A nice way to prepare your travel in the States is to use the website of “Where”, a known brand of travel guides. WhereTraveller offers online various information sources about arts, living, events, maps, accomodation, restaurants, shopping and entertainment of all kind for various big cities in the US as well as for London and Paris.

It’s easy to navigate, and every shop / building shows the distance to the city center, nearby restaurants and other shops and so on. You can also use a mobile version of the site on your iPhone. Maps are also included.

This web-service lists over 400 tour guides which could help you to explore a foreign culture more convenient and deeper than otherwise. 400 tour guides is not too much for the entire planet, but it’s a good start to check if your next trip is covered too.

An alternative could be Hi Everywhere!

Link: Our Explorer

Tripeedo is a fast way to search for airfares. What they say:

“No more complicated, outdated interfaces. No tiny calendars to click on, no endless drop-down lists, no “sorry, we couldn’t find that airport” error messages. With tripeedo, we’ve replaced it all with one simple search bar.
Just type in the details of your trip — tripeedo will figure it out. Don’t know an airport code? That’s okay, just enter the city name — or even just the first few letters. tripeedo is smart. You can enter dates in a ton of different formats. You can even specify things like your preferred airline, seat class, and different types of passengers.

As you type, tripeedo gives you a live preview of your search. That way, you can be sure you’ll get exactly what you’re looking for. You can also choose from lots of different travel providers, including Kayak, Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity. We’ll be adding more providers in the weeks ahead, so stay tuned.

When you’ve entered all your details, just hit go or enter. tripeedo instantly redirects you to your search results.

[Technorati Tags: travel search - air fares]

Besides all the websites and platforms we presented at this blog that relate to travel (see e.g. Tripwolf, TripsByPics, or IgoUgo), there are also some specialized search engines for you. One of them is UpTake.

It’s a search service that checks over 1.000 travel sites and 20 millions of opinions. Besides the search function (and filters like “just get away”, “family vacation”, “romatic getaway”, “pet friendly” and “girls getaway”), there is a huge directory with pre-defined categories like “top hotels”, “best themeparks” or “top things to do”.

Try it out, if you want to travel within the US.

[Technorati Tags: search engine - travel - USA ]

This is website for all Travelaficados:

• connect with other travellers from all over the world
• share your special places you discovered
• learn about new interesting places browsing this site
• plan and design your next trip

It’s a great site that links tips, photos and descriptions for your next travel. Stay cool, go travel!

Link: iwannagothere.net
[Technorati Tags: travel - traveller - Costa Rica ]

TripWolf is a full-featured travel site for your travel planning and managing:

• Community
• personal sites
• search and maps
• own scrapbook to collect your search result and travel information
• media sharing
• messaging

TripWolf exists in an english and german version. You’ll also find a ton of travel stories, tips and galleries from fellow travellers - check it out!

[Technorati Tags: surf - news - travel ]

We proudly present you a free Costa Rica Surf Guide with main information about surfing in this great surf environment. Content:

• Costa Rica surfing conditions & spots
• Presentation of major spots like Santa Teresa, Mal Pais, Tamarindo, and many others
• Travel information
• Alternative activities

You can download an english or a german version of our Costa Rica surf guide. It’s a pdf-format.

[Technorati Tags: surf - news - Costa Rica ]

My Life of Travel is a free web-based travel journal and travel research tool that lets travellers record their journeys, map travel histories, share tips with fellow tourists and keep in touch with friends and family.

Users can create multiple travel journals consisting of an unlimited number of journal entries, stories and photos. During the journal entry creation process, the site automatically maps users’ travels onto an interactive world map, displaying the routes travelled. A contact list function lets users inform selected friends, family and acquaintances of updates to travel journals. Users can also set sharing permissions for anyone in their contact list and the internal messaging centre lets members contact each other to discuss past and future trips.

A friends list allows you to link to friends and an automated guestbook lets you see who has viewed your journals.

An alternative to Travelblogs could be servicds like Hubpages where you sum up your experiences - like these ones…
[Technorati Tags: travel blog - travel journal]

TripsByPics is a travel website for all travelistas who want to discover new places and get an idea of worldwide travel spots. TripsByPics shows you the world in pictures of other globetrotters. You can also search for specific countries and sights to arrange your individual itinerary.

On TripsByPics you can use photos and experiences of other travellers who have actually been at a specific place. Furthermore you can share your own photos and experiences with others. The question “where to go” will be answered on TripsByPics by simply viewing pictures taken from other travellers and marking them for a personal triplist.

When you found out where to go you can do the detailed planning with guidebooks or other travel sites – based on your personal triplist from TripsByPics.

Link: TripsByPics
[Technorati Tags: travel - tools - Costa Rica ]

Another travel planning tool is TripKick: it helps you to review hotel rooms before heading into the lobby. Users can rate and search for hotel rooms. The cool thing is that you can choose from very different room types and styles and search for your specific (’perfect’) hotel room.

Once you found your hotel, you will get a variety of different hotel rooms, clustered in room types (with attributes you looked for and which rooms to avoid). You will also have a comparison chart for your hotel (showing the room numbers!). Additionally, you will get transportation information.

[Technorati Tags: travel - rooms - search ]