We live in an age where advanced travel planning is at once easy and unnecessary. Don’t have a hotel for the weekend? You can use Hotel Tonight for same-day deals. Have no idea where to eat? You can turn to Foursquare and TripAdvisor.
On the new series ‘Weekend Fix’ , which premieres tomorrow night at 10pm ET on Esquire Network, actor Omar Miller (CSI Miami) and Five Four Club founder Andres Izquieta travel America, crowdsourcing their weekends with only smartphone apps and recommendations from locals and friends. “We hope to inspire others on their journey to discover their own Weekend Fix,” Izquieta tells LostRemote.
In a recent episode, in which Miller and Izquieta visit Brooklyn – featuring stops at sneaker-maker Greats and at Brooklyn Bowl – they employ Google, Instagram, TripAdvisor, Twitter, Google Maps, Tumblr, Wikipedia, Urban Dictionary, FourSquare, Where to Wee, Yelp, Vimeo, and YouTube to get their Weekend Fix.
Social recommendations drive each episode and the show does a fantastic job displaying the apps on-air. We spoke with the charismatic stars of ‘Weekend Fix’ to learn more about travel planning (or lack thereof), their surprising recommendations, and app integration.
Lost Remote: What have you found the major difference to be between planning a weekend ahead of time and crowdsourcing it on the spot?
Omar Miller: The spontaneity brings about a sense of uncertainty and energy that I can’t quite duplicate when everything is planned. It’s sort of like the rush you get when you roll the dice in Vegas.
Andres Izquieta: Crowdsourcing on the spot leads for more spontaneity and the ability for you to actually try more things, whether it’s food or places. I sometimes like to have two dinners at new cities, appetizer at one place, and an entree at another restaurant. Or if you start off with one destination in your travel, you’ll just let serendipity take you on course to your next new discovery.
LR: As a food lover, what’s your go-to app for food recommendations?
Miller: I actually prefer personal recommendations when it comes to food and restaurants. That way, with most places, someone you know has been there and can guide you in the right direction.
Izquieta: Yelp and Instagram are my go to apps. However, I usually cross reference social recommendations by going on blogs and the message boards on Chow.com. Yelp is great because you get to filter down very quickly by ratings, consistency in user reviews (same mentions and similar pics, leads you to believe that those items are the better items on a menu). Instagram is great because it’s like a virtual menu, if someone is willing to post a picture of their food on social media, I assume that they liked it. If you search a restaurant’s hashtag or geolocation, and the pictures are similar, then that’s the right item to get at that particular place.
LR: Which city has been most responsive to your questions on social, and what was the best, most unheard-of recommendation you’ve received so far?
Miller: New Orleans. Charbroiled oysters and alligator cornbread.
Izquieta: Most responsive city was Washington DC, and the best recommendation came from my friend Smita via Twitter while I was in DC. She recommended we go to a supper club (Hush) that was based out of a woman’s house, who cooked her authentic traditional Indian cuisine with a homemade touch that you can’t find at a restaurant.
LR: Shows on TV integrate at most Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram – how does your team so seamlessly integrate apps like Urban Dictionary, Google Maps, and FourSquare?
Miller: We only integrate apps we actually use and we’re always searching for the latest and best so the authenticity makes it easier to weave in.
Izquieta: Our show leads for natural integration because of the nature of what we are doing: travel. We naturally use all of these things whether we are on camera or not, I know that all of my friends travel in this same manner, so why not bring this real life interaction to television? Hence, the Weekend Fix came about. A lot of people aren’t aware of all of the great apps and technology that exist today, and by displaying all of this via Weekend Fix, we hope to inspire others on their journey to discover their own Weekend Fix.