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International Travel
![]() ![]() ![]() The Web is the world's greatest tour director. Click a button, and you can explore any country on the globe. True, you can't eat on the Via Veneto, but then you don't have to figure out the currency, either. So grab your passport, return your seat to its original upright position, and bon voyage!
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Lonely Planet Guide is a pure gem. Australia's Lonely Planet Publications publishes over 150 travel guides, and its expertise shines. This site is excellent, featuring graphics that load reasonably quickly and impressive attention to detail. Lonely Planet clearly knows that one of travelers' greatest fears is getting lost; the site is easy to navigate through, with many placeholder links throughout. The On the Road and Postcards sections comprise interesting letters from Lonely Planet writers and users, respectively. The Health section covers an important but often-overlooked aspect of travel: keeping fit and avoiding illness. The only flaw right now is that the Destinations section, which promises a breadth of very detailed information on much of the world, is still fairly empty. A little touch of Shangri-la on the Internet.
GNN Travelers' Center does a respectable job of balancing self-promotion with solid, interesting information. The highlight here is a section called Notes From the Road, which features several excellent photo-filled feature articles by professional travel writers including Paul Theroux. You'll also find a well-organized and extensive selection of links to travel sites and journals. Another strong point here is Fodor's Worldview, a great source for travel news that includes a selective city-specific listing of museum exhibits, arts festivals, and major theater productions. This is a very nice place to wear your pith helmet and explore. It's well-organized, and the photos complement without getting in the way.
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Orbit International has made an impressive start, but it's a bit sloppy and underdeveloped. You'll find a very helpful database of information from links to other sites (like restaurants, weather, telephone directories, and FAQs) and good feature articles, such as a piece on bicycling in New South Wales, but the environmental magazine, Eco-Orbit, is poorly written. Material is extensive and entertainingly presented, albeit a bit more travelogue-ish than thoughtful. At present, most of the coverage is limited to Australia, with the Pacific Islands and Asia under construction and other destinations to come. The graphics and layout are top-notch and load quickly. Be sure to look in when things get more established.
Conde Nast Traveler has nicely adapted to the Web. Sections are well-organized to provide late-breaking travel news, forums for discussion and personal tips, and various inventive ways to select a destination. The features are well-written, though superficial and a bit limited in number (with some notable lapses) and focues on resorts rather than cities. You'll find games, contests, and a very fine photo aracade. Indeed, the site makes heavy and effective use of excellent pictures, but those with slow modems may want to avoid loading them. Our main complaint is that the on-line version of the current newsstand issue is a tease:a table of contents and a sample article. Nonetheless, a lovely place to browse while imagining you're on the porch at your resort, watching the world drift by.
The London Guide lists many (but not all) links to very good sources of London information and contains some capsule reviews of restaurants and current events around town. It's all a bit rag-tag, but there's a lot of energy and it gives a good sense of London, helped by satisfying photos. Importantly, the guide offers a well-integrated link to information for the rest of the United Kingdom, though it's not the be-all of London sites..
City.Net doesn't hold all that much, but what's there is interesting and well-done. This is a rich listing of over 1,400 destinations. Hone in on the locale you're interested in and City.Net will present a selection of appropriate links. The selections aren't fully comprehensive, but they're generally top-of-the-line. No sizzle, but the site is easy to use, fast, and wonderfully organized.
Round-The-World Travel Guide is Marc Brosius' compendium of all things travel. Want to plan a trip? Brosius has been reading Usenet newsgroups for years and culling the best travel tips. He's put them into an amazingly comprehensive, easily organized text guide, filled with quotes and loaded with links to sites. Not definitive or expert, but very informative.
All Hotels on the Web : The name says it all. Well-organized links to over 6,000 hotels with home pages provide a breadth of information. Simple and very valuable.
Subway Navigator provides maps of over 50 subway systems in the world and lets you plan your routes. The impressive and fast.
Around-the-World Journal has a popular reputation that exceeds the reality. It's an adventurous undertaking: a photo diary of a nine-month trip. However, the writing is not strong: largely flat generalities. A very noble effort, but its bark is greater than its bite.
iTravel tries hard to be a well-rounded magazine, but falls short. At the center are individuals' travel diaries that have been posted on the Internet, most of which are in the "And then I did and then I did and then. . ." category of writing.
Travel Italy is really only limited to traveling Rome or thermal hot springs. Even at that, the information is thinner than vermicelli.
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Copyright (c) 1995 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company is prohibited. Internet Life and the Internet Life logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. |
![]() QUICK CLICK! Lonely Planet Guide GNN Travelers' Center Orbit International Conde Nast Traveler The London Guide City.Net Round-The-World Travel Guide All Hotels on the Web Subway Navigator Around-the-World Journal iTravel Travel Italy |