While our policy is to reduce our impact on the environment by limiting travel via fossil fuel means, travel today is so economical. If you are a road warrior, regular traveler or occasional traveler there are a number of sites and tools to help you make better travel purchase decisions, manage your travel, and see or do more when you travel. If you have one to suggest, let us know.
Of course we are not going to list all the usual travel sites, but instead offer the ones that can help that you may not have heard of.
Some of us at CellStream are seasoned travelers, and many of the tools and sites are used routinely. We have even added sites that help you save fuel, especially with the soaring gas prices.
Here is the list:
www.google.com/hotelfinder – Find the best deal on hotels. Looking for the best time to visit? Compare a hotel’s current price with its typical one. Keep a shortlist: One click adds hotels to your shortlist, where you can review them easily. Search just the places you want: Draw simple shapes to define the neighborhoods (yes, more than one!) that interest you.
TripIt.com – a great site that acts as your travel coordinator – simply send all the emails with your reservations to your account and print a composite itinerary with maps, and much more – you can share travel plans with your team and even compete with rankings of miles, countries and much more. This is now Room77.com.
Kayak.com – search one and done – that’s right, a travel search engine for flights, hotels, cars, and more. This free service finds all your options, arranges them by price or other preference and then links you to where the deals are. Kayak searches Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia and every major web site as well.
AirBnB.com – Founded in August of 2008 and based in San Francisco, California, Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world — online or from a mobile phone or tablet. Whether an apartment for a night, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point, in more than 34,000 cities and 190 countries. And with world-class customer service and a growing community of users, Airbnb is the easiest way for people to monetize their extra space and showcase it to an audience of millions.
CheapFlights.com – this company advertises they love to travel on the cheap…so check them out and see if you can travel cheaper!
8 Expert Travel Hacking Tips – A great page of suggested tips for travellers
DealBase.com – provides comparisons and deal listings primarily for Hotel, but also has Air, Car
Plnnr.com – a virtual travel planner that allows users to generate hour-by-hour intineraries based on a series of questions about the trip, such as dates, length of stay, luxury level, theme and intensity.
FareCompare.com – Find the cheapest airline tickets on the web by using FareCompare’s airfare search engine
Airfarewatchdog.com – a great tool to watch for when air fares drop
WhichBudget.com – finds airline tickets based on a bugget!
AirlineMeals.net – a very complete list of what you can expect to be served or sold on airlines. Complete with airline catering news, pictures and more.
SeatGuru.com – find a seat map of your flight and get advice on which seats are the best and worst on that given plane. A must use!
SeatExpert.com – another great seat advice web site.
SleepinginAirports.net – a guide to sleeping in airports – the best – the worst – airport reviews, tips, and much more. If you ever get stuck, go to this site.
Bing.com/Travel – search for travel cheap with best time to travel help – really cool if you are on the cheap.
igougo.com – share pictures and travel tips with other travelers as well as shop for flights, hotels, cars and more.
TipKick.com – aims to take the guesswork out of your hotel experience. Not all hotel rooms are created equal. Based on your preferences, Trip Lick will tell you what to ask for. Whether you prefer something quiet, oversized, view oriented or unique, we give you a series of specific room numbers to request.
UnusualHotlesofhteWorld.com – want to stay off the beaten path in a boutique or unusual hotel? Try this site for a completely different experience.
Bedand Breakfast.com – if you don’t like or don’t want to stay at a hotel – check this site
HomeAway.com – let’s you find a vacation home away from home – great for families
Hostelz.com – this is the only online Hostel web site search we know of.
HomeExchange.com – this site will allow you to find a home exchange – now that would be an interesting vacation, wouldn’t it?
Roadtripamerica.com – if you are traveling by car, this site will help plan a route and calculate fuel costs.
OnTheWay.com- Planning a roadtrip? This site will help you find the interesting stuff that’s on the way.
go-gas.com – This website can tell you exactly how much (in gas) a trip will cost you by using Google Maps – a great tool in the ever rising fuel costs environment.
Route4Me – this site lets you enter in all of the addresses you need to visit, then gives you driving directions for the fastest loop and shortest route between point A, B, C, D, or up to 10 different locations. No more wasting gas getting around inefficiently!
JetSetter.com – this site provides private sales of of special vacation packages. Deals come and go quickly.
GetSet – this site helps you determine the cheapest mode of transport. Just enter your starting location and destination and GetSet will calculate the cost of gas vs. the tariff on a plane ticket (with current prices so you can hunt down some flight deals) or bus fare, so you can make a budget-minded decision on how to travel.
GasBuddy extension on Google Maps, or download the free app that helps you find the nearest (and cheapest-priced) gas station on the road.
4sqtransit.com – a simple service that delivers real-time public transit information to your phone whenever you check in near a transit stop on Foursquare. When 4sqtransit sees that you’ve checked in near a transit stop, it sends you a text message with the schedule for that location.
Moneysavingexpert.com – tips for travel by plane or train, like when to buy a ticket!
CabCorner.com – save money when using taxi’s by getting tips or ride sharing with others. Also see http://www.hitchsters.com/
RentaLocalFriend.com – connects the traveler with a local person who can assist in many ways, like where to go, what to see. A full day is around $100 to $150!
RealTravel.com – an online community for all things related to travel. Featuring photos, blogs, member profiles, and links to the latest in travel deals, it is a great way for people to obtain and share advice on travel experiences.
UnclaimedBaggage.com – a one-of-a-kind store as one of the great ‘hidden’ bargain centers for savvy shoppers. They buy unclaimed baggage by the the truckload and then sell it!
Travel Toolkit for mobile – 5 great travel tools for your mobile phone at the iTunes store.
WebFlyer – a great site that focuses on Frequent Traveler programs, bills itself as the frequent travelers web site
Yapta – Track airfares & availability so you’ll know when to buy, track the rates on specific hotels and know when the price drops. Already booked an airline ticket? Keep tracking your price. If it drops, you can get airline credit.
Expense Cloud – automate expense reporting and go completely paperless
Does your Flight Have Wifi? Click the link to find out!
SpotWorld – a free iPhone App for creating itineraries for 32 cities with photos, articles, audio recordings of 500,000 attractions world wide.
CruiseCompete.com – prefer a cruise? Check this site out for cruise deals.
Xe.com – need exchange rates – look no further.
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