Free Toolsday for May 20th

I learn so much just by hanging out on Twitter most of my day. I learned about a spectacular travel site called TripIt.com from Sam Harrelson.

This knocks TripAdvisor out of the park.  I got on TripAdvisor thinking that it would be great a resource with all the reviews of hotels and attractions in the areas.  But in the last year 99% of the travel I’ve done has been for work, where I’m not there for pleasure and I’m not necessarily choosing where we stay or go.  So I don’t think I’ve logged into TripAdvisor in months.  At least 6.

TripIt is a much more suitable replacement for me.  And the user ease is AMAZING.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  First, let me tell you the purpose of TripIt.  The site works as a great organizational tool that aggregates your activities, meetings, hotel information, flight information, etc into a centrally located personal travel assistant.  Just email your confirmation emails directly to plans@tripit.com and it integrates the details into your trip itinerary.

The itinerary itself is spectacularly thorough.  Not only does it add your hotel info and flight info through the email, but you can also add different types of events, restaurant outings, and meetings.  Everything is color coded and the site automatically adds Google Maps and Directions from one location to another into the itinerary.  Here’s an example from my current trip to Boston:

TripIt also integrates well with Google Calendar, which is my online calendar of choice, and adds exact time and details for each appointment, flight, check in, check out, etc.  The site has a printable itinerary that is currently keeping me on track here in Boston, and if you’re more of a mobile/smart phone reliant person there’s mobile features as well.  I only wish the printable version was color coded as well, but I understand why it’s not.

If you travel a lot for business, you should give this site a try at the least.  As all the free toolsday features, it’s FREE!  So you have no reason not to go check it out.