MeetMeHalfWay

Inspiration

During the hackathon, we imagined the excitement of reuniting with friends who now live across different countries. But choosing a destination that fits everyone's budget, interests, and logistics is always complicated. We wanted to build a playful yet smart solution that answers one simple question: "Where should we meet?"

What it does

MeetMeHalfWay suggests the perfect destination for a group of friends based on their individual preferences, budgets, environmental concerns, travel styles, and even favorite series or movies. Each friend fills in a short form with their information, and the app calculates the most balanced city using a custom match algorithm.

How we built it

We built the frontend in React using Create React App, and handled user state and logic with basic hooks. We created a scoring algorithm that compares each user’s preferences against a curated dataset of cities. Finally, we connected the app to n8n to demonstrate integration with external systems or APIs for future use (e.g., storing submissions or triggering follow-ups).

Challenges we ran into

• Agreeing on a realistic yet creative scoring system that could reflect different kinds of input.
• Avoiding repetition and keeping the interface intuitive despite multiple parameters (budget, interests, nightlife, movies, etc.).
• Handling edge cases like ties or uncommon preferences.
• Finding reliable image sources without running into CORS issues (we ended up skipping images to keep it simple and consistent).

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• We created a complete and functional prototype from scratch in under 48 hours.
• The app works for both solo and group usage, and outputs very relevant city suggestions.
• We implemented dynamic scoring with optional filters (e.g., movie preferences, environment, nightlife).
• We learned to collaborate quickly, brainstorm ideas, and make trade-offs to deliver something solid.

What we learned

• Building simple UI/UX is harder than it looks — clarity and minimalism take real thought.
• React is powerful when used with clean modular components and well-structured data.
• Deploying an idea is about balancing creativity with what’s feasible in the moment.

What's next for MeetMeHalfWay

• Add real-time flight and train data via public APIs.
• Integrate Google Calendar or WhatsApp to coordinate real meetups.
• Include visual previews for each city (weather, events, photos).
• Add a “voting” system where friends can agree or react to destination suggestions.
• Turn it into a real product — we’d definitely use it ourselves.

Built With

• github
• html
• javascript
• n8n
• react
• vercel