Yeah, you read that right. I’m building a travel app to change the way you travel.

Let’s start at the very beginning. In 2016, I started planning people’s trips in order to monetize my blog. Some of you may remember that I wrote an editorial on Travelettes on how I make money planning other people’s vacation.

I quickly realized that planning trips for people was a lot of work. It was too much work for the time I was putting in and how little I was charging. Early on in this venture, I had dreamed up an app that my clients could log in to and have their itinerary right in front of them (no more google docs!).

Then, I dreamed bigger.

What if everyone had access to this app and a computer could determine everyone’s perfect trip based on their personality and likes. I dreamed about full automation and something everyone could use.

Fast forward a few years, and now I’m building a travel app to change the way you travel.

Say Hello to Vorjou

Vorjou is my baby! It’s everything I’ve always wanted to create to help people travel smarter, be more creative, and experience less stress. The name Vorjou is a shortened version of the Dutch words ‘voor jou’, which means ‘for you’. The first three letters are pronounced like they’re written (vor). The last three, jou, are pronounced like the ‘jus’ in beef au jus. So essentially, vor-jus.

Features

I cannot release too much at this point, as we’re still working on the MVP (minimum viable product). But I can let you know the basic idea is to take travel personalization to a whole new level. I want to take all the stress out of planning a trip and only send you to places that are hand-picked for you.

No more FOMO at night when you’re struggling to find a place to eat in your hotel room, so you just choose the touristy joint down the street. While unknown to you, the most Instagrammable Italian restaurant in Rome sits three blocks from your hotel. Traveling with kids? Even more difficult. Now family-friendly places are instantly picked for you. While this is the main idea, there are many more features that you’ll love!

I'm Building a Travel App to Change the Way You Travel

And trust me, I hate being one of those people that’s like “something is coming but I can’t tell you what.” I will be sure to write another post when we fully launch taking you through the app and all the features. Much more to come!

Launch Dates

Vorjou will be going through a beta launch first. We are hoping that we can launch beta around mid-July. Beta will be open to anyone who wants to be the first to use Vorjou and help test the app for us. Having a soft launch is a great way for us to gain feedback and tweak certain things before we actually launch in the App Store.

That being said, you can sign up to be the first to know when we launch and become a beta tester here:

https://mailchi.mp/coatandcoffee/vorjou 

Our official launch is sort of yet to be determined. It’s all dependent on if we launch beta in time and how well that goes. So as you can image, we really need people to help test out the app! As a reader, I invite each of you to sign up. There are so many of you that have been reading since day one who’s opinion I genuinely value. If you’re new to Coat + Coffee, then you also play an important role as well! We’d love a fresh unbiased opinion on the app from someone who’s new to my brand.

Okay, enough talking. I’m just going to say it one more time and let it sink in:

I am building a freaking travel app!!

This is huge you guys. And I could have never conceived this crazy idea in my head had it not been for the success of this blog and all of my readers that support me. That’s you. Thank you.

In the meantime, here’s what you can do:

  1. Follow Vorjou on Instagram to stay in the loop! Plus we’ll be posting some really awesome content and featuring our favorite travelers from week to week.
  2. Sign up here and be the first to know when you launch!

So, who’s excited?!

28 Comments

    1. Emily

      Thank you Leta!! I wish I could divulge even more details because I’m obsessed with some other features as well. I think it’s going to be something our whole community will love. Can’t wait!!

      Author Reply
  2. Gellie

    Can’t wait for the launching of your app. Glad that you’ve turned your passion into something profitable. It won’t be an easy journey, but we can do it. 🙂

    xoxo,
    Gelleesh.com

    Reply
    1. Emily

      Thank you Gellie! Definitely not an easy journey haha. I’ve run into so many hiccups already! But I truly believe we can do anything…

      Author Reply
  4. Lydia

    I am so excited to hear that such app is going to launch soon, Emily! Good luck with it and I definitely want to be the first to start using it! Awesome job and a great invention!

    Reply
  7. Nancy

    It’s SO COOL that you’ve made your own app! This is such a huge milestone and major props to you for getting the ball rolling strong. I love the whole idea about it and major congrats to you for reaching your dreams!!! Sending you lots of positive vibes and support! ♥♥♥

    Nancy ♥ exquisitely.me

    Reply
    1. Emily

      Thanks so much Nancy! I am super excited about it and cannot wait until it launches! Wish I could share more, arg!

      Author Reply
  8. Emily

    Oh my gosh Emily this is SO incredibly exciting! There is nobody better than you to do something like this and I cannot wait to see the finished product! You should be so incredibly proud. <3

    Musings & More

    Reply
    1. Emily

      Thank you Emily! I am super excited and very proud to have made it this far haha. Once it releases, then the real work starts. 😉

      Author Reply
    1. Emily

      Thanks so much Heather! We’ll keep everyone updated on launch! Looking about 6 weeks out now. 🙂

      Author Reply

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