Thinkworx

Web 2.0, as popularly referred to, continues to bring us great web services. A new one that I am excited about is TripIt.com. This site is extremely simple to use but is a very useful tool to manage your trip itinerary. All you have to do it forward your travel confirmation emails, you know the ones you get from the travel agent, hotel, car rental, etc., to plans@tripit.com. You don’t even have to register first, sending your first email will do the job (your itineraries are associated with your email address). At this point TripIt parses through the emails identifying key data and creates a single master itinerary. This single master itinerary is then accessible as an iCalendar, making it easy to integrate into your existing calendaring system (Google Calendar, Outlook 2007, etc.) That’s not all, here is where the power of web services kicks in, the Itinerator then searches the web to add related information, including daily weather, local maps, driving directions, city guides and more! I haven’t used it for a trip yet, but will be sure to do so the next time I get a chance.