I’ve just discovered TripIt.com. The following “blog badge” shows how many miles I’ve travelled since the beginning of 2008 (it updates in real time - if you visit this page while I’m away, it will tell you where I am):
Each time I book a flight/hotel/train/etc, I just forward the confirmation email to plans@tripit.com, and it automatically creates an itinerary that I can carry with me, or email, or check for last minute changes (e.g. flight times). The really smart thing is this forwarding feature. It’s effortless - it works out for itself that anything that’s been booked within the same period is part of the same trip (and if it gets it wrong, it’s almost as effortless to correct). So each trip will show the trains, hotels, flights, etc. all conveniently filed in a single place accessible from the web, or my iPhone. It’s so very easy that I got a bit carried away and forwarded all my trips from 2008. For no good reason, really.
I did think about putting the “badge” into the sidebar on the right, so that people could see when/where my next trips are. But... (a) I’m not sufficiently organized enough to organize all my trips in advance, (b) it’s too wide, and (c) I’m not convinced it’s stylish enough for this blog.
But then neither am I.
Happy Easter.
