From weekends away to more epic travel adventures, there is a wealth of information online to ensure you get the most from your holiday. Phone and broadband provider TalkTalk, in partnership with TV gadget and tech expert, Jason Bradbury, has today revealed details of top travel sites to make the most from the vast array of information available.
There was a time when we would simply pick up a holiday brochure then book our precious vacation at our nearest High Street travel agency. We took our chances, trusting the travel firms to tell the truth about hotels, unable to check whether it would it be the perfect place for us to spend our well-earned break, let alone whether we were getting value for money.
Today however, we are all capable of becoming savvy travellers by spending a little time online. A wealth of information is at our fingertips allowing us to thoroughly research destinations before we arrive, ensuring we make informed choices and find the best deals to be had. Most empowering of all we can hear from other travellers on their own experiences. Once we’ve arrived at the destination, we can all try our hand at being budding Hemingways, writing our own online journals whilst sitting by the pool, so that others can benefit from our experiences.
TV gadget presenter, Jason Bradbury, told us "I travel constantly between filming locations, both within the UK and much further afield and I, with the team I work with, use the web to organise everything from where we’re staying to what to do and see and which locations to use. Keeping in touch with the family when I’m away is invaluable too – I'm forever updating my blog and uploading images to Twitter in order to share what I've been up to. I also use Google Earth when I want a geographical overview of the place I’m visiting, and Google Maps (maps.google.co.uk) both online and on my phone to get directions and selected panoramic views.
Jason, who is a huge fan of the current trend for mobile phone Applications adds, “There are some amazing Travel Apps available to mobile users – ‘Here I Am’ costs just a few pence and socially networks your location to friends and followers with just a few clicks. ‘Urban Spoon’ has an intuitive fruit-machine style interface that will show you a filtered list of restaurants in your immediate vicinity, in cities around the world.
“There are also a number of detailed train and plane tracking apps that can deliver crucial journey information in real-time. Augmented Reality is a new technology that superimposes graphics over the feed from your camera’s phone. As this develops, travel Apps like ‘Nearest Tube’ promise amazing and futuristic possibilities for the next generation traveler. Then there’s the impending arrival of Apple’s iPad and other touch-screen portable tablet computers – don’t be surprised if your travel experience looks decidedly like Minority Report by Xmas 2010.”
“When it comes to finding an honest opinion about a destination or hotel, nothing beats the unbiased judgment of someone who’s experienced it firsthand,” said Mark Schmid, Communications Director for TalkTalk. Travellers at www.tripadvisor.co.uk certainly take their work seriously, with thousands of near brutal reviews of everything from accommodation to airlines. Rest assured when you find kind words about something in the forum it’s worth looking into further.
Slightly kinder than its counterpart www.travbuddy.com also has a comprehensive review section. The friendly tone is down to the site's focus on sharing experiences and finding friends rather than simply ratings hotels and restaurants. Well worth a look for the “Travel Tips” section alone.
If you'd prefer to travel by train or ferry then you'll find all the information you need at www.seat61.com. This site is dedicated to travelling over land and sea, from the UK into Europe and also includes advice on journeys to further flung locations too.
For some really handy insight, browse aircraft seating plans which show you the best places to sit at www.seatguru.com. It highlights some of the annoyances you might experience in certain seats so you know which to try and avoid.
For an eye-opening insight into airlines, airports, seats and lounges from both customers and crew, you'll find www.airlinequality.com both informative and entertaining.
www.couch-surfer.com is the ‘make-new-friends’ site for confident travellers looking to save cash and meet locals. It’s a great social networking site to bag a cheap place to sleep or simply meet for a beer and tour of the city. Mainly younger users but independent older people are starting to sign up too.
The impressive guide to global events at www.whatsonwhen.com covers just about all conceivable forms of entertainment - music of all genres to sports, shopping, family entertainment and obscure festivals in all corners of the globe. It’s ideal for guiding you towards a destination or telling you when to give it a wide berth – hotel rooms can be expensive if there's a festival in town.
A visit to www.timeout.com will give you plenty of inside info on all the happenings in the major cities. Written by locals you'll gain an impressive source of knowledge for travel companions.
Blend in as best you can with a few commonly used phrases in 36 languages from www.bbc.co.uk/languages. We Brits aren't known for our multilingual skills, so surprise your hosts.
Travelling light is always tricky, the best way to avoid over-packing is to check out the predicted weather at your destination with www.weather2travel.com
Post a diary together with pictures and video footage at www.travelpod.com for your family and friends to go green-eyed over. It's also a great way to recount all the finest and most memorable parts of your adventure when you’re back home.
Keep it simple with picture updates at www.flikr.com, the finest photo sharing site online. It allows you to edit your images too, and you can add short captions for extra impact.
With almost any destination around the globe open for tourists you're really spoilt for choice, but before you get carried away with thoughts of going far off the beaten track check out www.fco.gov.uk/travel for tips from the Foreign Office. They’ll let you know where to steer clear from, give you details about the entry requirements (such as visas and passport validity) for each country and offer other essential advice, such as the suggested and mandatory inoculations to have.
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