Online travel tools

Static, that site isn't very accurate. It's telling me that it's 10pm here in Manila, but it's only 9pm. We don't do DST. Strange.

Are you sure that you are in Manila? Go over to the window and look around.
Can you hear voices? Are they speaking in Tagalog?

Ack!

phew yes I am in Manila, it's snowing outside!

google online maps

web-based, simple, fast, accurate, etc....

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Originally posted by static:

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Is there a Website for TimeZones?

Time Zone Check

Dunno if this one is any better...?

Anyone know of a good weather site for checking what the weather generally is at a certain time of year? Like, I don't want to know what the weather is going to be in Scottsdale next week, but I need to know what the weather is in Scottsdale generally at the beginning of December. I don't need all kinds of complicated records and statistics, I just need to know what kind of clothes to pack!

the lonely planet website is handy to find out general destination information (weather, best time of year to travel, etc).. and you dont even have to buy the book!

i dont know how to create a link in here, but its:

www.lonelyplanet.com

you'll have to copy n paste, or (gasp) retype it.

oh the link works automatically.
i get it.

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Anyone know of a good weather site for checking what the weather generally is at a certain time of year?

World Climate

Trip Advisor - this lists a lot of reviews written by travelers for hotels worldwide. I searched through it for the hotels listed in Lonely Planet, and found quite a few review for each one. It was very helpful.

www.zuji.com

This is an awesome website to search for destinations using the flexible date option, including international locations originating with travel from the US. (For those in the US, Travelocity no longer allows searches for international destinations using the flexible date feature.) but Zuji's booking fees are very high compared to Travelocity's. So, once you find the dates you want, return to Travelocity US or Kayak, and book it!

Also three others I particularly rely upon:

Attitude Travel: Information for Independent Travel

is a godsend to independent budget travelers - it has a great search feature where you can search a pull-down menu by: "Budget Flights to/Getting To/Getting Around/Where to Stay in/What to do in, etc." in whatever country and it will come up with a list of helpful options. It also lists budget air carriers to and from various countries (e.g., the ones that don't often show up on larger airfare search engines) in helpful tables and maps.

Airline Information: airinfo.aero

which seems to be one of the most comprehensive websites regarding airline information (natch), including route, schedule, fare information as well as airlines by country and travel agents by country, specialization as well as on-line specials.

Airfare Watchdog

is probably the best site out there for up-to-date notifications of fare fluctuations and low-fare specials and deals. You can sign-up for daily or weekly email notifications of deals from your home city, complete with suggestions on hidden fares and other offers that include the small budget airlines as well (again, not always searchable or available on the big travel booking engines).

The beauty of Airfarewatchdog is that it (amazingly) uses real people, not web crawlers, to search for and publish low fares from all airlines. View the Top 50 Fares, Fare of the Day, and find out the best places to sit on U.S. airlines. It seems to be best for domestic US and Canada routes but it seems like they are starting to expand to include international destinations as well.

I'm all for supporting this site, as it's totally free, extremely helpful, and is grassroots-based. Use the site, tell others, click through their links and they'll be supported. (and I don't work for them, or even know them).

A couple of great general travel sites I've used in the past not specific for any one thing but both have great links is:
www.onebag.com
http://hasbrouck.org/
They are just good sites for general inormaiton for both the novice traveller and for the experienced.

Wikitravel is pretty helpful, depending on where you want to go, some places have a ton of information and others have barely any. It's a no-brainer though.

I use the Yahoo Currency Converter for work and for travel estimates.

I almost never fail to check outWeather.com before leaving for another place!

Travelblog is also a nifty site for getting ideas from fellow travel bugs. (Stalking other people's Multiplys, Blogspots, Livejournals, etc. work too.) Virtual Tourist has a lot of great tips as well.

Airasia, Tiger Airways, Jetstar and Cebu Pacific for cheap flights around Asia and Australia/NZ, especially their promos!

Hostelz.com as well as the thousands of hostel sites and homepages for my upcoming cheap-ass Southeast Asia trip.

Ticketmaster Australia, Sistic and HK Ticketing for updates on concerts and live shows in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong.

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Originally posted by WhereForArt:
Trip Advisor - this lists a lot of reviews written by travelers for hotels worldwide. I searched through it for the hotels listed in Lonely Planet, and found quite a few review for each one. It was very helpful.

I use this site a lot too!