Regardless if a road trip is short or long having a good travel planning app is very helpful. One of the most useful apps to have is one that shows the location of travel centers or gas stations and the amenities that each station offers along a route. I found a mobile app for Pilot Flying J and used it on a recent road trip. It turned out to be very useful. This will definitely be my go-to travel planning app for all my upcoming road trips.
The app is free and easy to use. Simply search ‘myPilot’ in the app store and download to your smart phone. The app will show up as a yellow icon with ‘myPilot’ in black letters. When you first open the app it will ask if you want the app to use your current location. Select OK to find the stores nearest you.
To use the myPilot app for travel planning, click on the red line symbol in the upper left corner of the screen and a menu will appear.
Tap ‘Trip Planner’ in the menu and the rest is fairly self explanatory. Simply enter your starting and ending locations and the app will map directions to your destination AND show all the Pilot Travel Centers and Flying J Travel Plazas along the way.
This is the route for our road trip to Palm Coast, FL. Look at all those stations along the way. I enlarged the map on my phone to get a closer look at parts of the route. Clicking on a red dot for more information about that station. A menu will pop up and shows the exit number which makes for easy planning. Of course, if I was on the road and needed gas soon I could open the app and see the nearest location or nearby locations to find a store in my immediate vicinity. That is helpful since I sometimes get in the groove of driving and I don’t pay attention to the gas gauge.
While viewing the station information you click on the red i and another menu appears that lists the station amenities. The menu will also show the food that is available at the station. I love that Pilot Flying J travel centers are now stocked with fresher food choices and, more importantly, higher quality coffee. The new and improved coffee stations allow you to customize coffee any way you’d like. Em is pretty much a gluten-free vegan so knowing what food options are available at a store is very important to us and good coffee is ALWAYS important to me.
Another very nice perk of the myPilot app is knowing exactly what the gas prices are at each station. Not only does it show unleaded gas, but it shows every type of fuel that is available the station. Knowing gas prices in advance will help me figure out exactly how much gas money I’ll need to set aside for my road trip. Note that each store has a star rating provided by previous customers and is based on five stars. Use the app to rate your visit to each store and mark your favorites for future reference.
Next time you head out on a road trip be sure to give the myPilot app a try and see how much easier it makes your adventure.
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