⌕ Finding destinations and places
Use Locations for countries and cities, or Places for restaurants, attractions, shops/malls, and kids & amusement. On a country page, states and provinces list major cities you can open from the province card; a plane icon marks cities with passenger airports—click it to jump to Getting there and filter that city’s airports. When filtered, other cities with airports appear as chips so you can switch without scrolling back to States. Full airport details are in the Airports section on that page. Places and city search on Locations use Universal Finder: local results first; OpenStreetMap search and import require a signed-in account with verified email that is active. On a city page, Nearby & worth it suggests nearby cities that already have places or experiences.
✦ Kids, amusement parks and malls
On Places, filter by Kids & amusement for theme parks, playgrounds, indoor soft play, trampoline parks, arcades, zoos and aquariums. That filter is a good starting point for families with little ones (about ages 1–6); we do not invent age ranges on every listing—check the venue when ages matter. Shopping centres and malls (for example Riem Arcaden) are under Shops / malls. Arcades inside a mall may appear as separate Kids & amusement places when tagged that way in OpenStreetMap.
◌ Early Access
The Helpful Travelers is in Early Access. A slim Early Access label stays visible at the top of every page while we keep improving destinations, places, and tools. Expect occasional changes; your feedback via Support helps us prioritise.
⌕ Universal Finder
Universal Finder is the sitewide search pattern for directory objects. On Places, search your selected country or city first in our directory. If your venue is missing — even when other local results appear — use the Not in the list? panel to Search OpenStreetMap, pick the correct match to import public facts, then open its place page. On Locations with type Country, search the imported country directory (name or code, continent filter, A–Z or popularity) with no OpenStreetMap step. On Locations with type City, search the city directory, then optionally import a settlement from OpenStreetMap (the parent country must already exist) and open its city page. Experiences and Airlines use the same local-directory Finder (no OpenStreetMap import). OpenStreetMap search and import require sign-in, a verified email, and an active account.
🧳 Trips, travel modes and weather
Create a free account to save private trips and pins. When planning a trip, estimate approximate travel time by car, bus, train, or flight (road times use OpenRouteService when configured, otherwise a simple distance estimate — never live traffic or ticket prices). Pick a mode, review the suggested leave time, and accept it to see a countdown on your trip. From a saved trip you can open the destination city page (when it matches a known directory city) to add places and explore the guide. When the trip is by car, open Waze, Google Maps, Apple Maps, or OpenStreetMap directions with origin and destination filled when we have them; planned leave time is shown on the trip, but map apps do not accept a scheduled departure in these links. Pin a city, place, or embassy/consulate from its card or open page (or from search results) to keep it on your Dashboard. Upcoming trips can show destination weather when dates and location are set. Privacy controls are under My Profile.
✈ Find flights
Find flights on a trip is in limited testing for selected travelers, unless live search is turned on for everyone. You can always add flights manually.
◌ Place from website URL (test)
This is an experimental traveler assist. If you were invited into the test, use the Not in the list? panel on Places to paste a venue website (also available after OpenStreetMap finds nothing). We only read public page metadata to prefill a manual submission — you still confirm city and place type, then staff review before publication. Reliability is still being proven.
✈ Airlines directory
Under Airlines you will find each airline’s homepage, country of origin, and service phone numbers when listed. Signed-in travelers can like or review. Check the airline’s own website for baggage and miles details. Featured ads may appear.
◷ Quieter and best visit times
Some places show when they are usually quieter or when a visit is best — for example weekday mornings. Curated tips come from admins or place owners. Signed-in travelers can also answer “Was it quiet when you visited?” with Quiet, Mixed, or Busy. These are community signals, not live crowd data from Google or other services.
▣ Install the app
On supported phones and desktops you can install The Helpful Travelers from your browser. When your browser offers installation, a short Install app prompt may appear at the bottom of the page — choose Install, or Not now to dismiss. You can also use the browser menu (Add to Home Screen / Install app). The installable app opens in a simple window and keeps a light offline page if your connection drops. Full offline browsing of places is not included yet.
⚑ Moderator Center
Moderators and admins can open Moderator Center to review recent experiences and comments, warn or suspend accounts, and see a short summary of restricted users, hidden experiences, and removed comments. Every action needs a written reason.
◎ Groups
Join or create traveler groups for tips, photos and local discussion. Guides stay curated — Groups are for conversation. Keep posts respectful and report harmful content.
✦ Experiences, guides and ranks
Approved experiences, place reviews, guides and group posts earn points (drafts and pending do not). Likes and Helpful votes add more. Higher ranks take progressively more points.
✓ Claim, plans and advertising
Owners can claim a place and explore Licensed plans. While Early Access is on, approved claims may unlock Licensed tools at no charge. Featured ads are sold separately; Licensed Plus can include a limited intro city advert.
⇄ Translate posts and reviews
Where available, use Translate on group posts, reviews and similar content to read them in your interface language.
◐ Website theme and Light/Dark
Under My Profile you can pick a website theme. Light/Dark applies only to Classic and Plum Mist (including Plum Mist Motion). Fixed palette themes keep their own colours, so Light/Dark is hidden for those.
◉ Your data and privacy
Under My Profile you can export your account data or permanently delete your account. Read our Privacy Policy, Community Terms and Impressum. Share only permitted content — photos are checked and moderators can remove rule-breaking posts.
◌ Cookies
We use an essential session cookie (tht_session) to keep you signed in. Analytics cookies are not used by default.
⚠ Reporting a problem
Open Support with the page link, what happened and a screenshot when possible. Mark only genuinely urgent issues.