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It’s Monday, and you know what that means: resource updates! If you have no idea what I’m talking about, let me give you a quick recap:
A few weeks ago I announced that Rolf’s book, Vagabonding, will be going into a second edition within the year, complete with a fully updated resources section. We put a call out for you to help us update that resource section for the second edition, and this is the second week in a 10-week-long series asking for those website links, books, and other resources that fit into the various categories found in the book.
This week we’ll be working on the chapter 4, which has been broken up into two parts (next week we’ll do the second half). Here are the topics we’re covering:
Online travel research portals
General travel planning guides online
Online government travel resources
Guidebook publishers
Travel idea books
International information and news
To see what resources were included in the first edition of the book, click the category above. Do you know of any website links, books, or other resources that need to be included in the second edition of Vagabonding? Tell us in the comment section of this post. You guys have already come up with some great suggestions, so let’s continue the trend and make Vagabonding the best it can be.
As per usual, I’ll get the ball rolling and make a few suggestions of my own:
For Travel idea books, I’ll offer up National Geographic’s Journeys of a Lifetime. For International information and news, I’ll suggest CNN World and Newsvine’s World News. Finally, let’s add the Backpacker’s Ultimate Guide (BUG) to the Guidebook Publishers category.
Now let’s hear your suggestions!
February 11th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
For online air ticketing services, I recommend http://www.kayak.com and http://www.skyscanner.net
February 11th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
For worldwide train travel, I recommend http://www.seat61.com. He also includes bus, boat, tuktuk etc where appropriate. The most comprehensive site.
February 11th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
I’ve plugged Matador in past weeks, but I’ll toss it in again as a travel research portal. User-created guides to destinations, more focused informative blogs, designated “experts” willing to answer questions on their specialties, and a new forum all offer plenty of chances to get ideas and get your questions answered.
Lonely Planet is already listed, but the “World Guide” would be worth highlighting - it includes photos and a snapshot of each destination, I use it to get ideas and daydream about trips all the time. Also, be sure to mention how much of Rough Guides content is available for free online (most of it!), and also that Lonely Planet now offers “pick’n'mix” - meaning you can buy the individual chapters that you need and download them as PDFs, rather than buying the whole guidebook.
I’d throw in http://www.bbc.co.uk for world news and http://www.perceptivetravel.com for independent travel mags. Also, under student travel, Travel CUTS (www.travelcuts.com) is the Canadian equivalent of STA, run by the Canadian Federation of Students and specializing in working holiday visas, Eurail passes, etc.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
For Online travel research portal, I’d suggest http://www.travellerspoint.com. Similar to BootsnAll and IGoUGo, it’s a travel community where people can share tips on forums, keep their own travel blog, or help write the user-editable destination guide. There are also several thousand volunteer “travel helpers”, who offer free advice on destinations they’ve been to themselves.
February 13th, 2008 at 9:02 am
We’ve got a growing archive of travel planning resources over at BraveNewTraveler.com - would love to see it listed in the new edition.
February 15th, 2008 at 7:26 am
You should consider Away.com, which was recently recommended as one of the Washington Post’s “54 Essential Travel Planning Websites.” Highlights include destination guides, hundreds of “best of” lists, hotel reviews by travelers and travel writers, photography, and regularly updated travel blogs. The Away.com network of sites also includes GORP.com and OutsideOnline.com, Outside magazine’s web edition.