General Travel Information: Guides, flights, etc.
Jump to: Transportation -- Travel Guides
Misc. Travel Resources
Searchable weather forecasts for most locations. Great for planning that impromptu getaway!
National Weather Service Web Weather
Weather for any location in the USA. Simply type in the city or the ZIP code. Handy, and great for daydreaming while you are at work: "I wonder what the weather in Key West is like?"
See how much chocolate that Swiss Franc, Czech Koruna or Euro will buy you.
Info on US passports, including downloadable forms, foreign travel advisories, visa requirements, and more. Look here before you start planning your foreign adventure.
"The art and science of traveling light."
Transportation
Best Fares.com provides an up-to-date list of airfare bargains. Some are for subscribers only, but most are available to the general public. Every Wednesday they have a chart showing all the last-minute weekend airfares being offered by the major airlines. Don't buy a ticket until you check here!
Low-priced last minute getaways worldwide. We've used them and have been pleased with their service.
Another last-minute travel vendor.
An online travel vendor specializing in package deals overseas. I haven't used them (yet), but they routinely have very good prices on packages to interesting destinations. Their home office is only about 10 minutes from where I live (Philadelphia area).
Online forums dedicated to most of the world's frequent flyer programs.
Online Travel Guides and Information
What do I use? Generally, when traveling in Europe I'll use a combination of Rick Steves' and Lonely Planet guides. Rick Steves provides good walking tours and area overviews, but he limits his books to the main touristed areas. Lonely Planet is useful for reading about the tiny town you find yourself lost in.
In the USA, I like the Moon guidebooks the best. Comprehensive, well-written, and good for both low-budget types and those with a bit more to spend.
Rick Steves/Europe Through the Back Door
When it comes to Europe, Rick's your man. The Europe guru of PBS and guidebook fame has now added the Web to his list of media. Steves is opinionated in his suggestions, and leaves a lot out of his books. That's his style. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn't. I take his books along with a more comprehensive guidebook (like Lonely Planet's).
A prolific publisher of travel guidebooks. Lonely Planet also has searchable information on destinations around the world. Their guides tend to cater to the backpacker, public transportation (trains, mostly) set, but are good areas off the beaten tourist track. I've used several of their guidebooks and highly recommend them.
A very good series of guidebooks covering most of the world. These are my favorite guidebooks for traveling in the USA.
One of the premier travel guidebook publishers. Their online site has lots of useful info in a searchable database format.
From the king of travel guidebooks. Frommer's site offers daily updates and a myriad of travel suggestions. They have become a bit commercialized in recent years. I don't always trust their e-mail "suggestions" any more, as they often push their advertisers' offerings.
Back to Brian's Travel Page
Go to: