One of my favorite things to do is travel. I love to visit new places and explore different areas. When I visit new cities and towns I will always pick the local restaurant over the national chain, and I always look to make every vacation and trip as full of the local culture as possible.
When you are traveling to a new town, or better yet a new country it can often be hard to decide where to go and what to see. Many travel websites are geared more toward advertising for a particular hotel or attraction that telling you what they are really like, so it can be hard to sort between what is fact and what is fiction about a particular location.
One site that I have found particularly helpful in recent years has been igougo. The site is essentially a community of travelers all who post travel journals on their various adventures that can be browsed through my potential travelers to the area. The travel journals cover small towns in the United States and various places around the world. Users can post photos from their travels on the site as well as descriptions and reviews of hotels, travel, restaurants and attractions.
As if all that was not enough, you can also earn prizes by posting your travel journal. As someone who always gets excited about prizes, I have to admit this was one of the first things that drew me to the site. The more journals and photos you post the more points you earn on the site. Points can be traded in for gift certificates to a variety of online shops, or frequent flyer points to finance your next adventure.
My friend Tim has an online travel journal just for his own enjoyment. You can use your travel journal to meet like travelers, and you can discuss your upcoming trip online with a local in the area.
For more travel journals and tips for traveling you can also check out the families.com Travel Journal.