Up, up and away

There are some people for whom travelling in different countries is not a novelty anymore. And then, there are those who get excited even if they are visiting another city in the same country. If you happen to fall in the latter category, you will find that there are many websites in cyberspace to help you plan the perfect vacation, or a simple get-away for a few days from the routined, stressful life. And if you cannot even think about travelling, courtesy a limited budget, then you can simply sigh wistfully at the all the wonderful places and plan a dream cruise around the world.

Trip Advisor is one such websites which will definitely come in handy whether you are planning an actual trip or just dreaming about one. This website has information on just about everything related to travelling – details on different destinations, hotels, tourist spots, airline tickets and more.

If you are visiting the website for the first time, it can get a little confusing. This is because there is a massive amount of information, and quite surprisingly, not very user-friendly categories. The first thing that hits you is the search for flights and hotels, and if you are here simply to browse, it can put you off very easily.

For your convenience, it would be helpful to access the list of popular destinations given at the bottom of the homepage. These popular cities are divided into featured destinations, recommended vacations, best beach vacations and trips to Europe.

Once you have selected a country or city of your choice or interest, you will be directed to a webpage which has anything and everything regarding that city. There is a plethora of information here which will not only help you decide on you vacation destination, but will also give you all the information you may need when travelling to that place. If you are accessing the information on a particular country, you will discover that the section has been sub-divided by cities.

Some of the information that is given on each city featured on Trip Advisor includes details of hotels and there is a special section on hotels where you can get concessional rates as well, in case you have a limited budget. This section has reviews of different hotels – these reviews have been written by those who stayed there. Hence, you will have first-hand view of these hotels to help you decide which one to book for yourselves. The rates of the hotels have also been mentioned.

Then there are the details of the different tourist attractions. There is a long list of activities which you can do in that particular city. There are detailed maps of the city, along with a search facility which you can use to hunt down the flights towards that particular destination at your required time.

There is a great deal more that you can do on Trip Advisor. If you are one of those who travel a lot, then you can ensure that other people around the world benefit from your knowledge. Yep, you can create an account here, which will enable you to write detailed reviews of the hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions of the places you have visited. You can inform people which option to go for in a particular country and the list of things to watch out for. Also, you can upload your own photos and videos of the vacations – keeping your privacy concerns in mind of course.

So basically, there is a lot that you can do on this website. In fact, you can easily spend hours here. But of course, while this website is good for information on flights, hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions, you must go through a reliable ‘offline’ travel agent to actually make your booking. Bon Voyage!

To plan your next vacation, log onto http://www.tripadvisor.com/