LifeStyle

Planning a trip in the web2.0 generation

I’m taking a short holiday in Puerto Rico in 3 weeks from now and was browsing through the web to learn more about the island. There was no question about not looking for opinions, feedback and suggestions from past travelers and the cardinal rule to any search is - you start at Google.

And lo behold, I stumbled upon this fantastic mini-guide (a downloadable pdf) on TripAdvisor site aptly titled  "Puerto Rico highlights to go."   

It’s a gem of a collection of quotes, suggestions and ideas from past travelers - and a great primer for a place I’m only beginning to explore. As I explored the site in further detail, I was pleasantly surprised to find more interesting little tools –all compiled by travelers.

I was able to browse through quick lists prepared by travelers, look through their un-prettified, unvarnished and very real photographs of the island and get a great feel for the hotels and restaurants that have received good reviews.

By providing users with bite-sized information, downloadable guides and real time visuals, TripAdvisor totally warmed me
up to the place. Next, was checking out for any available videos on Turnhere.  No luck there, just a  little short film sponsored by Intercontinental Hotels. So we moved on to Travelistic and woah! I got more than my fill of Puerto Rico videos here!

I also spent a good 30 minutes browsing through photographs tagged Puerto Rico on Flickr. 

And then finally, spending some time downloading the right music thanks to tablettunes.com - to get into the mood on the flight to the islands. woah

Finally, I logged on to the AmEx  members website, used my travel miles and booked my flight and the rental car. I suppose the hotel can wait for a bit.

I wonder, I wonder — how the role of a travel agent will evolve in 5 years? Will they be putting together such multi-media guides from over the web? Not a bad idea, eh?