The Digital Vibes

In planning my trips in the past, Tripadvisor, VirtualTourist and Wikitravel have been instrumental for me.

Wanderlust has struck again, this time I’m checking out Tripwolf that went into public beta not long ago. First take? I like it! The home page is very magazine-style with a couple of featured stories upfront. Destinations are easy to search with photos and videos providing insights a location. The Google map mashup is also useful in giving a sense of bearing.

The site offers advice and recommendations by locals and experienced travelers, as well as travel recommendations from “friends” (a web 2.0 requisite for any social network) that you acknowledge on the website.

There’s a Journal section for members to blog about the places that they’ve visited and this is a definite draw for travel aficionados who collect each destination as a badge of honor.

The potential for monetization lies in its Trips section, which is still under development. This section will eventually provide flight and hotel booking services, making Tripwolf a one-stop platform for planning, booking and recording your travels.

Tripwolf is essentially a big mashup of elements from different travel websites, but with its ease of use, it has a bright future in gathering one of the largest and most passionate audience group on the web – the travelers.