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Travel Alberta, All Rights Reserved Written by: Travel Alberta
It's a new take on traditional family road trips that just might save your sanity. As you tour the Rocky Mountains, you'll no longer find yourself fighting about who lost the driving maps, or who doesn't know how to read them. Or who refuses to stop for directions. Or who missed that once-in-a-lifetime scenery a few miles back. You can leave all the road trip planning and maps in the capable hands of your new best friend: the GyPSy.
The GyPSy Tour Guide is the first of its kind in North America, featuring breakthrough technology and programming. Bred in Alberta, it's now offering an up-close-and-personal way to tour the Rocky Mountains, while learning all the interesting tidbits and factoids that turn road trips into memorable family vacations.
Here's how this tour-guide-in-an-electronic-device works. A calculator-sized handheld device attaches to the inside of your car windshield with a suction cup, and is wired into the dashboard with a few easy connectors. As you drive along, your location (monitored with GPS or Global Positioning System technology) triggers the GyPSy Guide, which speaks to you through your radio.
When you enter an area of interest, the device plays audio commentary of information specific to that location – interesting facts and stories, quirky tales and an array of tips and advice on how to best enjoy that area. It's really that simple. With this ultimate Canadian road trip planner, what you see on your family road trips (outside your car window) is what you get (with the audio you hear).
All the information lives in the PDA-like device, though the GPS signal comes from satellite. There are two cords: one for power and one for the FM transmitter. The OS (Operating System) is Pocket PC.
The scripts are interesting and engaging, providing the perfect commentary for your family road trips. "Immediately to your right is the scratching tree. It may even have some blue tape on it. If you look up this tree you will see distinct claw marks from the bear as it climbed up 10 metres or so. Can you notice the four-claw pattern of the front and back claws? This is probably a black bear because grizzlies don't often climb trees. Black bears have hooked claws which make them excellent climbers and they tend to scamper up trees at the first sign of danger."
Thanks to the GyPSy, you can enjoy the spectacular scenery of the Rocky Mountains, all from the safety of your family car, truck or RV.
For instance, as you drive near the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, you will be told: "Straight through...almost there..." Besides the driving directions, it will tell you the travel tidbits and highlights of where you are, in an engaging voice that is not computerized, but rather features recorded scripts written by bonafide tour guides. At the Banff Springs, for example, you'll learn the geology and history and characters of the hotel.
Once there, as you drive in a semi circle around the imposing statue of Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, the GyPSy Guide tells you, just in case you missed it, "Van Horne, the statue guy back there..." and fills in the guy's background. Long story short, he presided over the expansion of the CPR in Canada and spearheaded the luxury hotel business in the Canadian Rockies.
Your Tour Guide Fits In Your Hand
So using this Canadian road trip planner is like having your own tour guide, but instead of them taking up a seat in your vehicle during your family road trips, or you having to tag along with them in a bus, you determine the time and place and pace of your journey. Not only does it relieve the burden of driving maps and planning guides, but it makes sure you don't miss any of the spectacular scenery on your Rocky Mountain vacation. And it's small enough to fit in your hand.
Rick Bulich, Director of Business Development for GPS Tour Guide, is part of the team that developed this unique device. "Our GyPSy guide allows you to travel at your own pace, visit the places you want to see and learn much more than a tour guide would be able to share with you,' he explains. "Think of it as a local friend, who will share interesting stories and entertain you along the way."
This is the new world of 'Location Aware Touring' which is more than just the navigational directions of a regular GPS. The usefulness goes far beyond just the road trip, and goes with you are you meander through the scenic towns and take in the beautiful surroundings. When you take the GyPSy out of the car, it transforms into a portable travel guide to help make decision-making easier. The Vacation Assistant can provide you with information about upcoming points of interest, towns, cities and entire regions to help you plan ahead and save precious vacation time.
In addition to providing a fascinating tour of the Rocky Mountain National Parks, the GyPSy has been programmed for other scenic routes, including Jasper to Banff (including the Icefields Parkway), Banff and Lake Louise, Calgary to Banff, Calgary City, and Edmonton. The most popular independent travel itineraries through to the National Parks in Alberta are all covered.
If you're going to stay in Banff, a great, centrally located hotel is Brewster's Mountain Lodge. It's a western style, 77-room lodge with hand-craft log furnishings and western décor, along with great historical photographs that detail the Brewster Family. The rooms provide mountain views but the best feature I believe is its heart-of-Banff location, putting you in walking distance to anything in this cosmopolitan and authentic mountain town in Banff National Park.
How To Get It
The GyPSy Guide is available this year for the busy Western Canada summer touring season. Initial pricing for the GyPSy is $49 for one day, $84 for two days, $119 for three days, $154 for four days, $179 for five days, $204 for six days and $229 weekly. Additional days beyond will be $15.
With the ultimate Canadian road trip planner, you can say goodbye to cumbersome driving maps and stop worrying about driving distances and planning guides. Thanks to the GyPSy, family road trips will never be the same again.
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Copyright © 2006 Travel Alberta, All Rights Reserved
Travel Alberta is the destination marketing organization for the Province of Alberta. Guided by the Strategic Tourism Marketing Council, Travel Alberta is the steward for the effective delivery of tourism marketing programs. For information about our organization, please visit our Travel Alberta industry web site at http://www.travelalberta.com
