Not-so Lonely Planet

I have spent the last few days really working hard to plan my summer trip to Europe before my study abroad in Scotland starts and let me tell you it has been an adventure in itself. There are some really unhelpful sites that are a waste of time and cyberspace! However, there are some really great ones too. My new favorite is from the makers of the Lonely Planet guidebooks. The site features an incredible forum called the Thorn Tree that has tons of useful/interesting information from where to buy clothes to the best bars for bachelorette parties. This really exemplifies everything that we have talked about concerning collective intelligence in terms of travel. This site really seems to be a hybrid of other sites we've discussed in class combining elements of MeetUp.com through the Thorn Tree section, Expedia.com in the booking section, Amazon.com in the store section, Blogger.com in the travel blog section, and even YouTube in the video blogging section called Lonely Planet TV.  The Bluelist feature is especially one to take a look at as it is completely self-catering to your personal tastes, another example of sites catering to niche markets. All I can say is that this site is awesome to view through the lens of everything we've learned about in class and even cooler to use. Don't miss this site if you are planning a trip or even just interested in travel!