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The Internet abounds with tools for flights, hotel stays, cruises, car rentals, wireless access, ticket purchases, amusement park guides and the "10 Best" of you name it.
But if you are traveling in the United States, no matter where you're going or how you get there, chances are that eventually you will be behind the wheel of a car, sealed behind electric windows on a featureless road, and have next to no idea where the heck you are. And then where do all those tools get you?
For those of us who haven't yet busted our budgets on a GPS, Web and wireless services are poised to serve the en route traveler better all the time. Here's a look at some practical resources aimed at bettering your time on the road.
Cell Phone Directions
Most major cell phone companies now offer driving directions as part of their custom (and paid) "411" services. Operators can be a little grumpy, and the directions a little bumpy, particularly at spots like off ramps and city boundaries where street names don't apply or are subject to change.
For example, using Cingular's 411 driving directions, I mapped out a 100-mile trip that was right on target on the whole, but a section like the one pasted below, while easy to process when reading from a computer screen, is excruciating on a cell phone when you are frantically scribbling notes:
15. Bear right at S Black Horse Pike -- go 0.1 mi
16. Continue on N Black Horse Pike -- go 0.8 mi
17. Continue on S Black Horse Pike -- go 0.3 mi
18. Continue on Black Horse Pike -- go 0.8 mi
19. Continue on N Black Horse Pike -- go 1.2 mi
When you are viewing this type of information online, it's easy to figure out which parts are important and which aren't; however, when you are listening to a computer-generated cell phone voice direct you through a complex cloverleaf/right-to-go-left/all-turns-from-this-lane/on-off ramp scenario, following all the tenths of miles can be rough going due to way too much information. It almost feels like they're going to say "swerve right to avoid the pothole, keep an eye on the jerk accelerating into the merge," etc.
(By the way, the directions above were pasted from mapping the same route using Google Maps; Cingular and Google are using the same information to map driving directions.)
Cell Phone Directions on Steroids
If you need to know exactly where you are, where you're going, and how far and fast you have to go to get there, Telenav offers a relatively powerful GPS service available via various Blackberry and Palm Treo models, as well as a heap of cell phones. Turn-by-turn audible or visual directions are available along with a BizFinder app and 411 directory.
 The service is available with most of the major wireless phone providers, and starts at $5.99 a month, which, all told, looks like a pretty good savings over in-vehicle navigation systems. There may be hidden costs, however; with some phone models you may need to purchase additional devices in order to use Telenav.
If you're looking to go hardcore, Garmin is a longtime industry leader for consumer GPS applications, and a partnership with Sprint brings its industrial-strength GPS technology to Sprint phones.
Internet Traffic
No, not that kind of Internet traffic -- we're still talking about road trips. The folks with the category-slaying URL Traffic.com have recently launched MyTraffic, a new free service that allows you to create a traffic homepage, chart out up to 20 routes, call in for traffic updates, access real-time traffic maps, and, most useful when you are actually on the road, set yourself up to receive email and/or mobile phone/PDA notifications of traffic problems on your routes.
Maine-based event manager Chris Hughes used the service to make an end run around a highway shutdown on a recent trip to San Francisco.
"I left for the airport in time to be at the gate at least an hour before my flight, but an hour is nothing when you are faced with a road closing," he said. "I got off the highway just in time to avoid the shutdown, and then threaded my way to SFO on an alternate route. I ended up being early for the flight."
One upside of the service is that they are not relying solely on helicopter, government and other anecdotal reports, but often on digital monitors right on the highway.
More Ways to Beat Traffic Jams
MSN.com has a well-regarded service that is unfortunately all but buried in the MSN Autos section of their Web site -- to find it, visit autos.msn.com and scroll down to Driving Tools to find two small icons for Gas Prices and Local Traffic. The Local Traffic link leads you to reams of traffic information from across the country, all displayed on easy-to-read maps. You can mouse over each traffic trouble spot to see specific road information.
One of the problems with many of the traffic sites appears to be very limited geography; MSN's Local Traffic casts the widest net I found.
For some reason, the private sector seems to be a lot better about getting this type of information out and about, but it turns out that the Department of Transportation isn't doing a terrible job of it. Check out the DOT's National Traffic and Road Closure Information, which links out to extensive information on state DOT sites. I did find access to the main DOT site to be slow; Accuweather's AccuTraffic service has most of the same links to almost every state as DOT, as well as other useful links by state.
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