Continuing on with my series on the 100 websites PC World recommended the websites in this post are about planning a vacation.
Planning a vacation is something that we as self employed individuals find hard to do. For a long time I was letting real estate rule my life but no longer I plan vacations and I take them. As you well know as soon as you plan a trip one of your listings sell and someone needs a home ASAP. When that happens and I have a planned vacation I have started referring them to a colleague and just taking a referral fee. It took YEARS for me to get comfortable with that but if you are working the entire vacation it is NOT a vacation. Don't get me wrong I also take trips where I know I'm going to be accessible (I like to travel) but once or maybe twice a year I plan a REAL vacation. So here are websites to help you plan that trip:
http://www.tripit.com/ This program is still a beta site but it brings all your travel information to one place. You will be able to add a profile, add your social networks it also allows you to add additional email addresses since we often use different emails when we travel. After spending time filling out my profile and adding my social networks I added my email addresses and found out Oops one of my email addresses is already a member. I obviously joined a long time ago because I have no recollection and this site is not in my favorites on Internet Explorer. Tripit has taken that in to account as I was able to merge the two accounts together.
We are planning a trip this coming September to Newport Rhode Island and I found all kinds of useful information on tripit. This is also a place to connect with your online friends and share your travel plans. Somehow as soon as I entered my information I had an invitation from an online friend to connect. This was one of my favorite travel sites that I checked out. I'm not sure why it wasn't when I set it up previously but I LOVE it now. I think it is probably because I am more in to social networking now than I was then.
http://www.kayak.com/ According to PC magazine this is the online travel agent dujour. You put in your dates and destinations and Kayak brings back price quotes from most of the major airlines. It also checks with Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity to make sure they are finding the best deal. You can also check hotels with Kayak.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ This site offers the "wisdom of the crowd" view for travelers. As I said earlier we are planning a trip this coming September to Newport Rhode Island. We did a time share trade so I know where we are staying but this was great to find out about local attractions. I can see a "10 mile drive" that we will want to take. According to the site it is "10 miles of spectacular wide-open views of the Atlantic Ocean and miles of magnificent million-dollar mansions". The cool thing about this site is that people who visit write reviews. If you didn't know where you were going to be staying this would be a great place to go and check out the review before you checked in. I love the fact that all these sites I saw are now saved in my favorites under my registration.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/ This is your online guide to offbeat tourist attractions. Continuing on with gathering information for our Newport trip I put Newport Rhode Island in. I found a 1940's fire truck atop a pub, a feet and the wave sidewalk statue but my favorite was the mysterious Viking tower. "Did stone-stacking Vikings erect this tower, thus making it the oldest building in America? Not counting anything built by the Indians, of course? Roadsideamerica.com Report...".
http://www.planeteye.com/ You can plan your whole trip here, airline tickets, hotel and attractions. For our trip we already have the accommodations and airline taken care of so I was mainly interested in the attractions. You can set a travel pack and then add the components you want. You plug in the place you want to go and it brings up the attractions, dining, and activities. I was impressed with what I saw.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ What I liked best about this site was the Thorn Tree Forum. You can ask a question about places you would like to visit and then follow the thread. It is my understanding that many of the post are by people who have been to the destinations several times.
This is my third in the series of websites from PC World. If you would like to visit the other two you will find them at:
Websites about "Buying, Selling and Renting Stuff"!!
Websites about "Learning Stuff"!!
For all your Spring TX Real Estate needs, contact me today!
Marchel Peterson
Results Realty
Cell: 832-721-8332
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Marchel -- I like tripadvisor. I could certainly use a vacation! I hope in the spring to be able to get away!
Marchel - I too could use a vacation again. Planning a trip has been made easy due to all these great sites.
JOAN, I was not familiar with trip advisor until I went through these travel sites. I must say it was my favorite. I'm sure I will take some mini working vacations but in September I'm taking a real vacation.
JENNIFER, I have to be honest I wrote these post about the websites as much to put the information all in on place for myself.
Marchel - Thanks for providing a great resource guide. I've used a few of these and will look forward to checking out the others. It's always fun to plan a trip and now so much easier.
Hello Marchel, Now this is very different and something that I am sure I will enjoy clicking through. Thanks for doing these web lists with the respective descriptions. Wonderful job!
Marchel,
I have used TripAdvisor for the last 5 hotels/resorts my family has stayed at. I saw somewhere someone wrote they didnt' like it. I love Trip Advisor. I have always been a little neurotic about vacation planning, and found it to be a great site for a range of views. Also you can ask questions in the forum and I have always gotten an answer. This site for the five times I have used it proved to have 100% participant accuracy. It is the reviews from the users that makes it such a resource.
I love TripAdvisor, it is such a helpful site!! I can't wait to go on vacation in a couple weeks!!
Hi Marchel,
A vacation sounds like a great idea! Looks like you have shared some valuable resources here, thanks.
LYNN, Thanks!! It does make it easier having them altogether; doesn't it? I love to travel and this will make it easier for me also.
WILLIAM, Thanks! I have to be honest I have a bit of an ulterior motive; it makes it easy for me to have them all in one place. When I save to my favorites I tend to forget where I put them. Plus I love to travel.
You had asked where Spring is; it is a northwest suburb of Houston. I had no idea we would love it so much. It is a bit steamy for the summer months but the rest of the year is WONDERFUL!! I love our beautiful foliage also!!
REBECCA,I loved trip advisor when I checked it. I had obviously been there before as one of my email addresses was a member but I had no recollection. I have not been using that particular email to sign up for things for several years. I've come a long way since then as far as technology goes.
It will be fun to actually use it for a trip. I am in the planning stages for our September trip.
PATRICIA, So where are you heading for vacation??
CYNTHIA, I always like a vacation. I love getting to take one where I don't do ANY BUSINESS!! I loved these sites to help plan the trip.
Has anyone ever used World Ventures. I have heard a lot about them lately and everyone says good things! Maybe they are just trying to have me buy something from their site though!
JASON, I have never heard about World Ventures. Do you have their website?