{"id":2632,"date":"2010-11-01T08:24:59","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T15:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mlgsca.mlanet.org\/newsletter\/?p=2632"},"modified":"2011-01-04T10:58:48","modified_gmt":"2011-01-04T17:58:48","slug":"organize-your-business-and-personal-travel-with-tripit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mlgsca.mlanet.org\/newsletter\/?p=2632","title":{"rendered":"Best Bytes: TripIt \u2013 Organize your business and personal travel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Submitted by Janet Crum, Director of Library Services, City of Hope<\/em><\/p>\n

Whether you travel for business, pleasure, or both, you know that organizing the information you need for a trip can be a challenge. \u00a0Until recently, whenever I traveled, I printed out a stack of documents: flight itinerary, shuttle or rental car reservations, hotel confirmation, maps and directions to various places, and conference or meeting information. \u00a0Then at each stage of the trip, I’d fumble in my bag for the right piece of paper. \u00a0For my most recent trip, to the Library Assessment Conference in Baltimore, I tried an online tool called TripIt<\/a>. \u00a0TripIt combines text recognition, mobile apps and interfaces, and social networking into a handy tool for managing your travel itinerary. \u00a0TripIt keeps track of all your reservations and schedules, maps and meetings, accessible from your computer or mobile device. \u00a0A basic account is free. \u00a0Just sign up with TripIt or link your Google or Facebook account to get started.<\/p>\n

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Inputting and managing your travel information<\/strong><\/h3>\n
When you sign up, you will be asked to enter any email addresses that you plan to use to forward travel information. After that, you can forward travel confirmations from airlines, online travel agencies, hotels, etc., to plans@tripit.com. TripIt attempts to create a travel itinerary from the email. \u00a0In my experience, it can process most travel confirmations, though it sometimes has problems with reservation confirmations from hotels. \u00a0If it can’t interpret the email you forward, it will notify you, so you can enter the information manually. \u00a0You can also enter maps, directions, and information about meetings and attach associated documents to create a complete schedule for yourself. \u00a0The end result is a user-friendly itinerary to replace the sheaf of papers. \u00a0Below is a screenshot showing part of my Baltimore itinerary:<\/div>\n

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And here’s another part of my itinerary, showing my conference schedule. \u00a0I entered all of this information manually.<\/p>\n

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Mobile access<\/strong><\/h3>\n
If an online travel site is to be useful, mobile access is a must. \u00a0TripIt provides a mobile interface to their web site, as well as apps for Blackberry, iPhone, and Android devices. \u00a0I installed the Blackberry app on my Storm smartphone and found it helpful but not a complete replacement for a printed itinerary. \u00a0The app truncated some entries, so I couldn’t view my reservation information for some items. \u00a0I haven’t used the apps for iPhone or Android, so I don’t know if they have the same problem.<\/div>\n

Social networking and integration with other services<\/strong><\/h3>\n
You can invite friends to join or import your email address book to find friends who have already joined TripIt. \u00a0When you create a trip, TripIt will show you which of your friends is located at your destination, so you can meet for coffee or, more importantly, save money on lodging by crashing on your friend’s couch. \u00a0You can also create or join a group on TripIt \u00a0to see where others in your organization are going.<\/div>\n

TripIt also integrates with Facebook, so you don’t have to wait for your annual holiday letter to brag to your friends about your exciting travels. \u00a0Just link your Facebook account, and TripIt will post updates to your profile when you create a new trip and when you leave or return from a trip (see screenshot below).<\/p>\n

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You can find lots of reviews of TripIt online, including on CNet<\/a> and ProfHacker<\/a>.<\/div>\n
Bon voyage!<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Submitted by Janet Crum, Director of Library Services, City of Hope Whether you travel for business, pleasure, or both, you know that organizing the information you need for a trip can be a challenge. \u00a0Until recently, whenever I traveled, I printed out a stack of documents: flight itinerary, shuttle or rental car reservations, hotel confirmation, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mlgsca.mlanet.org\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2632"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mlgsca.mlanet.org\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mlgsca.mlanet.org\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mlgsca.mlanet.org\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mlgsca.mlanet.org\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2632"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"http:\/\/www.mlgsca.mlanet.org\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2897,"href":"http:\/\/www.mlgsca.mlanet.org\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2632\/revisions\/2897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mlgsca.mlanet.org\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mlgsca.mlanet.org\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mlgsca.mlanet.org\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}