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Travel Web Buzz
Looking for the latest travel Web site to help plan your next vacation? Let L.A. Times Travel Deal blogger Jen Leo and the Travel staff be your Web guides.
WEB BUZZ
Jet lag. Insomnia. The stress of a high-powered business trip. Sometimes a traveler wants to step beyond the doors of a hotel room -- let alone the fitness room or hotel lobby bar. 2itch.com maps out restaurants, stores and essential services that are open all night.
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MetroTwin.com pairs two great travel hubs, New York and London. Whether you're traveling to one of them for the first or fourth time, you'll find new things to do and restaurants to try offered by local experts who know their turf. The site is run by British Airways, but I didn't get a sense that this affected the information.
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It can be a chore to stay on top of all the travel blogs out there. Even if you're Web savvy enough to customize an aggregator or load up your Google RSS feeder, do you remember to look at it? They are easy to forget, posts back up and news gets old. But now Travel.Alltop.com is here with its big green cape to save you.
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MapMyRun.com is an essential tool for travelers who wouldn't dream of skipping their run while they're away from home. Why just jog a few miles from your hotel when you can find trails and paths throughout the area rated by other serious runners?
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Don't you hate it when travel gets in the way of watching the big game? You can liven up any trip with SportsFanLive.com, a website that helps you meet up with other fans who are excited about watching the same game.
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If eco-trips make you feel like a more responsible traveler, wait until you try sustainable travel. WholeTravel.com, still in beta, expands on the notion of caring about the environment and wildlife by listing accommodations that also interact with nearby communities, support the local culture and make efforts to educate customers about sustainability.
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Birders rejoice. BirdPost.com is a new website that unites birders the world over. Keep track of birds you've spotted and view Google satellite maps to discover what types of birds you may see on your next trip.
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It feels as though the airlines are adding extra fees every week. On one trip you have to pay for a blanket, and on the next you're tagged for a second bag. If you shop for your plane ticket based on the lowest fare and not who's flying you, uncovering the potential fees may take longer than planning your trip. Now Smarter Travel, Airfare Watchdog and Seat Guru have compiled an indispensable resource on one page: the Ultimate Guide to Airline Fees at wiki.smartertravel.com/index.php/airline_fees.
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If you keep the details of your frequent-flier programs in an e-mail at the bottom of your inbox, don't feel bad. It's not as though those numbers roll off the tip of your brain. But if you can, dig them up, just this once, and put them in Placely.com for a consolidated home that's easy to access.
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The feature lets you personalize your foot route with favorite attractions.
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The map-centric HappyMedian.com, recently listed in PC Magazine's "Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites," plots destinations for friends in various locations to meet, whether they're angling for a restaurant, coffeehouse, movie theater or other venue.
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Are you tired of travel websites that want either to sell you a ticket or prove that they're better than the other latest travel social network? Would you be more comfortable just reading about cool travel-related products and destinations? Been-Seen.com has daily posts -- sans attitude -- about global destinations for design-hungry travelers.
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Kayak.com, the travel website aggregator, has a new gas calculator in its car rental section so travelers can figure out the total cost of renting a car, not just the daily rates.
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It's easy for kids to get caught up in the excitement and fervor of the Olympics, which began Friday. But what's the best way for parents to tie in some educational travel elements about China while they're stuck to the boob tube? National Geographic Kids ( www.kids.nationalgeographic.com) has a "Kids-Eye View of Beijing" for the Olympics.
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If reading a guidebook to find the trendiest restaurants and nightclubs is too archaic for you, Thrillist.com can help you maintain your hipster image.
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Don't like your postcard options when you travel? Make and send your own online at www.zoomandgo.com.
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Your dream of getting the exact hotel room you want has nearly come true. Cross your fingers and hope the other guests checking in ahead of you haven't used TripKick.com.
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TravelMuse.com, launched in the spring, promises to make the "entire planning process easy for you." That's a tall order, but the site has some fun features that are worth checking out.
READERS RECOMMEND
A tour of Parliament
WEB BUZZ
A sure-fire way to a traveler's heart is through his or her palate, and these two websites can serve up food to consider: Eats.com and Menupages.com.
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These days, gasoline prices and airline fuel surcharges get you coming and going, so make the Man in Seat Sixty-One, www.seat61.com, your buddy if you'd prefer to ride the rails and seas.
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I was on an Air France flight to India last year, and I got stuck in an economy-class seat where half the leg room was taken up by an immovable metal box. I wished I had checked out www.seatguru.com before I made my seat selection.
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I hate to pay big bucks to park my car at LAX, so I thought a site called www.airportdiscountparking.com would be just the ticket to save some cash.
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You set a goal, like visiting all 50 states, but follow-through is hard. Sometimes, all you need is a cheering section to get you going. That's where the site www.43things.com comes in. It's a digital to-do list with people to cheer you on.
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For lovers of the City of Light, there is TheParisBlog .com, a cornucopia of info not only for travelers but also for those who want to tune in from afar.
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Let's share. Your trip tips, I mean. So head to Trip Wiser.com, a site where you can post your finds, itineraries and share with the world or just your close friends.
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You just found a cool spot on your travels and want to share it with the world; www.wayfaring.com is one tool.
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With many of us on euro-watch asking, "How low can the dollar go?," I found RoadTripAmerica.com, a website that will help you plan a trip closer to home. So fuel up the Prius.
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Camping season is upon us. ForestCamping.com may help you find your spot among the trees, birds and bees.
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AvoidDelays.com makes it easy to plan flights based on statistics. The info comes from the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn.
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Traveling can take a toll on your workout routine, and not all hotel gyms are created equal. So how can you find a place to burn some calories if you're on the road? GymTicket.com.
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Flying is such an ordeal these days that it's better to be armed with information before you take your coach class seat. At AirlineQuality.com, the website of Skytrax, an air-transport industry research company based in Britain, you can find out how the airlines stack up.
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Travelpost.com, acquired by Sidestep.com in 2006, is another entrant into the hotel review world.
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JohnnyJet.com, a terrific resource for travel info, turned me on to WakerUpper.com, which eliminates the need to schedule a wake-up call at a hotel, remind you of a meeting or tell you to pick up some milk.
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Mizpee.com is a useful website that tells you where to go when you have to go.
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As I write this, I am waiting to see whether Extravigator.com has accepted me as a member. The site reserves itself for "world travelers, with discriminating taste" (meaning with deep pockets) and screens would-be members by asking them for the name and location of their favorite hotel.
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Before a long trip to Asia last month, I jotted in a notebook my credit card numbers, passport number and other info I couldn't afford to lose, then secreted it in my luggage. Not the safest way to go, but then I didn't know about KeepYouSafe.com.
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Think of FabSearch.com as a clipping service for travel recommendations. The site's three-member team combed through 24 months of blogs (such as Daily Candy) and high-end glossies to cull recommendations on where to stay and eat.
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Heads up, all you people who got engaged over the holidays. Forget about planning the wedding. Let's concentrate on the fun stuff: the honeymoon. HoneymoonersReviewGuide.com can help.
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I once was stuck in Poland on Nov. 1, All Saints Day, unaware that the Polish take the holiday so seriously: The country shuts down. I wish I had known about World-Calendar.com and TimeAndDate.com.
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FastFoodMaps.com picks one for you from among more than 50 cities
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As millions of travelers start moving around the world in the next two weeks, many will be stuck in airports. Blame flight delays, bad weather, whatever. The important question: How are you going to get comfortable in those hard plastic airport seats? Well, check out www.sleepinginairports.com and get prepared.
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A colleague turned me on to Unusual Hotels of the World, www.uhotw.com, where lodgings are a trip.
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Looking for a great deal on airfare for the holidays? Fuhgedaboudit. But you still may be able to score a decent fare. Farecast.com and Priceline.com can help.
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So you want to go to Botswana but don't know when to plan your trip? I found out by going to BestTimeToGo.com, a website that helps travelers figure out when to go where.
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I was away during the fires two weeks ago, but the website called Teleflip.com helped me stay in touch with friends through e-mail, even though I don't have a BlackBerry or a Treo and I was away from my laptop.
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We're in the Halloween spirit, so we took a look at some websites, such as www.haunted-places.com and www.headlesshorseman.co.uk, that help travelers tune in to ghostly -- or ghastly -- fun.
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Viamigo.com, a site launched in September, has the potential to make a lot of happy connections by pairing travelers with tour guides and tours.
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Searching for a cheap ticket to the East, I came across cFares.com, a site that promises "below-market fares."
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It's a pet peeve common with travelers: Where is Fido welcome? DogFriendly.com, the Internet face of Dog-Friendly city guides, has some answers.
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Say you want a cheap flight from Manchester, England, to Greece, but you don't know which budget airlines or charters fly there. Turn to www.whichbudget.com, which offers a directory of such carriers around the world.
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Do you care about which Michelin-starred restaurants to try in Paris? Want to know about the hot, new bakery in Berlin? Where the good newsstands are in San Francisco? Then urbane, urban blog Gridskipper.com is strictly for discerning city slickers like you.
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Early this month, Orbitz launched a beta version of Traveler Update, updates.orbitz.com, a networking site for the nation's fliers. It could help travelers navigate 45 of the nation's airports.
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Lose the car next time you fly into some cities, and cut down on your carbon footprint -- at least while on the ground. HopStop.com will show you how to get around using public transit.
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With a dollar worth only about 50 British pennies this summer, travelers need every edge they can get. Laterooms.com can help you get more bang for your quid.
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Now there's a site where you can check out hotel rooms before you book. TVTrip.com will show you videos of hotels in 13 European cities.
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For the inner nerd in all of us, I discovered www.iliketolearn.com, a fun interactive site from a teacher that can help improve your geographical knowledge.
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When United, US Airways and Northwest flight schedules melted down last month, Joe Brancatelli of JoeSentMe.com (a subscription-only site for business fliers) pointed customers to FlightStats.com, which helps track flights.
WEB BUZZ | STUDENT TRAVEL
School's out, and if you want a travel break, check out the website of the nonprofit International Student Travel Confederation, www.istc.org.
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I've been testing Yapta.com, a new site that does more than track airfares between cities. It actually tracks fares for specific flights.
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Wikitravel.com is a do-it-yourself travel guide to the world.
WEB BUZZ | MAPS
Google Maps, www.maps.google.com, just got cooler with the Web behemoth's new street-level views of U.S. cities.
WEB BUZZ
Feeling homebound because gas prices are higher than Mt. Whitney? Wherever you roam you can score low prices through Gasbuddy.com and FreeMobileFuelFinder.com.
WEB BUZZ | MAPS
MultiMap.com, www.multimap.com, is a mapping site I've been using that's aces if you are planning to drive Britain and the Continent.
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Are you the type who makes a list and checks it twice? That's where www.meosphere.com comes in.
WEB BUZZ | NIGHTLIFE
It's almost summer, when thoughts turn to barbecues and beer. That's where Pubwalk.com comes in.
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A new fave website among Travel section staffers is AirfareWatchdog.com, which keeps track of low airfares to hundreds of cities worldwide. People are behind the research — not just computers — the company says, so you'll get the scoop on hidden sales.
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If you like TripAdvisor, check into HotelChatter.com, a terrific resource for travelers who think the place where they rest their heads is as important as the destination.