The Hidden Struggles Every Traveler Faces
I’ve visited 42 countries so far 🌍—still chasing cultures, hidden gems, and stories worth remembering.
But every trip left me fighting the same frustrations 👇
Travel planning = chaos.
Too many tabs.
Endless blogs I forget after reading.
Logistics that kill the excitement.
Brochures no one wants to carry.
I wasn’t focusing on the joy of discovery.
What I wanted instead:
✨ Hidden gems locals know
📸 Perfect spots for memories
⚡ Quick adjustments without stress
💫 More experiencing, less researching
That frustration united a team of passionate travelers.
We’d worked together before—but this time we wanted to solve a problem that mattered deeply to us.
Millions of travelers face the same pain.
What started as a pain → grew into a vision → and is now becoming reality 🚀.A way to travel smarter, faster, better.
Cut the noise. Keep the memories.
That’s why we’re building GemsAround 💎.
👉 Discover authentic places through short videos
👉 Build itineraries in a few swipes
👉 Save time & find the gems only locals know
Travel should be about the stories you bring home— not the logistics that drain you.
We’re launching soon. If you’ve felt this pain too, follow along ✨
Replies
First Answer
Totally relate to this, Viktor, travel planning can feel like a full-time job. Love the vision behind GemsAround. Short videos + local gems = exactly what’s missing in most travel apps. Can’t wait to try it!
Hey @johanna, thanks a lot for the kind words and for showing interest in what we’re building!
Good news - GemsAround.com is already live in beta — a web-based app (no download needed) where you can discover amazing places across Europe(and a bit further than that) and even add your own places that you manage to find.
This autumn, we’ll also be launching our mobile app on both the App Store and Google Play. Stay tuned and happy exploring!
This sounds like something I could've used when swatting away the tourist traps that typically spawn camp the cruise ports, airports, and roads in almost every major city I've been in traveling!
Good luck and hope the focus stayed on authenticity, too often these start out finding hidden gems and then devolve into what local LLC can spend the most marketing dollars to get to the front of the line.
I feel like it's actually completely okay for a person, experience, or company to actually go under and never come up again. Maybe that nonna just decides she doesn't want to host in her kitchen, or that hotel in India changed hands.
Feels like a real hidden gem is ephemeral and sometimes found by someone and is no longer there, hoping this taps into that kind of "limited edition" energy.
You’re absolutely right — some hidden gems do disappear, and part of the magic is capturing that “limited edition” energy while it lasts. At the same time, there are always new gems to discover. Since GemsAround is a community-powered platform, we rely on travelers like you and me to provide feedback and live updates, which helps minimize the risk of missing or outdated information.
Personally, I tend to go beyond main attractions when revisiting countries, but we don’t exclude them entirely. For example, if it’s your first trip to France, places like the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre are still worth experiencing. To make sure everyone finds something for their taste, we’ve organized content into categories such as main attractions, natural spots, activities, foodie, and history & art — with more filters and categories coming in the future.
With the example you mentioned, we’re not trying to become another TripAdvisor where top listings are dominated by a few tour operators, car rentals and so on. We focus on filtering contributions to ensure reliability and authenticity, highlighting real experiences shared by the community.
We also understand the responsibility this brings — preserving these places and encouraging travelers to take only memories and leave nothing but footprints. That’s the mentality we hope more people will embrace, keeping hidden gems special for everyone. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts, @csurita . Good luck to you and safe travels!!!
To all those who commented and did not receive a reply, unfortunately, these comments do not appear and I am unable to view them. I wrote an email to support, hopefully this will solve the issue.