Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

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gravlax
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Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by gravlax »

I've got a bit of wanderlust (and some vacation time!) and am planning on doing some travel soon, but still int he planning stages.

I've tried Google for "travel forum" but I keep finding advertisements or not very active forums. I'd love to find a community like bogleheads.org, but for those who like to travel.

Any suggestions?
DTSC
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by DTSC »

Try tripadvisor.com
Random Poster
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by Random Poster »

flyertalk.com

(ETA: Lonely Planet used to have a travel forum, I don't know if they still do, but at the time the forum had lots of question posting and little answer posting. I suspect that Rick Steves has some sort of travel forum as well, but I'd imagine that it would be focused on European travel.)
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kramer
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by kramer »

The Lonely planet forum is probably the best place to get specific questions answered:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/index.jspa

once you have an idea of where you want to go.

I actually have a more difficult time getting a real overview of some destinations when I am trying to decide where to go.
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Tycoon
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by Tycoon »

I second Trip Advisor. I've used the website many times and it has always been a useful source of information.
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LFKB
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by LFKB »

Trip Advisor is great
dhodson
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by dhodson »

biddingfortravel.com if u want to learn how to maximize priceline
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Steelersfan
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by Steelersfan »

Fodors for typical boglehead type of travel:

http://www.fodors.com/community/

Lonely Planet for more downscale advice:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/index.jspa

I haven't used this one much, but it seems to have good advice too, searchable by destination:

http://forum.virtualtourist.com/

For ratings of hotels and general advice on what to do when you get there, it's hard to beat Trip Adviser.
avalpert
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by avalpert »

I would agree that lonelyplanet tends to be best for specific questions with an active community of longtime travellers.

Fodors is for tourists.

What I would recommend, head to your local book store and read the intro chapters to a few lonely planet, moon handbooks or footprint guides for locations that strike you and the ideas will start to flow. If you give some broad view of what you'd like to get out of the travels I can give you specific locations to get you started.
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by richard »

tripadvisor and fodors are my favorites for general issues. flyertalk for some topics.
jlawrence01
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by jlawrence01 »

Thorntree (Lonely Planet) is better for international travel than domestic.
CityData is better for domestic travel. It is probably better to post on the location site than the general travel forum.
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VictoriaF
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by VictoriaF »

avalpert wrote:I would agree that lonelyplanet tends to be best for specific questions with an active community of longtime travellers.

Fodors is for tourists.

What I would recommend, head to your local book store and read the intro chapters to a few lonely planet, moon handbooks or footprint guides for locations that strike you and the ideas will start to flow. If you give some broad view of what you'd like to get out of the travels I can give you specific locations to get you started.
I agree with this.

I don't use the Fodors guides, because they emphasize comfort and safety at the expense of surprise and adventure. I stumbled upon TripAdvisor a few times and did not find it useful either. People spend a lot of time rating their hotel and restaurant experiences, whereas in my opinion, hotels and restaurants are enablers of experiences rather the ends in themselves.

I decide on destinations from talking to other travelers, the ones who do not use Fodors or TripAdvisor. Once I have a rough idea where I want to go, I usually get a Lonely Planet guide. It provides me with default options, and I am happy to break my plans for the sake of unexpected opportunities.

Victoria
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rwcox123
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by rwcox123 »

In my experience, TripAdvisor and LonelyPlanet forums are very useful once you have chosen a destination (for international travel). They aren't very good at giving you an overview of a place to help you decide if you want to go there at all. But these forums can be very useful to peruse and ask questions on to get the details for a place you know you are headed towards. Which one is more useful depends on the destination -- for example, DW and I are planning a trip to Nepal this winter, and I'm finding both forums pretty pertinent.

LonelyPlanet was bought by the BBC a few years back, who scrubbed all the old forum posts for some stupid reasons, which makes their archives pretty thin. They have been bought up by some American outfit recently, and perhaps their old forum posts will someday come back.

Guidebooks are helpful to get the big picture which travel forums aren't good at giving. As are tourist websites of various governments -- at least these sites can give you some ideas, which you can refine via books and forums.
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halfnine
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by halfnine »

gravlax wrote:I've got a bit of wanderlust (and some vacation time!) and am planning on doing some travel soon, but still int he planning stages.

I've tried Google for "travel forum" but I keep finding advertisements or not very active forums. I'd love to find a community like bogleheads.org, but for those who like to travel.

Any suggestions?
Are you looking for a community of like minded people or just advice? Most of the travel forums I've been a part of the "community" aspect of them has largely died off in the last 5 years or so. And I am not so sure they exist anymore at least not for the travel style I am interested in.
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Duckie
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by Duckie »

Frommer's (which originally had guidebooks like Europe on $5 a Day) has Trip Ideas and a Community section.

If you're thinking of Europe, Rick Steves has a Graffiti Wall.
jasg
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by jasg »

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VictoriaF
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by VictoriaF »

Slow Travel has the right idea, but the name is awkward. I would call it "deliberate," or "authentic," or even "real travel" in contrast with a "tour."

Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
OnBoard
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by OnBoard »

I personally like Travelblog.

http://www.travelblog.org/
MIGIHIDARI
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by MIGIHIDARI »

Figure out a country you are interested in then find a forum for that country. Lonely planet is a good one. But you must select a country first.
I found a good one for India called Indiamike.com. I remember getting a lot of info on vietnam from one of the vietnam forums.
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Diogenes
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by Diogenes »

I usually look for expat blogs in the country I will be traveling to. I avoid Rick Steves and similar as they U.S. centric are oriented toward the helicopter boomers who are 2-week tourists but not travelers to a location.
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mako171
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Re: Can anyone suggest any good travel forums?

Post by mako171 »

I think you are looking for www.traveltalkonline.com

The BVI forum is the most active though geared towards bareboat sailing charters. I spend a lot of time lurking over there.
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