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Polarsteps Review: Could This Be the Ideal App to Document Your Travels?

October 21, 2021 6 min read

When exploring the world, documenting your travels is a must! Therefore, having a place to plan and track your trip, as well as upload notes, memories, and photos once you’ve visited is an appealing idea to many travelers.

Polarsteps offers users the chance to do just that. Via the app, you can set up a travel route and add descriptions and photos of your adventure so you don’t forget any of your amazing experiences. You can even get a personalized printed travel book! 

While we’ll always recommend our Wanderlog app to plan your trip, map your itinerary, and find new places to explore, we enjoy trying some of the other best travel apps on the market to see the different services they offer to travelers. Hence why we were excited to test Polarsteps for this Polarsteps review! 

Read on to learn more about this unique travel scrapbook-style app and whether we think using Polarsteps is worth it. 

What is Polarsteps?

Polarsteps is a travel planning app that also acts as a record of your trip. The company is based in Amsterdam, but in true traveler spirit, was founded on a Catamaran sailing the Atlantic in 2015. The brand aims to help other adventurers capture their travel stories easily as they move from destination to destination.  

With Polarsteps, you can add destinations, notes, and photos before, during, and after your journey. Using Polarsteps effectively allows you to create a travel scrapbook documenting your adventures.

Along with viewing your trip online, Polarsteps allows you to print fun and unique travel books. These physical books feature all the destinations you visited along with your pictures and written memories relating to the adventure.

The innovative company has caught the attention of many publications, such as Wired , and has a large social media following of loyal users. 

Is the Polarsteps app free?

There’s no cost to download and use the Polarsteps app. You can also use it for free via a web browser. If you want a printed Polarsteps travel book, you will have to pay for it. 

How Much Does Polarsteps Cost? 

As mentioned, using the travel planner app is free but printing a travel book comes with a cost. When researching travel books for this Polarsteps review, we discovered that the exact price depends on the number of pages you require, with the following pricing model:

• 24 Pages: 36 euros – approx. $40
• 50 Pages: 56 euros – approx. $60
• 100 Pages: 76 euros – approx. $90
• 200 Pages: 96 euros – approx. $110
• 300 Pages: 116 euros – approx. $135

The travel book documents everywhere you went on your trip, along with notes and pictures. This makes the travel book a great souvenir or an amazing gift idea for those you traveled with. Due to the uniqueness and customizability of this product, the price tag will be worth it for many. 

How Does Polarsteps Work?

• Create an account on polarsteps.com or via the app. 
• In your account, click “Add a Trip” to get started. 
• Enter trip name, a summary, and trip start and end dates.
• Choose a privacy option: only you can see the trip, only your followers can see and share the trip, or anyone can see and share the trip.
• Add “Steps” which show the places you’ll visit on the trip.
• Add arrival date and time for each step, along with a description (or “Story”) and photos once you have visited the location. 

You also have the option to search for locations and view other people’s public stories. If you find users with stories you enjoy, you can also follow them.  

Once your trip is scheduled, the app plots a route and creates a custom map. As you travel, Polarsteps can also add the duration of time spent in each location to your account.  

How Do You Follow Someone on Polarsteps?

To follow someone on Polarsteps, simply click the “Follow” button on their profile. The follow button is located to the right of their username when searching or under their username and image when on their page. To find new people to follow, search locations you’re interested in in the top left-hand side search bar.

How Do You Add Photos to Polarsteps?  

To add photos to Polarsteps, go to your account and select the trip you want to add photos to. Choose the “Step” you want to add photos to, and drag and drop images from your computer to the “Add Photos” section. You can also click on the camera icon in this section to open your computer or cellphone files to select and add photos.  

How Do You End a Trip on Polarsteps? 

To add an end date to your trip on Polarsteps, go into the desired trip, click “Trip Settings,” and then add an end date under the “When?” subheading. 

What Are the Benefits of Polarsteps?

Convenient and easy to use.

The GPS feature used with the Polarsteps app means that where you travel is always being tracked without having to enter the data yourself. In addition, it’s a very easy-to-use app, and adding trip stops, notes, and photos is straightforward. 

Access to Unique Printed Travel Books 

A fun feature offered by Polarsteps is the ability to print a travel book. This book will include all the countries and stops on your trip along with your notes and color photographs. The book makes for a perfect souvenir of your trip or gift for a fellow traveler. 

Multiple Privacy Options 

Polarsteps can be used as a completely private app or as a more social media-style app, depending on your needs. The multiple privacy options allow you to control this with three options available: trips can only be viewed by yourself, can only be viewed and shared by your followers, or can be viewed and shared by anyone. 

You also get to approve all of your follow requests to ensure only those that you want to see your trips can. 

A Streamlined Way to Share Trip Details 

Another thing we rated highly when using the app for this Polarsteps review is the ease of sharing trips with others. It’s easy to add followers to your trip, including friends and family, allowing them to track your adventure from start to finish. Along with being a fun way for loved ones to know what you’re up to, they can see where you are and where you were recently, giving them peace of mind. 

Low Battery Consumption 

Even when tracking where you are going via GPS, Polarsteps uses very little battery power. This feature is useful for those traveling and exploring all day without guaranteed access to phone chargers. 

What Are the Drawbacks of Polarsteps?

Cannot add multiple travelers .

While you can share your itinerary with other people, you cannot add other travelers to your account to let them add notes or upload images. If traveling with others, you’ll either need to each create your own Polarsteps itinerary/book or all use one person’s account to add “Steps,” notes, and images. 

No Travel Suggestions 

When using the app for this Polarsteps review, we found that Polarsteps predominantly allows users to add travel locations they’ve already researched and decided to visit. It doesn’t offer users suggestions of places to visit or activities to try at each location they add as a “Step.” This is unlike many travel planners, such as Wanderlog , that allow you to both upload pre-chosen destinations and provide suggestions of additional places to visit nearby. 

Not a Full Travel Planner 

Polarsteps is not so much of a travel planner , more a digital scrapbook. On top of not offering suggestions on places to visit, you cannot store information such as flight details and accommodation bookings. If looking for a way to document your trip, this won’t be an issue, but if looking for a travel organizer, Polarsteps is likely not for you. 

Lack of GPS Tracking for iOS

The GPS tracking feature, which tracks your travel route without opening the app, is only available for Android users. This means that if using the app on an Apple device with iOS, you’ll have to manually enter your route within the app. 

Some Glitches Occur 

Some users mention that glitches, bugs, and errors have occurred when using the Polarsteps app. These errors include not being able to edit trips and trip details being removed. 

Is Polarsteps Safe?

Polarsteps is safe to use. There are multiple privacy options to choose from, allowing you to control who sees your trip and where you currently are on your journey. The information that you upload and that gets collected via GPS tracker can’t be shared with anyone except those you give access to. 

Is Polarsteps Worth It?

After using the app for this Polarsteps review, we would say that Polarsteps could be worth using, depending on your motivations. Luckily, using the app itself is free, so there’s nothing to lose by giving it a try.

Polarsteps is a fun way to document your trip and add memories, such as a description of what happened at each place you visit and photos. It’s also a convenient way to share your travels with friends and family as you move from place to place.

However, if looking to create an itinerary and keep track of things like flights and accommodation, Polarsteps probably isn’t the app for you. It will also not suggest places to visit, limiting the discovery of unique places to visit.  

Users providing a Polarsteps app review via the Google Play Store and Apple App Store seem happy with the app. It receives 4.5/5 stars based on 34K+ reviews on the Google Play Store and 4.8/5 stars based on 1.6K ratings on the Apple App Store. Satisfied users enjoy the ease and convenience of tracking their trip and their memories. 

In addition, the option to print a Polarsteps Travel Book is a unique feature that can make a perfect gift or personalized souvenir. 

Need a Complete Travel Planner – Wanderlog is for you! 

If you’re looking for a complete travel planner that tracks your route, transport, accommodation, reservations, and more, be sure to check out Wanderlog ! Along with storing your trip details in one place, you’ll have access to hundreds of suggestions for fun and memorable things to do at each destination you visit! Create a trip plan or download the app for iOS or Android today to get started! 

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Polarsteps Review [2024]: Are they actually any good?

I've heard Polarsteps mentioned most frequently with people I've met at hostels around the world, but people had different opinions on the app. Is it just a travel tracking app? Can I document my journey without paying for it? I've dug through Polarsteps so you won't need to.

Do you love to capture the essence of your travels and keep those memories alive?

Maybe you're into crafting scrapbooks adorned with photos, tickets, and little mementos that transport you back to those joy-filled moments of exploration. Or perhaps you find joy in collecting souvenirs, each piece echoing a special story from your journey. Embracing such practices can truly amplify the magic of your travel experiences.

This brings us to the intriguing proposition of transforming our travel experiences into a personalized digital scrapbook. The concept is fascinating, isn't it? But does it really capture the essence of your memories as authentically as a traditional scrapbook would? Could it possibly replace the nostalgia that comes with flipping through tangible pages of a physical scrapbook? And is it truly worth trying out? Even if you were interested, how might you get started with something like this?

To quench your curiosity, I'm about to delve into an in-depth review of Polarsteps, an innovative travel planning and tracking app. Ready to join me on this digital exploration? Let's dive in and unearth the nuances of this modern memory-capturing tool!

What is Polarsteps?

Polarsteps is a comprehensive travel planning and tracking app, dedicated to keeping you connected with your travel journeys - before, during, and post your adventures.

Based in Amsterdam, this venture is helmed by a team of fervent globetrotters with a common objective - to simplify the art of travel journaling for passionate explorers worldwide.

Polarsteps paves the way for pre-logging your anticipated travel escapades into the app by plugging in your destinations and notable pointers.

As you venture into your journey, the app keeps track of your whereabouts, enabling you to append pictures and personal annotations that you wish to share. The app's standout feature is undoubtedly its capacity to transform your travel reminiscences into a distinct digital travel scrapbook.

This curated memoir encompasses all the destinations you visited, photographs you snapped, and the cherished memories you've penned down in the Polarsteps app.

The app can be accessed on both Android and iOS, or you can choose to log in via their website. It is free to download and utilize, making it accessible for all travel enthusiasts.

Who's Polarsteps for?

In short, if you're a traveler who likes to document their journey hassle-free, this app is made for you!

The real question is whether they're actually for you, or if it's just advertised for you.

I've asked up to 50 different individuals across several continents who've mentioned the app to me, and the general consensus was...

Most people keep the app downloaded similar to Google Maps to automatically track and document their journey. Some pay for its travel memory books, but most of them just use Polarsteps for its convenience in tracking the places you've been in the background.

Is the Polarsteps app free?

The Polarsteps app is free to download and use and you can give it a try right now on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store!

However, if you’d like to request a printed travel memory book, you’ll have to pay to have one custom-made, printed, and shipped to you.

How much does Polarsteps cost?

Polarsteps app, as previously mentioned, is completely free to download and use. The customizable and printed travel book comes with a cost.

For a 24 page book, you'll be paying a minimum of €30 (about $36 USD) up to €80 (about $97 USD) for their largest books. Memories are priceless, so it may be worth it for you to buy this. Not to mention, they have a crazy amount of customizations and personalizations you could do with your travel book that just might be worth it to those who’d like their very own travel scrapbook made for them!

For us though, we're happy with keeping our photos easily accessible and shareable online for free or getting to enjoy the experience of scrapbooking with friends and making our own.

How do you use Polarsteps?

1. plan your trip.

After creating an account, you can begin to plan your trips by selecting the location of the destination, adding steps along your desired route, and marking the main stops you intend to make along the way. However, I must say that as a trip planner, Polarsteps' features are very limited. ‍

2. Track your trip

Once you schedule the date and time of your trip, the app will handle most of the tasks for you. It automatically plots the route on a detailed map by constantly checking your whereabouts, marking the duration and distance at each step. The accuracy of trips depends on the mode you select; Ultra Light, Balanced, or High-Accuracy. 

While it adds many statistics this way, you can also comment about your experience using notes and photos in each step. As an example, if you want to make a note of your adventures like scuba diving in Australia or camping on Mt. Kilimanjaro, create a pin/stop and include your story.

3. Share your trips

I think one of the promising features Polarsteps offers is the ability to share your real-time location with your loved ones. It not only lets them be a part of it and envy it but also eases their worries about your existence. This way, you don’t have to wait until you reach home to shower your friends and family with details. You can also share your past trips with people and inspire fellow travelers.

In addition, you can get a printed version of your trips in the form of a book for 30-80 Euros. Instead of showing them a slideshow of your trip, print them a book. Speaking of the ultimate flex!

How to follow someone on Polarsteps

On every profile in Polarsteps you'll find a "Follow" button. On desktop, it's on the top right of the screen. On the Polarsteps app, it should be at the top of their profile.

You may want to share your profile with others if you're using Polarsteps. The easiest way to d this is to click the "share button", usually located next to or near the follow button depending on what platform you're on.

You can share the link to your travels with your friends and family with Polarsteps, and they can follow those trips directly from the link that's shared with them.

What I Liked About Polarsteps!

Curated print travel book.

This feature is by far the most important feature Polarsteps offer, and it's awesome! Polarsteps app tracks your trip, record your notes and anything else relevant, then modify it to offer you the ability to have your trip printed out and sent to you via their printing service . You get your own little travel book printed out and ready to share.

It's a nice touch but probably overkill for shorter trips and other budget or spontaneous travelers.

Battery friendly

The app doesn’t drain your battery a lot, and on average, requires only 4% for full-day tracking. It comes in handy when you don’t have access to charging sources very often. However, using GPS for high-accuracy tracking can drain the battery faster.

Internet connectivity not required

Polarsteps uses GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellular signal to trace your route but an internet connection isn’t compulsory. So, if you want to lower data charges or don’t have connectivity, the app is still reliable to a certain degree.

The data collected offline will be synchronized once you go online.

Privacy options

The app gives you the complete license to manage who has access to your trips. There are three options, such as ‘only me,’ ‘my followers,’ and ‘public.' You have the option of changing your privacy settings for each trip.

Convenience

Since it starts tracking automatically, you don’t have to go through the hassle of monitoring it continuously. The app’s interface is not complex in design, which makes it easy to navigate and use.

Sharing & Cross-Device Access

In addition to sharing the trips with friends, you can also share them on social media directly. Also, it’s not necessary for people to have an account on Polarsteps to view their travel trips. You can send a private link to anyone you wish to share your journey with.

Polarsteps also recently launched the feature that supports the use of multiple devices on the same Polarsteps account, a feature heavily requests by Polarsteps users.

What Can Polarsteps Do Better?

• Glitches and bugs

Users seem to encounter some issues like the app crashing after using it for some time, loss of trip details, and the inability to edit your trip easily. However, not everyone seemed to have these problems.

Short of some nice-to-have features

It would be great if this tracking app also allows us to export our trips in PDF or similar formats, and geotags photos automatically. Other features have also been requested by reviews online, but many have since been developed and created!

Customized sharing for trip details

While you're able to customize sharing privacy options for each individual trips, a nice add-on feature to have is the ability to customize which parts of my trip I'd like to share, and to what degree.

Sharing the general details of my trip to my friends and family while keeping some of the more intimate and personal details to myself and/or my friends and family would be the most ideal in most scenario.

Is Polarsteps Worth it?

So, having delved into a thorough examination of the Polarsteps app, does it live up to the hype? Is Polarsteps app worth it, and should you invest in their customized, printed travel scrapbook?

In essence, the answer is yes! I perceive it as an excellent platform for curating unique and exciting memories from your travels, and it's definitely worth a shot! As the app is absolutely free, there's no harm in giving it a test run to see if it resonates with your preferences.

From the standpoint of travel planning, I am of the opinion that the app, in its current form, isn't adequately comprehensive to merit usage on its own. The app's feature set is lacking vital elements such as accommodation and flight bookings/tracking, which, in my view, are integral to an all-encompassing travel booking/tracking app.

However, if procuring a personalized travel scrapbook aligns with your budget and you're not keen on crafting your own, I wholeheartedly recommend giving it a whirl! The degree of customization is impressive, allowing you to create a truly unique design that reflects the essence of your travel adventures.

Our Rating: 4.6/5

• Personalized printed book
• Great battery efficiency
• Customizable privacy option
• Great sharing options
• Convenient to use
• Offline mode
• No trip planning feature
• App lacking additional features
• Synchronization Issues

Enhance your travel planning with Pilot!

Planning your travel journey seamlessly is important as tracking it accurately.

While Polarsteps offers you some basic features to plan your travel trips, it’s not well-equipped with extensive features to help you map out a foolproof plan for a hassle-free journey.

We’ve mentioned before that Polarsteps lack important features for a travel planning app , such as flight and accommodation bookings. 

If you like to plan an itinerary in a detailed, comprehensive, and of course, very enjoyable manner, you should try out our brand new social trip planner, Pilot!

Disclosure : Pilot is supported by our community. We may earn a small commission fee with affiliate links on our website. All reviews and recommendations are independent and do not reflect the official view of Pilot.

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Outstanding Apps For Die-Hard Travelers: Polarsteps

Update: march 17, 2024.

An abbreviated version of this article now appears on YouTube as an instructional video. Click below to view it:

Introduction

I started using the  Polarsteps app in March 2018 at the outset of a 31-day trip to Dubai, Australia, and Thailand and immediately got hooked on it. I’ll be honest. I’ve always thought taking photos and keeping a journal while traveling were self-indulgent and a waste of time. But there’s something about the visual, tangible, and timely nature of this app that really appeals to me.

Gone are the days when a travel journal was just a series of long text passages accompanied by related photographs. Polarsteps succeeds by seamlessly and easily merging the two into a professional and visually spectacular photo journal.

To view the online version of the Polarsteps Travel Tracker journal I put together during my Australia trip, click here .

If you’ve got any additional feedback, let me know via the Comment section below.

===============================

Update: April 1, 2023

We’re a bit late bringing you all this news, but Polarsteps surpassed the 5 million user mark in December last year. According to their press page, the app’s renewed popularity with travelers was due to a “huge surge in travel to Southeast Asia and Australia” as Covid restrictions were eased or eliminated in those destinations. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that the app reached 4 million users only a short time before they hit the 5 million user milestone. Which reinforces our belief here at On The Go Solo that this app has a lot to offer travelers. For details on how it can help you memorialize your own travels, continue reading below. And as always, Travel On!

Update: May 15, 2022

Now that the world is starting to open back up again, travel is once again on our minds. So we’ve taken a fresh look at Polarsteps and were pleased to see that they haven’t let the pandemic slow down the development of the app. Last summer, they added a new feature called Polarsteps Guides , which we’re very impressed with. Polarsteps describes these guides by saying:

Created by experienced travel editors with the help of Polarsteps’ travelers, this unique guide formula allows travelers to spend less time seeking and more time turning travel dreams into travel realities.

Each guide is written by a Polarsteps editor and provides a curated collection of “best of” and “can’t miss” items for each destination. The content is organized into three categories: See & Do , Stay , and Eat & Drink , as shown below for the San Francisco guide.

Each of these categories is further broken down into sub-categories, providing an impressive level of detail, as shown below for the San Francisco Eat & Drink  category.

As you cans see, the presentation of the information is thoughtful and intuitive, with a map showing exactly where each option is located. Below the map, you’re provided with filters that allow you to quickly filter the category options to suit your tastes and/or budget. So for Food & Drink, you can filter by Top 20 , Food , Coffee , and so on. For the Stay category, you can filter by Campgrounds , Hostels , Hotels , and so on.

One feature we really like is that unlike other travel guides, the Polarsteps Guides don’t include every option in every category and sub-category; the guides only include the restaurants or activities or accommodations that they recommend. This cuts down on the volume of information the user is presented with and makes it easier to decide.

Overall, these guides are a useful and valuable addition to the Polarsteps app, helping make it easier to plan your trip and get the most out of your travels.

Update: January 9, 2021

Like most people, we haven’t been traveling at all in the past 10 months. As such, we were unaware until recently that the Polarsteps app added a major new feature last summer. It’s called Travel Tracker . When you create a future trip, you now have the option to specify how you plan to travel between places. In the past, your map always showed a straight line between each of your travel steps. With this new feature, the map of your trip now shows the actual route you took/will take. It also provides information about the cost of each of the options: by car, by bus, by taxi, by train, etc.+

When you create a new step, you are automatically presented with a Choose your route screen that allows you to define how you went/will go from one location to the next.

When you click the Okay, got it! button, you can then swipe left to see the route options. Depending on where you intend to go, these can include car, bus, train, taxi, walking, or flying or a combination of some of those. The distance, estimated travel time, and approximate price is also provided for each option.

Note: The Travel Tracker feature is unavailable if you are creating a record of a trip that has already concluded. It is only available for trips occurring at the moment or in the future. We’re not sure why this is the case as it would seem to be useful in all cases.

Update: February 18, 2020

Just heard from Polarsteps Support and as expected, if you add video and then order a travel book, the video component is ignored. They don’t insert still frames from the video or do anything like that.

Update: December 12, 2019

Polarsteps has just updated the app to allow users to include videos in their steps. This is a huge improvement to an already excellent travel resource. Some important things to know about this new feature:

• You can only upload video from the Polarsteps mobile app. I tried and failed to do it from a web browser and it kept failing with no error message or explanation. It was only when I searched Google that I found out why I was having trouble.
• The online help for the web version still says that you cannot upload videos, so it was no help in figuring out why it failed on the desktop version.

• The mobile help page is broken, so there’s no way to check if it mentions this new feature or not.
• There’s no mention of how video content will be represented in the printed travel book: will it be completely ignored? Will it display the first frame of the video? Will it display all frames of the video? I’ve contacted Polarsteps support to get an answer and will post it here when they reply.

Strengths of the App

Polarsteps benefits from the following four general strengths:

• Ease of setup
• Ease of use
• Cool features

Each of these facets is described in detail below, along with a few comments on areas I see for improvement.

The app is available for Android and iOS devices. There’s also a website version you can access from your desktop at https://www.polarsteps.com/

Ease of Setup

As with all good apps, Polarsteps can be set up quickly and with almost no effort. After locating the app in either the Apple App Store or the Google Play store, you simply click to download it to your device. After it downloads, you create a user ID and password and that’s it: you’re ready to start planning your next trip.

On a scale of 1 (poor) to 10 (fantastic), I would give it a score of 9 for Ease of Setup. It doesn’t get a 10 because the online help system is buried deep in the app. It appears as the 12th of 19 options listed on the Settings screen. To be truly user-friendly, the help should be directly accessible from all screens within the app.

Ease of Use

Polarsteps login.

The Polarsteps login process is straightforward and hassle free. After you’ve created an account, you simply click the Polarsteps icon on your mobile phone and then click the Log in link at the bottom of the Polarsteps default screen.

How to Use Polarsteps: Creating a New Trip

How to Use Polarsteps: Adding Steps to a Trip Timeline

As you can see in the image, Polarsteps has inserted a new step suggestion called Tambon Khao Mai Kaeo (the location I was visiting at the time) into my timeline. It has also plotted the location of Tambon Khao Mai Kaeo on the map. If I choose to discard this suggestion, Polarsteps automatically removes the marker from the map.

How to Use Polarsteps: Sharing Trips to Social Media

Cool Features

There are a lot of cool features with this app, the major ones of which I’ve listed below.

Step Suggestions

As mentioned previously, the Suggestion steps that are automatically inserted into the timeline make it fast and easy to add new entries and photos. If you’re having an active journey, they also serve as a useful reminder of things you’ve done or places you’ve been that might be worth writing about.

Homepage Details

The homepage lists a summary of each of your past and current trips along with statistics for each one.

The following information is available at a glance:

• How many miles/kilometers you’ve traveled
• The number of countries and continents you have visited
• How much of the world you’ve seen.
• The number of travelers whose journals you are following
• The number of travelers or would-be travelers who are following you

“Furthest place from home” Graphic

A minor but fun and interesting feature included in the statistics is a Furthest place from home  graphic that shows on a world map the place you traveled to that was furthest from your home.

Editors’ Choice List

If none of the selections appeals to you, you can use the search field to locate travelers or trips related to the specific countries or regions you want to visit.

Note that Polarsteps protects your privacy even with this search engine. Trips will only appear in the search results if the trip is marked as viewable by anyone. Or if the traveler has specifically designated you as someone who should have access to it.

Polarsteps Cost

The app is free to download, making it a no-brainer in terms of trying it out. No need to search for a Polarsteps discount code or anything like that.

From a bandwidth point of view, the app uses very little memory, so the “cost” in terms of battery drainage is also minimal. I had the app running the entire month I was traveling and did not need to charge my smartphone any more often than normal.

After your trip ends, you have the option of purchasing a printed version of your journal. As of February 2019, there is a five-tiered pricing structure based on the size of the book. The smallest, at 24 pages, costs 30 euros. The largest, at 300 pages, costs 80 euros. Polarsteps offers an early adopter discount of 10 euros on your purchase if you enter the code that appears on their website.

Quick Review: My Polarsteps Travel Book

I ordered the Polarsteps travel book for my recent trip to Australia and was very pleased with its quality and layout. In terms of appearance, the Polarsteps photo book looks just as professional and sleek as any coffee table book you’d see in a book store. Inside, each of the steps you created during your trip is presented on a separate page, with the date, weather conditions, altitude, and GPS coordinates of the locale in the picture.

If you enjoyed using Polarsteps during your trip, I’d strongly recommend paying for the print version of your journal.

Problems with the App

I encountered no signficant problems with the app during the four trips I’ve used it on .

A concern I had prior to the trip was that it would drain my smartphone battery. As noted above, this turned out to be a non-issue.

Minor Gripe #1

(Added April 24, 2019) I’ve now completed my fourth trip using the app, so I’m able to note recurring issues I have with it. One thing I wish the developers would fix soon is the way the start and end dates are handled. Right now, it’s not possible to manually start or end your trip. The app uses midnight on the date you select as the starting and ending point. That means that if your trip starts at 6pm on a Sunday, the app will be tracking your movements all day before you leave. The same with your end date. If your trip ends at 10am on a Monday, the tracker will keep monitoring you until midnight. The workaround, which is clumsy, is to go to the Trip settings screen and turn off the tracker. Considering how intuitive the rest of the app is, it seems strange that this issue is handled so poorly. A relatively simple solution would be to incorporate Start Trip and Stop Trip buttons into the interface.

Minor Gripe #2

<Note: This gripe has been rendered moot by the introduction of the Travel Tracker feature in July 2020. See the note above from January 9, 2021.>

Another thing I wish the Polarsteps app did a better job of is plotting my actual movements on the map. Currently, the app draws a line directly from one point to another. In doing so, it ignores the real geography of the areas I walked. This proved to be a major limitation when I went for a walk around northern Sydney Harbour. The app plotted my starting point (Manly Wharf) and then seemed to plot my location only every 5 or 10 minutes or so. It then connected these points, ignoring the winding path through parks and along beaches that I actually took. The image shows the actual walk I did (yellow line) and the Polarsteps version of the walk (red line).

Note that this is a modified image. In the original there is no yellow line and the red line is actually white. I changed it to red to make it stand out more in contrast to the yellow line.

Because Polarsteps draws straight lines across the maps, they tend to end up looking very messy. This is especially true if you happen to walk in the same general area numerous times. An improvement to the mapping feature within the app would be to have it plot a user’s position more frequently. Say every minute or two.

Minor Gripe #3

One gripe about the travel book: the cover features the first photo that appears in your journal. For me, this was my starting point (Nice, France) rather than the destination of my trip (Australia). So my travel journal for Australia features a picture of the Port of Nice on the cover. A better approach would be to allow users to select the cover photo manually.

(Update: February 19, 2019) It turns out you can  change the default image that appears for your trip. And it’s easy and quick to do by completing the following steps:

• Open the trip whose cover photo you want to change.
• ( Smartphone app only ) Tap the red Trip Menu icon in the top right corner of the screen. Note: There is no Trip Menu option in the desktop version of Polarsteps, so desktop users should jump directly to Step 3.
• Click or tap the Trip settings option.
• Click or tap the Change photo button.
• Select the photo you want to use as the cover.
• ( Desktop users only ) Click the Select cover photo button. ( Smartphone app only ) Tap  Save in the top right corner of the screen.

Overall Review

This is a very valuable app that made it easy, fun, and engaging to create a journal of what I was seeing and doing every day. The photo and location prompts that appeared automatically in the timeline really encouraged me to create new steps. I used this app again on a short trip I took to Spain last May and it performed very well again.

Related Links

If you found this information helpful, check out these other posts:

• Outstanding Apps For Die-Hard Travelers: ScottsCheapFlights.com
• How To Curse Like A Leprechaun
• Travel Books That’ll Knock Your Socks Off: “The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost”
• Is It Safe to Travel to . . . ?
• Semi-True Tales from My Life So Far: Hot-Pot, Stop-Cop, Me-Pee

Join the conversation! 21 Comments

Can you use it retrospectively ie for making a digital journey using photos you have already taken?

Hi Patricia. Thanks for contacting On the Go Solo. If you log in to Polarsteps, the first option you have is “Add a past, current, or future trip,” so the short answer to your question is yes, you can document a trip you’ve already taken. That said, it would be a lot of work to do all of this manually. Polarsteps normally automatically tracks where you are and when you arrive so you don’t need to worry about that. Doing this yourself would require creating a step, entering a town/city name or geographic coordinates for that step, and then trying to remember the date and time you visited the locale. Only after doing that would you be ready to write the text to accompany the step. The upside is, after you did all this hard work, you’d be able to get the journey printed in book format as a high-quality memento. The book I had printed after my Australia trip is the best souvenir I’ve ever gotten from a trip.

Yes, you can!

How does it work in terms of data usage? If I’m trying to minimize data usage due to my phone plan when traveling internationally, am I limited by this? e.g. I would typically turn off my data except when I’m on free WiFi. Does that mean it wouldn’t work for me? Thanks!

Hi Sheila. Thanks for contacting On the Go Solo. In answer to your question, the Polarsteps app is able to track your geolocation using your phone’s built-in GPS and/or the location of any Wifi access points you log into. As a result, it works fine even if data is turned off. When I traveled to Dubai, Australia, and Thailand last year, I kept data turned off on my phone to avoid roaming charges and it had no impact on the accuracy, speed, or functionality of the Polarsteps app. I’d say give it a try and see if you like it — it’s free and quick to install/uninstall so there’s little to no risk involved in adding it to your smartphone.

[…] Rapt with this app: Polarsteps review […]

[…] Travel apps: Polarsteps review […]

Can,anyone tell me how to make changes to steps BEFORE I start my trip? I completed 19 steps finishing at home where I started a;d now I can’t access any of the steps to enter changes in my plans.

Hi John. Thanks for contacting us at OnTheGoSolo.com. When viewed on a tablet or mobile, every step that we click to open contains an Edit step button even if the trip has been completed. If it doesn’t appear in your version, send us a screenshot and we’ll try to help you figure out what’s going wrong. Our contact email is [email protected] .

Hi, I have Polarsteps on two devises, previous trips are on the second devise but it’s not showing the most recent trip? Just find it easier to edit on the larger devise. Can anyone suggest a fix?

Hi Helen. Thanks for contacting us at OnTheGoSolo.com. Here’s how we fixed this issue. Open the device that is not showing the new trip. Click the gear icon in the top right of the screen. On the Settings screen that appears, scroll to the very bottom and click the Log out link. Log back in and the Polarsteps server will automatically grab the latest version of your account, which will include your new trip.

[…] Travel Apps You’ll Use Daily: Polarsteps review […]

I can find the end button trip…..

Hi Pedro. There is no End trip button – that’s one of the frustrating missing features in the app. Your trip ends at midnight on the last day you have listed. So if your actual trip ends at 10 in the morning, the app continues to track all of your movements for another 14 hours after you’ve returned home.

Hi thanks for the good info. I travel full-time so want this app to document my fav places with attatched photos on a satelite map. All good so far but the white lines are crazy and erratic , can they be disabled just leaving my places of interest and photos. Also I don’t want an end date yet as I have been travelling full-time for eight years so there is no definite end time. Thanks in advance.

Hi Neville, thanks for contacting On The Go Solo. We agree that the white lines on the Polarsteps maps are terrible. If you use the same location as a base for multiple days, you end up with a spiderweb of white lines going in every direction, obsuring the map. We’re not sure how you would disable all lines, but you can delete individual ones. In the mobile app, zoom in as far as you can on the start of the line you want to delete and then long-touch it until a delete option appears at the bottom of the screen. It might take you four or five tries to get the delete button to appear — the feature is badly designed and seems to work only some of the time. As for end dates, why not set some random time very far in the future as your end date and modify it when you reach the end of your travels?

Hi, Can you only add photos etc once you have arrived in a place? I can’t see any ‘edit’ button on the steps I have added for a future trip.

Hi Robyn, thanks for contacting OnTheGoSolo.com. Yours is an usual request and I couldn’t figure out any way to do what you want directly. I did come up with a possible workaround, but it’s kind of messy and you’d need to test it out first on a sample trip to make sure it works. The workaround is to set up a trip with a start date in the past. Then add each of your future steps in chronological order, but using dates that have already occurred. Next, go into each step and add the photos you want. After you actually visit each of the locations during your upcoming trip, change the dummy date for that step to the real date. The big downside I see of this is that your travel tracker (the line on the map that tracks where you are and where you’ve been) might get totally confused and display inaccurate data. Also, you would be unable to hide any of your upcoming steps from the people authorized to view your trip: as far as Polarsteps is concerned, all of your steps would be in the past, so they would be visible. Hope this helps. Travel on!

Thanks so much for all this information! Super helpful! We are going to drive overland from Europe to Asia and we’re considering to use this app and share our route. Our only concern is that we don’t want to have the exact location where we will be right now showing on the map, for safety reason. Is there a possibility to delay the tracking? Or what would you suggest? Thanks and greetings from Switzerland, Kat

Hi Kat, thanks for contacting OnTheGoSolo.com. There are a few ways you can do this, so it depends on how private you want to be. To start, open the app on your mobile and go to your trip and click Trip Menu > Trip settings. Scroll down to the Who can see this trip? section and tap to open it. Your choices here are Only me, My followers, and Public. If you choose Only me , then no one will know where you are — your trip will not be visible if anyone searches for it through the Polarsteps search engine. If you choose My followers , you can let your family and friends see where you are, but still avoid letting the general public know this information. As far as we can tell, you can’t hide an individual step on your trip, although you can hide upcoming steps by deselecting the Also show planned steps option on the Trip settings screen. Hope this helps. Travel on!

Comments are closed.

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Polarsteps - Travel Tracker 4+

Plan, track & relive your trip, polarsteps b.v..

• 4.7 • 104 Ratings

iPhone Screenshots

Description.

Plan, track, and relive your travels. Record your route automatically, keeping your phone in your pocket and eyes on the world. Over 5 million explorers have chosen Polarsteps to create and capture their adventures. This all-in-one travel app shows you the world’s most enticing travel destinations, gives you insider tips and plots your route, locations and photos when the journey is underway. The result? A beautiful digital world map that is unique to you! As well as the chance to turn it all into a hardback Travel Book when you’re done. And it doesn’t stop there... Doesn’t drain your battery, works offline and you have full privacy control. PLAN ■ Polarsteps Guides, created by our travel-loving editors and other explorers like you, show you the best of the world (as well as giving you top tips for once you get there). ■ Itinerary Planner to build your dream (editable) itinerary. ■ Transport Planner helping you get from A to B with clear transport options between destinations. TRACK ■ Automatically track and plot your path on a digital world map (that grows fuller as your passport does). ■ Add photos, video, and thoughts to your steps along the way making your memories all the more vivid. ■ Save spots that you love so that you can always find your way back. SHARE ■ Leave tips for the travelling community on where to go and what to see. ■ Share your journey with friends and family if you want to. Or keep it to yourself. You have full privacy controls. ■ Follow others and share in their adventures. RELIVE ■ Retrace your steps – scrolling through places, photos, and your travel stats. ■ Create a unique Travel Book filled with your pictures and stories with the touch of a button. WHAT THE PRESS ARE SAYING ABOUT POLARSTEPS "The Polarsteps app replaces your travel journal, making it easier and more beautiful." - National Geographic "Polarsteps helps you track and share your journeys in an easy and visually appealing way." - The Next Web "Polarsteps' resulting travel log is impressive, and is the source of a severe case of itchy feet in your correspondent." - TechCrunch FEEDBACK Questions, thoughts, or feedback? We'd love to hear what you think about Polarsteps. Get in touch via [email protected].

Version 7.1.10

Hey travelers, we updated the app and squashed some bugs you were reporting. Thanks for the feedback! We're always listening on [email protected]

Ratings and Reviews

104 Ratings

Traveller’s must have

It is one of the very well thought apps. I feel every person who loves to travel and wants a record of it must have this app. 1 star less only because i feel that the app is a little slow and hangs a little sometimes. The Idea is perfect but with little improvements it can reach 5 stars

Polarsteps, the best App while you travel

I used it when I traveled across Scandinavia countries this summer, it tracks the location very well and shows the map view nicely, adding photos by location keeps the long lasting memories

Beautiful app let down by a sad map experience

The so is so polished and the interface a lot to work with. The intent and the execution is perfect. The only hitch and the dealbreaker is that the maps is huge letdown. It can’t find popular destinations and points to obscure locations upon search. Oh, I so wish that the maps were a bit more reliable! Would love to revisit and change the rating when the maps work correctly.

Developer Response ,

Hi Ravi, thanks for the review! Can you please contact us at [email protected] with your detailed feedback so that we can have a look at this? Thanks!

App Privacy

The developer, Polarsteps B.V. , indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

Data Linked to You

The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:

• Financial Info
• Contact Info
• User Content
• Search History
• Identifiers
• Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary based on, for example, the features you use or your age. Learn More

Information

English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Malay, Norwegian Bokmål, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish

• Developer Website
• App Support
• Privacy Policy

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Claudia Looi

Touring the Top 10 Moscow Metro Stations

By Claudia Looi 2 Comments

Komsomolskaya metro station looks like a museum. It has vaulted ceilings and baroque decor.

Hidden underground, in the heart of Moscow, are historical and architectural treasures of Russia. These are Soviet-era creations – the metro stations of Moscow.

Our guide Maria introduced these elaborate metro stations as “the palaces for the people.” Built between 1937 and 1955, each station holds its own history and stories. Stalin had the idea of building beautiful underground spaces that the masses could enjoy. They would look like museums, art centers, concert halls, palaces and churches. Each would have a different theme. None would be alike.

The two-hour private tour was with a former Intourist tour guide named Maria. Maria lived in Moscow all her life and through the communist era of 60s to 90s. She has been a tour guide for more than 30 years. Being in her 60s, she moved rather quickly for her age. We traveled and crammed with Maria and other Muscovites on the metro to visit 10 different metro stations.

Arrow showing the direction of metro line 1 and 2

Moscow subways are very clean

To Maria, every street, metro and building told a story. I couldn’t keep up with her stories. I don’t remember most of what she said because I was just thrilled being in Moscow.   Added to that, she spilled out so many Russian words and names, which to one who can’t read Cyrillic, sounded so foreign and could be easily forgotten.

The metro tour was the first part of our all day tour of Moscow with Maria. Here are the stations we visited:

1. Komsomolskaya Metro Station  is the most beautiful of them all. Painted yellow and decorated with chandeliers, gold leaves and semi precious stones, the station looks like a stately museum. And possibly decorated like a palace. I saw Komsomolskaya first, before the rest of the stations upon arrival in Moscow by train from St. Petersburg.

2. Revolution Square Metro Station (Ploshchad Revolyutsii) has marble arches and 72 bronze sculptures designed by Alexey Dushkin. The marble arches are flanked by the bronze sculptures. If you look closely you will see passersby touching the bronze dog's nose. Legend has it that good luck comes to those who touch the dog's nose.

Touch the dog's nose for good luck. At the Revolution Square station

Revolution Square Metro Station

3. Arbatskaya Metro Station served as a shelter during the Soviet-era. It is one of the largest and the deepest metro stations in Moscow.

Arbatskaya Metro Station

4. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station was built in 1935 and named after the Russian State Library. It is located near the library and has a big mosaic portrait of Lenin and yellow ceramic tiles on the track walls.

Lenin's portrait at the Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station

5. Kievskaya Metro Station was one of the first to be completed in Moscow. Named after the capital city of Ukraine by Kiev-born, Nikita Khruschev, Stalin's successor.

Kievskaya Metro Station

6. Novoslobodskaya Metro Station  was built in 1952. It has 32 stained glass murals with brass borders.

Novoslobodskaya metro station

7. Kurskaya Metro Station was one of the first few to be built in Moscow in 1938. It has ceiling panels and artwork showing Soviet leadership, Soviet lifestyle and political power. It has a dome with patriotic slogans decorated with red stars representing the Soviet's World War II Hall of Fame. Kurskaya Metro Station is a must-visit station in Moscow.

Ceiling panel and artworks at Kurskaya Metro Station

8. Mayakovskaya Metro Station built in 1938. It was named after Russian poet Vladmir Mayakovsky. This is one of the most beautiful metro stations in the world with 34 mosaics painted by Alexander Deyneka.

Mayakovskaya station

One of the over 30 ceiling mosaics in Mayakovskaya metro station

9. Belorusskaya Metro Station is named after the people of Belarus. In the picture below, there are statues of 3 members of the Partisan Resistance in Belarus during World War II. The statues were sculpted by Sergei Orlov, S. Rabinovich and I. Slonim.

10. Teatralnaya Metro Station (Theatre Metro Station) is located near the Bolshoi Theatre.

Teatralnaya Metro Station decorated with porcelain figures .

Taking the metro's escalator at the end of the tour with Maria the tour guide.

Have you visited the Moscow Metro? Leave your comment below.

January 15, 2017 at 8:17 am

An excellent read! Thanks for much for sharing the Russian metro system with us. We're heading to Moscow in April and exploring the metro stations were on our list and after reading your post, I'm even more excited to go visit them. Thanks again 🙂

December 6, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Hi, do you remember which tour company you contacted for this tour?

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The Moscow Metro Museum of Art: 10 Must-See Stations

There are few times one can claim having been on the subway all afternoon and loving it, but the Moscow Metro provides just that opportunity.  While many cities boast famous public transport systems—New York’s subway, London’s underground, San Salvador’s chicken buses—few warrant hours of exploration.  Moscow is different: Take one ride on the Metro, and you’ll find out that this network of railways can be so much more than point A to B drudgery.

The Metro began operating in 1935 with just thirteen stations, covering less than seven miles, but it has since grown into the world’s third busiest transit system ( Tokyo is first ), spanning about 200 miles and offering over 180 stops along the way.  The construction of the Metro began under Joseph Stalin’s command, and being one of the USSR’s most ambitious building projects, the iron-fisted leader instructed designers to create a place full of svet (radiance) and svetloe budushchee (a radiant future), a palace for the people and a tribute to the Mother nation.

Consequently, the Metro is among the most memorable attractions in Moscow.  The stations provide a unique collection of public art, comparable to anything the city’s galleries have to offer and providing a sense of the Soviet era, which is absent from the State National History Museum.  Even better, touring the Metro delivers palpable, experiential moments, which many of us don’t get standing in front of painting or a case of coins.

Though tours are available , discovering the Moscow Metro on your own provides a much more comprehensive, truer experience, something much less sterile than following a guide.  What better place is there to see the “real” Moscow than on mass transit: A few hours will expose you to characters and caricatures you’ll be hard-pressed to find dining near the Bolshoi Theater.  You become part of the attraction, hear it in the screech of the train, feel it as hurried commuters brush by: The Metro sucks you beneath the city and churns you into the mix.

With the recommendations of our born-and-bred Muscovite students, my wife Emma and I have just taken a self-guided tour of what some locals consider the top ten stations of the Moscow Metro. What most satisfied me about our Metro tour was the sense of adventure .  I loved following our route on the maps of the wagon walls as we circled the city, plotting out the course to the subsequent stops; having the weird sensation of being underground for nearly four hours; and discovering the next cavern of treasures, playing Indiana Jones for the afternoon, piecing together fragments of Russia’s mysterious history.  It’s the ultimate interactive museum.

Top Ten Stations (In order of appearance)

Kievskaya station.

Kievskaya Station went public in March of 1937, the rails between it and Park Kultury Station being the first to cross the Moscow River.  Kievskaya is full of mosaics depicting aristocratic scenes of Russian life, with great cameo appearances by Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin.  Each work has a Cyrillic title/explanation etched in the marble beneath it; however, if your Russian is rusty, you can just appreciate seeing familiar revolutionary dates like 1905 ( the Russian Revolution ) and 1917 ( the October Revolution ).

Mayakovskaya Station

Mayakovskaya Station ranks in my top three most notable Metro stations. Mayakovskaya just feels right, done Art Deco but no sense of gaudiness or pretention.  The arches are adorned with rounded chrome piping and create feeling of being in a jukebox, but the roof’s expansive mosaics of the sky are the real showstopper.  Subjects cleverly range from looking up at a high jumper, workers atop a building, spires of Orthodox cathedrals, to nimble aircraft humming by, a fleet of prop planes spelling out CCCP in the bluest of skies.

Novoslobodskaya Station

Novoslobodskaya is the Metro’s unique stained glass station.  Each column has its own distinctive panels of colorful glass, most of them with a floral theme, some of them capturing the odd sailor, musician, artist, gardener, or stenographer in action.  The glass is framed in Art Deco metalwork, and there is the lovely aspect of discovering panels in the less frequented haunches of the hall (on the trackside, between the incoming staircases).  Novosblod is, I’ve been told, the favorite amongst out-of-town visitors.

Komsomolskaya Station

Komsomolskaya Station is one of palatial grandeur.  It seems both magnificent and obligatory, like the presidential palace of a colonial city.  The yellow ceiling has leafy, white concrete garland and a series of golden military mosaics accenting the tile mosaics of glorified Russian life.  Switching lines here, the hallway has an Alice-in-Wonderland feel, impossibly long with decorative tile walls, culminating in a very old station left in a remarkable state of disrepair, offering a really tangible glimpse behind the palace walls.

Dostoevskaya Station

Dostoevskaya is a tribute to the late, great hero of Russian literature .  The station at first glance seems bare and unimpressive, a stark marble platform without a whiff of reassembled chips of tile.  However, two columns have eerie stone inlay collages of scenes from Dostoevsky’s work, including The Idiot , The Brothers Karamazov , and Crime and Punishment.   Then, standing at the center of the platform, the marble creates a kaleidoscope of reflections.  At the entrance, there is a large, inlay portrait of the author.

Chkalovskaya Station

Chkalovskaya does space Art Deco style (yet again).  Chrome borders all.  Passageways with curvy overhangs create the illusion of walking through the belly of a chic, new-age spacecraft.  There are two (kos)mosaics, one at each end, with planetary subjects.  Transferring here brings you above ground, where some rather elaborate metalwork is on display.  By name similarity only, I’d expected Komsolskaya Station to deliver some kosmonaut décor; instead, it was Chkalovskaya that took us up to the space station.

Elektrozavodskaya Station

Elektrozavodskaya is full of marble reliefs of workers, men and women, laboring through the different stages of industry.  The superhuman figures are round with muscles, Hollywood fit, and seemingly undeterred by each Herculean task they respectively perform.  The station is chocked with brass, from hammer and sickle light fixtures to beautiful, angular framework up the innards of the columns.  The station’s art pieces are less clever or extravagant than others, but identifying the different stages of industry is entertaining.

Baumanskaya Statio

Baumanskaya Station is the only stop that wasn’t suggested by the students.  Pulling in, the network of statues was just too enticing: Out of half-circle depressions in the platform’s columns, the USSR’s proud and powerful labor force again flaunts its success.  Pilots, blacksmiths, politicians, and artists have all congregated, posing amongst more Art Deco framing.  At the far end, a massive Soviet flag dons the face of Lenin and banners for ’05, ’17, and ‘45.  Standing in front of the flag, you can play with the echoing roof.

Ploshchad Revolutsii Station

Novokuznetskaya Station

Novokuznetskaya Station finishes off this tour, more or less, where it started: beautiful mosaics.  This station recalls the skyward-facing pieces from Mayakovskaya (Station #2), only with a little larger pictures in a more cramped, very trafficked area.  Due to a line of street lamps in the center of the platform, it has the atmosphere of a bustling market.  The more inventive sky scenes include a man on a ladder, women picking fruit, and a tank-dozer being craned in.  The station’s also has a handsome black-and-white stone mural.

Here is a map and a brief description of our route:

Start at (1)Kievskaya on the “ring line” (look for the squares at the bottom of the platform signs to help you navigate—the ring line is #5, brown line) and go north to Belorusskaya, make a quick switch to the Dark Green/#2 line, and go south one stop to (2)Mayakovskaya.  Backtrack to the ring line—Brown/#5—and continue north, getting off at (3)Novosblodskaya and (4)Komsolskaya.  At Komsolskaya Station, transfer to the Red/#1 line, go south for two stops to Chistye Prudy, and get on the Light Green/#10 line going north.  Take a look at (5)Dostoevskaya Station on the northern segment of Light Green/#10 line then change directions and head south to (6)Chkalovskaya, which offers a transfer to the Dark Blue/#3 line, going west, away from the city center.  Have a look (7)Elektroskaya Station before backtracking into the center of Moscow, stopping off at (8)Baumskaya, getting off the Dark Blue/#3 line at (9)Ploschad Revolyutsii.  Change to the Dark Green/#2 line and go south one stop to see (10)Novokuznetskaya Station.

Check out our new Moscow Indie Travel Guide , book a flight to Moscow and read 10 Bars with Views Worth Blowing the Budget For

Jonathon Engels, formerly a patron saint of misadventure, has been stumbling his way across cultural borders since 2005 and is currently volunteering in the mountains outside of Antigua, Guatemala.  For more of his work, visit his website and blog .

Photo credits:   SergeyRod , all others courtesy of the author and may not be used without permission

Polarsteps - Travel Tracker

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My trip is too big for 1 Travel Book. Can I split a trip over two Travel Books?

Sometimes, there are just too many precious travel memories to fit in one book. Luckily you can easily create multiple books for the same trip. 

A step-by-step guide to creating multiple books of one trip

• Generate a preview of your Travel Book. (Just getting started? Let's get you up to speed here ). Use the Calculate number of pages option below to see if your steps fit in your first Travel Book (max 398 pages).
• In the Edit Travel Book screen, de-select the photos you’ll be using later in your additional book(s). So if you’re splitting your trip into two books, de-select the second half of your photos.
• Tap on the red Save & Generate button to save your Travel Book.

Congrats! You have now successfully divided and saved the first Travel Book of your trip. Go ahead and check out your Travel Book preview. Want to further customize it?

• Hit the Edit Travel Book button and enter the Travel Book editor screen and adjust the position of your photos.
• Hit the pen icon on your Travel Book cover to adjust your book title to one that explains your series. For example South Africa 2019 Part I.
• You can also change the "Book author" here alongside other options.
• Tap 'Save & Generate' regularly. If you make a lot of edits in one go, our generator may get stuck, which could result in unsaved changes.
• Review your handiwork to make sure your Travel Book is just right.
• Repeat the same process for your second Travel Book.
• Continue the order process. 

IMPORTANT : It might take up to 24 hours before your order is processed. Please do not make any changes in this trip or your book settings for the next 24 hours.

Over 6000 photos in your trip?

Our Travel Book generator does not support this. Please reduce the number of photos in your trip to be able to order a Travel Book.

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