25 Best Web Apps & Sites for Travel
Laptop-toting business traveler? Smartphone-wielding
tourist? Jamaica-bound cruiser? Whether you’re a starving
student, a parent planning a family trip or a road warrior executive,
these apps and sites can take some speedbumps out of the road before
you.
1) SideStep - Once upon a time, Sidestep was a
PC-only downloadable app that trawled the web for the best airfares.
It was worth the custom application annoyance because it really
did find the best deals. Today, Sidestep.com
is a sleek, ultra-customizable travel search engine that can index
results by dozens of variables. Want to search a few nearby airports,
but not all? Or leave in the late afternoon and return in the morning?
You can even specify whether you want to sort times by takeoff time
or by arrival time. Sidestep auto-sorts and live updates results
with the click of a checkbox. In our tests today versus Expedia,
Orbitz and Travelocity, Sidestep still finds the best fares out
there. Incidentally, writers at CNN.com,
VroomVroomVroom’s
Geek Travel Guide and Travel
+ Leisure all agree with us.
2) Google Maps - Aside from its tie-ins to the
entire Google application suite and its ever-increasing map, satellite
and street view coverage, the Google Maps/Google Earth network is
so thorough that it’s led to domestic lawsuits and censorship
by foreign militaries. Recently the site has added click-and-drag
route adjustments and terrain views of maps—avoid winding
mountain roads—and Google is adding features rapidly. You
can download
Google Maps for your web-enabled phone for free; carrier usage
fees still apply.
3) Farecast - Farecast.com
predicts the best dates to buy airfares based on past price trends,
but has limited national coverage, and all of its data is U.S. only.
In our test of a Labor Day weekend trip from Los Angeles to Des
Moines, no predictions were offered, but it recommended to go ahead
and buy tickets now (April) for LAX to Boston’s Logan airport
for the same dates. Also, the site found some super cheap fares
for both trips.
4) SeatGuru - Seatguru.com
offers seating charts for more than 300 different aircraft on 45
airlines. If you’re bigger than the average person, hate crying
babies, need to have the aisle seat or hate sitting near the wings
since you’re always convinced they’re going to fall
off, this is your go-to site.
5) Kayak - Travel + Leisure magazine calls Kayak.com
the top site overall for booking hotels. Book at more hotels around
the world (159,000) than even Hotels.com (70,000) with Kayak’s
simple, sleek interface. Some like Kayak for airfares too, but we
got the best rates with Sidestep—see #1.
6) Traffic.com - Traffic.com
covers 51 metropolitan (i.e. traffic-prone) areas across the U.S.
with 0 to 10 jam ratings on local trouble spots. Get warnings about
traffic-creating events like concerts, sporting events and natural
disasters and sign up for custom SMS, email or cell phone call alerts
for traffic flare-ups. There’s also a mobile
version.
7) GasBuddy.com - GasBuddy.com
finds the best local gas prices in all 50 U.S. states and Canada.
Select your state or province, then major metropolitan area, then
city, and view a chart of user-reported prices from high to low.
Since the prices are user-reported, there’s less data for
sparsely populated areas, but with gas prices on the rise, the site
has been gaining popularity. The site’s cluttered interface
could be cleaned up a bit, but it’s serviceable.
8) Airport Discount Parking - AirportDiscountParking.com’s
name says it all. No more circling the lot and hedging your bets.
Make reservations—often at a discount over on-site prices—and
print coupons to wield at the parking booth.
9-11) Parking Lot Maps - One of the greatest variables
in traveling to a new spot is the parking. Will it be more like
San Francisco, with $40 a day structures, or like the Midwest, with
wide, bare boulevards? Three sites aim at easing the parking pain
by mapping parking lots and structures—SpotScout
(U.S.), Findacarpark
(Australia), and Parkatmyhouse
(the U.K.).
12) Trip Advisor - Scout out the best lodgings
with user reviews at TripAdvisor.com.
Popular properties can attract dozens of review, and it takes some
time to learn to distinguish the cranky reviewers who can’t
be pleased by anything from the genuinely helpful. Nonetheless,
it’s a huge and active user community with plenty to share.
(Check out some of the funniest, most negative hotel stays ever
here.)
13) Vroom Vroom Vroom - Vroomvroomvroom.com
compares car rental prices from major agencies in the U.S., Europe,
the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Incidentally,
Kiplinger.com recommends
that Americans rent from major American companies when overseas—it
seems to run more smoothly for everyone, they say.
14) Avoid Airport Delays - The recent grounding
of planes for wiring inspections only highlights the growing problem
of flight delays. Fight the power with Avoiddelays.com,
a site from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association aimed
at reporting delayed flights and shaming the most frequently offending
airports and airlines. Avoiddelays is powered by FlightStats.com,
which offers alerts for delayed flights at selected American airports.
15) Last Minute Hotel Reservations - For a spur
of the moment getaway, laterooms.com
lists last minute deals at hotels and resorts around the world.
Availability varies wildly, but hey, you should have thought of
that before you put your planning off to the last minute. For a
posh whirlwind getaway, also check LuxuryLink.com—some
LuxuryLink users have reported savings of up to 70 percent, according
to Kiplinger.
16) Track Mileage Expenses - Despite its rather
plain-wrap website, BizMileTracker
is a major-league, IRS-approved way to quickly compute miles traveled
for business. They
say they’ve worked with Canon and Ask.com, among others.
Currently, they’re offering free memberships but they usually
charge $29. If you drive a lot, you’ll save far more than
the $29 membership fee in tax deductions.
17) Save on Currency Exchange - Skip the chintzy,
touristy currency exchange kiosks that rip you off—Thomas
Cook, are you listening? XE.com
is an industrial-strength foreign currency conversion rate site.
If you travel with a web-enabled device and are scrupulous about
getting the best rates, check XE.com frequently. Also check out
the New York Times’s advice
on saving when exchanging.
18) Travel Light - Written and illustrated like
a folksy textbook with tips for the “compleat traveler,”
Onebag.com advertises itself
as “the art and science of traveling light.” Although
Australia-based, the site aims at an international audience with
its universal advice.
19) Create Holiday Checklists - Create customized
packing lists at British “holiday checklist service”
Dontforgetyourtoothbrush.com.
Sign up for custom reminder texts—“Did you water the
azealas?”—and print and save packing lists customized
by your destination and type of trip. Apparently, it works—the
site earned the #7 spot on CNN International’s Top Websites
of 2007.
20-22) Make Your Phone a GPS Device - Turn your
PDA phone into a GPS device with Telenav.com
or 3dTracking.net. No longer
restricted to the Nextel network, Telenav charges a $9.99 monthly
fee (last we checked) for turn-by-turn navigation on a smartphone
screen. 3dtracking offers software that monitors the movements of
a GPS-enabled phone—perfect for parents keeping an eye on
wandering kids. The first device software install is free; adding
additional phones requires a fee. Nextel or Boost Mobile users can
also check out Accutracking.com.
23) Make the Most of Your Miles - Got frequent
flyer miles with multiple airlines or programs, but not enough to
actually take a trip? WebFlyer.com
aims to translate, transfer or rearrange those useless points into
something usable. The site also boasts “the world’s
most popular message board for frequent flyers.”
24) Find a Cheap Cruise - Looking to sail away?
At CruiseCompete, travel
agents vie for cruise package sales in a LendingTree-style setup
that has earned plenty of accolades. Both experienced and newbie
cruisers can commune on Cruisemates.com,
the cruise lifestyle central, or at Cruisecritic.com,
which offers a friendly interface. Neither Cruisecritic or Cruisemates
is a booking site, but both sites do link to bargain berths around
the web.
25) Find a Hostel - If you’re finally ready
to bum across Europe—or across the world—reserve cheapie
lodgings at Hostelbook.com.
Search and book over 9,000 hostels at the site, or use the Facebook
Hostels
application powered by Hostelbook. Whether you’re bound
for sketchy cots or cushy twin bunks, you’re on your way to
cheap digs.
Mobile/WAP sites for major airlines
Got a smartphone? Check your flight status, check
in, and even use your smartphone as a ticket. The airline sites
below will hook you up.
American Airlines
WAP
site
Voice,
text or email flight status updates
Download
timetables
Continental
WAP site
Download
timetables
Delta
WAP site (same as
main site)
Southwest Airlines
WAP site
Email,
text or page flight status messages
Download
timetables
United Airlines
WAP site
Download
timetables
Text,
page, phone or email flight status
US Airways
WAP site
Enroll
in flight status SMS updates
Virgin America
WAP site (same
as main site)
Virgin Atlantic
WAP site
(same as main site)
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