested with several questions</li>
<li>Over 700 questions so far (Number/Algebra); over 1200 when complete</li>
<li>Range of question types: answer input; selection; multiple choice; sorting</li>
<li>Daily progress stats: overall and by area</li>
<li>Each question has a full explanation of the answer</li>
<li>Each question linked directly to a relevant on-line topic page</li>
<li>Can purchase the areas in which more practice is needed</li>
<li>Independent authors that will respond to issues and requests</li>
</ul>
<p>WTMaths is free to download and comes with a range of free questions. The complete set of questions are available as in app purchases.</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1017666438"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="WTMaths is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
Trail Wallet is 3!2015-12-09T09:15:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-is-3/<p>Three years ago today we released Trail Wallet 1.0 to the App Store. It was kind of plain-looking and had a few initial bugs but we had finished it and released it and it was ours.</p>
<p>Throughout the development, I was continually doing Hopeful Business Math which involved looking at our stats from <a href="https://www.neverendingvoyage.com/">Never Ending Voyage</a>, figuring out what percentage of our audience was looking at it on a iOS device, and asking myself questions like "how much would we make if just 10% of those iOS users buy it?"</p>
<p>Depending on the percentages, we were on track to make betweeen £3,000 and £10,000 in our first month.</p>
<p>We made £141. The next month, we made £84.</p>
<p>Looking back, the reasons are obvious—it wasn't much to look at and there were some glaring omissions in terms of functionality. Some of the UI choices were...questionable (who wants to tweet their budget and, even if they did, did they need such a large button to do it?)</p>
<p>The world doesn't care about how long you spend on something, only how good it is, and, after the third month of earning less than £200, we had to decide whether or not to continue. The amount of time we had spent on it couldn't be a factor—it was how much future time we were willing to gamble on it.</p>
<p>The app in my head was pretty and fun and easy to use but with a depth that would satisfy even the most hardcore of budget fanatics. The app in the world was not that thing.</p>
<p>Ann Patchett, in her book <em>This is the Story of a Happy Marriage</em>, captures this feeling wonderfully:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This book I have not yet written one word of is a [butterfly] of indescribable beauty, unpredictable in its patterns, piercing in its color, so wild and loyal in its nature...and all I have to do is put it down on paper and then everyone can see this beauty that I see.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>I reach up and pluck the butterfly from the air...and there, with my own hand, I kill it. It's not that I want to kill it, but it's the only way I can get something that is so three-dimensional onto the flat page...What I'm left with is the dry husk of my friend, the broken body chipped, dismantled, and poorly reassembled. Dead. That's my book.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Unlike most books, apps have the opportunity to become better over time. We can fix some of the poor reassembly, make this dead butterfly look a little more vibrant and bring it closer to what it looked like in our heads. In fact, apps are unique in that, not only <em>can</em> we do this, it's <em>expected</em> of us.</p>
<p>An app is a living, evolving thing and, at that time, it was a thing that looked nothing like I wanted it to. Of <em>course</em> we should continue.</p>
<p>I was fortunate in that the income from our other sources put us in a position where I could continue working on it full time but, even if I hadn't, I would have done it part time.</p>
<p>(I should stress that this income at that time was still relatively low for the UK/US—our <a href="https://www.neverendingvoyage.com/digital-nomad-budget-year-4/">Year 4 income</a> was around £24,000 ($41,000) for two people, so it was still a risk.)</p>
<p>I love designing and building software. At University in the early 2000s, I built countless websites for my bands and all of my friend's bands. For one of our assignments, I built an interactive Flash app that showed you how all of the dials and buttons on a channel strip in a music studio mixing desk worked.</p>
<p>And now finally, I had made a thing and put it out into the world and some people had bought it. Not many, but those that did were supportive and enthusiastic and maybe even saw the potential in it that I saw.</p>
<p>There was <em>no way</em> I was going back to working for other people, either as an employee or as a freelancer. If needs be, we would move somwhere cheap and live off ramen noodles because we were going to make this work.</p>
<p>Now, three years later, the app still isn't the beautiful butterfly of my vision, but it's getting there. As my skills as an app developer have grown, so has the app and it now better reflects what I thought it could be.</p>
<p>And I belive it was the right call—it has now been downloaded over 61,000 times and has 331 mostly positive reviews, with an average of 4.5 stars worldwide.</p>
<p>It's been featured on the App Store, and in The Huffington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times. It's still not making retirement money, but it is now carrying its weight.</p>
<p>Throughout the three years, there have been some severely difficult times when I considered quitting. The App Store is a cut-throat market and growing our income has been long and hard and slow. People can be incredibly mean in reviews. Mostly it's unwarrented but, every so often, totally understandable—say, after downloading a version that locked them out of the app when they had previously paid for it (not my finest hour).</p>
<p>But through it all, people have also left wonderful reviews, recommended it to their friends, reviewed it on their blogs and sent wonderful emails just to tell me how much they love it. Emails with no feature requests, no bug reports, no support requests. Just "I love your app. Thanks for making it."</p>
<p>Trail Wallet has given me so much that I am profoundly grateful for. Every time I come back to it, it's like returning to an old friend. It continues to challenge me to become a better developer and I <em>still</em> get excited about new features I could add and ways in which I can make it better. It has even opened up a pathway for me to start <a href="https://simonfairbairn.com/tag/100hourgame/">making video games</a>, something that I am immensely excited about.</p>
<p>Most of all, it has given me the opportunity to make a living doing what I love. Even through the lowest moments, I cannot overstate how much I appreciate this immense privelege and it's all thanks to everyone who has bought it, used it, talked about it, sent in bug reports and feature requests, written blog posts about it, reviewed it, and rated it.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Simon</p>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Trail Wallet is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
Tap Tap Power! Now Available!2014-11-19T09:38:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/tap-tap-power-now-available/<p>We're pleased to announce the launch of our first game, Tap Tap Power! Available for <strong>free</strong> in the App Store today!</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tap-tap-power!-multiplayer/id933116026?mt=8&uo=4&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Tap Tap Power is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
<p>Created by myself and fellow app developer and long term traveller, <a href="http://tillthemoneyrunsout.com/">Tom Krones</a>, it's a fast-paced social multiplayer game.</p>
<p>Tap your area when lit to score a point and don't tap when it's not lit or you lose a point. Simple.</p>
<p>Except there's a twist: power ups appear randomly in the centre and can be dragged to your area to cause all sorts of mischief for your fellow players for much yelling and swearing! But watch out for the hazards...</p>
<p>Features:</p>
<ul>
<li>Quick and easy to learn—anyone can play from 2 to 102 years old. Get the entire family together!</li>
<li>Supports two to four players on a single device</li>
<li>Lightning quick 60 second games for when you only have a minute to spare</li>
<li>A range of power ups from bonus points to minimising the other player's targets</li>
<li>Fun retro 8-bit graphics and sound</li>
</ul>
<p>So get some friends together and enjoy some social multiplayer gaming goodness! We do, however, find that it's best to play it in noisy places like bars or restaurants and not, as we discovered, in quiet coffee shops. If your friends and family are as competitive as ours, things get noisy quickly. =)</p>
<p>And if you're travelling like we are, it's great for making new friends at hostels or entertaining your kids at airports. Set up some ad-hoc Tap Tap Power Tournaments!</p>
<h3 id="tap-tap-power-around-the-world">Tap Tap Power Around The World</h3>
<p>We'd love to feature photos of you playing Tap Tap Power on our travel blog, <a href="https://www.neverendingvoyage.com/">Never Ending Voyage</a>! Email interesting photos of you playing Tap Tap Power to <a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/tap-tap-power-now-available/mailto:simon@voyagetravelapps.com">simon@voyagetravelapps.com</a><br />
and we'll put the best ones in an upcoming post!</p>
<h3 id="questions-and-comments">Questions and Comments</h3>
<p>If you discover any bugs or have any comments or suggestions, we'd love to hear from you: email us at <a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/tap-tap-power-now-available/mailto:simon@voyagetravelapps.com">simon@voyagetravelapps.com</a><br />
.</p>
<p>And if you like the game, please leave us a positive review in the App Store! We rely on the support of our players to help spread the word. Good reviews help other people find it which helps us to add new features and improvements.</p>
<p>Everybody wins!</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tap-tap-power!-multiplayer/id933116026?mt=8&uo=4&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Tap Tap Power is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
Drawing Class 1.1 Released2014-08-07T13:24:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/drawing-class-1-dot-1-released/<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/DrawingClass/drawing-class-icon.png" alt="Drawing Class App Icon" class="w-32 sm:float-left sm:mr-8 sm:pt-2" />
<p>Drawing Class 1.1 is now available on the App Store, a great little app for the travelling artist.</p>
<p>I built this app for myself after struggling to find a decent recreation of life drawing classes online. I wanted to be able to simulate the process without needing an internet connection so I built this simple app to solve the problem.</p>
<p>Load it up with photos, set the length of the class (30 minutes, one hour, or two hours), then it randomly progresses through your collection of photos beginning with 30 second gesture drawing before gradually easing you into longer poses to create more polished drawings.</p>
<p>We've teamed up with Stan Prokopenko from <a href="http://proko.com/">Proko.com</a> to offer sets of his photos as In App Purchases within the app. The photos are well-lit and feature professional models in a wide variety of poses to push your figure drawing skills further.</p>
<p>The app is available now and is <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drawing-class-figure-life/id841346175?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D8&at=11l9Wj">free on the App Store</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drawing-class-figure-life/id841346175?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D8&at=11l9Wj"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Drawing Class is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
Trail Wallet 2.1.1 Released2014-02-10T17:18:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-2-dot-1-1-released/<p>Trail Wallet 2.1.1 has been released to the App Store. This is a maintenance released that fixes a few bugs, especially a particularly nasty crashing bug that has recently appeared.</p>
<p>Trail Wallet 2.1.2 is also in the works to fix an issue with Dropbox syncing. This should be out in the next week or two.</p>
<p>As always, we appreciate your feedback and bug reports! If you do find anything that you think isn't right, please <a href="https://voyagetravelapps.com/contact/">contact us</a> directly rather than leaving a review on the App Store with a bug report.</p>
<p>We often need additional information to get to the root of the problem and, as we can't contact you or respond to App Store reviews, it makes it very difficult to find out exactly what the problem is and get it fixed.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Trail Wallet is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
Trail Walleteers of the Month: Nomadic Danes2014-01-30T15:41:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-walleteers-of-the-month-nomadic-danes/<p><em>Trail Walleteer of the Month is our regular series where we talk to long term travellers and Trail Wallet users about all things travel budget related.</em></p>
<p><em>This month we have with us <strong>Celia and Jonas</strong> from the <a href="http://nomadicdanes.com/">Nomadic Danes</a>.</em></p>
<h3 id="tell-us-a-bit-about-yourself-and-your-travels.">Tell us a bit about yourself and your travels.</h3>
<p>We’re Celia and Jonas, a couple from Denmark. We started travelling in June 2013 and are enjoying every second of our journey. We have no intentions to return to Denmark to get “real jobs”. We’re enjoying being digital nomads and hope to be for the rest of our lives.</p>
<p>We did a crazy bike ride from June to October through Europe on two city bikes and covered 3744 kms through Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Monaco and Italy. Then we spent 5 weeks living on the Algarve Coast in Portugal, and are now living two months in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. We love both adventure travel and slow travel and will hopefully do a combination of the two over the next years.</p>
<h3 id="what-do-you-think-are-the-benefits-of-tracking-your-travel-expenses%3F">What do you think are the benefits of tracking your travel expenses?</h3>
<p>We’re becoming more aware of how much we spent. When we didn’t track our travel expenses, we often “forgot” how much we’d spent in a day and were more likely to splurge on café visits or other treats. Then we wouldn’t understand where all our money went when we had nothing left by the end of the month!</p>
<p>Tracking our expenses forces us to be aware and it’s actually fun at the same time. Nobody likes to overspend, and for us this is sometimes even a game to try to save money. We love to save some money each day to actually be able to sometimes spend more money on tours and other things that create great memories for us. In the end that’s most important to us - not the many cakes we did not eat.</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2014/01/nomadic-danes-pie-chart.png%20320" alt="Jonas and Celia's spending for January" class="mx-auto " />
<figcaption class="text-vta-accent text-center text-sm italic mt-2">Jonas and Celia's spending for January</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="what-categories-do-you-have-set-up-on-trail-wallet%3F-which-is-the-most-used%3F">What categories do you have set up on Trail Wallet? Which is the most used?</h3>
<p>We are using plenty of standard categories which were created when we bought the app. Like food, accommodation, transport and entertainment. We have also created our own categories because we kept spending money on certain things and we wanted to know how much we were spending on these things. The new categories are Coffee/Tea, eating out, internet, practical items, Jonas - not related and Celia - not related.</p>
<p>The big categories are accommodation, food and eating out. It so cheap to eat out in Mexico where we are right now. So we do that a lot even though we don’t spend a lot of money. But we have to admit that we are using a lot of money on coffee. In Playa del Carmen we have been drinking a lot of Starbucks coffee because they have very fast internet, so it’s a great place to get some work done.</p>
<h3 id="has-trail-wallet-revealed-anything-surprising-about-your-spending%3F">Has Trail Wallet revealed anything surprising about your spending?</h3>
<p>Well, we spend a lot of money on coffee and food! We love both, so that has not been so surprising.</p>
<h3 id="what%E2%80%99s-the-weirdest-thing-you-bought-in-the-last-year%3F">What’s the weirdest thing you bought in the last year?</h3>
<p>We seldom buy things because we don’t have any room for it. The weirdest thing was probably when we had to get Jonas’ bike home from Rome to Denmark. We had to pay some Italians to wrap it with some sort of green plastic. It was the only way the Airplane would allow us to take the bike home with us.</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2014/01/nomadic-danes-cycling-through-europe.jpg" alt="Jonas and Celia's bikes" class="mx-auto " />
<figcaption class="text-vta-accent text-center text-sm italic mt-2">Jonas and Celia's bikes</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="what%E2%80%99s-the-most-and-least-expensive-country-you%E2%80%99ve-visited-and-what-was-your-daily-budget%3F">What’s the most and least expensive country you’ve visited and what was your daily budget?</h3>
<p>Our daily budget has been the same for all of our trips. We overspent a lot when we biked through Europe, even though we were mostly camping and not eating out. But moving around everyday is expensive!</p>
<p>Our most expensive country was Italy and we went over budget by $28 USD a day on average - eek! Camping was crazy expensive in Italy, we had to pay a lot to live in Rome and then we added the airfare back to Denmark… It was a crazy time.</p>
<p>Our least expensive country is Mexico, where we are right now. We’re actually able to spend only $50 USD a day, even though we eat nearly every meal out and drink coffee at Starbucks almost everyday. And this month is especially cheap for us because we just had our housing expenses cut in half - the first month which was during Christmas and New Year’s turned out to be quite expensive.</p>
<h3 id="tell-us-your-top-budget-travel-tip.">Tell us your top budget travel tip.</h3>
<p>Mexico has been our most luxurious place so far. We’re eating out a lot, we have a nice and clean studio apartment and we get a coffee at Starbucks almost everyday. It has also been our cheapest country to visit.</p>
<p>Europe on bikes has been the most crappy conditions we’ve travelled under. We slept in a tent, ate food out of cans and had to settle for McDonald’s coffee and wifi. And it was the most expensive.</p>
<p>Get the point? Slow travel rocks if you want to save money! Of course, travelling to cheaper countries is a great way to save money too, but if you can commit to a place for a month or even more, cook your own food when you want to and have time to find the best deals to eat with the locals, you can save tons of money.</p>
<p>And you might even find - as we have - that slow travel is actually a cheaper way to live than living in your home country.</p>
<h3 id="which-feature-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-trail-wallet%3F">Which feature would you most like to see in Trail Wallet?</h3>
<p>A couple of months ago we really missed the opportunity to split up expenses on more days. But you guys just made that happen so we are even more in love with the app now. You just need to make it possible to also delete this way. Because we have sometimes written a wrong amount and then you have to correct it on every day because the app splits the expense on several days. But it’s not a big problem because we just double check before splitting an expense.</p>
<p><em>Many thanks to Celia and Jonas for more on their travels, visit <a href="http://nomadicdanes.com/">NomadicDanes.com</a>. You can also <a href="https://twitter.com/NomadicDanes">follow them on Twitter</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Celia and Jonas are our fourth Trail Walleteers—check out the complete list of <strong><a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/tags/trail-walleteer/">Walleteers here</a>.</strong></em></p>
Voyage Travel Apps Review of 20132014-01-16T15:33:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/voyage-travel-apps-review-of-2013/<p>2013 has been a great year for Voyage Travel Apps. We've become more sure of who we are and our values as a small independent shop and our technical and design skills have, I think we can all agree, vastly improved. This has allowed us to take our flagship app Trail Wallet in a new direction that people seem to appreciate.</p>
<p>Like everyone, we've had our share of challenges (I love how it's always 'challenges' and not 'major league fuck ups', which is often closer to the truth) but our users have generally been very patient and supportive as we navigate these waters. Learning a craft like software development is a long, never ending process full of tiny incremental improvements and it's only when I look back over a longer period can I get a sense of how far we've come and, looking forward, how far we still have to go:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So pleas'd at first the towering Alps we try,<br />
Mount o'er the vales and seem to tread the sky,<br />
Th' eternal snows appear already past,<br />
And the first clouds and mountains seem the last;<br />
But, those attain'd we tremble to survey<br />
The growing labours of the lengthen'd way,<br />
Th' increasing prospect tires our wandering eyes,<br />
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>Alexander Pope, Essay on Criticism</em></p>
<p>Says it all, really.</p>
<p>Major milestones this year include the introduction of the much-requested Trips feature and the new 2.0 redesign. It also saw the release of 2.1 which saw us embrace the Freemium model where we offer Trail Wallet for free with an In App Purchase to unlock the fully featured version.</p>
<p>It's a little too soon to say whether this experiment has been a success or not but we've certainly increased our downloads significantly and the money is still flowing in so we're tentatively hopeful that this was the right move.</p>
<h3 id="our-year-in-numbers">Our Year In Numbers</h3>
<p>In 2013 <a href="https://voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet/">Trail Wallet</a> saw:</p>
<ul>
<li>10 new versions released (a mix of major feature and minor bug fix updates)</li>
<li>3775 downloads of Trail Wallet</li>
<li>61 reviews</li>
<li>An average rating of 4.4 stars on the App Store</li>
</ul>
<p>The most exciting number for us is the reviews and our star rating which, although an imperfect measurement, serves as an indicator of how much people are enjoying the app. We've put a lot into it so it's heartening to see that work being appreciated, even if we don't get it all right every time.</p>
<p>On the website we saw:</p>
<ul>
<li>15,592 pageviews from 9,096 unique visitors</li>
<li>30% of our traffic coming from non-desktop devices</li>
</ul>
<p>A big part of this interest in the site came from our <a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/tags/trail-walleteer/">Trail Walleteer of the Month</a> feature, where we interview Trail Wallet users about travel expenses and budgeting on the road and we hope to continue this series into 2014.</p>
<p>It's also worth noting to see how much of our traffic is now coming from non-desktop devices, although I suppose it's a little unsurprising given that we sell mobile apps. Still, that's almost a third of people using the website on tablets or phones and this looks set to grow again in 2014.</p>
<h3 id="2014">2014</h3>
<p><a href="https://voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet/">Trail Wallet</a> has been our primary focus for the past year but it's reached the point where it's ticking along nicely by itself so in 2014 we're looking to increase our roster of apps and we already have a number of ideas that we're contemplating.</p>
<p>Don't worry, we're not abandoning Trail Wallet and we have a range of features that we hope to implement over the next year.</p>
<p>We love creating apps for the iOS platform and Erin and I thank you for all of the support and interest in 2013 which has allowed us to spend so much of our time doing this and we wish you all the best for the new year!</p>
<p><strong>Simon</strong><br />
Voyage Travel Apps</p>
Trail Walleteers of the Month: Andrew and Amy2013-12-30T13:21:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-walleteer-of-the-month-andrew-wyatt/<p><em>Trail Walleteer of the Month is our regular series where we talk to long term travellers and Trail Wallet users about all things travel budget related.</em></p>
<p><em>This month we are pleased to have with us <strong>Andrew and Amy</strong> from <a href="http://www.ourbigfattraveladventure.com/">Our Big Fat Travel Adventure</a>.</em></p>
<h3 id="tell-us-a-bit-about-yourself-and-your-travels.">Tell us a bit about yourself and your travels.</h3>
<p>We are Andrew and Amy, we’re from the UK and have now been travelling for nine months. We left on a flight to New Zealand in March and since then we’ve visited Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, and we’re now in Vietnam.</p>
<p>Amy and I used to live and work in London, Amy as an online content writer/manager and me as a secondary school teacher. We quit our jobs after about four years of saving and dreaming to travel the world.</p>
<p>We will head back to the UK next summer after about 15 months away but we’re not sticking around: we’re planning to jet off to Taiwan in September to teach English and save some money for a trip to the Americas in 2015/16.</p>
<h3 id="what-do-you-think-are-the-benefits-of-tracking-your-travel-expenses%3F">What do you think are the benefits of tracking your travel expenses?</h3>
<p>If you know how much you’re spending you have more control over your money, which means that you can ultimately travel for longer. It’s great to be able to look back and find out how much something cost so you can share that information with other travellers too.</p>
<p>When we research the countries we plan to visit we’re always looking to find out how much things cost in advance. Trail Wallet has helped me write up detailed cost posts of the countries we’ve visited to help other travellers budget for their own trips.</p>
<h3 id="what-categories-do-you-have-set-up-on-trail-wallet%3F-which-is-the-most-used%3F">What categories do you have set up on Trail Wallet? Which is the most used?</h3>
<p>We haven’t set up any new categories yet since the pre-set ones cover everything we need. Overall, our most used category is accommodation; however this is because we started our travels in super-expensive New Zealand and Australia, since reaching South East Asia our accommodation costs have dramatically decreased and have dropped below our food costs.</p>
<h3 id="has-trail-wallet-revealed-anything-surprising-about-your-spending%3F">Has Trail Wallet revealed anything surprising about your spending?</h3>
<p>Only that we’re spending more than we expected to. We’ve also found that we spend more on food than we did back home since we eat out for nearly every meal while we travel while we used to cook for ourselves and take sandwiches to work when we lived in the UK.</p>
<p>Admittedly, we don’t eat as cheaply as we could in Asia though because we usually go to cafés and restaurants rather than indulge in street food. For us it’s definitely worth paying extra to avoid getting sick though; in Luang Prabang I ate some street food and remained between our bed and the toilet for a couple of days afterwards—we just don’t seem to have the stomachs for it.</p>
<h3 id="what%E2%80%99s-the-weirdest-thing-you-bought-in-the-last-year%3F">What’s the weirdest thing you bought in the last year?</h3>
<p>While wandering around the Chiang Rai night market Amy spotted something she just had to have and after testing it out Amy couldn’t resist - it was a head massager.</p>
<p>Sounds strange but it only cost about 30Baht so what the hell!</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2014/01/thai-head-massager.jpg" alt="Amy's new Thai Head Massager." class="mx-auto " />
<figcaption class="text-vta-accent text-center text-sm italic mt-2">Amy's new Thai Head Massager.</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="what%E2%80%99s-the-most-and-least-expensive-country-and-what-was-your-daily-budget%3F">What’s the most and least expensive country and what was your daily budget?</h3>
<p>Our most expensive country was New Zealand; we spent £61 per person per day. We did however do some expensive activities like a skydive, a heli-hike and an overnight cruise of the Bay of Islands while we were there though; these three activities alone came to about £1,000.</p>
<p>Our cheapest country so far has been Laos; we only spent £15 per person per day which is probably down to the low accommodation costs, the cheapest we’ve experienced on our trip so far.</p>
<p>It’s interesting to compare our spending habits on the road to those before we started our trip too; back in London we were spending about £28 per person per day just working and living.</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2014/01/andrew-wyatt-skydive.jpg" alt="Andrew skydiving in New Zealand." class="mx-auto " />
<figcaption class="text-vta-accent text-center text-sm italic mt-2">Andrew skydiving in New Zealand.</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="tell-us-your-top-budget-tip%3F">Tell us your top budget tip?</h3>
<p>If you’re not already tracking your spending, start doing it!</p>
<p>If you are then remember to make a note of everything you spend straight away; small costs like paying to use the toilet or buying a bag of sticky rice can easily be forgotten later on.</p>
<p>In some countries like Thailand, you can avoid paying the ATM fees by going to the exchange booth with your card and passport and drawing money out there. Also, find a bank in your home country that doesn’t charge you for taking money out while abroad; we use Norwich and Peterborough and it has saved us a lot of money so far in bank fees.</p>
<h3 id="which-feature-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-trail-wallet%3F">Which feature would you most like to see in Trail Wallet?</h3>
<p>It would be great to have a running total of everything we spend on our overall trip.</p>
<p>I would also like to set up a previous trip and have anything paid for within the dates set to automatically go into that trip (I hope that makes sense). For example, we used the app for 6 months before the new version, those six months include NZ, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and a bit of Thailand costs, I would like to go back and separate those countries into different trips.</p>
<p><em>Many thanks to Andrew and Amy for more on their travels, visit <a href="http://www.ourbigfattraveladventure.com/">OurBigFatTravelAdventure.com</a>. You can also <a href="https://twitter.com/OBFTA">follow them on Twitter</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Andrew is our third Trail Walleteer—check out the complete list of <strong><a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/blog/categories/trail-walleteer/">Walleteers</a>.</strong></em></p>
Trail Wallet 2.1 Released!2013-12-18T11:23:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-2-dot-1-released/<p>Developers often compare buying an app to buying a cup of coffee, complaining that people are willing to drop $5 on a coffee but yet are hesitant to drop the same amount on an app.</p>
<p>The problem is that, even if the $5 cup of coffee is nothing more than a shot of bad espresso buried under a lake of sugary milk, you still have a beverage for your trouble at the end of it.</p>
<p>At the very least, you'll get a caffeine hit.</p>
<p>With apps, if you drop $5 on something and it doesn't do what you needed it to do—or does it so badly that it's essentially unusable—then you have received nothing (not even a sugar rush) from your purchase.</p>
<p>As well as the money you've spent, it has cost you time and effort. What's worse is that it will now cost you more time and effort as you now have to resume your search again.</p>
<p>This is frustrating. After a few experiences like this, we can see why people may be hesitant to pay for an app up front.</p>
<p>Judging from the reviews and emails we've received, we have been fortunate in that those who have taken a risk on our app have, on the whole, found it to be exactly what they were looking for.</p>
<p>But we want to reach those who, understandably, weren't willing to take that risk and so we're trying something new:</p>
<p>Trail Wallet is now <strong>free</strong> for up to 25 items.</p>
<p>If you've been hesitant to try it, now's your chance to do so with no up-front commitment.</p>
<p>After you reach your 25 item limit, you can choose to unlock unlimited items for the same price as the app used to be up front ($2.99 or equivalent).</p>
<p>You get to try it out for a week or so and, if it turns out it is useful, you can then pay us for our troubles.</p>
<p>Seems fair.</p>
<p>Right now this is an experiment to try reach more people and, yes, hopefully bring in more income. We've worked almost non-stop for over a year on this app and we'd like to continue to work on it but at $3 a go, it takes a lot of people to make this a viable business.</p>
<p>We believe that our app is one of the best travel budget apps available, having been developed by two long term travellers and road tested by hundreds of others, and that it pays for itself through the insights it gives you into your spending.</p>
<p>We hope that after you've tried it out, you'll agree.</p>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Trail Wallet is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
<h3 id="other-features">Other Features</h3>
<p>As well as a bunch of bug fixes, we've added some new stuff to Trail Wallet 2.1:</p>
<p><strong>1. Spread amounts over multiple days.</strong></p>
<p>This oft-requested addition allows you to spread those big expenses (like accommodation or new iPhones) over a number of days (up to 31) so that your daily budget doesn't get hosed on one day, then is unrealistically light on the next.</p>
<p>Simply tap the Date button on the Add Amount screen and reveal a world of expense-spreading within!</p>
<p><strong>2. Improved Backup/Dropbox Support</strong></p>
<p>The app will now keep track of which backup came from which device, which should make it easier to transfer data between devices (it's not fully automated sync—that's a ways off yet—but it'll work in a pinch).</p>
<p>It also now has the option to not use cellular data when using Dropbox. The backups can get a little big once you've been using the app for a year or more, so having this option will prevent the app from using your cellular data to transfer data, saving you money (which is precisely what a travel budget app should do!)</p>
<p><strong>3. Motion Effects</strong></p>
<p>OK, this one is just for fun, but open up the trips sidebar, move your device around and get a glimpse into the universe within.</p>
<h3 id="happy-holidays!">Happy Holidays!</h3>
<p>2013 has been an exciting year for us and we appreciate all of the support that has made Trail Wallet the success that has been and we look forward to continue making it even bigger in 2014.</p>
<p>Have a great holiday season, and a wonderful New Year.</p>
<p><strong>Simon and Erin</strong><br />
Voyage Travel Apps</p>
Trail Walleteer of the Month: Zab Scoon2013-11-21T10:28:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-walleteer-of-the-month-zab-scoon/<p><em>Trail Walleteer of the Month is our new regular series where we talk to Trail Wallet users and discuss all things travel budget related. This month's Trail Walleteer is <strong>Zab Scoon</strong> from <a href="http://www.indefiniteadventure.com/">Indefinite Adventure</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Originally a corporate accountant, he then co-ran his family jewellery business for several years before selling it all to travel and has been in South America with his partner Sam for the last 10 months.</em></p>
<h3 id="tell-us-a-bit-about-yourself-and-your-travels.">Tell us a bit about yourself and your travels.</h3>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: sm:float-left sm:mr-8 sm:pt-2">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2013/11/zab-4.jpg" alt="Zab Scoon" class="mx-auto 64 border border-vta-accent" />
<figcaption class="text-vta-accent text-center text-sm italic mt-2">Zab Scoon</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Well, my name's Zab, I was born in Scotland but grew up around London. I lived for four and a half years as an expat in Munich, Germany, and have worked most of my life in offices, and I'm now trying to make it as a digital nomad. I love gadgets and I'll take any excuse to fiddle with my iPhone!</p>
<p>I've been travelling full time with my partner of eight years, <a href="http://www.indefiniteadventure.com/8-years-of-travel-history/">Sam</a>, since January this year in South America, having visited Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador together. Soon we're <a href="http://www.indefiniteadventure.com/exciting-plans-new-direction/">heading back to Europe</a> to work on some more projects to ensure we have a consistent income to support our long-term travelling and save up some more money as a contingency fund before hopefully making our way over to Asia by the end of 2014.</p>
<h3 id="what-do-you-think-are-the-benefits-of-tracking-your-travel-expenses%3F">What do you think are the benefits of tracking your travel expenses?</h3>
<p>It's really easy to believe you are within budget when you're having a great time, particularly at the beginning of your travels when everything is new and exciting. But having your budget at your fingertips really help you answer questions like "shall we go on that tour?" or "stay in a nicer place?" so much easier.</p>
<h3 id="what-categories-do-you-have-set-up-on-trail-wallet%3F-which-is-the-most-used%3F">What categories do you have set up on Trail Wallet? Which is the most used?</h3>
<p>We created three additional categories from the standard preset ones: <em>Cafés</em>, <em>Eating Out</em> and <em>Mobile Phone & Internet</em>. Although we'd love to, we haven't started housesitting yet as their aren't many opportunities in South America. So, accommodation is the most frequently used though Cafés is a close second. We mustn't get too carried away with our coffees and cakes!</p>
<h3 id="has-trail-wallet-revealed-anything-surprising-about-your-spending%3F">Has Trail Wallet revealed anything surprising about your spending?</h3>
<p>We spend more on cafés than eating out which is mostly due to renting apartments and cooking at home. I find the ambient noise in a café relaxing and it helps me focus on my work, so we often use as mobile office spaces! I just can't work in the silence and I even have music playing whilst I'm writing now.</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2013/11/zab-2.jpg" alt="Zab with his iPhone." class="mx-auto " />
<figcaption class="text-vta-accent text-center text-sm italic mt-2">Zab with his iPhone.</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="what%E2%80%99s-the-weirdest-thing-you-bought-in-the-last-year%3F">What’s the weirdest thing you bought in the last year?</h3>
<p>I'm very precious about my hands so a pair of fetching canary yellow marigolds for cleaning our apartment in Lima, Peru where we spent six weeks in <a href="http://www.indefiniteadventure.com/september-2013-report/">August and September</a> this year.</p>
<h3 id="what%E2%80%99s-the-most-and-least-expensive-country-you%E2%80%99ve-visited-and-what-was-your-daily-budget%3F">What’s the most and least expensive country you’ve visited and what was your daily budget?</h3>
<p>Chile was our most expensive country at just over £28 per person/day and <a href="http://www.indefiniteadventure.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-travel-in-bolivia/">Bolivia</a> was the cheapest at £22 per person/day. Bolivia was a surprise for us as we took several flights because we didn't want to take long overnight bus journeys. Our accommodation was always in private rooms and our tour of the <a href="http://www.indefiniteadventure.com/tupiza-to-uyuni-highlights-of-bolivias-southwest-circuit/">Southwest Circuit</a> is also included in our daily average.</p>
<p>It's worth noting though that Peru's average daily per person spend was £21. We rented apartments in <a href="http://www.indefiniteadventure.com/guide-to-arequipa/">Arequipa</a> and Lima which made up the majority of our 3 months in the country and just goes to show that travelling slowly really makes a difference.</p>
<h3 id="tell-us-your-top-budget-travel-tip.">Tell us your top budget travel tip.</h3>
<p>Travel is now our way of life, or perhaps I should say, travelling and living in different countries. We don't stay in the cheapest places but my budget travel tip would be finding some great lunch menus! In South America our lunch menus have ranged per person from £1.20 in Bolivia to £2.25 in Ecuador, and they usually include a soup, a main, a drink and sometimes a salad and/or dessert, and finding vegetarian options has been surprisingly easy.</p>
<h3 id="which-feature-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-trail-wallet%3F">Which feature would you most like to see in Trail Wallet?</h3>
<p>I would love to be able to click on the categories from the pie chart and see the individual items listed and have them filtered for example in chronological order.</p>
<p><em>Many thanks to Zab and for more on Zab and Sam's travels, be sure to check out their travel site, <a href="http://www.indefiniteadventure.com/">Indefinite Adventure</a>. You can also <a href="http://twitter.com/IndefiniteAdven">follow them on Twitter</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>If you enjoyed this, check out our other <strong><a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/tags/trail-walleteer/">Trail Walleteers</a>.</strong></em></p>
Trail Walleteer of the Month: Griffin Stewart2013-10-15T07:06:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-walleteer-of-the-month-griffin-stewart/<p><em>Welcome to Trail Walleteer of the Month, a new series where we talk to Trail Wallet users and discuss all things travel budget related. This month, we are pleased to have designer and photographer, <strong>Griffin Stewart</strong> from <a href="http://valerieandgriffin.com/">ValerieAndGriffin.com</a></em></p>
<h3 id="tell-us-a-bit-about-yourself-and-your-travels.">Tell us a bit about yourself and your travels.</h3>
<p>My wife and I lived and taught English in South Korea for two years while paying off student loan debt and saving up for our trip. I had previously traveled for 6 months on my own in 2007 and we were planing to visit many of the same spots as well as few new ones so we could experience them together.</p>
<p>While living in Korea, we had been searching for an app to track our expenses, but with my freelance business and student loans back home I had income and expenses in both Korea and in the USA. Trying to figure out how much we were spending where and how much was coming in was a nightmare and eventually we decided to track US income/expenses and Korean income/expenses separately. As you might imagine, this was not an ideal solution and, while we thankfully were able to pay off all student loan debt and save for our travels, we never really had a good grasp on our expenses while there.</p>
<p>As we headed out on our travels we had many of the same issues. We would track our expenses, but would have to make what felt like mind boggling conversions in every new country and we were always worried we had messed it up and would run out of money sooner than we had planned. All that changed when we downloaded <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA">Trail Wallet</a> for the first time and we have not looked back since!</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2013/10/griffin-4.jpg" alt="Valerie & Griffin at Franz Joseph Glacier, New Zeland" class="mx-auto " />
<figcaption class="text-vta-accent text-center text-sm italic mt-2">Valerie & Griffin at Franz Joseph Glacier, New Zeland. See more of their photos on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.147133965312402.26838.112486132110519&type=3">Facebook</a>.</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="what-do-you-think-are-the-benefits-of-tracking-your-travel-expenses%3F">What do you think are the benefits of tracking your travel expenses?</h3>
<p>For us, traveling for almost 18 months straight and changing countries and currencies a lot, it was critical to understand our daily, weekly and monthly average expenses so that we could make adjustments as needed and stay within our planned long term travel budget. Without doing this our trip would have ended sooner and we would not have been able to do, see and experience all the things we had planned for.</p>
<p>Trail wallet is awesome! I hate math and I'm bad at it as well, so not having to worry about and deal with conversions during our 45+ country trip was amazing! The first day I used the app I knew there was no looking back and there still is nothing in the app store that can compare. I was sad to see a noted travel blogger copy the functionality for his own profit, but Trail wallet is the first and best of its kind and I'll be sticking with the original and supporting Simon and Erin every chance I get!</p>
<h3 id="what-categories-do-you-have-set-up-on-trail-wallet%3F-which-is-the-most-used%3F">What categories do you have set up on Trail Wallet? Which is the most used?</h3>
<p>I use all the standard ones and also added <em>Visa Fees</em> and <em>Business Expenses</em> as I am able to write off certain things for my <a href="http://photography.griffinstewart.com/">photography</a> and <a href="http://thetravelingdesigner.com/">design business</a> . The most used in normally Accommodation as all our flights were paid for using miles from credit card rewards.</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2013/10/griffin-2.png" alt="Griffin's Trail Wallet—handling multiple currencies with ease" class="mx-auto " />
<figcaption class="text-vta-accent text-center text-sm italic mt-2">Griffin's Trail Wallet—handling multiple currencies with ease.</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="has-trail-wallet-revealed-anything-surprising-about-your-spending%3F">Has Trail Wallet revealed anything surprising about your spending?</h3>
<p>Yes - Visa fees can add up! Make sure to remember them in your travel budgeting! ;-)</p>
<h3 id="what%E2%80%99s-the-weirdest-thing-you-bought-in-the-last-year%3F">What’s the weirdest thing you bought in the last year?</h3>
<p>Probably some of the drinks and fruits at the local markets as we traveled. I have never seen or heard of a lot of the fruits we saw on our trip.</p>
<h3 id="what%E2%80%99s-the-most-and-least-expensive-country-you%E2%80%99ve-visited-and-what-was-your-daily-budget%3F">What’s the most and least expensive country you’ve visited and what was your daily budget?</h3>
<p>The most expensive was a trip to your homeland—England. Africa was also right up there in expenses. The pound killed us and we found it really expensive to travel there but a lot of the museums are free or donation only, so that helped a lot in London. Africa was really expensive for what you would get there as a hotel could cost $60+ and be in much worse shape than any $10 hotel in Thailand. Additionally we went on a three day Safari which was not cheap by any means, but well worth it for the experience.</p>
<p>Daily UK Budget was $120 per day for two people. We had some awesome friends who we got to stay with while there, so that helped out a lot, but still getting out and seeing some things during the Olympics was not cheap (but it was fun).</p>
<p>Daily Africa Budget for visiting Tanzania and my birthplace—Kenya—was $100 per day for two people, but the Safari was calculated separately from that.</p>
<p>The least expensive place we visited was India. We spent 6 weeks traveling around Northern India and our average daily budget was around $50 including private driver for many days and nice hotels. The meals were amazing and we would be full for less than $1 for both of us!</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2013/10/griffin-3.jpg" alt="Valerie, Griffin, Kendik and Akic at Kendik's Sisters Wedding - Ungasan Bali, Indonesia" class="mx-auto " />
<figcaption class="text-vta-accent text-center text-sm italic mt-2">Valerie, Griffin, Kendik and Akic at Kendik's Sisters Wedding - Ungasan Bali, Indonesia. See more of their photos on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.147133965312402.26838.112486132110519&type=3">Facebook</a>.</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="tell-us-your-top-budget-travel-tip.">Tell us your top budget travel tip.</h3>
<p>Track everything. Some countries are cheaper than others, so save where you can so you can enjoy yourself once things get more expensive. In the end it can all even out. Relatedly, plan for Visa fees and also have some money saved up for things you don't think to budget for as there will always be things like that.</p>
<h3 id="which-feature-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-trail-wallet%3F">Which feature would you most like to see in Trail Wallet?</h3>
<p>Overall I am really happy with it and it beats anything I have seen by a long shot! If I could rename Categories, that would be nice, but not really a big one and can't think of anything else at this time.</p>
<p><em>Many thanks to Griffin and for more on Griffin's travels, be sure to check out <a href="http://valerieandgriffin.com/">ValerieAndGriffin.com</a>. You can also <a href="https://twitter.com/griffins">follow Griffin on Twitter</a>.</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA">Trail Wallet</a> is available in the App Store.</em></p>
Trail Wallet 2.0 Released2013-09-29T16:16:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-2-dot-0-released/<p>We are genuinely super excited to announce the launch of Trail Wallet 2.0! Available now in the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=">App Store</a> (it's a free upgrade to existing Trail Wallet users), which represents over 350 hours of work and is the most solid, reliable and feature-packed version yet.</p>
<h3 id="trips!">Trips!</h3>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: sm:float-left sm:mr-8 sm:pt-2">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2012/12/4inch-screenshot-5.png" alt="Screenshot of the Trail Wallet 2.0 Trips screen" class="mx-auto 64 " />
<figcaption class="text-vta-accent text-center text-sm italic mt-2">The new Trips screen!</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We are lucky to have a ton of really smart, passionate, supportive and good-looking users and they've given us a lot of feedback on what they would like to see in the app. By far the most commonly requested feature was the ability to organise dates and expenses by Trip, rather than by month.</p>
<p>So it's my rather grand privilege to announce that, yes, Trail Wallet 2.0 supports Trips.</p>
<p>Each trip can have a separate budget and up to <em>five</em> local currencies (another oft-requested feature). You can also set definite start and end dates or leave them open-ended and let the app work it out for you based on the dates of the amounts you enter.</p>
<h3 id="other-new-features">Other New Features</h3>
<ol>
<li>To celebrate the launch of iOS 7, we've given the design of the app a complete overhaul, including a new icon and colourful new user interface.</li>
<li>We've added a new Share screen, which allows you to export your CSV files between arbitrary start and end dates.</li>
<li>We've added Facebook support so you can reassure the folks back home that, yes, you are behaving yourself.</li>
<li>The app now automatically backs up your data every day and, if you have Dropbox enabled, ships it off to Dropbox to keep safely in the cloud while you wander the globe.</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="more-to-come!">More To Come!</h3>
<p>This is just the beginning of a new phase in the development of Trail Wallet. We still have a long list of features and ideas that we want to add as we continue to work to make this the best travel budget iPhone app in the world!</p>
<p>We hope you enjoy this new version—feel free to <a href="https://voyagetravelapps.com/contact">say hi, or send us your ideas, suggestions and bug reports</a>—and, sincerely, thank you for all of your support.</p>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Trail Wallet is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
Trail Wallet 2.0 is Coming...2013-09-23T18:06:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-2-dot-0-is-coming-dot-dot-dot/<p>On the 30th September, Trail Wallet 2.0 will be released<sup class="footnote-ref"><a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-2-dot-0-is-coming-dot-dot-dot/#fn1" id="fnref1">[1]</a></sup>.</p>
<p>This is our biggest update yet, featuring a brand new, iOS 7 ready design full of colour and new buttons and things.</p>
<p>Of course, the biggest new feature is <strong>trips</strong>. Ya'll asked for it and we delivered! Here's what you can now do:</p>
<ol>
<li>Have multiple trips! As many as you like! Access the complete history from our handy sliding side menu.</li>
<li>Each trip can have their own start and end date (with the option to leave it open-ended if you prefer)</li>
<li>Each trip can have its own budget (either a daily budget or a total trip budget)</li>
<li>Each trip can have up to FIVE currencies each for those annoying countries which have multiple currencies in circulation.</li>
<li>Each trip has its own complete history, organised by month, and pie chart summary of everything spent so far.</li>
</ol>
<p>Of course, if you liked it the old way, then you are welcome to leave it organised by month.</p>
<p>The choice, my friends, is entirely yours.</p>
<h2 id="sounds-grand.-anything-else%3F">Sounds Grand. Anything Else?</h2>
<p>Yeah! All this:</p>
<ol>
<li>Backup to Dropbox! The app automatically backs your data up every day then silently ships it off to Dropbox so, should the worst happen, you are but a restore away from re-entering Trail Wallet nirvana.</li>
<li>New icon! iOS 7 inspired!</li>
<li>Swipey goodness everywhere! Swipe up on the Summary screen to add a new amount, swipe left to go to your history, swipe right to open the menu. Swipe swipe swipe...</li>
<li>Interactive summary screen! Tap the screen to instantly convert your summaries to all of your local currencies.</li>
<li>Improved history! See your daily spends broken down by currency.</li>
<li>Total redesign!</li>
<li>Facebook integration!</li>
<li>Export your data as a CSV between any two dates, or for your entire trip!</li>
</ol>
<p>Trail Wallet 2.0 will be like a whole new app! Look out for it from the 30th September.</p>
<p>If you haven't already picked up a copy, you can <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA">get it on the App Store</a> (the new version will automatically be available to you once released).</p>
<hr class="mt-8" />
<section class="pt-4 footnotes text-sm italic text-vta-accent">
<ol>
<li id="fn1" class="footnote-item"><p>Barring any App Store rejections, or major bugs, or arbitrary mind changes <a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-2-dot-0-is-coming-dot-dot-dot/#fnref1" class="footnote-backref">↩︎</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</section>
Trail Wallet 1.1.3 Released2013-06-27T09:01:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-1-dot-1-3-released/<p>Trail Wallet 1.1.3 is <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA">now available in the App Store</a>. This is just a bugfix update and fixes some issues some users were having with accessing their daily history.</p>
<p>It was a time zone thing. It's <em>always</em> a time zone thing—time can be a slippery little bugger.</p>
Apps Are Not Art2013-06-21T09:20:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/apps-are-not-art/<p>I'm not the world's greatest designer.</p>
<p>I enjoy drawing and illustration and I intend to get good at it over time (I have a long way to go—I estimate my current drawing age to be around <a href="https://simonfairbairn.com/evil-mentor-horror-alchemist/">nine years old</a>).</p>
<p>I used to maintain the illusion that drawing and illustration was helping me become a better designer but perhaps it wasn't, or at least not to the level that I thought it was.</p>
<p>Drawing and art in general is about the artist. It's about the expression of their reaction to the world. Their pieces ask you to try and see or hear or feel things how they experience them.</p>
<p>It's a transient, rickety bridge that temporarily connects our little island of self to theirs; an invitation into their minds and imaginations, their own subjective experience of our shared objective reality.</p>
<p>Design, on the other hand, is about the user of that design. It is primarily functional. It can absolutely be beautiful and opinionated and thoughtful and approach art in terms of expression but if it's unusable then it necessarily fails as design.</p>
<p>It's about connecting the user to their world in a more meaningful, positive way. It's about making their life easier; making the necessities more enjoyable.</p>
<p>Art is expression, design is empathy.</p>
<p>I'm not a great designer because I spend too much on the former, and not enough on the latter. I think too much about the colours that I like and not about the colours that are <em>right</em>.</p>
<p>If something appears a little dull, my first instinct is to add an illustration in there, which pays no respect to the essence of the problem I'm trying to solve.</p>
<p>I think a good designer is able to inject their personality into their designs without overwhelming the objectives of that design. It's about getting to the core of what that thing is or does and finding ways that accentuate that core in harmony with it.</p>
<p>I believe that the biggest compliment you can pay a designer is "This! This is how <insert thing> should work!"</p>
<p>Not the mediocre, middling "I guess it does what I want" that makes up the bulk of the products and services we use, but the excitement that this thing <em>gets</em> you; that this object thinks like you think—that if you were going to create this thing, this is <em>exactly</em> how you would create it.<sup class="footnote-ref"><a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/apps-are-not-art/#fn1" id="fnref1">[1]</a></sup></p>
<p>I think a <em>great</em> designer is able to do this to scale. It's easier to get a handful of like-minded people to love a design than it is to get hundreds, thousands or even millions.</p>
<p>As I continue to work on the design for Trail Wallet 2, I'm trying to hold these things in mind. I'm attempting to reach a higher standard; to make this thing less about me, and more about you.</p>
<hr class="mt-8" />
<section class="pt-4 footnotes text-sm italic text-vta-accent">
<ol>
<li id="fn1" class="footnote-item"><p>Of course, this is not a fixed concept. Our tastes and desires and experiences naturally evolve. This is brilliant news for designers. There will never be a perfect design, just a perfect design for right now. <a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/apps-are-not-art/#fnref1" class="footnote-backref">↩︎</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</section>
Why Trail Wallet Isn't On Android2013-06-12T11:49:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/why-trail-wallet-isnt-on-android/<p>One of the questions that we get a lot is whether there's going to be an Android version of <a href="https://voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet">Trail Wallet</a>. Unfortunately, the answer is "not at the moment" and here's why.</p>
<h3 id="different-programming-language">Different Programming Language</h3>
<p>In order to be fast and efficient, Trail Wallet has been coded in iOS's native language, Objective C. Android runs on a different language, Java. This means that most of the code would have to be rewritten for Android.</p>
<p>There are cross-platform coding tools available (such as PhoneGap) that allow you to code once and have it deploy to all mobile devices but there are some serious issues with using these, not least of which is the added dependency on a third-party system.</p>
<h3 id="device-fragmentation">Device Fragmentation</h3>
<p>Currently, I have two test devices: a 4th Generation iPod Touch and an iPhone 5.</p>
<p>Measured in points, these two devices represent the entirety of the available iPhone/iPod screen dimensions (Trail Wallet doesn't support iPad, but even if it did that would only add one more screen size<sup class="footnote-ref"><a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/why-trail-wallet-isnt-on-android/#fn1" id="fnref1">[1]</a></sup>). That means, if it looks good on these two devices, I know that it's likely to contine to look good on everyone else's devices.</p>
<p>Android, on the other hand, has thousands of different devices supporting hundreds of different screen resolutions. This makes <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/11/this-is-what-developing-for-android-looks-like/">device testing a heavy proposition</a>.</p>
<p>Even if I only supported the most popular devices, it's still a non-trivial amount of work (not to mention the fact that I would have to invest in some of these devices for testing<sup class="footnote-ref"><a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/why-trail-wallet-isnt-on-android/#fn2" id="fnref2">[2]</a></sup>).</p>
<h3 id="updates">Updates</h3>
<p>Along with this comes another problem—feature updates and bug fixes.</p>
<p>In response to user's suggestions and issues, we were able to roll out <em>five</em> updates in the six months since we launched the app and we're currently deep in the middle of a huge new update.</p>
<p>If we had to support a different language, as well as test in all the different devices, we simply wouldn't be able to keep up. Updates would be delayed for months and we wouldn't be able to get new features into the hands of our users as quickly as we'd like.</p>
<p>We'd rather deliver the best possible experience to a smaller market than a crappier experience to everyone.</p>
<h3 id="os-fragmentation">OS Fragmentation</h3>
<p>At the recent <a href="http://www.apple.com/apple-events/june-2013/">Apple Keynote</a> event, Tim Cook noted that <strong>93%</strong> of users are on iOS 6, the latest available operating system for iPhones, iPods and iPads.</p>
<p>Currently, Trail Wallet supports iOS 5.1 but, given this fact, Trail Wallet 2.0 will probably only support iOS 6 and above. This gives me access to a huge range of new features and time saving code shortcuts and I can do this knowing that only a very small number of users will be affected.</p>
<p>In contrast, only 33% of users of Android devices are on Jelly Bean, the latest version of Android, which would mean choosing to drop support for a significant number of users or be stuck using older APIs and dealing with backwards compatibility issues (a significant overhead).</p>
<h3 id="app-sales">App Sales</h3>
<p>Developers on iOS generate <strong>2.6x</strong> the <a href="http://blog.appannie.com/app-annie-index-market-q1-2013/">revenue of their Android counterparts</a>, despite the fact that Android enjoys a significantly larger market share in terms of devices sold.</p>
<p>Although it's encouraging to see that gap closing, the simple fact is that there are more folks on iOS willing to pay for apps.</p>
<h3 id="development-costs">Development Costs</h3>
<p>Trail Wallet has been a significant investment of time and money already and, based on the assumption that it would cost a similar amount to port it to Android, it hasn't yet been profitable enough to make the investment worthwhile.</p>
<p>Given the disparity in revenue generation, we also have to assume that it would take significantly longer to make back this investment and, in the meantime, we'd be expected to keep developing and updating it, adding to the cost.</p>
<h3 id="watching-the-tides">Watching the Tides</h3>
<p>We do really appreciate the interest in our app and wish that things were just a little bit different but we're a tiny development shop and so have to be very careful where we dedicate our resources.</p>
<p>We won't be developing Trail Wallet for Android in the near future. However, <a href="https://voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet">Trail Wallet</a> is doing very well and, if it continues to grow as it has and if the paid app situtaiton on Android continues to improve, then we will definitely reconsider our position.</p>
<hr class="mt-8" />
<section class="pt-4 footnotes text-sm italic text-vta-accent">
<ol>
<li id="fn1" class="footnote-item"><p>Technically, the Retina display doubles this number but, because of the way Apple have designed their devices, adding support for Retina is actually incredibly easy. I have a Photoshop action that automatically creates Retina versions of all of my assets, adding approximately 30 seconds to the development time. <a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/why-trail-wallet-isnt-on-android/#fnref1" class="footnote-backref">↩︎</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn2" class="footnote-item"><p>I am aware of the many software based testing tools available but these don't come close to testing on actual devices. <a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/why-trail-wallet-isnt-on-android/#fnref2" class="footnote-backref">↩︎</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</section>
In Which a Site is Updated2013-05-29T09:30:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/in-which-a-site-is-updated/<figure class="mb-4 sm: sm:float-left sm:mr-8 sm:pt-2">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/vta-square-logo.png" alt="The Voyage Travel Apps logo" class="mx-auto " />
</figure>
The old Voyage Travel Apps website was the office intern who we just shoved out the door to talk to the world. Gangly and kind of awkward, he really had no idea what he was doing but at least he was keen and it was better to have someone out there than no one at all.
<p>As Trail Wallet 2.0 nears completion, it was time to replace him with someone a little more competent and, dare we say it, glamourous. Someone who could better represent us in public and didn't fiddle with his tie and say "um" and "er" and "let me just check on that" so much.</p>
<p>Our new website is bigger and punchier and uses fonts from <a href="http://typekit.com/">Typekit</a> and, like most things in the world, is built on the <a href="http://html5boilerplate.com/">great</a> <a href="http://octopress.org/">work</a> of <a href="http://foundation.zurb.com/">others</a>.</p>
<p>The content explodes all over your screen in full and confident glory instead of being all squeezed into a tight little column but it's still responsive (frankly, it would be embarrassing to be a smartphone app development company with a website that looked like crap on a smartphone).</p>
<p>Plus, it features pictures of us! Who doesn't want that?</p>
<p>See, when you buy our stuff, we want you to know that you're not supporting some giant soulless corporation who just wants your money and doesn't really care about you personally. What you're doing is supporting two people who are working as hard as they can to make <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=">cool stuff</a> and do <a href="https://www.neverendingvoyage.com/">awesome things</a>.</p>
<p>We don't have outsourced call centres or labyrinthine automatic voice-activated phone trees so we see every question, comment or support request. We're all up in the <a href="http://twitter.com/VoyageTravelApp">social</a> <a href="http://facebook.com/VoyageTravelApps">medias</a> if you want to get in touch, or you can use good ol' fashined <a href="https://voyagetravelapps.com/contact">email</a>.</p>
<p>(Remember when we used to send email? Emails are so much more civil. Emails take care and thought, not like Tweets. People should write more emails.)</p>
<h3 id="in-which-simon-talks-too-much">In Which Simon Talks Too Much</h3>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: sm:float-left sm:mr-8 sm:pt-2">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2013/05/mwl.png" alt="The Married With Luggage logo" class="mx-auto 64 " />
</figure>
<p>As well as launching the new site, I was recently interviewed on <a href="http://marriedwithluggage.com/">Married With Luggage's</a> excellent <a href="http://www.marriedwithluggage.com/2013/05/21/track-your-expenses-podcast-11-simon-fairbairn/">An Action Plan for Dreamers</a> podcast where we talk about <a href="https://voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet">Trail Wallet</a> and how tracking your expenses can make a difference in saving for your Big Dreams.</p>
<p>I, for one, wouldn't be a wandering hobo making millions of ones and zeros flip on and off in a particular way then selling those ones and zeros to some other wandering hobo who can then swipe their finger over a glass-covered metal box and get the box to remember how much their shopping cost if we hadn't have been conscious about our spending habits.</p>
<p>Also: Dreams are weird.</p>
<p>Anyhow, Warren and Betsy were gracious hosts despite my attempts to derail them with talk about coffee. They keep their podcasts under 20 minutes so it's easy to listen to and I belive there are some valid points about money somewhere within my stacatto ramblings.</p>
<p>You can <a href="http://www.marriedwithluggage.com/2013/05/21/track-your-expenses-podcast-11-simon-fairbairn/">read more on their site</a> or subscribe to <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/an-action-plan-for-dreamers/id618341281?mt=2">their podcast on iTunes</a>.</p>
Trail Wallet Users Share Their Travel Expenses2013-05-08T11:49:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-users-share-their-travel-expenses/<p>We use <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA">Trail Wallet</a> every day to track our expenses and we often take the results and provide breakdowns such as our recent <a href="https://www.neverendingvoyage.com/cuba-travel-costs/">Cuba travel costs</a> post over on Never Ending Voyage. However, it's been incredibly gratifying and more than a little humbling to find that other travellers have been doing this too.</p>
<p>So we're super puffed-out-chest-standing-up-straight proud to present the brand new and succinctly-titled:</p>
<p><strong>Voyage Travel Apps Grand List of Amazing Folks Who Have Used Trail Wallet To Track Their Expenses on Their Travels then Written About It on the Internet</strong></p>
<p>(Applause)</p>
<p>First up, we have Gillian and Jason over at <strong>One Giant Step</strong> who not only posted their <a href="http://one-giant-step.com/our-budget-one-month-in-chiang-mai-thailand/">one month budget in one of our favourite cities, Chiang Mai, Thailand</a>, but also have on their site a simply wonderful photo of them riding a scooter.</p>
<p>Amy and Andrew of <strong>Our Big Fat Travel Adventure</strong> went to New Zealand, jumped out of a plane, survived, then wrote about <a href="http://www.ourbigfattraveladventure.com/2013/04/26/new-zealand-travel-costs-for-one-month/">how much it cost to stare death in the eye, then kick him in the 'nads</a>.</p>
<p>Sam and Zab at <strong>Indefinite Adventures</strong> share their monthly expense reports. <a href="http://www.indefiniteadventure.com/april-2013-report/">In April's report</a>, they note that it was their cheapest month yet, which we're sure was because they were using a useful and convenient budget app.</p>
<p>Dani and Jess of the <strong>Globetrotter Girls</strong> recently celebrated <a href="http://globetrottergirls.com/2013/04/happy-anniversary-today-we-celebrate-three-years-on-the-road/">three years on the road</a>, which included their budget for the year. Yes, Trail Wallet has only been out for five months, but we have it on good authority that at least <em>some</em> of their expenses were tracked with it. So it counts.</p>
<p>Tanya and Andrew of the <strong>Magic Travel Blog</strong> were on the beautiful island of Bali for two months where they <a href="http://magictravelblog.com/2013/04/two-months-in-bali-how-much-did-we-spend/">recorded how much they spent</a>, then made a pretty 3D pie chart of the results (which I personally think needs some whipped cream and cherries).</p>
<p>Caroline and Josh of <strong>Traveling 9 to 5</strong> went to <a href="http://www.traveling9to5.com/2013/03/rtw-budget-buenos-aires-argentina/">Buenos Aires</a> and now probably wish that they <em>didn't</em> track their expenses while they were there<sup class="footnote-ref"><a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-users-share-their-travel-expenses/#fn1" id="fnref1">[1]</a></sup>.</p>
<p>Massive and continual thanks to all the bloggers for sharing their budgets and for their support of Trail Wallet. Some of them were kind enough to review it and you can find a list of <a href="https://voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet/">Trail Wallet reviews here</a>.</p>
<p>And if you're an Amazing Person who publishes budget posts and use Trail Wallet to track your expenses then <a href="https://voyagetravelapps.com/contact">let us know</a> and we'll get you on this Officially Sanctioned List post haste.</p>
<hr class="mt-8" />
<section class="pt-4 footnotes text-sm italic text-vta-accent">
<ol>
<li id="fn1" class="footnote-item"><p>Please Note, Voyage Travel Apps cannot take responsibility for any country whose economy is in the toilet. Sorry. <a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-users-share-their-travel-expenses/#fnref1" class="footnote-backref">↩︎</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</section>
Making The Most of Trail Wallet2013-04-25T10:57:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/making-the-most-of-trail-wallet/<p>We built Trail Wallet to be fast and easy to use on a day-to-day basis but sometimes you just want to go a little bit deeper.</p>
<p>In this post, we present the lesser-used options and features that you might have missed.</p>
<h3 id="auto-add-for-speed">Auto Add For Speed</h3>
<p>The top item in the <code>Today -> Settings</code> menu is the Auto Add switch.</p>
<p>Turn this on to have the app pop up the Add New Item screen every time you launch the app, making it faster to get in and out.</p>
<h3 id="remembers-rates">Remembers Rates</h3>
<p>When you select a Local currency, the app will automatically try to fetch the latest market rate for that currency (provided you're connected to the Internet).</p>
<p>However, if you're about to go somewhere where Internet is spotty or non-existent (like <a href="https://www.neverendingvoyage.com/cuba-travel-costs/">Cuba</a>), it's worth knowing that the app saves the rate for any country you select, even if you then select another one.</p>
<p>So, for Cuba, we selected the Cuban Convertible Pesos while still in Mexico to get the rate, then switched back to Mexican Pesos. Then, when we arrived in Cuba, we switched back to Cuban Convertibles and the rate was there and ready to use.</p>
<h3 id="keep-your-rate-up-to-date">Keep Your Rate Up To Date</h3>
<p>The current rate is stored with each item that you enter and is used for the conversion of that item into your Home currency, so for the most accurate entries it's a good idea to keep the rate up to date.</p>
<p>Simply go to <code>Today -> Settings</code> and hit <code>Update Rate</code> to get the latest market rate for your current Local currency. Any items you enter after the update will use the newest rate, giving you a more accurate representation of how much you're actually spending.</p>
<h3 id="exporting-data">Exporting data</h3>
<p>To get a CSV file that can be opened by any spreadsheet application, go to History and make sure that you're on the History by Year view (i.e. the list of years and months) and then tap on the 'Share' icon (which looks like an arrow coming out of a box).</p>
<p>You'll get the Email CSV file options. Tap the "Daily" button to have Trail Wallet email you all of your transactions broken down by day.</p>
<p><em>Note: You'll need to have email set up on your iOS device for this to work</em></p>
<p>At the moment it exports <strong>all</strong> of your data but in the future we'll be looking to give you more fine tuned control of the data that it exports.</p>
<h3 id="creating-your-own-categories">Creating Your Own Categories</h3>
<p>Go to <code>Today -> Settings -> Categories</code> to edit your categories.</p>
<p>Tap <code>Edit</code> to delete or reorder categories. The order affects how the categories are listed when you select a category on the Add Item screen.</p>
<p>Tap a category to edit that category's name and colour. The category colour is used throughout the app, such as on the Chart and History screens, to give you a quick visual reference for that category.</p>
<h3 id="editing-entries">Editing Entries</h3>
<p>If you make a mistake when entering an item, you can edit that item by going to the <code>History</code> tab, tapping the month where that item was entered, and then tapping on that item to bring up the Edit Item screen.</p>
<p>Any changes you make are instantly reflected in the History and Chart screens.</p>
<h3 id="the-future">The Future</h3>
<p>We're still working hard on improving this app and we read all of your feedback and comments.</p>
<p>If you have an idea for a feature or improvement, or would like to report a bug, please <a href="https://voyagetravelapps.com/contact">contact us</a> and let us know.</p>
Being Creative2013-02-04T18:49:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/being-creative/<p>I was doing some research into the <a href="http://changethis.com/manifesto/48.04.DesignFunnel/pdf/48.04.DesignFunnel.pdf">design process</a> because it's always good to go over the <a href="http://designingfortheweb.co.uk/book/">fundamentals</a> now and again and I discovered this interesting manifesto from <a href="http://gapingvoid.com/">Hugh MacLeod</a>.</p>
<p>You may have heard of him. He's the guy that draws cartoons on the back of business cards and is now internet famous.</p>
<p>His <a href="http://changethis.com/manifesto/6.HowToBeCreative/pdf/6.HowToBeCreative.pdf">manifesto</a> is full of great thoughts and insights into being creative, but this one in particular struck me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"Thatʼs the thing about some big publishers. They want 110% from you, but they donʼt offer to do likewise in return. To them, the artist is just one more noodle in a big bowl of pasta.</p>
<p>Their business model is to basically throw the pasta against the wall, and see which one sticks. The ones that fall to the floor are just forgotten.</p>
<p>Publishers are just middlemen. Thatʼs all. If artists could remember that more often, theyʼd save themselves a lot of aggravation."</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://changethis.com/manifesto/6.HowToBeCreative/pdf/6.HowToBeCreative.pdf">Hugh MacLeod</a></p>
<p>I have been a champion of using the internet to retain full artisitc control for a long time. MacLeod's idea emphasises how tenuous a path looking for someone to recognise your greatness and pluck you from obscurity actually is.</p>
<p>You are but a tiny, tiny piece of a giant profitable puzzle.</p>
<p>Back in my music days, there were apocryphal tales of bands being signed to labels to basically shut them up because their style was too close to something already on the roster. They had signed away their music and were no longer allowed to promote or play it anywhere—they simply weren't the label's priority, just another piece of pasta that the label wanted forgotten.</p>
<p>My own brush with the priorities of the middlemen came when I was not-so-subtly told by a major label rep that I needed to cut my admittedly crazy hair and stop acting like the hyperactive geek that I am. We as a group were advised that our style of music needed to change to have more mass-market appeal.</p>
<p>I felt there had to be a better way, though I lacked the sense to fully articulate or investigate it.</p>
<p>At the time, the internet was just blossoming. Blogs were yet to go mainstream and Facebook was but a twinkle in Zuckerberg's eye. Labels, publishers, galleries—these were still the main way that artists got noticed.</p>
<p>In the years since then, we've seen an explosion of the DIY culture. Covering the gamut from <a href="http://www.jonathancoulton.com/">music</a> to <a href="http://www.andreasilliger.com/">video games</a>, artists everywhere are building their own audience, finding their own <a href="http://frontalot.com/index.php/">voices</a>, obtaining their own <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/">financing</a>, and making their art on their terms.</p>
<p>I was recently offered an opportunity to join a startup and I seriously considered it. I realise now, though, the startup culture is a lot like the old model in new clothes: middlemen throwing noodles at the wall to see what sticks. They still require their producers to work at 110%, only now it's in coding sweatshops.</p>
<p>I've long passed the point where I wish to be a cog in someone else's machine. I've stopped chasing pipe dreams, of pinning my hopes on strangers that don't really care that much about me, and I'm working on carving out my own little weird niche in the world, where I can hunt down my own voice and hopefully, one day, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikAb-NYkseI">make good art</a>.</p>
Trail Wallet 1.1 Now Available2013-01-24T12:08:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-1-dot-1-now-available/<p>Trail Wallet 1.1 is out!</p>
<p>This update introduces a veritable cornacopia of new features as well as an improved design—check out the new video for the lowdown:</p>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Trail Wallet is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
<h3 id="custom-categories">Custom Categories</h3>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: sm:float-left sm:mr-8 sm:pt-2">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2012/12/4inch-screenshot-3.png" alt="Custom Categories" class="mx-auto 40 " />
</figure>
<p>We've had a lot of feedback about being able to customise your categories so we made this one a top priority. We've been forcing the boffins down in the basement of Voyage Labs to work 20 hour shifts to get it done. And do it they did: Custom categories are the flagship feature of the new version.</p>
<p>Add, edit, delete, re-order and colourise your categories to make your travel expense tracking even easier. Want a category for coffee with foam and a separate one for coffee without?</p>
<p>They're all yours, my friend. They're all yours.</p>
<h3 id="interactive-pie-charts">Interactive Pie Charts</h3>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: sm:float-right sm:ml-8 sm:pt-2">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2012/12/4inch-screenshot-2.png" alt="Interactive Pie Charts" class="mx-auto 40 " />
</figure>
<p>Allowing you guys to add an arbitrary number of categories meant that we had to revisit the Pie Chart layout to make sure that they could all fit in there.</p>
<p>After turning it this way and that, trying to get it to work, we decided the best option was to screw it up, throw it out and start over.</p>
<p>The new pie charts are swankier, animated and interactive to make seeing how much you spend on coffee (with or without foam) a much more pleasant experience.</p>
<p>We do it because we love you.</p>
<h3 id="swanky-new-design">Swanky New Design</h3>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: sm:float-left sm:mr-8 sm:pt-2">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2012/12/4inch-screenshot-1.png" alt="New Summary Screen" class="mx-auto 40 " />
</figure>
<p>As well as the new Pie Chart design, we've jazzed up the summary screen to better highlight the day's important information.</p>
<p>Let's face it, the previous design wasn't going to win any design awards. Functional, perhaps, but pretty it weren't. We hope you'll agree that this new layout is a vast improvement.</p>
<p>And it's just the beginning. Things get interesting from here on out.</p>
<h3 id="the-future">The Future</h3>
<p>We're not even close to being done yet. We have a long, long list of exciting new features that we've got on the way in the coming months as well as new ways to interact and track your data to make this app an indespensable part of your travelling arsenal.</p>
<p>If you haven't picked up a copy yet (and you really should, it's just getting better), it's available for <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA">$1.99</a> on the App Store.</p>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Trail Wallet is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
<p>As always, if you have any ideas for new features or bug reports, then feel free to <a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/contact">get in touch</a>. We'd love to hear from you!</p>
The Reality of Creation2013-01-18T12:53:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/reality-of-creation/<p><strong>Just because you built it, doesn’t mean people will pay for it.</strong></p>
<p>A lot of the old model was built around the idea that artists and creatives needed to be somehow protected from the world of commerce. They should just create, someone else would figure out how to sell it. A lot of people got very rich from this model, and often it wasn't the artists or creators themselves.</p>
<p>Stories of bad deals, of artists not earing a penny or not owning their own works, are legion.</p>
<p>Now, a creative person has the power to take complete control of their work, from production to distribution to sales to marketing, maintaining ownership throughout.</p>
<p>But along with this comes the discovery of just how much what they produce is actually worth, and this is a hard lesson to learn.</p>
<h3 id="failed-experiments">Failed Experiments</h3>
<p>I have built two apps, both in the App Store. I don't consider either of them to be works of art in that they contain little in the way of self-expression, but the principle of creating something from nothing and offering it to the world is the same.</p>
<p>I spent a lot of time on the first app. I learned all about Objective-C, Core Data, and Storyboards. I sketched and illustrated icons. I filled out contracts and tax information and wrestled with Apple's app submission process.</p>
<p>In the end, 5 people bought it.</p>
<p>The hard, heavy truth is that it wasn't beautiful or original. It didn't fulfil a particularly pressing need nor was it functionally exciting. It had no existing market and it wasn't exciting or interesting enough to create a new one. In short, it was entirely unremarkable.</p>
<p>It hurt, of course. I had devoted a chunk of my life to its creation only to have it categorically (yet understandably) ignored.</p>
<p>I had two choices: give up, or pick myself up, learn from it and keep moving forward.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA">second app</a> is now selling well. People are responding to it, which is wonderful. It still hasn't quite reached my vision for what it could be, but it's definitely <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI23U7U2aUY&feature=channel">getting closer</a>.</p>
<p>And it's another step on a path that I have, after trying many, many different paths, decided is right for me.</p>
<h3 id="choices">Choices</h3>
<p>If you believe in what you do, you should certainly keep doing it.</p>
<p>Having an understanding of economic forces, marketing and the subjective value of a particular piece of work is just another insight into human beings and their interactions with each other. It's a data point, not a moral value or a judgement on your position as a creator. You get to choose what to do with this information.</p>
<p>You can move your work towards the middle of the bell curve, finding out what sells and what doesn't in order to produce more of what does. Give the people what they want.</p>
<p>You can keep going in whichever esoteric direction you decide to go in. The exploration of the human condition and the pursuit of pure self expression. Perhaps you'll create something that will resonate. Perhaps not. Either way, that's not the point.</p>
<p>Or you can hit somewhere between these two extremes. Try to inject a bit of your own voice into something, while keeping an eye on the popular. Pimp your stuff hard and try to get heard. Convince people why they should pay attention to you. Draw your own lines on what is acceptable for you and your creation and then push up against them.</p>
<p>Get close to the middle, build an audience, then perhaps slowly bring them out to the weirder edges with you.</p>
<p>Marry confidence and self-belief with humility. Understand that there are no guarantees, that you don't get to set the value of what you produce in the context of the marketplace—that you don't even have the right to be heard—and learn to be OK with that.</p>
<p>Then keep going.</p>
The Future of Trail Wallet2013-01-10T11:51:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/the-future-of-trail-wallet/<p>We have almost reached the end of the development of <a href="https://voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-1-dot-1-preview/">version 1.1</a> of Trail Wallet. The nerds down at Voyage Labs have been working away, ratcheting in all new features and sticking on brand new spangly bits to make travel expense tracking that little bit easier.</p>
<p>I hope that this new release, which should be with you in a week or two, goes to show that we want to make this just the best darn travel expense app you've ever owned.</p>
<p>(Although we're actually aiming for 'indespensible'.)</p>
<p>Apropos<sup class="footnote-ref"><a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/the-future-of-trail-wallet/#fn1" id="fnref1">[1]</a></sup> of this, once it's released 1.1 is probably going to represent Trail Wallet's final appearance in its present incarnation. There may be some point releases (1.1.1, or even 1.1.2) to fix any new bugs that our nerds have no doubt introduced (rest assured, they will be punished accordingly) but 1.1 represents the end of stage one of how people track their travel finances on the road.</p>
<p>Most of the core functionality is in there. It works, it's stable and it's generally reliable.</p>
<p>Now it's time to evolve this thing. The next step: gaffer tape an afterburner to it, point it at the moon and light the fuse.</p>
<hr class="mt-8" />
<section class="pt-4 footnotes text-sm italic text-vta-accent">
<ol>
<li id="fn1" class="footnote-item"><p>First 50¢ word of 2013. <a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/the-future-of-trail-wallet/#fnref1" class="footnote-backref">↩︎</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</section>
Trail Wallet 1.1 Preview2012-12-27T10:33:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-1-dot-1-preview/<p>If you're celebrating Christmas then we hope you've had a suitably relaxing one and if you were lucky enough to receive an iPhone or iPod Touch for Christmas, then we have a <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA">great app we can recommend</a>...</p>
<h3 id="custom-categories!">Custom Categories!</h3>
<p>After launching the app it became very clear that there was one feature that everybody who used it wished it had: custom categories.</p>
<p>We listen to our customers. So instead of giving our nerds down at Voyage Labs a Christmas break, we instead chained them up, gave them some Christmas bread and water, and set them to work adding custom categories.</p>
<p>We're pleased to announce that our particular brand of Christmas bonus worked, and that custom categories will be the flagship feature of the next big release, version 1.1.</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2012/12/custom-categories-preview.png" alt="Custom Categories Preview" class="mx-auto " />
</figure>
<h3 id="sexy-new-charts">Sexy New Charts</h3>
<p>Our nerds have also completely overhauled the pie chart. In order to accommodate an arbitrary number of categories, we had to rethink the organisation of the Pie Chart view.</p>
<p>We decided that working them 20 hours a day produces great results, so as well as custom categories we'll be delivering an improved, animated and totally interactive Pie Chart screen, able to show all of the hundreds of categories that we know you're itching to add.</p>
<h3 id="happy-new-year!">Happy New Year!</h3>
<p>Trail Wallet 1.1 will be hitting the App Store sometime in January and will automagically be pushed out to all of you who have bought it already.</p>
<p>If you haven't got it yet then you're missing out. Seriously, all of the thought leaders are using it.</p>
<p>I've heard rumours that Tim Cook is using it to track all of Apple's expenses<sup class="footnote-ref"><a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-1-dot-1-preview/#fn1" id="fnref1">[1]</a></sup>. It's <em>that</em> good.</p>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Trail Wallet is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
<hr class="mt-8" />
<section class="pt-4 footnotes text-sm italic text-vta-accent">
<ol>
<li id="fn1" class="footnote-item"><p>Like all Apple rumours, this may or may not be true. <a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-1-dot-1-preview/#fnref1" class="footnote-backref">↩︎</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</section>
The First Week of Trail Wallet2012-12-19T20:52:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/the-first-week-of-trail-wallet/<p>Launching a product was something that I've always said I wanted to try but have somehow never managed to get around to.</p>
<p>I think it was the fear. The idea of spending a lot of time creating something that is uniquely mine and then saying to the world "I believe this thing I made will enrich your life in some way. Will you give me X dollars for it?" is actually quite a scary proposition.</p>
<p>Not scary like being confronted by a bear holding a tiger in one paw and a nuke in the other, of course, but more scary than, say, boogie bording.</p>
<figure class="mb-4 sm: ">
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2012/12/bear-with-missile.png" alt="Illustration of a bear holding a missile and a tiger." class="mx-auto " />
<figcaption class="text-vta-accent text-center text-sm italic mt-2">Releasing an app: Not as scary as this</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Client work is safe: guaranteed income, (mostly) fixed requirements, an end date and, most importantly, it's not your reputation on the line.</p>
<p>Building a product is basically the opposite. No guarantees of any income, infinite requirements (our roadmap for Trail Wallet already stretches many versions into the future), no end date, and it's our reputation—and the reputation of our travel blog, <a href="https://www.neverendingvoyage.com/">Never Ending Voyage</a>, that we've spent 3 years building—that's on the line.</p>
<p>But we finally did it. After 6 months of development, we pulled the trigger and released it to the world.</p>
<p>I thought when that I got that message from Apple that the app was "Ready for Sale", I would finally get to rest.</p>
<p>Not a chance.</p>
<p>That little green light just marks the end of the development process. It also marks the beginning of over a week of hard work and stress. From worries about how it will sell to fixing major bugs as you find out that your comprehensive pre-launch testing wasn't that comprehensive, it was (and still is) intense.</p>
<p>But I'm loving every second of it.</p>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA">Trail Wallet</a> has now been in the app store for over a week and the reception has been absolutely wonderful. People are <em>actually</em> using this thing I made. Not only that, they're saying lots of really nice things about it.<sup class="footnote-ref"><a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/the-first-week-of-trail-wallet/#fn1" id="fnref1">[1]</a></sup></p>
<p>It's magnificent and humbling and now I'm wondering why I didn't do it sooner.</p>
<p>The app is <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA">available on the App Store</a>, priced at a measly $1.99.</p>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/trail-wallet-travel-budget-app/id547171665?mt=8&at=11l9Wj&ct=VTA"><img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/app-store-download.svg" alt="Trail Wallet is available in the App Store" class="mx-auto" /></a></p>
<hr class="mt-8" />
<section class="pt-4 footnotes text-sm italic text-vta-accent">
<ol>
<li id="fn1" class="footnote-item"><p>They're also asking for more features and so we're already working on the next major version, which should be out in January. <a href="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/the-first-week-of-trail-wallet/#fnref1" class="footnote-backref">↩︎</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</section>
Trail Wallet Icon Preview2012-11-30T21:10:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet-icon/<p>Here's a sneak peak of the icon from our upcoming app, Trail Wallet.</p>
<img src="https://www.voyagetravelapps.com/img/2012/11/trail-wallet-icon.png" alt="Trail Wallet Icon" class="mx-auto mb-4" />
<p>The app is almost done. We've had some great feedback from out beta testers and have implemented a bunch of their suggestions. We're now in the process of working on the design and making sure that everything is working as it should before we submit it to Apple.</p>
Announcing Our Latest App2012-07-25T16:00:00Zhttps://www.voyagetravelapps.com/announcing-trail-wallet/<p>We are pleased to announce that our new app, Trail Wallet, will be available this autumn.</p>
<h3 id="less-tracking%2C-more-travelling.">Less Tracking, More Travelling.</h3>
<p>Trail Wallet is an easy travel expense tracker. We’re designing it to be fast, so you can use it while you’re out and about. We want our app to take care of the tracking so you don’t have to.</p>
<h3 id="financialfreedom">Financial Freedom</h3>
<p>Nobody wants to worry about money while travelling, but we all do. Tracking your finances is a simple way to get some freedom from this financial anxiety. Instead of just hoping you’ve got enough money, know. </p>
<p>Use our app to set yourself a daily budget, then easily add expenses as you go. When you get a bill or receipt, pull out your iPhone, add the amount using the Quick Add screen and you’re done. Forget about it. Get on with your day.</p>
<p>No more collecting receipts in bags or pockets. No more sitting with a calculator trying to work out how you’re doing. No more trying to remember how much that tuk-tuk cost. </p>
<p>At the end of the day or week or month, you can see how you’re doing. A little over budget? No problem—our app will tell you what’s eating up your budget. Under budget? Good job—send a little reassurance tweet to your friends and family with the Twitter integration.</p>
<p>We’re working hard to ensure our app takes the headache out of expense tracking for you, so you can focus on the fun.</p>
<h3 id="keyfeatures:">Key Features:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Month by month breakdown of all of your expenses</li>
<li>A daily summary of how you’re doing against a daily budget</li>
<li>Graphs!</li>
<li>Organise your spending by category</li>
<li>Quickly add new amounts</li>
<li>Amounts available in either your home or your current local currency</li>
<li>Exchange rate API that automatically updates the app with the current market rate</li>
<li>Twitter integration—reassure your friends that you’re financially fine!</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="releasedate">Release Date</h3>
<p>Trail Wallet is coming very soon. Sign up to our free email list for updates, announcements, competitions, and exclusive offers (low volume, no more than 2-3 a month):</p>
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