The Trip Planner on Mobile: Adding Journeys & Destinations

Our quest to simplify the taking of European rail journeys has led to the creation of a wholly unique journey planning tool.

To make the putting together of a multi-location adventure as simple of possible, we've anticipated every need and question - Using the experience of founder, Simon's past planning of multi-destination trips to 218 locations across Europe.

Though ensuring that those needs can be met while using a mobile device has led to multiple innovations that you won't have been seen before, hence this guide.

Because using the Trip Planner on Conductor Sam, is easy, fun and super-useful... When you know how to make the most of all of its features.

Btw - Sam uses AI in its Ask Sam chat service, but we don't use it to write the Info Guides.  

1 - We've assumed that you'll be most likely taking a trip which will loop back to your start point, so if that's the case you can click 'Return to..

2 - Or if you will be taking a linear end to end trip, you can use the city / airport where you'll trip will be finishing.

Adding Locations

1 - Once you have told Sam your travel details you reach the exciting part, putting it together - with the initial step being Adding a first destination.

If you need help working out where you can easily travel to on your first journey, you can Ask Sam for ideas before you begin the planning.
Seeking out general tips and advice pre-planning, to help make your trip absolutely ideal, can be a good idea.  

2 - The idea is that ultimately you'll need to add a final journey and Sam knows where you'll be going on this part of the trip, so it's there from the beginning.
You add where else you want to go above it.

1 - On a mobile you can opt look up a location in the search box (see below).

2 - Or you can select a location on the map - the idea is that it will show the most popular destinations which can be reached by direct train.

3 - You do this by clicking the orange circles, so by using + you can zoom in to see where they are.

1 -  As you type Sam will work our where you will most likely want to go.

2 - The idea is that the other most popular onward locations will appear here for easy access; They'll become accurate the more users Sam has.

Adding Journeys

1 -  You can now add your rail journey to the first chosen destination.
The idea is that you do this  before you add the next location - because it's a good idea to know that your travel can be confirmed, before adding the next onward stop.  

2 - Want to check something about your potential journey?
This button opens up the Ask Sam Q & A service.

1 - Having clicked on 'Add Travel' you can then click 'Train' to take you towards the journey options which you'll be able to choose from.

2 - If some of the journeys on your trip will be by Bus, Ferry of Flight, you can click the respective buttons to add the details of these journeys as Notes, which can be saved to your plan.

  1 - Clicking on the 'Search timetables' is the second and final stage of accessing the journey options.
Though you won't be doing the searching, as Conductor Sam will scan the timetable - it can already access around 98% of Europe's rail routes.

2 - Or if you already...

- know which trains you will be taking, or

- don't need to be specific, because trains are very frequent on the route, so you'll want to be spontaneous on the day, or

- Will be taking one of those 1% of routes which aren't yet on 'Sam's timetable' -  for the time being that includes the direct trains between Milan/Turin and Lyon.  

...you can click here to add a Note to your plan.

Selecting a Train(s) to Travel by from the Journey Options

1 - You can ask questions and take a deeper dive into the journey summary info - such as how to make a connection between different stations, or how accommodation can be shared on night trains.

2 - If you opted to select a Travel Style when setting up a plan, the preferences which flow from the selection, will be summarised here.

3 - Sam will find journey options regardless, but what Sam will also do is warn that the journey options it has found, are outside of how you would prefer to travel.
If that is the case, you can either choose a different, less distant location, or...

4 - Adjust the parameters of how you would prefer to travel.

If you do click on 'Adjust Preferences'...

1 -  You can use the sliders to adjust your preferred length of end-to-end journeys and /or the maximum number of connections along the route.
The changes you make will alter the choice of the journeys that Sam has found for you.

2 -  Or if you only want to take Direct trains, you can tick the box.

3 - You can use these tools to filter the options by your preferred timings.

4 - If you want to ensure that seat reservations will be available, or if you want to avoid having to arrange and pay for them, you can use this tool.

5 - Or you can opt to remove all of the filters / preferences so that you can see all of the viable rail journey options between two locations.

Within the journey options that you can choose from...

1 -  Click the down pointing arrows to see the Journey Details (see below).

2 - Sam will show which types of train are used for each option...

3 - ...well it will show the first three trains in a chain - This symbol is an indicator that a specific journey option can involve taking more than three trains.

4 - Sam can warn that this typical combination of trains may not be totally available on your particular travel date.
Sam will usually give more information and suggest alternatives within the Trip Menu toolkit.

1 = for journey options involving transfers, Sam will summarise the connection,

2 = though if you'll appreciate more details you can click here to Ask Sam about it.

1 - for journeys with transfers, Sam will show the chain of trains, showing the type of train used on each segment of the route.

2 - Clicking the blue 'Select this train' bar adds the journey to your plan.

The Journey(s) on Your Plan

1 - Though before you can see it on your plan, Sam will first show you this checklist - which you can back to at any time by using the shortcut you can then find on the journey tool kit.

2 - You can fill in the ticket info later - it will then be automatically added to your plan.

3 - If the journey involves connections, you'll see a neat summary here.

Once a journey has been added to your plan, you'll have access to numerous shortcuts - symbols have been used to make them easier to access on a phone.

1 - The journey has been summarised.

2 - This is a shortcut to Asking Sam questions about the journey.

3 - Click this if you'll want to re-plan the the journey.

4 -  Click this to remove it from the plan.

5 -  Click here to check the journey details and / or add notes.
If you want to come back, so that you can check the connection details on a multi-train journey, then this is a shortcut.

6 - If you'll want to comeback to the plan and add a stopover, prior to travelling on to the previously added location, you can do that here.

7 - When you add a location Sam will use a 2 night stay as a default...

8 - ...so you can adjust that here.

1 - This where you add your next onward location.

2 - If you'll be following a looping itinerary, when you're at the stage when you want to add the journey back to the start point as a plan, you can do that here.

Planning a Journey using the Map tool

When planning a multi-destination trip on Conductor Sam, what my not be super clear (hey that's why Guides we're invented) is that the List mode, shown above, is the default.  

But even though the Conductor Sam trip planner is in its infancy we have already come up with a second method of putting together a plan - Cos' the idea of also using interactive maps as a basis for Trip Planning = fun!  

1 - Switch between List and Map

2 -   We've guessed that showing the actual route you'll be taking with the use of the blue line will be appreciated.
In the example, you're seeing an epic and fabulous journey from London to Chur in Switzerland by train.  

3 - Though if you would rather see your journey mapped as a straight line...

4 - You can zoom in to see which locations the route will pass through...

... such as wonderful Strasbourg, on this particular route.

The already added locations on a plan will be show as black circles.

In an innovation which we hope will win us a prize some day, the map can be used to add locations to your personal trip plan.

To do this simply click on a city with a black circle (you may need to adjust the zoom using the + and -) and you can:  

1 - Add a stopover location, such as Strasbourg in the example, to a route that's already on the map / plan.

2 - Or add your next onward location to the map / your plan.
(both of these 1 and 2 tools take you to the steps to add a location)  

3 - Check and change the details of your stay in the location, which has already been added to your plan.

So in the example, we've added beautiful Strasbourg as a 'stop before' Chur, so now we need to add the journeys (1) and (2) to the plan...

... This can be done by clicking those orange train buttons, do so and...

1 - As in the list mode you can take the steps to adding the trains you'll need to take, to the plan - You'll need to do this twice as one stopover location = 2 x new journeys to be looked up.

2 - Or you can add another stop in between, so on this example, we could have added Paris between London and Strasbourg.