Essential Travel Websites

This post is an attempt to list those sites that are genuinely and really useful to the independent traveller. Spammers please note that this topic will be heavily moderated.

Ali

Ali Watters
Post Count: 3913

Msg: #1 120 weeks ago, August 28th 2007

This topic is basically a list of the essential websites for travellers; We'll be comprehensive and fair. This post will contain links and one line descriptions in categories. Once a link is placed here after someone has made a suggestion the post will be deleted by the moderators. So to get started:

Utilities
XE.com - provides market currency exchange rates
worldtimezone.com - world time zones - represented graphically
timeanddate.com - time zones, international dialing codes, meeting planner and distance calculator
onebag.com - Light Packing Suggestions - get it all in one bag - watch your liquids!
Wikipedia.org - every thing you ever wanted to know edited by big brother.
projectvisa.com - Lists visa information for most countries - lots of ads.
delta.com - Select nationality and destination, gives passport and visa information.
sleepinginairports.com - guide to sleeping in airports, including reviews
travelindependent.info - Independent packing and backpacking information
travelocity.com - search engine for flights, accomodation and transport.
freetranslation.com - free translation site
Babel Fish Translation - free translation site
studentjetpacks.co.uk - general travel advice, plus more detailed information for some countries
webflyer.com - information site for members of frequent flyer networks
thedirtyload.com - worldwide laundry search
bookcrossing.com - recycle books you have read, clear your shelves - send your books out on an adventure of their own!
travelpost.com - International airport wireless internet guide

Airline Tickets
Amadeus.net - Look straight into the database used by most travel agents and airlines. An excellent planning tool as you don't have to visit every airline in existence to find out if they fly on a particular destination or not. This of course excludes chartered services and low cost carriers which are not booked through Amadeus. Tickets not Available

Checkmytrip.com - Use your name and Amadeus booking number to keep an eye on the status of your scheduled flights. Extra useful in that your friends/family/relatives/favourite pet can keep up to date with your itinerary down to the last minute. Again, this does not work for low cost carriers.

Attitude Travel - lists low cost/budget airlines world wide.
Kayak.com, Expedia, Ebookers - online air-travel and usually a lot more.
Airtreks.com - round the world tickets and planning application.
www.skyscanner.net , www.airtkt.com , www.trabber.co.uk , www.fly.co.uk , sidestep.com , farecast.com , farecompare.com - search engines for flights
travel.indiatimes.com - caters mainly for travel between the US and India

Non-air travel
Seat61 - worldwide train and ferry information.Tickets not available through site
www.geocities.com/freighterman.geo , freighterworld.com , freighter-cruises.com , freightertravel.co.nz (suggested contact Hamish Jamieson), lowcarbontravel.com , thetravelersnotebook.com , 50plus.com , strandtravel.co.uk , cruisepeople.co.uk - information on freighter travel

News Sources
IRIN (irinnews.org) - news from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Helps you avoid conflict zones in exotic places.
BBC News - British Broadcasting Corporation - for the broad overview.
www.kidon.com - local newspapers and news sources from all continents
who.int - World Health Organisation

Guides
LonelyPlanet.com, RoughGuides.com - Two of the most well known print travel guides.
wikitravel.org - online wiki based travel guide.
worldreviewer.com - travel guide with destination reviews by experts
audiosnacks.com , tourcaster.com , geogad.com - downloadable audio guides
slevart.com - focus on dining and accomodation

Forums and travellers' articles
backpackers.com , travel-rants.com , roadtrippin.com - travel articles, forums and information
Lonely Planet Thorn Tree Travel Forum
www.expat-blog.com - blog and forum site for expats

Trip Planners
www.airtreks.com
www.globalbasecamps.com - sustainable tour options
findoutwheretogo.com - preview destinations by viewing other travellers' photos

Hostels and Hotels
Hostelbookers.com, hostelworld.com, hostelz.com - Hostel and cheap hotel booking... would prefer more distinction.
www.wotif.com - accomodation search engine.
www.booking.com - online international hotel reservations
asiarooms.com , hotelsbook.co.cc - accomodation search engines

Hospitality Clubs
Hospitality Club, Couchsurfing - Members offer to host travelers, meet for coffee or show people around town. "Hospitality Club" has more European members, while "Couchsurfing" more USA based.

Mapping
Google Earth - Fly around the globe, navigate cities, measure distances, and just generally allow yourself to be amazed by the blue planet. Inspiration and education free of charge. Beware though, GE requires a good internet connection and a fairly powerful computer to show off at its best.
gostreetmaps.com - city street maps for a range of countries.
ViaMichelin - roadmapping site for the UK, USA and Europe

Ok - over to you :) Suggest changes and moderators - edit edit away :) - the intention is that this is a genuinely useful topic and guide to the major travel related websites sites out there.

I will bring up suggestions from the posts below to build up this list.

[Edited: 10:35 - Jo Trouble ]

Dudes

Amy and Chris
Post Count: 50

Msg: #2 114 weeks ago, October 13th 2007

Just wanted to offer a quick comment about couchsurfing--the site is really growing and I would classify it more as primarily Western countries. But it is definitely growing and we have met several fellow cs'ers who used it through Eastern Europe as well South America. One person who had recently been through South America said that you could roughly depend on being able to couchsurf about 1 in 5 days in SA versus a 1:1 ratio in USA and Western Europe. Hopefully the culture will grow outside of generally wealthier, English speaking travelers. Even with that limitation however, it is a great experience.
We are working on the rest of our blogs to post that include the CS experiences, and have met another travelblogger International backpackers while couchsurfing.

Administrator B

Travelblog Administration
Post Count: 228

Msg: #3 52 weeks ago, December 15th 2008

One post deleted.

SPAM sites do not qualify as essential travel websites.

Snap Shot Stacey

Stacey Hatton
Post Count: 242

Msg: #4 49 weeks ago, January 7th 2009

Those are all fantastically helpful links guys! Thanks so much! (A laundry site? I never thought I'd see the day. [:p])

Mell

Mell
Post Count: 14647

Msg: #5 5 weeks ago, November 12th 2009

A laundry site? I never thought I'd see the day. [:p]

HaHa! Everything really is on the web. This reminds me, I want to look up the site that lists the clean toilets of the world. Yeah, an entire site dedicated to that is a pretty funny idea. :D

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