While the Web is much more commercial than cool these days, some sites have found a way to combine the two, with considerable benefit to consumers and cognoscenti alike.
Several relatively new sites have figured how to collate heaps of data into easy-to-figure presentations that ease the way for travelers; whether you're traveling the skies, the roads, the rails, or the Web, these Web sites will make for smoother, better trips.
What's In A Seat Assignment?
Seatguru.com
The Web has given travelers unprecedented control over purchasing airline tickets, but once your tickets are bought, the one thing that will probably most dramatically affect your misery index is your seat assignment. Granted that many booking sites allow you to pick your seats, but who can tell the difference between 13C and 15D if they're both non-bulkhead aisle seats in the middle of the plane? Yet one may recline, while the other does not - big difference.
Seatguru is your source for seat assignment wisdom. Travelers stoked to get a bulkhead seat at check-in will learn not all bulkhead seats are created equal - often enough you'll get the bulkhead seat you asked for, and there's no window, no place to put your stuff, the TV screen is almost unviewable, and your aisle seat is the armrest for people waiting to use the lavatory, which is right at your feet.
Taking a look at bulkhead seats on a Hawaiian Airlines 717, for example. Seats in bulkhead row 16 have more legroom, but do not recline, while the seats in bulkhead row 26 on Hawaiian's 767 are narrower than other seats because the tray tables are in the immoveable arm rests.
And who needs bulkhead seats when on JetBlue, rows 11-26 actually have about two inches more legroom than rows 1-10?
All this info is courtesy of Seatguru.com, which has the straight dope on every seat on every plane, and a lot of it.
Some of the other warnings and tips you'll find on Seatguru:
the location of seats with misaligned windows that make it difficult to see outside
the number of seats in first class, which affects the likelihood of upgrades
the location of lavatories and galleys, must-avoids in you want a quiet flight
which seats are usually assigned on the day of travel
which seats are usually given to families traveling with infants
which seats are served meals first
which seats have difficult TV screen positioning
where engines are mounted and the effect on noise levels
and plenty more
The site is very easy to navigate, and is kept up to date by site editors as well as input from travelers out in the trenches. For example, seatguru has two floor plans for Continental's 737-500- one that is current at the time of this writing, and one for Fall 2005, when Continental is expected to have completed reconfiguring their 735 fleet.
What Exit?
Travmatix.com
William Campbell, a business traveler located in Pennsylvania, drives to New England twice yearly on an extended business trip requiring a late Friday departure and a stay along the road. Campbell says he usually tries "to wing it and go as far as possible before exiting the highway and finding a hotel." His results have been mixed at best. "One hotel operator in Bridgeport Connecticut actually asked if I was staying the whole night," Campbell reports. "I slept in my clothes."
Enter Travmatix.com, a mapping application that, in addition to mapping out your route, gives extensive information about amenities at every road exit along the way, including
Travmatix allows you to filter your results according to various amenities:
hotels by brand name and amenities, including pools, complimentary breakfast, exercise rooms, wheelchair access, laundry, pet-friendly rooms, data ports, coffee makers, and more
restaurants by brand name and amenities including buffets, play areas, RV parking, salad bars, and more
gas stations with changing areas, full or self-service, diesel, mechanics, car wash, etc.
Campbell entered start and end zip codes, and Travmatix informed Campbell that there were "104 restaurants, 65 gas stations, and 32 hotels that you will be driving past on your trip."
Public rest areas and state line crossings are highlighted, and Travmatix also rates restrooms along the route for cleanliness.
How to Spot an Airfare Deal
Check out How good is my Discounted Airfare deal?? on DiscountAirfares.com
Simplicity can be a beautiful thing, and this site has it in spades. Figure out how long your flight is (most booking engines show flight duration in search results, and the site links out to a ), then compare the price to this best-worst guide to pricing paid per hour of flight.
The site ranks fares from "Buy it Now" to "Try to find better," and suggest adjustments for shoulder and peak season fare increases. Low-tech, high utility.
Wi-Fi Hits the Spot
JiWire.com
It's a broadband world out there, and sometimes you just have to move a heap of data from the road. Particularly when staying in B&B's, inns, or vacation rentals while on vacations, high-speed access can be hard to come by in your room. Getting wired enough to get any work done requires venturing out to find any of a growing number, yet sometimes still hard to locate, Wi-Fi hotspots near your location.
JiWire.com makes the search easier. Searchable by airport, city/state/country, zip code, location type, provider, connection type, and free vs. fee, JiWire lists 62,657 Wi-Fi hotspots in 99 countries. Goodbye dialup hunched over a hotel night table, hello free broadband while having a drink at an Irish pub.
The day may come that searching around for a hotspot will be a thing of the past; Philadelphia has unveiled plans to make the entire city a 135-square mile hotspot.
Subwwways of the World
Subwaynavigator.com
Amadeus.net Subway maps
When arriving in a major city, airports, trains, taxis, and hotels are kid's play compared to your first foray into the subway. Call it the Metro, the Underground, the El, the U-Bahn, you name it - it's confusing, and can be rough going.
Often, the subway is really the only sensible and affordable way to get around, as well as the best way to get to town from the airport, so you'll want to know what you're getting into as you get off the plane.
Subwaynavigator.com is your guide to using the Underground without being overwhelmed. A full-featured subway map resource, the site allows you to select your departure and arrival stations by station name, and the results show you which train to take, where to change trains, display all stops along the way, permit printing of your route, and give the estimated travel time.
If you don't know the exact name of your station, you can go to a full map of the subway, and choose your departure and destination cities by clicking right on the station.
Amadeus's collection of online subway maps permits you to print out the maps in Word or PDF format, shows pictures of trains, and offers schedule and fare details. Although some info appears to be slightly dated, with prices updated as of a few years ago, the benefit of printing out your own subway map makes the site worth a look.
With subway maps from most major cities on five continents, you won't miss a stop with these sites.
I hope you find these sites useful; to discuss this and other Traveler's Ed articles, visit the Traveler's Ed Message Board.
Go Anyway,
Ed Hewitt
TravelersEd@aol.com
Features Editor
The Independent Traveler
Editor's Note: IndependentTraveler.com is published by The Independent Traveler, Inc., a member of the TripAdvisor Media Network, which also owns SeatGuru.com.
Several relatively new sites have figured how to collate heaps of data into easy-to-figure presentations that ease the way for travelers; whether you're traveling the skies, the roads, the rails, or the Web, these Web sites will make for smoother, better trips.
What's In A Seat Assignment?
Seatguru.com
The Web has given travelers unprecedented control over purchasing airline tickets, but once your tickets are bought, the one thing that will probably most dramatically affect your misery index is your seat assignment. Granted that many booking sites allow you to pick your seats, but who can tell the difference between 13C and 15D if they're both non-bulkhead aisle seats in the middle of the plane? Yet one may recline, while the other does not - big difference.
Seatguru is your source for seat assignment wisdom. Travelers stoked to get a bulkhead seat at check-in will learn not all bulkhead seats are created equal - often enough you'll get the bulkhead seat you asked for, and there's no window, no place to put your stuff, the TV screen is almost unviewable, and your aisle seat is the armrest for people waiting to use the lavatory, which is right at your feet.
Taking a look at bulkhead seats on a Hawaiian Airlines 717, for example. Seats in bulkhead row 16 have more legroom, but do not recline, while the seats in bulkhead row 26 on Hawaiian's 767 are narrower than other seats because the tray tables are in the immoveable arm rests.
And who needs bulkhead seats when on JetBlue, rows 11-26 actually have about two inches more legroom than rows 1-10?
All this info is courtesy of Seatguru.com, which has the straight dope on every seat on every plane, and a lot of it.
Some of the other warnings and tips you'll find on Seatguru:
The site is very easy to navigate, and is kept up to date by site editors as well as input from travelers out in the trenches. For example, seatguru has two floor plans for Continental's 737-500- one that is current at the time of this writing, and one for Fall 2005, when Continental is expected to have completed reconfiguring their 735 fleet.
What Exit?
Travmatix.com
William Campbell, a business traveler located in Pennsylvania, drives to New England twice yearly on an extended business trip requiring a late Friday departure and a stay along the road. Campbell says he usually tries "to wing it and go as far as possible before exiting the highway and finding a hotel." His results have been mixed at best. "One hotel operator in Bridgeport Connecticut actually asked if I was staying the whole night," Campbell reports. "I slept in my clothes."
Enter Travmatix.com, a mapping application that, in addition to mapping out your route, gives extensive information about amenities at every road exit along the way, including
Travmatix allows you to filter your results according to various amenities:
Campbell entered start and end zip codes, and Travmatix informed Campbell that there were "104 restaurants, 65 gas stations, and 32 hotels that you will be driving past on your trip."
Public rest areas and state line crossings are highlighted, and Travmatix also rates restrooms along the route for cleanliness.
How to Spot an Airfare Deal
Check out How good is my Discounted Airfare deal?? on DiscountAirfares.com
Simplicity can be a beautiful thing, and this site has it in spades. Figure out how long your flight is (most booking engines show flight duration in search results, and the site links out to a ), then compare the price to this best-worst guide to pricing paid per hour of flight.
The site ranks fares from "Buy it Now" to "Try to find better," and suggest adjustments for shoulder and peak season fare increases. Low-tech, high utility.
Wi-Fi Hits the Spot
JiWire.com
It's a broadband world out there, and sometimes you just have to move a heap of data from the road. Particularly when staying in B&B's, inns, or vacation rentals while on vacations, high-speed access can be hard to come by in your room. Getting wired enough to get any work done requires venturing out to find any of a growing number, yet sometimes still hard to locate, Wi-Fi hotspots near your location.
JiWire.com makes the search easier. Searchable by airport, city/state/country, zip code, location type, provider, connection type, and free vs. fee, JiWire lists 62,657 Wi-Fi hotspots in 99 countries. Goodbye dialup hunched over a hotel night table, hello free broadband while having a drink at an Irish pub.
The day may come that searching around for a hotspot will be a thing of the past; Philadelphia has unveiled plans to make the entire city a 135-square mile hotspot.
Subwwways of the World
Subwaynavigator.com
Amadeus.net Subway maps
When arriving in a major city, airports, trains, taxis, and hotels are kid's play compared to your first foray into the subway. Call it the Metro, the Underground, the El, the U-Bahn, you name it - it's confusing, and can be rough going.
Often, the subway is really the only sensible and affordable way to get around, as well as the best way to get to town from the airport, so you'll want to know what you're getting into as you get off the plane.
Subwaynavigator.com is your guide to using the Underground without being overwhelmed. A full-featured subway map resource, the site allows you to select your departure and arrival stations by station name, and the results show you which train to take, where to change trains, display all stops along the way, permit printing of your route, and give the estimated travel time.
If you don't know the exact name of your station, you can go to a full map of the subway, and choose your departure and destination cities by clicking right on the station.
Amadeus's collection of online subway maps permits you to print out the maps in Word or PDF format, shows pictures of trains, and offers schedule and fare details. Although some info appears to be slightly dated, with prices updated as of a few years ago, the benefit of printing out your own subway map makes the site worth a look.
With subway maps from most major cities on five continents, you won't miss a stop with these sites.
I hope you find these sites useful; to discuss this and other Traveler's Ed articles, visit the Traveler's Ed Message Board.
Go Anyway,
Ed Hewitt
TravelersEd@aol.com
Features Editor
The Independent Traveler
Editor's Note: IndependentTraveler.com is published by The Independent Traveler, Inc., a member of the TripAdvisor Media Network, which also owns SeatGuru.com.
