Going on vacation this summer? For control freaks and geeks like us, there are now hundreds of sites to help organize your itinerary, discuss travel plans with people around the world, research the weather and landmarks before you go, share your travel photos and videos on the go, find traveling partners, book accommodation and transport, map out your journey and blog your trip from start to finish.
For your weekend reading, we’ve picked out some of our favorite new sites and services in this category.
Travel Planning & Management:
TripWiser takes travel planning to the next level, by letting you pick any location to travel to, then plan out each individual day. With the planning complete, you can write notes about your trip, upload photos and keep all your friends and family updated. Add to all this the ability to find hotels, activities, destinations, and restaurants, and you’ve got a very handy site indeed. Another cool feature: trip cloning…take the very same trip as another person with one click. (Previous Coverage)
iloho is a Digg-like service for super-organized travelers. It gives you the ability to share and view itineraries, create and manage groups of travelers, read and write travel-related articles, and allows you to get user opinions of major airlines. Although it is simple in what it offers, it still is a great service for travelers to utilize. (Previous Coverage)
Dopplr is a fairly useful site…if you can get access (it’s current in private beta and requires an invite). Once signed up, you can add trips and fellow travelers to your account. Specify the start and finish of a trip, the location, and add notes. Then you can see all your trips marked out on a Google Map. You will be able to keep track of the trips that your friends will be taking as well. A great site if you want to keep things super-simple.
TripHub gives you the option of creating a trip page that shows all the information about your upcoming trips. It allows you to easily share this page friends so they can learn about your future travels and plans. (Previous Coverage)
Social Travel Networks:
WAYN, “Where Are You Now,” is an established site with millions of members. You can write about your past, present, and future trips. Share photos and journals of your travels, and find airfare information thanks to a deal with the search engine Kayak. (Previous Coverage)
Travelistic is the YouTube of travel based videos. The site allows you to post and view videos related to all things travel, including some professional content. Use the site to preview potential travel destinations and share your own experiences.
TripUp (formerly TripMates) allows you to connect with a travel community, based on people traveling to your city and other locations. You can hook up with locals on your journey, and form Trip Buddies as well. You can share maps, videos, photos, blogs, and reviews of travel related information.
Matador is a community for traveling and much much more. Instead of just sharing your travel plans and ideas, you join a site that is all things travel, culture, people, music, art, writing, sports, and global development. (Previous Coverage)
TravelBlog allows you to follow many bloggers around in their travels. It is a massive hub of bloggers which love to discuss traveling. You can also post photographs of your travels, and they have a forum for all things travel-related.
Travel Ideas:
Tripbase helps out by providing ideas for interesting trips. You simply need to sign up for the site, then adjust the sliders to your preferences: night-life, attractions, nature, etc. Tripbase suggests locations based on this info. It also shows you statistics like temperature, rainfall, and traveling popularity, plus things to do, places to eat, and lodging information. It’s a nice site to check out if you are looking for ideas for future trips. (Previous Coverage)
myTripBook(formerly Travelhiker) allows you to get travel inspiration and advice from people who have traveled before you to a destination that you wish to visit. A friendly social experience for travelers. (Previous Coverage)
Travel Services:
Kayak is a free service that allows you to compare airfares from multiple sources. It also offers services like finding hotels, rental cars, cruises, and special deals. I mainly use it for airline tickets though, and it is very good at what it does. Everyone likes finding cheaper airfares!
TripAdvisor provides you with recommendations for vacation spots, transportation, hotels, special deals, and much more. It offers similar services to Kayak, but I still prefer Kayak….both do have their advantages.
Travel Blogs:
World Hum, which was recently acquired by The Travel Channel, is an online travel magazine which offers both help and ideas for places which you might possibly want to travel to. It gives you tips on places of interest, hotels, vacations, and so much more. It covers so many areas of travel that you really must check it out to fully understand. Worth bookmarking if you like to keep up to date on travel information.
HoboTraveler features one man who has been traveling for the past 10 years and has visited over 76 countries. A useful resource for travelers who want to learn about locations he has already traveled to.
Mapping:
Google Earth can be a very useful tool for planning out trips if you don’t mind downloading some software. You can add layers of information, like restaurants and places. Fun to use, whether you’re traveling this summer or not.
Facebook Travel Applications:
Where I’ve Been is a simple little application that allows you to add a map to your Facebook profile - you then can click on any state/country on that map and highlight it. You can mark places you have been to, places you have lived, places you want to go to, and the rest are places you have not been to nor want to visit. It is a fairly simple idea, but it is fun to play around with and keep your friends updated.
A new Facebook application by TripAdvisor, Cities I’ve Visited is an application that utilizes Google Maps. You can mark down individual cities around the globe that you’ve visited.
Finally, Trips is an application that allows you to plan trips and have them displayed on a Google Map. You can add a destination, start time, end time, Facebook friends, other friends, and a description.
Enjoy your trip.
Commentaires