BACKPACKER BUDDY App is my current Android project where solo travelers can connect with one another and plan a solo traveling trip together. The user can sign up, create a personalized profile, post their traveling itineraries, see who's around them, who's recently online, who's going to be in which country at which date, chat and manage their account.
The idea of a backpacking app came to me before I embark for my solo trip to Eastern Europe in the summer of 2016. It was not very long ago and the memories are still fresh within me. I remember having a difficult time finding a solo-travelling community. Maybe I just wasn't good at finding the community. Who knows? What I do know is that I wanted to create a platform or us solo travellers to come together and share our experiences through a mobile applcation. Being a Software Engineering major, I developed a passion for Android Development and there is no better way to practice my skills than to create this app for a community I dearly care about.
I chose to travel not because I was simply bored. And no, I did not do it just to get away from my family. I did it because travelling the world has always been on my bucket list. I know tomorrow is not certain, and if I were to wait to go with someone, that day can be 10 years from now? 30 years from now? Or most likely, never. The world is so much bigger and greater than what we wake up to everyday, doing the same society-routine. It is when we make a change in our lives and do things we have never done before is when we start to see the things that make this world a beautiful place. It is when we are completely alone that we become an observer, and we start to see life from a totally different perspective. We then realized that our differences are actually our similarities. We become more open-minded and more understanding of those around us.
I came back from my trip with unforgettable memories that I still smile thinking about every night before I go to bed. I urge those who are reading this to do the same thing.
- MySQL for database
- Firebase Cloud Messaging for chat
- Firebase Cloud Messaging for new message notification
- Google location service API
- Google map API
- Retrofit for REST client
- Picasso for image loading
- ButterKnife for view injection
