Publications and Other MediaIn the Publications and Other Media Category, you'll find detailed reviews of Guide Books, such as Frommer's and Lonely Planet and Magazines, such as Conde Nast. You'll also find links to the travel sections of many regional Newspapers and discussions of new technologies, such as Blogs, Podcasts, and RSS. Guide BooksMany well-known guide books have put a substantial amount of travel information on their websites. This is especially the case for Frommer's. On these online sites, you'll find hotels, attractions, restaurants, maps, message boards, ... etc.
In addition to standard listings on attractions, restaurants, and lodging, the online version of Fodor's guide book has a section called "Features" that are specific to the destination. For example, the Features section for Paris has articles titled "Cheese Primer," "Bistro to Brasserie," "Pampering Spas," . . . etc. Also noteworthy is that Fodor's posts user reviews after the official guide book reviews. So, after you read Fodor's review on a hotel, you can scroll down and read what other travelers have to say. A drawback of Fodors.com is that the site is somewhat cluttered, with a small viewable area and ads in the middle of the screen.
The online version of Frommer's has the most pleasant interface out of all the guide book sites. Although there are ads on the site, they are fairly unobtrusive. Frommer's has put a great amount of information online, making Frommers.com an invaluable resource for travel planning. The site has useful information under topics such as "Getting There," "Restaurants," and "Suggested Itineraries." All the destinations are organized by similar topics making the site very easy to navigate once you become familiar with the topics. Frommers.com also covers more destinations than fodors.com or lonelyplanet.com. For instance, in France, fodors.com covers 9 destinations, lonelyplanet.com covers 11 whereas frommers.com covers 18 regions and over 150 cities.
Unlike online versions of Frommer's, Lonely Planet, and Fodor's, the destinations section of Let's Go has information only on the countries and not the cities or regions. There are, however, suggested itineraries for some countries that may be useful. For example, for Australia, the Suggested Itineraries include "A 3000 Mile Pub Crawl," "Wild Wild West," and others.
While the online version of Lonely Planet is not as comprehensive as the online version of Frommer's, it's nevertheless a good source of travel information. Especially noteworthy are the "sleep" sections that are available for each destination. A search of Paris yields 60 accommodations (there are 115 on Frommer's). The accommodations are accompanied by an attractive street-level map that shows nearby points of interest and subway stops. Similar to the book version, lonelyplanet.com offers inexensive options for lodging that are not listed in other guide books. For example, the Paris section of lonelypanet.com lists many hostels.
Rough Guides provide comprehensive information on destinations, such as listings for restaurants, lodging, and nightlife and information on neighborhoods and arrival. MagazinesWebsites of travel magazines are another great source of travel information. Many magazines, such as Conde Nast, Travel + Leisure, and National Geographic Traveler, put articles from their current and past issues online.
Concierge.com has destination guides for places around the world that are almost as thorough as many guide books. The destination guides include information on getting there, getting around, lodging recommendations, places to eat, nightlife, ... etc. Although the recommendation are not as extensive as some guide books, you can see hotel photos on the site. The destination guides are accessible under the Destinations link.
Under the Conde Nast Traveler link on Concierge.com, there are articles from current and past issues of Conde Nast. Titles from the a recent issue include "The Ultimate Worldwide Island Beach Finder" and "Eight Days, No Nights in Iceland." There are also online exclusives such as an audio slideshow on "Finding the perfect villa" and podcasts.
National Geographic Traveler is a popular travel magazine that emphasizes culture over tourism. Under the Photos link, you can see amazing photos that National Geographic is known for, although you have to click through one at a time. You can read the current issues online. Past articles and photos are also available under the Features, Photos, and Resources tabs.
Time Out publishes magazines and guide books, including weekly magazines in Chicago, London, and New York as well as guide books for over 50 destinations. Their international licensees also publish a variety of magazines abroad. Although timeout.com has information on destinations worldwide, particular noteworthy are the online versions of Timeout London, New York, and Chicago. Being the online versions of TimeOut's flagship magazines, there are a a great amount of information on these cities.
Travel & Leisure is a popular magazine that is published monthly. You can read the current month's articles online on their website. Titles from a recent publication include "Antiques Hunting in Provence" and "Great European Drives." Past articles are organized by destination and can be access from the Destinations link.
NewslettersMany sites offer email newsletters on travel news, insights, and deals. Several are listed here. Most newsletters are free.
Monthly email newsletter with information on travel tips, vacation packages, and deals.
Email newsletter with information on BBC's new online features, special travel incidents, such as tube or train strikes, major roadworks and events, and other topics.
Concierge.com offers two email newsletters: World Beat, which covers the latest news from Concierge.com, and Ultimate Travel Picks, which covers vacation options.
Weekly email newsletters with tips, resources, and insights. This is the website of Christopher Eilliot, who is a travel writer that writes on "how to get there, what to avoid, and how to save money."
Newsletter provides information on travel deals and links to latest articles, travel news, and featured destination.
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Newsletter covering news, deals, and selections from Frommer's Forums. The newsletters are published several times a week. You can read them online or be placed on their email subscription list.
Lonely Planet's newsletter Comet offers travel news, community updates, excerpts from new book releases, and others.
Biweekly newsletter that provides information on travel tips, travel deals, book excerpts, and discounts.
Weekly newsletter with travel bargains.
Newsletter provides information on Travel Channel shows, website features, and vacation specials. NewspapersNewspapers are a great source of well-written travel articles authored by travel journalists. A recent issue of the Boston Globe had features on Easter Island and celebrity travel. You might also want to read the travel section of your destination's regional newspaper. For example, the same issue of Boston Globe had articles on Martha's Vineyard and Rhode Island's mansions. There is a list of Newspapers at the bottom of this page. Online MagazinesSoGoNow is an online travel magazine. Under the Destinations link, you'll find information organized in a similar fashion to guide books – attractions, time zone, weather, electricity, . . . etc. Under the Archives link, there is a section on Entry Archives which contain numerous articles written by over 40 contributors, with such titles as "On The Road Again: Florida's Emerald Coast." PodcastsPodcasts are audio programs that can be listened to on a computer or on a digital music player, such as iPod. You can find podcasts on a variety of topics relating to travel. Generally, podcasts are free. You need an audio player on your computer to listen to podcasts, but most likely, it's already installed. You can subscribe to podcasts.
AP podcasts on destinations and trends. Updated weekly.
A list of Travel podcasts. There are podcasts about destinations, such as "Inside Singapore" and there are podcasts about interests, such as "The Wine Dude."
Frommer's podcasts. Some topics include "Doing a Spa on Any Budget" and "Explore the World by Rail."
National Geographic Traveler Magazine's Walks of a Lifetime are podcasts of the Magazine's selection of the world's greatest walking tours, including city centers to rustic country routes. Some destinations included are New Orleans, Japan, and Miami.
Rick Steve's Podcasts.
Roughguides.com has podcasts on author interviews, travel info, and travel ideas.
Podcasts topics include "El Salvador-A New Start," "Gay and Lesbian Sydney," "Thailand Full Moon Party," "Perth Beaches," "The London Sound," "Mayans Ruins Tours," "Destination Croatia," . . . etc. Publication BlogsLonely Planet Blogs are articles written by Lonely Planet staff on various topics and destinations. The destinations are broadly organized into Asia, Europe, Americas, Middle East, and Africa. There doesn't appear to be a way to find blogs matching a particular country. Some of the topics include events, news, and culinary culture. The blogs often include good quality photos. RSS FeedsIf you like reading travel articles regularly to get ideas for your next trip, RSS feeds can be a great resource. When you subscribe to an RSS feed, you get articles from that feed automatically sent to you. To read RSS feeds, you need Explorer 7 or the Mozilla browser, which is available at Firefox. You can also use a news aggregator such as Bloglines. To use Explorer 7, navigate to a page with an RSS feed. An orange icon will appear at the right hand side of of your browser. Simply click on the orange icon and choose Subscribe to this feed. You can then access the articles by clicking on the star icon located on the left hand side of your browser. Sometimes, there's no orange icon on the browser, and you'll need to click on the orange icon located on the page to subscribe to the feed. To use the Mozilla browser, again navigate to a page with an RSS feed. An orange icon will appear at the right hand side of your address bar if a RSS feed is available. Click on the orange icon to subscribe. The feed will be placed in your Bookmarks Toolbar folder. This method may not work on older versions of Mozilla on some sites (e.g., National Geographic). Some travel related RSS feeds are listed here.
ABC Travel Index
Chicago Tribune Travel News Feed.
CNN Travel News Feed.
Forbes Travel Feed
Frommer's.com Deals & News Feed
Daily Travel Deal Blog
StarTribune.com Travel Feed
MSBNC News Feeds
National Geographic Travel News
NY Times Travel Feed
Philadelphia Daily News Travel Feed
Seattle Times Travel and Outdoor Feed
Travel Channel News
USA Today Travel Feeds VideosThere are a variety of travel articles on the Today show website. The articles are often accompanied by a videoclip, although you first have to watch a commercial before the video starts. Some of the recent topics include "claim your baggage before crooks," "Dubai," and "spend a night at the museum."
The Travel Channel produces a variety of travel shows. You can watch shows on a destination by choosing Video and then selecting Destinations. Websites of the top shows are accessible through the TV Shows link. Depending on your internet connection, the videos may be slow to load. WebcamsOn EarthCam, you'll find webcams of attractions such as Eiffel Tower, Times Square and others. |