Okay, it’s finally time for the big trip to the place you have never seen. The question is, how to plan your trip? Fortunately, for all travelers, tech has some great answers to relieve this stress. Here are five favorites.
TripAdvisor
This is a brainstorming and planning tool that can help with all aspects of travel. From this one site, you can locate hotels, things to do, how to buy tickets, and find tours. TripAdvisor has a section for traveler questions which usually answers any problems you might have. I find it useful in conjunction with a collaborative brainstorming app to start to lay out the framework of a trip. Their reviews are often quite a joy to read. Many of their travelers have a great sense of humor.
Frommer’s
This site lists only hotels and activities that are worth seeing and staying at. It is probably not for budget traveling, but it tells you many things that are helpful when going to a new place. If you want to double check your hotel, if it is listed here, most likely it is clean and safe to stay at. The same applies to activities, too. Plus, Frommer’s updates their information regularly so that their users don’t end up going to spots that have closed.
Planmy.travel
If you want someone else to do your travel, with this site, you can work with an expert in the areas you want to visit. They find out your needs and do the work for you. You get to pick out your travel Ninja, and the site includes a number of tools to help you make good choices. For example, they can handle someone traveling to Japan who can’t eat fish, or someone who’s going to Vegas but really doesn’t have much interest in casinos. They helped us find things for my son to do around Yosemite. He hates heights and mountains.
KAYAK
This is a one stop site for the cheapest hotels, flights and car rentals. Through their KAYAK’s explore page, you can find the best days to fly and save money. It also shows the best time of year to visit your location. They will usually price match as well – so if you find a cheaper price, you can still pay that rate. The price comparisons are shown easily on the screen that allow you to keep track of the changes in prices at your hotels.
TripIt
This site allows a traveler to set an itinerary for their trip. This sounds like a simple thing, but image giving a printout of the whole trip to all of your picky family members. This guide, also, allows for time to simply just relax, on your trip. It provides an easy way to answer any trip questions that come along. Such as – When are we leaving, and what are we doing on Wednesday? Those answers are all in one place with TripIt.
Now, get out there and plan that trip! You will be glad you did.