Cutline Speaks

Travel 2.0: A Tribute to Lonely Planet

posted by Meghan on June 11, 2009

I just returned from a lovely trip to England and France, which included a drive through part of the Alps en route to Nice. Not wanting to drive the motorway the entire trip, we searched for alternate routes that would take us through the mountains and along scenic roads using Google Maps' draggable marker feature.

After also punching in a few key words in Google's search box, we found exactly what we were looking for from Lonely Planet. The first route recommended started from our current location in Grenoble and took us through a scenic drive along canyons, lakes and rivers. It not only came with detailed turns and exits but also comments and updates from other users providing more details. Within just a few minutes, we had an entire day's trip planned through Gap, Sisteron, Digne on to Moustieres Ste. Maries and into the Gorges du Verdon. After determining the route, other blogs and recommendations provided more details with places to stop and pictures of must-see sites.

When researching Lonely Planet on-the-fly for this trip I realized that they also have a City Guide for the iPhone. Now that I'm back from vacation, I'm going to check out the San Francisco City Guide and see how easy it is to use. Although, I have to admit I do like being lost for a bit. Unplugging for a while allows you to stumble upon new sites or hidden places while you try to find your own way. Thankfully, we have technology to help us out after we've spent a few hours circling the same roundabout.

I might be preaching to the choir here, but being able to quickly access a map, comments and recommendations from people who have recently gone on the same trip was a huge reminder of how peer-to-peer recommendations and social networks has changed the way we live.

Tags for this post: social networking