Jim Regan - Site Reviews
PlanetRider
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There are so many travel-related sites online that you could spend the better part of two weeks just checking out relevant links, and by the time you're done, it will be a toss-up as to whether your eyes or your brain have been more blurred by the experience. Fortunately, in recognition of the time-honoured tradition of letting someone else do the dirty work for you, the people at PlanetRider have surveyed the aforementioned sites, eliminated about 95% of them, and used the rest to create a mercifully straightforward directory of the best travel-related sites on the Web.
All of the options for exploring the PlanetRider site are immediately apparent on the opening page. The eye is first drawn to one of a series of striking images which accompany a set of "Feature Destinations." (Reload the page to see more.) The Feature Destinations are simply a direct link to collected Web sites related to specific locations. "Ten Minute Vacations" -- another front page highlight -- adds a few hyperlinked paragraphs about the subject locale. Both provide the first-time visitor with an introduction to the variety, depth and operation of the PlanetRider site.
The bulk of the site can be accessed from three directories that rest in a navigation bar at the top of each page. All three will get you to the same information, but you have the option to choose the direction of your search. Destinations groups sites by geography -- through links and/or a clickable map, visitors can search through continent, to country, to specific location. Then, having chosen London, (or the Orkney Islands) the visitor is presented with a collection of web sites relevant to that locale.
For destinations with an overabundance of links, the sites are further divided into such categories as Arts and Culture, Adventure Sports, and Lodging. Landscapes allows the visitor to search the same sites by preferred environment (Mountains, Seashores, Deserts...) instead of map co-ordinates, and Activities categorizes by motivation rather than location.
Using this third option, you can first decide how you want to spend your vacation (swimming with dolphins, perhaps?) and PlanetRider will tell you where you can best fulfil the dream of your dream vacation. (Smaller directories on the navigation bar include Web sites for Travel Discounts, Online Reservations, Travel Related Stores, and information for the Business Traveller, while Travel Wire points to Maps, Local Weather and Currency Converters.) The links themselves are all reviewed and rated, by ease of use, and by the quality -- and integrity -- of the information provided. Clicking on a link opens the site in its own window -- so you can go off for a tour of Dublin's architecture without losing your page in PlanetRider. (The PlanetRider site does reload its current page each time a link is chosen though, so although you may have been at the bottom of a list when you left, you'll find yourself back at the top when you return. You can prevent this hyperactivity by temporarily disabling JavaScript in your browser's preferences.)
Of course, no site is perfect. It's a big world, and the current number of collected destinations is fairly limited, with a heavy emphasis on Europe (the only Canadian entry so far is Toronto). But let's face it, more people will be looking for information about Paris than Kentville, Nova Scotia, (although if you do want to learn more about Kentville, the official town site is right here) and there is useful information here regardless of destination, such as the maps and currency converters. And, even if you can't make it to Rome this year, PlanetRider can still offer you a tour of the Catacombs.
PlanetRider can be found at http://www.planetrider.com/
Jim Regan provides 'Today's Links' to the e-Monitor. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.