If you’ve done any traveling in the last several years, chances are you used the internet,
in one way or another, to make your travel plans. There are many websites available these
days aimed at helping you plan every part of your trip - from finding flights or choosing
a route for your road trip, to creating an itinerary and finding things to do and see
along the way.
If you need to book a flight for your next trip, comparison sites like Hipmunk.com and Kayak.com
let you preview prices and other trip details from most major airlines. Just enter some
information, and then flights matching your search criteria from a variety of other booking
websites will be compared. Search results will allow you to compare departure and arrival
times, prices, and layovers at a glance. Comparison sites likes these will usually also let you
search for hotel accommodations, rental cars, and even vacation packages.
If you plan on driving to your destination, try a route-mapping site like roadtrippers.com.
Enter your starting location, destination, and things you might want to see along the
way. You’ll be able to see how long your drive will take, approximately how much money
you’ll spend on gas, and more. You can use filters to see what’s along your route like
restaurants or attractions; find things to do when you arrive at your destination, or
add multiple stops to your itinerary.
Once you’ve made all of your reservations and travel arrangements, apps like TripIt
can help you keep all the details organized in one place.
After you book a flight, hotel, rental car or other sort of travel accommodation, TripIt
imports your confirmation emails and organizes all the details. Within the app you’ll be
able to see important information like flight times at a glance, and you’ll even get reminders
about upcoming trips.
These are just a few examples, there are a lot more sites and apps out there that can
help you streamline every step of the trip planning process, no matter where you’re
going, how you’re getting there, or what you want your trip to include.