Best Travel Web Sites 2006

Key Travel, Work, Study and Living Websites

By Gregory Hubbs

During the past year we have witnessed the growth in popularity of the now ubiquitous blog, a medium which has transformed both the form and content of many travel sites. Meanwhile, the sheer quantity of specialized travel sites dedicated to regions, countries, cities, travel modes, and communities continues to grow exponentially. The encyclopedic content being developed as a community in Wiki projects such as www.wikitravel.org and www.wikipedia.com are beginning to produce rich information useful for any traveler researching meaningful travel, study, living, or work abroad. Finally, travel information is now being disseminated with daily RSS feeds, multimedia forms such as podcasts, while being made available via cellphones for those on the go.

The big travel sites—which are often the Web presence of major travel publishers—have been very deeply impacted by the alternative content of blogs and specialized sites. Publishers with web sites such as Lonely Planet are beginning to cover responsible travel, voluntourism, cultural immersion travel, and other purposeful forms of travel in addition to the destination travel which remains their core content.

In sum, responsible, cultural immersion, and educational forms of travel—“how” to travel as opposed to just “where” to travel—which Transitions Abroad magazine helped pioneer 30 years ago is clearly becoming a central concern for more and more travelers.

Here we offer a small sampling of some of the best travel sites we have seen on the Web, and we suggest you visit the Travel Link Central page of TransitionsAbroad.com for much, much more…

Travel Abroad

Lonely Planet with its Thorn Tree Forum, www.lonelyplanet.com, is perhaps the closest we see to a well-rounded portal, with its busy and useful message boards, and detailed country information. Rough Guides, www.roughguides.com, comes in a close second with its IgoUgo forum and travelogues, as well as excellent information from its catalog of world music. As a travel portal for practical bargains worldwide, Johnny Jet, www.johnnyjet.com, has all the links you need to research the best deals to get where you want to go and not go broke staying there.

The New York Times travel section, www.nytimes.com/pages/travel/index.html, has vastly improved its online presence and content to reflect emerging alternative and budget travel interests. The Washington Post and LA Times travel sections are likewise part of the trend by the mass-media to expand travel coverage beyond mere travel destination descriptions or fantasy getaways. See WorldHum.com's excellent selection links to newspaper travel sections, periodicals, ezines, and other forms of media for more excellent examples of these trends.

For culturally sensitive budget travel in Europe there is no more dependable advice than that offered by Transitions Abroad’s Back Door Travel columnist Rick Steves at www.ricksteves.com, which includes the active Graffiti Wall built of blogs, as well as podcasts from his radio show.

ThingsAsian, www.thingsasian.com, is a well-crafted site offering excellent articles and beautiful photos covering all aspects of travel and life in Asia.

The South American Explorers Club, www.samexplo.org, is a premier site (along with Planeta.com) for independent travel in Latin America, with information for those who wish to study language and local cultures, meet the natives and visit regions unspoiled by mass-tourism. Expat Bill Hinchberger’s Brazilmax, www.brazilmax.com—“the hip guide to Brazil”—does a marvelous job of synthesizing articles and information on the rich cultural life in Brazil with coverage of ecotourism and responsible travel.

The African section of National Geographic Traveler, www.nationalgeographic.com/africa/, offers maps, articles, beautiful photographs, news, and other critical travel planning resources in a very organized and practical manner.

In the growing options for ecotourism and responsible travel—which Transitions Abroad has advocated for decades—there is no better source than Latin American and Ecotourism contributing editor Ron Mader’s Planeta.com web site, where thousands of pages of articles and resources are complemented by a forum of well-informed experts.

EthicalTraveler.com offers many fine articles and excellent information for those who wish to travel as ambassadors to those developing countries which truly support ecotourism and human rights. U.K.-based ResponsibleTravel.com includes some good content as context for the many travel packages it offers as a middleman to those they deem ethical tour operators.

Those who appreciate a travel yarn will find some good reads and a very literate blog at World Hum, www.worldhum.com. Worldhum’s new design is a great example of the use of a collaborative blog to offer timely travel news snapshots and inspirational travel stories. Gadling.com has created a similar model to weave travel information with insightful postings from around the globe from excellent in-the-know writers such as Erik Olsen. Travelers’ Tales, www.travelerstales.com, provides consistently humorous examples of literary travel writing and a huge catalog of interesting alternative travel books featuring a wide-range and style of story topics.

Journeywoman.com is the ultimate site for women travelers of all ages and backgrounds. The site is filled with articles, advice, and resources for the solo traveler as well as for those who wish to share in women-friendly group travel.

The mature traveler with a sense of adventure will love Transitions Abroad’s senior travel editor Alison Gardner’s Travel With a Challenge web site, www.travelwithachallenge.com. It showcases selected alternative travel programs as well as richly illustrated articles, links, and news.

Family Travel

As a child who traveled through deserts, camped with Bedouins, and seemingly visited every church and museum in existence, I know that family travel may be the most enduring form of education. While my parents did their own research, these days they could have referred to Travel for Kids, www.travelforkids.com, for ideas that would appeal to any family touring the globe and driven by curiosity.

Travel Blogs and Blogs From Abroad

The core of Rolf Potts’ trio of web sites is a blog, www.vagablogging.net, which provides a view into the adventurous life, distinguished work, and provocative thoughts of an extremely talented young writer. Rolf now shares his insights as a columnist in Traveling Light for Yahoo! Travel’s independent travel section at news.yahoo.com/i/2660.

Transitions Abroad columnist Tim Leffel hosts an award-wining blog (travel.booklocker.com) where he expands upon practical budget travel trends and tips while emphasizing respect for the local people of the countries where we are traveling and staying as guests. His new webzine, Perceptive Travel (www.perceptivetravel.com), features fine travel writing with reviews of world music and travel literature.

Bootsnall, www.bootsnall.com, features an eclectic group of blogs, which include Jen Leo’s fine site for travel writers (www.writtenroad.com) and information useful for anyone going it alone on both the beaten and unbeaten paths around the world.

The Tranquilo Traveler by Joshua Berman records in words and images an odyssey around the world, combining honeymooning, volunteer service, and a form of slow travel he dubs “The Tranquilo Traveler.”

Study Abroad

The database search engines provided by www.goabroad.com, www.iiepassport.org, www.studyabroad.com, www.studyabroadlinks.com, and www.planetedu.com, all provide roughly the same information. Of these, we prefer Goabroad.com for its simplicity.

The Institute of International Education (IIE) Open Doors Network, opendoors.iienetwork.org, provides interesting statistics and articles on all aspects of study abroad.

We may be biased, but we feel the study abroad page of TransitionsAbroad.com remains the best source of unfiltered first-hand information about studying abroad and educational travel for all ages.

Living Abroad

Tales from a Small Planet, www.talesmag.com, is a highly literate site that transports us into the countries in which those who report live in every imaginable hovel or haven.

IAgora, www.iagora.com, allows expatriates from many lands to communicate and post advice that makes everyone aware that one’s home is a relative term.

Work Abroad

Transitions Abroad’s own ever-evolving web site, TransitionsAbroad.com, currently emphasizes work abroad, which reflects the enormous interest in long-term travel and living abroad as jobs disappear at home and the outsourcing trend continues. More and more students are working abroad after graduation and still others are bucking the isolationist impulse in the U.S. in order to act as ambassadors abroad while immersing themselves in cultures overseas. The most common forms of work abroad are teaching English, internships, volunteer work, short-term and summer jobs, as well as international careers—for the more experienced corporate citizens or brave entrepreneurs.

Transitions Abroad’s work abroad editor William Nolting’s Univ. of Michigan site, www.umich.edu/~icenter/swt/index.html, is packed with the best resources for students, graduates, and independent travelers of all ages to research work opportunities abroad.

Jean-Marc Hachey's The Big Guide to Living and Working Overseas, www.workingoverseas.com, is the web site for the bible on international careers, and flexible online subscriptions are available.

Tesall.com provides an innovative job search engine and a daily selection of the best ESL jobs, which turns up thousands of jobs in the most desirable destinations. Dave’s ESL Café, www.daveseslcafe.com, offers a busy forum and loads of resources.

Idealist.org, www.idealist.org, offers every form of volunteer work imaginable along with advice and job boards.

Monster.com has expanded its job bank into the international arena with globalgateway.monster.com, while Going Global, www.goinglobal.com provides in-depth country-by-country resources for those who seek international careers in more than 25 countries for a fee.

TransitionsAbroad.com

Just as the magazine has done for decades in print, our web site continues to evolve as an ambitious and broad-based portal for travel, work, study, and living abroad. We point to the very best the Web has to offer, enriched by our own unmatched online selection of articles, resources, and links. Please visit the site we are creating with you in mind. (Web Editor's Note: see our Travel Link Central front page for more on each of the topics addressed in this overview).