Back in the day, I was writing for an online magazine called Travel Daily Media through a third-party gig. The language we used was British English, but we were all Filipino working under the magazine's then-new angel invester-owner from the USA who injected money into our publication from the People's Republic of China. My forte was in researching startups within and related to the travel industry, as well as doing interviews through teleconferences.
I do regret having to switch to a higher-paying job after a few months, but at that time there were necessities that I needed to handle. I also find it odd that my bylines are completely gone from the website and have been replaced by someone else's name. All the same, writing is something I seriously enjoy doing, and I would like to do more of this in the near future.
Packdat was a trip-planning travel tech made up by some of my favorite Singaporeans. The Lee brothers were young and cheeky but without being hurtful in the least bit (they served the best self-burns). Sadly, like many startups, they could not sustain their growth and today it no longer exists. All the same, I thought their idea was sound, if a bit too future-forward (it certainly would have made my trip-planning less problematic), and I wish they get a chance in the future to come back.
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| Zheng De "Felix" Lee during the launch of Packdat |
Students and young professionals in Singapore have been hit by the travel bug, but they find their group trips bogged down by research and penny-pinching. To make trip-planning fun, social and super simple, brothers and Singapore Polytechnic engineering graduates Zheng De (Felix) and Zeth Lee built a community-based travel platform cheekily named Packdat.
Founded on the desire to ‘empower the world to create truly meaningful and magical moments with friends, all while travelling,’ Packdat skips both the tedious planning that goes before each adventure, and the marginally less tedious review process that comes after.
Just choose your destination and travel dates, then get your friends to join in the planning fun! Click ‘Pack My Trip’ to arrange your itinerary based on the best routes to and from your lodging, which saves money and time. You can even turn your itinerary into a handy PDF!
There are two ways to plan your journey on Packdat. The first is by grabbing links to each attraction, while the other is through ‘Discover Community,’ where each site is rated through emoji by users who have been there. The team also promises that they will soon allow real-time photo and video hosting, where you can experience a sneak preview of your adventure through content posted by other Packdat users. Amazing stuff!
The magic of Packdat is real: its vlogs (which are great for a laugh, here are some examples) and its crowdfunding campaign on Thunderclap (which reached its goal just 3 hours after launch and closed with 221% hits) helped the concept take off. It’s showing no sign of slowdown either: after joining the 2017 Slingshot@SWITCH (Singapore Week of Innovation & Technology) contest, it has been shortlisted as a 2017 Accenture ConsumerTech Awards finalist for ‘improving travel and hospitality experiences’ as well as ‘increasing choice and improving customer service.’
As far as destinations go, Packdat is Asia-centric, with only standard holiday spots mentioned. Neighbours Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia are featured, as are Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan farther east. Oddly enough, Australia is a getaway option, while Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines aren’t. Packdat assures us that it’s only a matter of time (early 2018, to be exact) until more Asia-Pacific locations become available.
One point against Packdat is that it only accepts TripAdvisor links to date, making blog references a no-go for now. Another minus is that it will not let you plan a trip if you do not give it your lodging address. Still, it’s a promising start-up with much to build upon – after all, it fixes your travel plans so that you and the gang can get straight to the fun. Say goodbye to multiple tab browsing and endless spreadsheet fixing, get the Packdat app or log into the website, and have a great trip!
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