This Web site puts a unique spin on travel guides. I recommend registering first, because then you can participate in the community, keep track of your travels, as well as, where you’d like to go.
All you need to do to register is provide your name, e-mail address, a username and a password. Both your name and your e-mail will be kept private. An activation e-mail will come to the address you provided (mine came immediately). Once you receive that, all you have to do is click the activation link and you’ll be good to go.
Main – Once you’re logged in, under the Main tab, you will find the links for Home and My Profile. Here you will be able to customize your profile with a picture of yourself and with as much or as little detail about yourself as you’d like to share. You can also see your contributions (photos, journals, etc.) and even detail where you’ve been or where you’d like to go.
Explore – This tab is broken down into three categories: visuals, journals and guides.
Visuals will give you travel photos to choose from. There was a beautiful image of an arched doorway from Florence here. When I moused over it, it told me who contributed it and there was a plus sign on the picture. I clicked that and it took me to that picture’s page where I had the option to see the original and get a guide for Florence. I chose to see the original and boy, was I surprised! Not only does it enlarge the picture, but you can zoom in to see all of the details. That has to be the most beautifully carved doorway I’ve ever seen in my life.
Journals is a delightful section, because you can learn about people’s experiences from the places they’ve seen and stayed at. Use the map on the left hand side to choose where you’d like to see journals from. You can sort the content with a drop down on the green bar near the top of the page. Your options are: Writing Quality, Travel Experience, Humor and Latest Updated.
Guides is where you can find the travel guides. Again, you can use the map to navigate through the places you want a travel guide for. I’m not sure if there is another way to do this or not. There is a search engine, but since I adore the map navigation so much, I actually didn’t try it out. Travel guides really seem like a one stop area. You’ll find information about the location, you might see videos or pictures, there are maps and there is even a news section.
My Travels is a section all about where you’ve been. You can write journal entries describing your travels and upload photos from your trip. I think it is very cool that they are providing people an opportunity to share their experiences in different places like this!
Community is a section where you will find Members, Messages and Discussions as the links. The Members link will take you to the database of users who are members. You can scroll down through them and learn all about them. Messages is where you will find messages other users have left you. And finally, Discussions is pretty much a forum. You’ll find discussions on travel, places to stay and other topics of the sort. You can also start a discussion of your own to get your own answers or you can present your own topic.
This is a great site that really captures the spirit of traveling around the world. Plus, it lets you share it with others or even just experience it second hand. Enjoy!
~ Amanda