As my walking buddy, Debi, is wont to say, “Hey, get this … ”
A new app called Momentage enables travelers who take pictures with their smartphones to do what previously could only be done on a computer: chronicle your journey by creating pages with multiple photos, video, text and sound.
Users can choose to send the pages to family and friends who also have the free app, and/or post them to a public space where viewers can comment.
“We are not trying to compete with Facebook or Instagram,” explains co-founder JoAnn Ippolito, who lives near Hartford, Conn.
Rather than encouraging snarky or negative comments, “we are more of an artsy community, so for people who jump on, it’s all about making positive connections.
There are a lot of social-sharing type apps, but they are not as close-knit as our community.”
About 70 percent of Momentage users post their creations to the public space, she added.
Not only that, but additions automatically are added to the same post for both users and receivers.
The idea for Momentage (a melding of the words “moment” and “collage”) grew from working at another digital company that focused on the “mom-market,” Ippolito said. But she and her co-founder, George Castineiras, realized that this was bigger.
“It’s all about capturing, sharing and organizing,” Ippolito said, or as the ad says, “a community for the new creatives.”
Ippolito uses the app when she takes her frequent day trips.
Because of the geography of New England, “you can get to about six different states in two hours from here,” she explained.
Currently, Momentage is available only for Apple’s iPhone, but the Android version will make its debut sometime this summer.
And did I mention that it’s free?
For more info, visit Momentage.com.
One traveler who might find such an app invaluable is Tsh (pronounced “Tish”) Oxenreider, author, blogger and expert on living life simply but fully.
She explains it all in her third, newly published “Notes From a Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World” (Nelson Books; $22.99).
One of Oxenreider’s axioms is that travel is essential for a quality life, and staying true to that belief, the mother of three and her husband, Kyle, who live in Bend, Ore., are preparing for a nine-month, round-the-world journey with the kids this fall.
“I honestly think that it’s easier to travel with kids when they are younger,” she said in a phone interview from a Houston hotel where she is on a book tour with the family.
“The more they travel, the better they get at it. Traveling is a normal part of life.”
She added that the family’s “unconventional life” makes travel possible. Both parents work at home and the kids are home-schooled.
Are they rich?
Absolutely not, Oxenreider said. “We save like crazy in order to do it.”
And since they already have been to several countries and have gathered acquaintances through her website/blog, TheArtofSimple.net, there are free accommodations waiting.
Their intended route?
“We’ll start in Asia,” she said.
“We definitely want to see Kyrgyzstan, India and Southeast Asia.
We sponsor a girl in Manila and she is the same age as my daughter who wants to meet her. And we love Thailand.”
Also on the itinerary: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, then north thru the African continent to Europe, over to South America and back home.
How many miles might that be?
“I have no idea,” Oxenreider said.
The key to traveling with kids is flexibility, she advises.
Sometimes the rules for home, like limited juices and television, have to go.
“You have to strike a fine balance between courtesy for the people around you and the kids.
You have to talk to the kids but sometimes you aren’t in control.
Just remember you will never see these other people again.”
E’Louise Ondash is a freelance writer living in North County. Tell her about your travels at [email protected]
