TripCart :: The Travel Blog

Sites on the Web that like TripCart

We figured that if a website was serious enough to recommend TripCart, they probably have other good links, so we decided to share them with our readers.

Mashable has written about us in the past, now they put us on a list of 100+ More Ways to Organize Your Life. Personally, we feel traveling is more exciting then organizing, but if you are going on a trip - a little organization can certainly help.

Thrillist gave us a real compliment by describing us as having an obsessive, type-A and a father figure type persona. We accept the compliment and agree that's what you need to plan a trip. And, yes, we are a group of  obsessive developers and managers. Asylum concurs and has a few hints of their own.

Smart Honeymoon seems to have a different view of TripCart. I guess they have a different audience.

Finally, for the Google mashup crowd - Google Maps Mania likes us, too.

Top Ten Aquariums for Kids in the US

Some very dedicated mother travels all over the states with her kids while her husband works in what seems to me like a top secret government position. She posted at The Vacationer that she likes taking the kids to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. What Sharon didn’t mention, is that the National Aquarium in Baltimore ranks (just barely) in Parent’s Magazine’s Top Ten Aquariums for Kids in the U.S.

For your trip planning pleasure, here’s the list and their rankings:

1. Monterey Bay Aquarium
2. Georgia Aquarium
3. John G. Shedd Aquarium
4. New England Aquarium
5. The Florida Aquarium
6. Aquarium of the Pacific
7. Atlantis Marine World
8. Oregon Coast Aquarium
9. Sea World in San Antonio, San Diego, and Orlando
10. National Aquarium

This definitely narrows down my way too long zoos & aquariums list from Feb. 17, 2008.

Pele takes Royal Avenue

Pele, Hawaii's legendary goddess of fire, is sending her lava flows right down the middle of the streets in the Royal Gardens subdivision on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Fortunate visitors to Hawaii have seen the lava flowing on the slopes of Kilauea, in Volcanoes National Park since 1986. I managed to melt my rubber soles in 1989 and again in 2005. Both times I was rewarded with one of the most amazing sites in nature - red hot lava oozing out of the earth. And me standing 3 feet away. The hard part was the 4 hour round trip hike in the blazing sun (and on the hot black lava surface) without really knowing where to go.

Well,  it just got a lot easier and even more amazing.  Lava is now flowing through the lava tubes from the remote eruption site, right through the Royal Gardens subdivision and pouring into the sea. Its just a little over an hour from Hilo, near Puna. Drive southwest along the coast till the end of the road. Then follow the masses of people on the newly laid out trails. Check for latest reports - a new trail was opened yesterday at 2pm and closed 30 minutes later when the lava flow covered it.

I hope to report firsthand - but the video will have to do.

Follow this link for another video of Lava Enters the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii

See my old trip i called: Family Adventure Travel in Hawaii: Hot Lava

For near by Tourist Attractions:

• Punaluu Black Sand Beach
• Big Island Candies
• Mauna Loa (Macadamia Nuts)
• Pacific Tsunami Museum
• Hilo Arboretum - Hawaii
• Kilauea Caldera - Hawaii
• Rainbow Falls - Big Island, Hawaii
• Thurston Lava
• Mauna Loa
• Panaewa Rainforest Zoo - Hilo, Hawaii

Top 10 Cities For One Night Stands (and Singles)

Those wacky guys over at Forbes have just released their list of the best cities for single folk.  The criteria for decoding how single-friendly a city is was determined by a ranking of culture, nightlife, job growth, cost of living, number of single people, and how easy it is to get some via online dating services.  So if you're traveling in the near future and want to make sure you run into your fair share of eligible single people here are the top 10 cities where you should put in some face time-

1. San Francisco
2. New York
3. Los Angeles
4. Atlanta
5. Chicago
6. Washington D.C.
7. San Diego
8. Seattle
9. Dallas
10. Philadelphia

We don't get how Philly could be better for singles than Miami or Vegas nor does it make sense that Portland (#29) ranks lower than Memphis (#23), unless there's just a lot more people trolling Craigslist in Tennessee.

Here are the cities that ranked #1 in each of the different categories-

• Culture - San Francisco
• Nightlife - New York
• Singles - New Orleans
• Job growth - Austin
• Cost of living alone - Dallas and Denver
• Online dating - Houston

Vroom Vroom - 10 Motorhead Museums

If you've been driving around aimlessly this Labor Day weekend looking for something to do, you might want to go and check out a car museum.  MSNBC covers 10 of the best car museums in the country from coast to coast.  Odds are this one might break the family up as most likely there's someone in everyone's car who won't be happy about this little excursion but for those who dig on motors and automobiles here's a quick rundown on the places they recommend-

• The Nethercutt Collection - Free to the public and includes car from as far back as 1898
• Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum - About 100 cars and costs $8 to get in
• Saratoga Automobile Museum - This museum includes a 7-passenger convertible
• Wall Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum - Packed full of crazy hot rods
• Volo Auto Museum - Just outside Chicago with over 300 cars on display
• Larz Anderson Auto Museum - Lots of French motor cars here
• Darryl Starbird's Rod & Custon Hall Of Fame Museum - Ridiculously long name
• Don Garlits Museums - Drag racing museum with $15 admission
• Antique Automobile Club Of America Museum - Tons of buses
• National Automobile Museum - Over 200 cars

Honk. Honk.

Lunar Eclipse On Tuesday, August 28th

Those smart guys over at NASA figured out there's going to be a lunar eclipse today.  On Tuesday there will be a full moon that will pass through the Earth's shadow.  According to the space guys, "During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon's disk can take on a dramatically colorful appearance from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and (rarely) very dark gray."  So make sure to crawl out of bed early if you're on vacation and find a nice spot to watch the moon get weird.

Lighters and Breast Milk Back in the Friendly Skies

August 4th will be a good day for smokers and moms.  The TSA, in it's infinite wisdom, seems to have realized that banning lighters and breast milk might not be worth the trouble.  According to USAToday, the TSA confiscated an incredible 11,616,000 lighters last year.  Taxpayers spent $4 million to get rid of all those lighters and smokers spent over $10 million to replace them (it's a good time to be in the lighter business). Officials from the TSA also decided the overwhelming medical benefits of breast milk finally outweigh the potential threat of someone smuggling explosives onto a plane through their mammories (it still must be declared when going through safety checkpoints).   

TSA Fails Again

Another inspection of the TSA, another miserable failure.  Last week Federal inspectors were able to slip a fake bomb past checkpoints at Albany International Airport.  In fact, the airport managed to pass just two of seven tests.  In one instance, TSA workers competently detected a big scary bottle of water in a passenger's carry-on but missed the fake bomb components.  According to the Times Union last October TSA officials at Newark's  Liberty International Airport failed an incredible 20 of 22 tests.  So percentage-wise, they're failing less now.

(thanks clicked)

Calculating Cab Fare

Never sure how much that cab's going to cost you?  The Taxi Fare Finder can help give you an idea of how much your next cab will run you.  Just plug in an address or pick a major landmark around the city and this little mashup will give you an approximate price for your trip.  It appears that at the moment the going rate from Fisherman's Wharf to the Presidio is about $15.  The Taxi Fare Finder is available in San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Frequent Flyer Mileage Runners

Wired has a great article about mileage runners, people who game the system by finding the cheapest possible flight with the maximum number of connections in order to gain the maximum number of miles for the least amount of money.  For most of the hardcore mileage runners, the fun is simply gaming the system, it's like a very elaborate problem-solving puzzle with hints from the forums over at FlyerTalk.  Head to Wired to read the full article.

BBQ in your Pocket

BBQ sure tastes good and it's such a shame that you can't BBQ all the time, but the Grilliput will make it a little easier.  This little grill claims to be the smallest on the planet, it's about a foot long and less than an inch in diameter.  The Grilliput even comes with a notched groove to help you clean it off after each use.  Now if they can figure out a way to make the world's smallest 6-pack to enjoy the grilled fish with.

7 Hours With Delta on the Tarmac

This video pretty much speaks for itself. We're so thankful it wasn't us that got stuck on the Tarmac for a whopping 7 hours last week.  Lucky for us (and awful for Delta) Robert McKee made a video about the nightmare flight.

(thanks again consumerist)

Harnessing the Wizzdom of the Crowds

It seems that whenever we travel around there's a general dearth of public bathrooms available.  MizPee hopes to garner the "wizzdom" of the crowds by helping you find an appropriate place to potty.  The service can be accessed by either sending your city and state in a text message to 415-350-2290 or by using your mobile phone to navigate to their website: www.mizpee.com - just give them your whereabouts and they'll help you find a place to make a wee: "MizPee finds the closest, cleanest toilet and gives you entertaining reading material once you get there. Since the service is cell phone-based, it's always with you, when you really need it."  Awesome.

World's Most Expensive Hotel Room to Get Trashed In

You've just won the lottery and you're looking to throw a bash in a hotel, but where to go?  Forbes has just compiled their list of the most expensive hotel room suites in the world.  So once you've gotten done puking in a bathroom bigger than a two-car garage you can expect to pay a whopping $25,000 a night for the Two Story Sky Villa at the Palms Fantasy Suites in Las Vegas.  You can pack 250 people into living room and another 50 on the balcony overlooking the strip.  The other American hotels to make their list was the 2,600-square-foot Presidential Suite and the Mandarin Oriental in New York and the two-bedroom Grand Suite at the Grand Wailea Resort in Hawaii - both of which run $15,000 a night.

related travel topics: luxury vacations in Las Vegas - luxury vacations in New York City - luxury vacations in Big Island Hawaii

The T-List Reloaded

We were looking over all of those great blogs on the T-List the other day and realized that the list could use a little re-organization.  There were a few repeats, a few dead sites, and a few sneaky marketers who had managed to get their name on the list.  So now we present you with a new version of the T-List separated by language and category to make it easier to digest.  Please add your own additions and pass it along.  Special thanks to Mathieu at radaron for starting this whole thing back in March.

Travel Blogs in English

General Travel Blogs

• A Long Ride
• A Luxury Travel Blog
• Adirondack Base Camp
• Apple Core Hotels
• Argentina's Travel Guide
• BootBlog
• Brave New Traveler
• Brazil Travel Blog
• Buenos Aires Argentina Guide
• CampingCoop
• Chronicles of On The Road Travel
• Diane Clarkson
• Erin Julian
• Europe A La Carte Blog
• Family Travel
• FastenYourSeatbelts.at
• Fly Away Cafe
• Foreign Perspectives
• French Life-expat France
• Gadling
• Happy Hotelier
• HotelChatter
• Hotels of the Rich and Famous
• InFlightHQ
• jaunted
• Line of Sight
• Lonely Planet | Travel Blog
• Me-Go
• My Marrakesh
• My Travel Backpack
• National Geographic | Traveler
• New York Traveler
• NewYorkology
• Rolling Rains Report
• southernbyways
• The Cranky Flier
• The Lobby
• the lost girls
• The Sydney Morning Herald Blog
• They Let Her Travel
• Tim Leffel's Cheapest Destinations
• Travel Horizons
• Travel Post.com Insider
• Travel Rants
• Travel Stuff
• Travelvice
• TripAdvisor: We Are Not Making This Up
• TripCart :: The Travel Blog
• Two Dog Zoo Travel
• Upgrade: Travel Better
• Vagablond
• Vagabonding
• World Hum

Travel Industry Blogs

• Back of House in DXB
• Bed Jump
• Blog on travel
• Blog Rydges
• The Brand Canada Blog
• BuhlerWorks
• Bull City Mutterings
• dot tourism
• E-hotel
• Farecast Blog
• Hawthorne Hotel
• Hotel Blogs 2.0
• Hotelmarketing.com
• Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog
• localhoteldirectory.com
• m-Travel.com and Travel Distribution News
• Marriott on the move
• New York Hospitality
• Online Travel Review
• radar
• Randy's Journal
• realtravel
• Relactions Blog
• The McCluskey Blog
• The Tourism and Hospitality Diaries
• The Travel Cooler
• The Travel PR Blog
• Tourism INTERNET Marketing Blog
• Travel and Web 2.0
• Travel Start-ups
• Travel Weekly
• TravelerWire
• Travolution
• travel & tourism technology trends
• UK airports information blog
• Viator Travel Blog
• web 2.0 travel tools
• Zeitgeist

Foreign Language Travel Blogs

French Travel Blogs

• Entreprendre dans le e-Tourisme
• Les Explorers

Italian Travel Blogs

• ADV Italia

Dutch Travel Blogs

• weekendhotel weblog

German Travel Blogs

• eTurismus.info
• FastenYourSeatbelts.atTourismus - Zukunft - Technologie
• Kulinarisch Reisen - Blog
• Touristikblog.de
• Touristikblog hokat.de

Thai Travel Blogs

• wordofmouthonthefly

Spanish Travel Blogs

• AbsolutBCN
• Air France Mexico
• Albert Barra
• Aquela Passagem!
• Aviacion Digital
• Bitacora De Viajes
• Blog de gestion turistica
• Blog de Viajes
• Brief Blog
• Comercializacion hotelera?
• de viaje a Brasil
• De Viajero.com
• Desde el Rio Parana a Tierra del Fuego
• Despegar
• Diario del viajero
• DondeViajar
• ...en transicion...
• Entornao
• escapadas europa
• eurotrip
• Explorando Peru
• Guia de Viajes
• HotelBlog.es
• Hoteles
• Hotel, Friends and more...
• Intermundial
• Kiwi Viajero
• Locura Viajes
• Los viajes de Jota
• Marketing Turistico
• megustaelturismo.es
• Mochileros
• Nos vamos de turismo!
• Notas do Turismo
• Primera Clase
• Rumboperdido
• Toni Mascaro
• topviajeros
• Trabber
• Turistiko
• viajar asiaviaje ne viagem
• Voy de viaje
• Vuelos Baratos en Internet
• ZuHause

LEGO Art at Discovery Center Museum

Why be a lawyer when you can play with LEGOs for a living?  We guess that's what Nathan Sawaya was thinking when he quit his day job to play with the famous little plastic bricks all day.  This show at the Discovery Center in Rockford, Illinois features 30 of his pieces as part of his first solo art exhibit.  Some of his work includes a 7-foot Brooklyn Bridge and life-size version of a Tyronasaurus Rex.  The show is $5 for adults and runs through Labor Day.

(thanks flyawaycafe)

Drive and Surf - Multitask While You Drive

After you rent a car, you throw on the bluetooth headset, plug in the iPod and hit the road.  But driving is so boring, it would be so much more entertaining if you could surf the web while you were driving instead of having to stare at the stupid road the whole time.  Avis has decided to bring the internet to the road with their new service that started a few weeks ago in San Francisco, Oakland and LA and is set to spread to Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, New York and Seattle by the end of the year.  The Avis Connect service costs $11 a day and will be available until enough people crash their rental cars trying to merge between lanes and look at porn at the same time.

(thanks businesstravelupdates)

Ho-Jo's is a No-Go

Consumer Reports recently released their results from a survey of over 35,000 participants and Howard Johnson racked up the most complaints of any chain with 55% of respondants reporting some kind of problem during their stay.  According to the survey their beds also suck.  Ritz-Carlton was the highest rated in overall satisfaction followed by Homewood Suites and SpringHill Suites.  Of the budget hotels, Microtel scored highest.  Ironically, the survey found that the cheaper the hotel the more likely they were to offer free amenities like breakfast and internet access (60% of high-end hotels charge for internet access compared to just 10% at budget hotels).  The survey also found that as both business and leisure travel continues to rise, so do prices, with fewer vacancies (and bargains) available. 

(thanks hotel hotsheet)

Get Ready to Wait This Summer

Word on the street is that there are going to be tons of delays for people trying to fly this summer.  David Field, editor of Airline Business magazine, was recently interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered; he cites antiquated traffic control technology and smaller planes as the source of much of the trouble.  Field places the rest of the blame on airlines for padding flight times and over-scheduling arrivals.  Interesting listening, as always, from our bestest friends at public radio.

(thanks smartertravel)

Blast From the Past in Tulsa, Oklahoma

If you're plotting a cross-county road trip this summer you might want to plan on being in Tulsa on the 15th of this month.  To amaze the Earth's future inhabitants the residents of Tulsa decided to build a time capsule containing a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Sports Coup, a case of Schlitz beer, and a bunch of other products.  The Tulsa Tribune relates the story from June, 15th 1957:

A 1957 automobile was buried in the courthouse lawn today - with a bottle of tranquilizer pills in the glove compartment.

Into the hole with the new Plymouth hardtop went a steel "time capsule'' containing assorted documents and artifacts of Oklahoma's semi-centennial year.

The car, mounted on a steel skid and swathed in a plastic and paper wrapping, was lowered into the concrete-lined well no the southeast corner of the lawn during dedicatory ceremonies marking the observance of Golden Jubilee Week here.

"This is the sort of thing that could happen only in Tulsa,'' commented Chairman Lewis Roberts Sr. "We have been amazed - although I guess we shouldn't have been - by the cooperation of every one concerned in making this event possible.

"Although the cost of the automobile is a major item, of course, Tulsans have contributed time, machinery and materials and services far beyond the initial cost.''

The vault will be opened in 2007. The automobile will be awarded then to the person who guessed nearest to the city's population figure at that time. If he or she is not living, the award goes to the heirs, along with the proceeds from a $100 trust fund. Guesses have been microfilmed and are sealed in the steel capsule.

Many are worried that the Plymouth may have turned into a rustbox over the intervening years.  Below is a video of the time capsule from 1957.

(thanks telstar logistics)

Bringo Kills Hold Times

You know when you get all psyched to buy a plane ticket and then you get stuck on hold for 20 minutes before some nice man from India helps you?  Well, Bringo aims to save you that time you waste on hold by calling the airline for you and then calling you as soon as you're finally connected to a real live person.  Here's how it works-

1. Find the company you'd like to call by category (credit cards, mortgages, loans, health care)
2. Enter your phone # (we will never disclose your phone number to anyone, not even your mother!).
3. Wait a few seconds while we navigate the phone tree.
4. When we call you back, pick up your phone and you're done.  No more phone trees.

Sounds pretty cool to us, currently they have 25 airlines and 14 hotels they can call for you.

(thanks techcrunch)

Koolickle - The Kool-aid Pickle

If you're going to be in the Mississippi Delta soon you may want to try one of the region's newest delicacies: a Kool-Aid pickle.  We're not sure if they're any good but kids seem to love them.  You probably won't find them on any restaurant menus but in mom-and-pop convenience stores throughout the region red jars full of dill pickles soaked in strawberry, cherry or tropical fruit Kool-Aid are becoming more and more popular.  Above, you can see Berverly Boddie and one of her Kool-Aid pickles that she hopes to trademark soon and sell out of her Cleveland, Mississippi, grocery store.  Yummy - maybe.

(thanks NYT)

FlyLite for the Business Traveler on an Expense Account

As we're sure you're aware, airlines aren't getting any better about mishandling bags.  Add to that the fact that the number of people flying should double by 2010 and you can pretty much assume something you own will get misplaced sometime in the near future.  FlyLite is a new service that ships you your clothes so you don't have to pack, wash or check them in at the airport.  They claim this will save you about 3 hours per trip.  Initially you ship your things to one of their warehouses in Boston, New York, Philadelphia or Washington - then they send them to the concierge of your hotel before you arrive, when you leave FlyLite picks your stuff up, dry-cleans it and stores it away until your next trip.  The service runs a $100 for each delivery and requires a 12-hour heads-up.  They plan to have over a dozen locations by the end of the year.

(thanks cnnmoney)

Goodsleep on the Plane - Good Luck

Trying to sleep on a plane is always an ordeal and it's always hard to get comfortable cramped up in coach as planes get more and more crowded.  If the pathetic pillow you receive isn't doing the trick you could try getting one of those hemorrhoid donuts that fit around your neck or you could go all out with the 1st Class Sleeper.  This pillow supports your whole back and keeps your head from flopping around.  It also magically creates an extra half a foot of legroom. 

(thanks mobissimo)

Hotel WiFi Keeps Getting Worse

HotelChatter has recently released their annual report on the state of WiFi in hotels around the country and the consensus is that it's getting worse.  It appears WiFi access, especially free WiFi access, is as inconsistent as ever - sometimes you have it in the lobby but not in your room, sometimes you have to be a part of the hotel's loyalty program to plug in, sometimes you just have to pay 10 bucks a day.  HotelChatter did find a few hotels worth praising though-

• Marriott Residence Inns, SpringHill Suites and Courtyards - fast and free wireless connections in both the lobbies and the rooms and they'll even give you an ethernet cable to borrow
• Andre Balazs Properties - these chic hotels will give you some of the best WiFi around after you get a code from the good people at the front desk
• Jeff Klein Hotels - they have only two locations, LA and NYC, but both offer great fast and free wireless connections
• JDV Hospitality - they operate 25 hotels throughout California that will let you logon without a password or a fee, painless WiFi at its best but sadly available only in the Golden State
• Omni Hotels - it's free in the lobby, free in your room if you become a "Select Guest" and 10 bucks a day otherwise
• Holiday Inn Express - consistently good WiFi year in and year out

Air Fares Still on the Rise

Tickets prices in the US continue to rise and are at their highest levels since 2000 according to the US Bureau of Transportation.  Average ticket prices have risen another 3.4% to a high of $378 but are still about $20 short of 2000's record high.  According to the report the most expensive airports to fly into these days are Anchorage, followed by Cincinnati, Honolulu, San Francisco and New York's John F. Kennedy.  The cheapest place to fly into is Dallas' Love Field followed by the ghetto Midway Airport in Chicago. 

Free Museums

Bank of America is using our nation's finest museums to lure you into banking with them and it's not a bad deal.  If you happen to be a Bank of America customer you and a friend will receive free admission into one of more than 95 museums across the US.  The program is in its 10th year and celebrates the National Museum Month of May.  You can check their goofy flash site for available museums in New York, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont.

(thanks gadling)

Going to LA? Book a Hotel Room, Rent a Car, Rent a Dog

Flexpetz just recently launched in Southern California and is set to spread all over the country in the coming months.  The idea is that some of us want canine companionship but don't have lifestyles accommodating to ownership because of travel, living arrangements, etc.  With Flexpetz you can rent a dog for just a few hours or for up to a week at a time.  Most of their dogs are rescues, they've all gone through a full training program and they live in a cage-free environment.  Expect to pony up $40 a month for membership plus a daily fee for your pooch of choice.  Soon Flexpetz will be cropping up all over the country including three locations in New York and also locations in San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Miami, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Phoenix, and Washington D.C.  So the next time you're away on business you can rent out Fido to keep you happy.

(thanks springwise)

Tours by Ear

Hate the annoying hassle of reading when you're on vacation?  Wouldn't you rather just listen?  Well, AudioSnacks aims to give travelers all of the info they need via a handy podcast.  By the looks of it they're still in the preliminary stages of filling out the number of tours available but if your headed to one of the more popular vacation destinations in the US, you might just find what you're looking for - if not, you could always submit your own.  It looks like the podcasts range in price from free to about $12.

$10 Flights Coming Soon

Europe's had it fair share of super-cheap discount airlines for quite some time now.  But soon we will see the RyanAir / EasyJet model hit the skies over Columbus, Ohio.  Skybus is set to make its debut next month and while most of their tickets will be about 50% cheaper than their competitors, they are also offering 10 one-way tickets on every flight for just $10.  This means if you play your cards right you could score a ticket from Columbus to Richmond, VA for a mere $40.80 including tax - not too shabby.  You can currently book online for about ten cities around the US, as far west as Oakland and Bellingham (100 miles from Seattle) as far south as Fort Lauderdale.  Like its European brothers, Skybus charge for just about everything from pillows to checked bags.  At $10 a flight the company's CEO, Bill Diffenderffer is trying to attract the true cheapskates out there: "We want to stimulate people to travel who otherwise would not go."