Wednesday, September 20, 2006
TRIPADVISOR.COM
My wife and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary this past May, and we wanted to go someplace special to celebrate. We decided that since our anniversary fell so close to Cinco de Mayo, we’d find someplace that had a really good CDM celebration. However, a search of the internet told us what we pretty much already suspected: Cinco de Mayo is strictly an American holiday, invented by the tequila industry. Sure, it does have some Hispanic origin, but it’s not a particularly big deal in Mexico or any other place south of the border. While there are some places in America that have big street festivals for it, pretty much any bar has what we’re looking for in a Cinco de Mayo celebration. So we said heck with it and settled on Las Vegas.
While researching Las Vegas travel sites, I discovered TripAdvisor.com. It’s a site where anyone can go to read and write reviews about restaurants, hotels, attractions, and every other tourist destination in the world. It also includes forums for each site that allows visitors to ask questions and exchange information with other travelers and locals. It’s those forums I found particularly invaluable. Not only do you get pointed to good deals and insider tips, you really get a feel for how real people feel about different places and can match that up with your own feelings and expectations.
After we returned from Las Vegas, I was sure to go back there and leave reviews of all the places we went. When I was done, it suddenly occurred to me that with the way the site was set up, there was probably a page for every major city. I quickly checked the heading for “United States>Maryland>Baltimore” and sure enough, I pulled up our dedicated overview page. I have since made it a frequent stop, and made sure to check the questions on the message board so that I can offer local information to those travelers who decide to venture to our charming city. In my endeavors to do so, I have discovered how little about the place I actually know. Fortunately, there are other locals who frequent the board as well, but I do what I can.
Most questions are like "Where's a good place for crabs? or "Where should I go?" or "Is the Aquarium worth it?" or "Is the Wyndham really that bad?" Most answers can be found by either searching the message board before the question is asked, or using the site's other resurces and pulling up specific hotels and restaurants before you start. I try to remember that anyone asking a question has probably searched all over the internet before they find that site, and are probably asking the question because it's their first opportunity to do so and might allow them the luxury to avoid more research. Still, it can get pretty tiring to say "LP Steamer's" or "AVAM" or "Yes, if you get tickets online" or "Worse" over and over again. Still, it's nice to impart what little wisdom I have in a useful manner.
While researching Las Vegas travel sites, I discovered TripAdvisor.com. It’s a site where anyone can go to read and write reviews about restaurants, hotels, attractions, and every other tourist destination in the world. It also includes forums for each site that allows visitors to ask questions and exchange information with other travelers and locals. It’s those forums I found particularly invaluable. Not only do you get pointed to good deals and insider tips, you really get a feel for how real people feel about different places and can match that up with your own feelings and expectations.
After we returned from Las Vegas, I was sure to go back there and leave reviews of all the places we went. When I was done, it suddenly occurred to me that with the way the site was set up, there was probably a page for every major city. I quickly checked the heading for “United States>Maryland>Baltimore” and sure enough, I pulled up our dedicated overview page. I have since made it a frequent stop, and made sure to check the questions on the message board so that I can offer local information to those travelers who decide to venture to our charming city. In my endeavors to do so, I have discovered how little about the place I actually know. Fortunately, there are other locals who frequent the board as well, but I do what I can.
Most questions are like "Where's a good place for crabs? or "Where should I go?" or "Is the Aquarium worth it?" or "Is the Wyndham really that bad?" Most answers can be found by either searching the message board before the question is asked, or using the site's other resurces and pulling up specific hotels and restaurants before you start. I try to remember that anyone asking a question has probably searched all over the internet before they find that site, and are probably asking the question because it's their first opportunity to do so and might allow them the luxury to avoid more research. Still, it can get pretty tiring to say "LP Steamer's" or "AVAM" or "Yes, if you get tickets online" or "Worse" over and over again. Still, it's nice to impart what little wisdom I have in a useful manner.
# posted by Renfield @ 12:16 PM 
