TRAVEL BLOG
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Featured Travel Sites of 2009
It's that time of year again when all sorts of lists are trundled out. For the last tuesday of the year here is a review of the featured sites of 2009.
---- WhichBudget ----
WhichBudget is a budget airlines directory. Search for low cost airline flights by selecting your departure and arrival destinations.
whichbudget.com
---- BusJunction ----
The low cost bus service has become popular in the US over the last few years and you can compare prices with BusJunction. Search the likes of Megabus, Bolt Bus, and Chinatown Bus here.
busjunction.com
---- Ponzi Tree Contest - Ruba.com ----
The Ponzi Tree Contest by Ruba.com is a fun way to participate in a pyramid scheme without having to pay up any cash. If you have a blog just stick a badge on your site and they will plant a tree.
See your trees multiply, and be responsible for thousands of trees planted in your name.
ruba.com/contest/ponzi/
---- Germany Christmas Markets ----
December in Europe means Christmas Market time, and some of the best markets can be found in Germany.
germany-christmas-market.org.uk
---- Embassy World ----
Directory and search engine of the world's embassies and consulates.
embassyworld.com
---- Luggage Limits ----
Luggage Limits details baggage allowance information on all routes and ticket classes for over 60 airlines. Avoid expensive airline luggage fees by preparing before you go.
luggagelimits.com
---- Holiday Pad ----
Holiday Pad is showcase of unusual, wonderful and downright weird ideas for a holiday.
holidaypad.net
---- UrbanRail.Net ----
UrbanRail.Net is a reference of urban railways worldwide. Includes information and maps on subways, tubes, undergrounds, U-Bahns, Metros and city railways worldwide.
urbanrail.net
---- Whatsonwhen ----
Worldwide events guide and travel inspiration.
whatsonwhen.com
---- Dine With Locals ----
Dine With Locals pair tourists with locals to meet and eat dinner in their home and exchange a bit of national culture. Experience a home cooked meal of authentic, local cuisine and a taste of local culture, or be a host and enjoy a night getting to know international people from around the world.
dinewithlocals.com
---- Iglu Dorf ----
Stay in an Iglu at the Iglu Dorf Igloo Villages in Switzerland, Andorra and Germany. You can sleep overnight or just visit the village. Igloo-Villages are open from 25th of December until April and bookings are available from mid October.
iglu-dorf.com
---- Points.com ----
Points.com is a frequent flyer management site where you can track all of your reward points in one location.
points.com
---- Monastery Stays ----
Monastery Stays is a booking service for monastery and convent accommodation in Italy. Accommodation is open to everyone and there are over 100 destinations to choose from.
monasterystays.com
---- FreeToDo ----
FreeToDo list free admission attractions, activites and events in UK and Ireland, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.
freetodo.net
---- Airbnb ----
Airbnb is an online marketplace that can turn your place into a B and B. Anything from a spare room to an entire apartment can be listed. You can set your own price and you can accept or decline each application.
For prospective lodgers, you can search for destinations and read user reviews of listed accommodation.
airbnb.com
---- The Ultimate Thailand Explorers ----
Tourism Authority of Thailand has taken a leaf out of Tourism Queenslands marketing book and have set up The Ultimate Thailand Explorers. Promote Thailand via social media and you could win cash and a trip to Thailand.
TAT is sending 5 couples to explore Thailand's top five destinations. To enter this competition upload your audition video on Youtube and complete an application form on the site.
ultimatethailandexplorer.com
---- Distance Calculator ----
Measure the distance from one place to another. The site also generates a suggested map on how to get there.
distance-calculator.co.uk
---- FlightCaster ----
With FlightCaster, you can learn about flight delays even before the airlines notify you. You can find FlightCaster at flightcaster.com or download it straight to your iPhone or BlackBerry.
flightcaster.com
---- Atlas Obscura ----
Atlas Obscura is a collaborative project with the goal of cataloging all of the singular, eccentric, bizarre, fantastical, and strange out-of-the-way places that get left out of traditional travel guidebooks and are ignored by the average tourist.
atlasobscura.com
---- AirportWiFiGuide.com ----
Comprehensive Airport WiFi Guide with Rating and WiFi user comments
airportwifiguide.com
---- The Matchmaking Flight ----
The Matchmaking Flight will be matching singles in the sky from LAX to Auckland, New Zealand flying Air New Zealand on October 13, 2009.
thematchmakingflight.com
---- StoodThere ----
StoodThere lists the Top 100 landmarks to stand in front of and get your photo taken.
stoodthere.com
---- Is This Your Luggage ----
isthisyourluggage.com is the site of a photographer who collects lost luggage, photographs it, then tries to find the owners.
isthisyourluggage.com
---- Earth.org ----
Earth.org is a collaboratively written travel guide with a non-profit approach (inspired by Wikipedia). Anyone can add a guide, whether it is somewhere you have been or of your own home town.
earth.org
---- Kids with Cameras ----
Kids with Cameras is a non-profit organization that teaches the art of photography to marginalized children in communities around the world. View photos taken by kids in Calcutta, Haiti, Jerusalem and Cairo.
kids-with-cameras.org
---- Harefares ----
Harefares index the routes of nearly all low cost airlines in Europe.
The great feature about Harefares is that it shows you alternative airports close to your chosen departure and arrival airport. This opens up possibilites that you may not otherwise have been aware of.
earthtv.com
---- FON ----
FON is the largest WiFi community in the world. Community members, Foneros, share some of their home internet connection and in return gain access to free Wifi worldwide.
The site has a searchable map of wifi hot-spots around the world, and if you don't have a home to offer wifi, you can but FON wifi Credit.
fon.com
---- earthTV ----
earthTV - the world's biggest remote controlled TV camera network broadcasting 24h live video footage from locations locations in Europe, Asia, America, Africa and Oceania.
earthtv.com
---- Pintprice ----
You might be familiar with the Big Mac Index put together by The Economist.
Another site has come up with a worldwide comparison index: Pintprice.com. Beer prices from 206 countries with the help of thousands of beer drinkers.
While the type of beer may vary, making it not truly like the Big Mac Index, it's a fascinating way to compare the cost of living around the world.
pintprice.com
---- Literary Traveler ----
People have long been visiting destinations from books or visited places that gave their favourite writers inspiration.
Literary Traveler provides travel writing featuring writers and the places that they have travelled. The site also includes a range of literary tours.
literarytraveler.com
---- Lewis and Clark Trail ----
National and state parks, historic sites, campgrounds and RV parks, museums and other points of interest are easily located on our online maps.
lewis-clark-trail.us
---- Escape Artist ----
A huge directory of international real estate, overseas jobs, living overseas and other expatriate resources.
escapeartist.com
---- England Rocks ----
I have known that England rocks for quite a while, but now it's official. England Rocks has been put together by Enjoy England, the domestic marketing arm of VisitBritain.
The website lists Englands impressive rock heritage with the help of Google Maps. Places that are of pop cultural significance are marked on the map. You can plan a Beatlemania pilgrimage or see the London home of Jimi Hendrix.
england-rocks.co.uk
---- iStopOver ----
iStopOver is a hometel (Home + Hotel = Hometel) market place where you can rent space in someone's home as an alternative to hotels. You can also rent space in your home and make money and meet new people.
istopover.com
---- Pet Airways ----
Pet Airways is an actual airline (albeit a small one) where pets are the passengers. The pets fly in the main cabin, not in cargo.
petairways.com
---- Sleeping in Airports ----
If you are really on a tight travel budget or have a flight that leaves at a ridiculous hour in the morning sleeping at the airport might be a better option than paying for accommodation.
Sleeping in Airports was put together by Donna McSherry in 1996 and now has over 5800 reviews of airports that readers have slept (or tried to sleep) in.
Reviews including the best and worst around the world. Tips for sleeping comfortably and safely while grounded, articles, news and other strange places to sleep.
sleepinginairports.com
---- Monk for a Month ----
Monk for a Month offers you an authentic Thai Buddhist experience. Study and train with Buddhist Masters, learn from 25 centuries of wisdom and be ordained as a novice monk.
monkforamonth.com
---- The Rickshaw Run ----
The Rickshaw Run is a race in India using the iconic Indian motorised rickshaws. The Spring Rickshaw runs is on from 11th Apr - 26th Apr.
rickshawrun.theadventurists.com
---- The Man in Seat Sixty-One ----
The Man in Seat Sixty-One is Mark Smith, who has captured the adventure and romance of train travel. The site details how to travel From London to everywhere in Europe by train, as well as other places around the world.
seat61.com
---- The Currency Commission ----
The transition of currencies to the Euro in 2003 was a relatively smooth process. There are still people though that have old European currency that was not converted into Euros, and the old currency can no longer be converted at banks.
The Currency Commission exists in order to continue exchanging old outstanding banknotes into Euros, US or Canadian dollars.
thecurrencycommission.com
---- St. Patrick's Festival ----
On the 17th of March every year it is not uncommon to see people with green hair staggering around with a green beer in their hand. Yes, St. Patrick's Day is here.
Irish descendants and expats put on their own celebrations but the biggest party, of course, is in Ireland.
St. Patrick's Festival is Ireland's official celebration for Ireland's national holiday - St. Patrick's Day.
stpatricksfestival.ie
---- V Australia ----
With airlines closing and general doom and gloom in the airline travel world some good news with an new airline beginning operations.
V Australia is the new airline brought to you by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group. It will initially fly between Sydney and Los Angeles and it's the first new airline to take advantage of the open skies deal between the United States and Australia. Previously only Qantas and United were allowed to operate between the two countries.
vaustralia.com.au
---- Not For Tourists ----
Not For Tourists is the the website of the guidebook of the same name. The guide covers local attractions beyond the obvious tourist attractions of a city, uncovering interesting bar and eateries that you might otherwise miss when visiting a city.
So far they cover the most popular US cities as well as London.
notfortourists.com
---- The Best Job In The World ----
Tourism Queensland is seeking an island caretaker to house-sit for one of the natural wonders of the world. If you were thinking of applying the application process closes this week.
islandreefjob.com
---- FreeNYC ----
FreeNYC is a guide to the best free and cheap events in New York City.
freenyc.net
---- Icehotel ----
The Icehotel hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden is a hotel made entirely of snow and ice blocks. This was the world's first ice hotel and the hotel lasts for about 5 months before melting away by June.
icehotel.com
---- Jumbo Hostel ----
Jumbo Hostel is, like the name implies, a hostel in a jumbo. The hostel is in an actual Boeing 747 parked and anchored at Stockholm Arlanda Airport.
jumbohostel.com
---- Inauguration Day 2009 ----
The Inauguration of Barack Obama as the forty-fourth U.S. president will be one of the biggest travel events in the history of the United States. Millions are expected to travel to Washington D.C and the official site covers events, maps and how to get there.
inauguration.dc.gov
---- Skycar Expedition ----
Skycar expedition is a bio-fuelled flying car that will travel from London to Tombouctou in Mali.
skycarexpedition.com
---- Like-a-local ----
Like-a-local is a site where you can connect with the local life in major cities via people who live there. You can choose to Live, Go or Eat with a local, and see parts of a city that a regular tour couldn't possibly accommodate.
like-a-local.com
---- WhichBudget ----
WhichBudget is a budget airlines directory. Search for low cost airline flights by selecting your departure and arrival destinations.
whichbudget.com
---- BusJunction ----
The low cost bus service has become popular in the US over the last few years and you can compare prices with BusJunction. Search the likes of Megabus, Bolt Bus, and Chinatown Bus here.
busjunction.com
---- Ponzi Tree Contest - Ruba.com ----
The Ponzi Tree Contest by Ruba.com is a fun way to participate in a pyramid scheme without having to pay up any cash. If you have a blog just stick a badge on your site and they will plant a tree.
See your trees multiply, and be responsible for thousands of trees planted in your name.
ruba.com/contest/ponzi/
---- Germany Christmas Markets ----
December in Europe means Christmas Market time, and some of the best markets can be found in Germany.
germany-christmas-market.org.uk
---- Embassy World ----
Directory and search engine of the world's embassies and consulates.
embassyworld.com
---- Luggage Limits ----
Luggage Limits details baggage allowance information on all routes and ticket classes for over 60 airlines. Avoid expensive airline luggage fees by preparing before you go.
luggagelimits.com
---- Holiday Pad ----
Holiday Pad is showcase of unusual, wonderful and downright weird ideas for a holiday.
holidaypad.net
---- UrbanRail.Net ----
UrbanRail.Net is a reference of urban railways worldwide. Includes information and maps on subways, tubes, undergrounds, U-Bahns, Metros and city railways worldwide.
urbanrail.net
---- Whatsonwhen ----
Worldwide events guide and travel inspiration.
whatsonwhen.com
---- Dine With Locals ----
Dine With Locals pair tourists with locals to meet and eat dinner in their home and exchange a bit of national culture. Experience a home cooked meal of authentic, local cuisine and a taste of local culture, or be a host and enjoy a night getting to know international people from around the world.
dinewithlocals.com
---- Iglu Dorf ----
Stay in an Iglu at the Iglu Dorf Igloo Villages in Switzerland, Andorra and Germany. You can sleep overnight or just visit the village. Igloo-Villages are open from 25th of December until April and bookings are available from mid October.
iglu-dorf.com
---- Points.com ----
Points.com is a frequent flyer management site where you can track all of your reward points in one location.
points.com
---- Monastery Stays ----
Monastery Stays is a booking service for monastery and convent accommodation in Italy. Accommodation is open to everyone and there are over 100 destinations to choose from.
monasterystays.com
---- FreeToDo ----
FreeToDo list free admission attractions, activites and events in UK and Ireland, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.
freetodo.net
---- Airbnb ----
Airbnb is an online marketplace that can turn your place into a B and B. Anything from a spare room to an entire apartment can be listed. You can set your own price and you can accept or decline each application.
For prospective lodgers, you can search for destinations and read user reviews of listed accommodation.
airbnb.com
---- The Ultimate Thailand Explorers ----
Tourism Authority of Thailand has taken a leaf out of Tourism Queenslands marketing book and have set up The Ultimate Thailand Explorers. Promote Thailand via social media and you could win cash and a trip to Thailand.
TAT is sending 5 couples to explore Thailand's top five destinations. To enter this competition upload your audition video on Youtube and complete an application form on the site.
ultimatethailandexplorer.com
---- Distance Calculator ----
Measure the distance from one place to another. The site also generates a suggested map on how to get there.
distance-calculator.co.uk
---- FlightCaster ----
With FlightCaster, you can learn about flight delays even before the airlines notify you. You can find FlightCaster at flightcaster.com or download it straight to your iPhone or BlackBerry.
flightcaster.com
---- Atlas Obscura ----
Atlas Obscura is a collaborative project with the goal of cataloging all of the singular, eccentric, bizarre, fantastical, and strange out-of-the-way places that get left out of traditional travel guidebooks and are ignored by the average tourist.
atlasobscura.com
---- AirportWiFiGuide.com ----
Comprehensive Airport WiFi Guide with Rating and WiFi user comments
airportwifiguide.com
---- The Matchmaking Flight ----
The Matchmaking Flight will be matching singles in the sky from LAX to Auckland, New Zealand flying Air New Zealand on October 13, 2009.
thematchmakingflight.com
---- StoodThere ----
StoodThere lists the Top 100 landmarks to stand in front of and get your photo taken.
stoodthere.com
---- Is This Your Luggage ----
isthisyourluggage.com is the site of a photographer who collects lost luggage, photographs it, then tries to find the owners.
isthisyourluggage.com
---- Earth.org ----
Earth.org is a collaboratively written travel guide with a non-profit approach (inspired by Wikipedia). Anyone can add a guide, whether it is somewhere you have been or of your own home town.
earth.org
---- Kids with Cameras ----
Kids with Cameras is a non-profit organization that teaches the art of photography to marginalized children in communities around the world. View photos taken by kids in Calcutta, Haiti, Jerusalem and Cairo.
kids-with-cameras.org
---- Harefares ----
Harefares index the routes of nearly all low cost airlines in Europe.
The great feature about Harefares is that it shows you alternative airports close to your chosen departure and arrival airport. This opens up possibilites that you may not otherwise have been aware of.
earthtv.com
---- FON ----
FON is the largest WiFi community in the world. Community members, Foneros, share some of their home internet connection and in return gain access to free Wifi worldwide.
The site has a searchable map of wifi hot-spots around the world, and if you don't have a home to offer wifi, you can but FON wifi Credit.
fon.com
---- earthTV ----
earthTV - the world's biggest remote controlled TV camera network broadcasting 24h live video footage from locations locations in Europe, Asia, America, Africa and Oceania.
earthtv.com
---- Pintprice ----
You might be familiar with the Big Mac Index put together by The Economist.
Another site has come up with a worldwide comparison index: Pintprice.com. Beer prices from 206 countries with the help of thousands of beer drinkers.
While the type of beer may vary, making it not truly like the Big Mac Index, it's a fascinating way to compare the cost of living around the world.
pintprice.com
---- Literary Traveler ----
People have long been visiting destinations from books or visited places that gave their favourite writers inspiration.
Literary Traveler provides travel writing featuring writers and the places that they have travelled. The site also includes a range of literary tours.
literarytraveler.com
---- Lewis and Clark Trail ----
National and state parks, historic sites, campgrounds and RV parks, museums and other points of interest are easily located on our online maps.
lewis-clark-trail.us
---- Escape Artist ----
A huge directory of international real estate, overseas jobs, living overseas and other expatriate resources.
escapeartist.com
---- England Rocks ----
I have known that England rocks for quite a while, but now it's official. England Rocks has been put together by Enjoy England, the domestic marketing arm of VisitBritain.
The website lists Englands impressive rock heritage with the help of Google Maps. Places that are of pop cultural significance are marked on the map. You can plan a Beatlemania pilgrimage or see the London home of Jimi Hendrix.
england-rocks.co.uk
---- iStopOver ----
iStopOver is a hometel (Home + Hotel = Hometel) market place where you can rent space in someone's home as an alternative to hotels. You can also rent space in your home and make money and meet new people.
istopover.com
---- Pet Airways ----
Pet Airways is an actual airline (albeit a small one) where pets are the passengers. The pets fly in the main cabin, not in cargo.
petairways.com
---- Sleeping in Airports ----
If you are really on a tight travel budget or have a flight that leaves at a ridiculous hour in the morning sleeping at the airport might be a better option than paying for accommodation.
Sleeping in Airports was put together by Donna McSherry in 1996 and now has over 5800 reviews of airports that readers have slept (or tried to sleep) in.
Reviews including the best and worst around the world. Tips for sleeping comfortably and safely while grounded, articles, news and other strange places to sleep.
sleepinginairports.com
---- Monk for a Month ----
Monk for a Month offers you an authentic Thai Buddhist experience. Study and train with Buddhist Masters, learn from 25 centuries of wisdom and be ordained as a novice monk.
monkforamonth.com
---- The Rickshaw Run ----
The Rickshaw Run is a race in India using the iconic Indian motorised rickshaws. The Spring Rickshaw runs is on from 11th Apr - 26th Apr.
rickshawrun.theadventurists.com
---- The Man in Seat Sixty-One ----
The Man in Seat Sixty-One is Mark Smith, who has captured the adventure and romance of train travel. The site details how to travel From London to everywhere in Europe by train, as well as other places around the world.
seat61.com
---- The Currency Commission ----
The transition of currencies to the Euro in 2003 was a relatively smooth process. There are still people though that have old European currency that was not converted into Euros, and the old currency can no longer be converted at banks.
The Currency Commission exists in order to continue exchanging old outstanding banknotes into Euros, US or Canadian dollars.
thecurrencycommission.com
---- St. Patrick's Festival ----
On the 17th of March every year it is not uncommon to see people with green hair staggering around with a green beer in their hand. Yes, St. Patrick's Day is here.
Irish descendants and expats put on their own celebrations but the biggest party, of course, is in Ireland.
St. Patrick's Festival is Ireland's official celebration for Ireland's national holiday - St. Patrick's Day.
stpatricksfestival.ie
---- V Australia ----
With airlines closing and general doom and gloom in the airline travel world some good news with an new airline beginning operations.
V Australia is the new airline brought to you by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group. It will initially fly between Sydney and Los Angeles and it's the first new airline to take advantage of the open skies deal between the United States and Australia. Previously only Qantas and United were allowed to operate between the two countries.
vaustralia.com.au
---- Not For Tourists ----
Not For Tourists is the the website of the guidebook of the same name. The guide covers local attractions beyond the obvious tourist attractions of a city, uncovering interesting bar and eateries that you might otherwise miss when visiting a city.
So far they cover the most popular US cities as well as London.
notfortourists.com
---- The Best Job In The World ----
Tourism Queensland is seeking an island caretaker to house-sit for one of the natural wonders of the world. If you were thinking of applying the application process closes this week.
islandreefjob.com
---- FreeNYC ----
FreeNYC is a guide to the best free and cheap events in New York City.
freenyc.net
---- Icehotel ----
The Icehotel hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden is a hotel made entirely of snow and ice blocks. This was the world's first ice hotel and the hotel lasts for about 5 months before melting away by June.
icehotel.com
---- Jumbo Hostel ----
Jumbo Hostel is, like the name implies, a hostel in a jumbo. The hostel is in an actual Boeing 747 parked and anchored at Stockholm Arlanda Airport.
jumbohostel.com
---- Inauguration Day 2009 ----
The Inauguration of Barack Obama as the forty-fourth U.S. president will be one of the biggest travel events in the history of the United States. Millions are expected to travel to Washington D.C and the official site covers events, maps and how to get there.
inauguration.dc.gov
---- Skycar Expedition ----
Skycar expedition is a bio-fuelled flying car that will travel from London to Tombouctou in Mali.
skycarexpedition.com
---- Like-a-local ----
Like-a-local is a site where you can connect with the local life in major cities via people who live there. You can choose to Live, Go or Eat with a local, and see parts of a city that a regular tour couldn't possibly accommodate.
like-a-local.com
Labels: featured-travel-site-2009
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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