New and Cool on the Internet
September 20, 2007. Part of the fun of booking a luxury vacation rental is researching your destination online. The tasks of travel arrangements, check-in times, etc., can be a little more odious. A new online organizer could make your next trip a little more fun and a little more organized at the same time, according to the MSNBC travel writer Rob Lovitt .
TripIt is an online tool that replaces the manila folder full of printed confirmations. As you make reservations online, you email your confirmation to TripIt. The website then compiles that info into "a single master itinerary complete with pertinent destination information."
"For example, I recently booked a trip to San Francisco using frequent flier miles on United.com, a coupon on Dollar.com and the luck of the draw on Hotwire.com. When I forwarded my confirmation e-mails to TripIt, the Itinerator organized them in chronological order and added date-specific weather data, local maps and driving directions between the airport and my hotel."
Other Web tools Lovitt reviewed in his column include Mapplets, from Google Maps, a user-friendly features that makes it easier to create mashups; OrbitzTLC Travel Update, a real-time, user-generated resource for travel conditions; and a new feature on the social networking site Facebook that adds GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinates to you profile so your friends and family know where you're located.
