How the AAA Mobile App Enhanced My Road Trip
From restaurant suggestions to navigation help along the way.
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For AAA Member and employee Martí Gonzalez, Florida has always been home. But there are still plenty of places she wants to visit across the Sunshine State.
Martí, like many others, opted for a road trip this summer in her home state. With safety precautions in mind, she spent a week with her husband, Henry, on the backroads of Florida, exploring the Panhandle and other areas that she had previously only zipped past on the interstate.
She found travel a bit different in the current environment. But she adapted well, in part with the help of the AAA Mobile app. Here is how she used the app to get the most out of her road trip.
Martí found St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge a beautiful place. “There were people fishing and just enjoying the birds and the sea and just being out. It was so nice to be out.”
Researching with expert advice
Before Martí hit the road, she used digital AAA Travel Guides to get insight on where to go. Available through AAA Mobile, the searchable guides offer information about cities across the country. They list hotels, restaurants, things to do and more.
Safety essentials for your next road trip.
Get Our ChecklistAs she researched destinations, Martí also created a digital map of her road trip with the AAA TripTik Travel Planner. She planned out each day, adding points of interest along the way and noting how often she wanted to stop to take a rest.
“I had the exact trip from start to finish mapped out,” Martí says. “I really appreciated the different filters that the TripTik offered. It showed me nearby gas stations and rest stops, and I planned breaks. Let’s say you’re driving six hours in a day; you can plan a two-hour break, and the app will remind you when it’s time to get out and stretch your legs.”
Martí says the AAA Mobile app helped her find out-of-the-way places that she might otherwise have missed. One example: Steinhatchee, a Gulf Coast town that features Steinhatchee Falls.
Navigating the road trip
The TripTik was an indispensable navigational tool for driving, providing turn-by-turn directions.
“I felt comfortable relying on the information the mobile app gave us,” Martí says. “The navigation was great. There were times when my husband would plot the coordinates into the van’s computer, and it wouldn’t recognize the road we were on, but the AAA Mobile app that I had on my phone was taking us exactly where we needed to go.”
Finding restaurants
Road-tripping these days means adapting to last-minute changes. One example: Some of the restaurants they had planned to visit were closed. Martí used the AAA Mobile app to find alternatives.
“The app showed us one that we that we didn’t think would be open,” Martí says. “We called ahead, and they were indeed open.”
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Email AAA LivingGetting there is half the fun
Renting a car for a road trip is one way to put fewer miles on your own ride and make the drive even more enjoyable. AAA Members save with Hertz—and you can rent a car through the AAA Mobile app. Martí opted for a minivan with all the bells and whistles.
“My husband loved it because it had power everything,” she says. “He called it a ‘man van.’ It made our trip extremely comfortable.”
The couple found Hertz’s contactless pickup and drop-off helpful as well. And they got peace of mind with the Hertz Gold Standard Clean, a 15-point cleaning and disinfecting process that ends with each car being sealed before you get into it.
Salt Run on Anastasia Island in St. Augustine.
Traveling in these times
Overall, the road trip was a welcome diversion for Martí. Not only did she check off something she had long wanted to do—exploring Florida’s backroads—but she also enjoyed the simplicity that the road trip provided.
“The state parks that we went to are outside and are beautiful, and it kind of just took us away from the fact that we’re just so contained right now,” she says. “We think when we go on vacation we need to go somewhere exciting, like a theme park or on a cruise. Especially now, it resonated with us that simplicity is what we wanted. And we found it.”