Thing 33 Travel 2.0

Travel 2.0 is one of the Things that interests me the most. I get to do some conference travel for my job but have to make my own arrangements, so I am always looking for a bargain. Conference hotels are always expensive and it is a challenge to find a room that is close enough to the conference to make attendance easy yet at a decent nearby hotel that won't break my budget. I use sites like TripAdvisor to find out about hotels (I won't stay at any that are rated dirty and out of the way)I tried Boo.com and Gusto and read some posts from the Cranky Flier, but I really like TripAdvisor the best for its ease of use and the many comments. I use Mapquest to find out how far it is from a non-conference hotel to the conference and look at public transportation as a way to save money too. I leave for Buffalo next week, so this has been a good exercise.

I find that travel sites like Expedia and Orbitz have comparable flight prices, but sometimes one or the other will have better hotel deals. Sometimes flights are cheaper through the airlines themselves.

Public libraries have long collected travel information into vertical files so the tradition of providing this information is there. First hand accounts from travelers who have been the same place are invaluable for others.