Get the info you need. Then get out the door.
That was our mantra when putting together Outside's guide to the Internet. The cheapest gear, the choicest hotel rooms, the best training tools, maps, and weather sites. It's all here. Now it's up to you to customize your browser or handheld device—so you can turn them off and relax.
Travel
Booking
When's the best time to buy? Farecast.com predicts whether fares between specific cities will rise or fall in the near future. Yapta.com will track prices on your selected flights and alert you via e-mail when they fall. Whenever you go, SeatGuru.com helps you pick the best seat on the plane.
Travel Planning
Tripwolf.com covers 250,000 destinations, mostly in Europe, and also features content pulled from Wikipedia and YouTube.
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For user-generated reviews, we still love TripAdvisor.com, which has more than 20 million food and lodging picks around the world. Where to go next? Trazzler.com and Tripbase.com churn out great recommendations geared to your interests, while Away.com has helpful lists (best snorkeling in the Caribbean) and travel tips (Timeshares 101).
Where to Stay
HotelChatter.com is the Gawker.com of the hotel industry, with daily reviews and gossip, plus lists like “The Five Worst Hotel Rooms for Drunk People.” More practical is VibeAgent.com, which collects user-generated hotel recommendations and searches more than 30 booking sites for the best deals. TripKick.com rates hotels and recommends the best rooms at each in terms of size, views, etc.
Online Video
The team at TVtrip.com creates one-to-two-minute video hotel reviews so you can view location, rooms, and even workout facilities before booking. TripFilms.com has some of the most professional-looking amateur videos on the Web. ZoomAndGo.com may have the largest travel video-collection, with over 12,000. Plus, upload a photo from the road and they’ll turn it into a postcard and snail-mail it anywhere in the world ($2–$3 per card).
