TripIt Travel Itinerary Planning Website

TripIt is an online application that allows travelers to consolidate all of the separate components of their travel plans in to one master itinerary. You can then share, print and access your information from anywhere in the world. And the best part is – it’s FREE.

Some people are SUPER unorganized, but TripIt can make travel a breeze – even for them. How does this miraculous bit of technology work? Well, you email TripIt your travel plans, regardless of where you booked. TripIt will then build the itinerary with your plans, constructed in a way even my 5 year old nephew could understand.

In addition to the information you ask for, TripIt also provides Google maps and directions, weather, SeatGuru airline seat advice, Wikipedia city information, event information and Flickr city photos. That sounds like a great way to introduce yourself to a new city and a head start on a good trip.

You do need an account to access all of the wonderful features available on TripIt, but signing up is a breeze on the website. After registering with the site, you will receive a confirmation email to ensure you are, in fact, a real person AND the owner of that address.

TripClipper is a plug-in available for IE, Firefox and Safari that allows you to collect your travel information. When you find something FANTASTIC, you click on the “Add to TripIt” tab in your browser toolbar and save the information to TripClipper. In the end, you have all of your travel research in one place, where you can then integrate the information in to your itinerary or store it for future use. This information can be shared with whoever you wish, such as your prospective travel partners. You can use TripClipper for travel plans, as well as for restaurants, activities and reviews in the area.

To create your itinerary, you just forward the confirmation emails you receive from your hotel, airline and rental car company to TripIt. They will respond with an email with a link to the Trip Plan for that particular trip. The website supports most travel carriers in the United States, but you CAN manually add your information if your airline or hotel of choice isn’t on the list. If you’re planning multiple trips, as any good business travel always is, TripIt will classify your information based on travel dates.

All in all, I think this is a really good tool. Especially for those of you who have the time to put all of the information together or have wonderful office staff who will do so for you.