The timing on this entry couldn’t be dumber, since the major travel season just ended a couple weeks ago, but—who knows?—maybe some people are starting to plan their Thanksgiving and Christmas (or Hannukah or Kwanzaa) vacations.
Here are a few websites that might make your travel planning a little easier—or maybe just a bit more fun.
- The Universal Packing List: This is a very cool little site for people like me who remember what they need to bring after they’ve already left. Fortunately for me, my wife is the organization queen, but I might use the packing-list generator next time we go somewhere anyway, just to ease her burden a touch.
- One Bag: “All about packing, luggage, and travelling light.” The site tells you what to pack, what to put it in, and how to stuff it all in there. They even have a nice diagram of the bundle wrapping technique.
- Kayak: Searches “551 airlines from 100+ sites,” and it has a slick interface that lets you see the search results list change on the fly while you move the sliders back and forth. Check it out. It’s cool!
- Mobissimo: Search “129 travel sites” to get you the lowest available prices on airline tickets, hotel accommodations, and car rentals. Back in the day, I loved Travelocity, and then I was a big Expedia fan, until I switched to Orbitz. Now I mostly use Mobissimo, even though Kayak is more fun.
- RoadsideAmerica.com: “Your online guide to offbeat tourist attractions.” A friend at work introduced me to this site by pointing me to their review of Dinosaur Kingdom, a bizarre set of life-size sculptures depicting dinosaurs battling Civil War soldiers—and usually eating them.
- Gas Buddy: If you’re driving somewhere, even just around town, this site could come in quite handy. Type in the location, and it will show you the lowest and highest gas prices in the area.
- The Budget Traveller’s Guide to Sleeping in Airports: Here’s one for my student friends and other thrifty types. In case you were wondering, Singapore, Amsterdam, and Auckland are considered the best airports for sleeping, and Port Moresby, Boston, and Bombay the worst.
Hi there…
Thanks for the links, especially the bundle wrapping technique link! Might I add http://www.hotwire.com to your cheap airfare list? I seem to have great luck with them, and their frequent e-mail alerts for cheaper fares to your most frequently visited destinations are always helpful. Also, as someone who has spent more nigths than I would like to admit sleeping in airports, I must add that the Mid South Carolina airport sleeps quite well, while O’Hare–not so much.
Peace out,
Nicole
I don’t get the photo accompanying this entry. Is this a place you long to travel? or get away from? Looks like an illustration for Pete Seeger’s song about “houses made of ticky-tacky…where they all look just the same”. Serious lack of vegetation as well. Could be I’m looking too closely!
I know what you mean, Ginny. The photo is pretty random. I took it
one evening when Andrew took me for a little plane ride. I just thought
the entry needed a picture, and this one was lying around waiting for
me to do something with it, so I used it. The trailer park is somewhere
in between Sparta and Holland, Michigan. Closer to Holland, I think.
Kind of depressing little place, isn’t it?
Ha! I love that Pete Seeger song – “Little Houses on the Hillside.” It was actually written by a woman (can’t remember her name) who was driving down from San Francisco to Palo Alto to sing for a PTA meeting when she saw the little houses on the hillside in Daly City, just north of San Francisco International Airport. Legend has it that by the time she arrived in Palo Alto (probably 30-45 minutes later), she had written the song.