Planning a trip, especially one outside your own country, entails a lot of research and arranging. You need to book reservations for transportation and lodging, obtain necessary travel documents and gather the right things to take with you. The Internet is a great place to learn about, plan and even book travel. But sifting through the hundreds of travel sites on the web can be daunting. So, once you decide you want to go somewhere, where do you start?

Read Up on Where You Want to Go

Writings about travel comprise a major genre of both literature and journalism. You can read about travel in fictional and literary works based on travel themes, in non-fiction travelogues and in specialized travel periodicals.

Travel periodicals are a great source for guides to travel, current news about travel services and, often, travel literature. Some online travel magazine web sites also offer reservation services. Links to online travel magazines and newsletters can be found at Magazines--Travel.

Two especially interesting travel periodicals are National Geographic Traveler and National Geographic.

Larger newspapers also have special travel sections, usually in their Sunday editions. Among the major ones are New York Times Travel, Washington Post Travel, and Los Angeles Times Travel.

Choose a Destination

Travel destination guides offer specific travel information on countries and cities.

Below are links to Web Sites With Information on Destinations, Free Travel Brochures You Can Write Away for or Order Online and Web Sites with Databases of Upcoming Special Events Around the World.

Sites Specializing in Databases of Information on Destinations

The following commercial web sites specialize in providing travel guides on a number of destinations:

Most of the all-in-one travel network sites listed under Book Your Trip, also provide databases of information on destinations:

The following are US Government web sites with encyclopedic information on countries around the world:

Free Travel Brochures You Can Order Online

An important source of free information on destinations is the government tourism offices of individual countries and US states. These offices promote tourism to their destinations in order to bring tourist income to their governments. If you visit, write or phone one of these official tourism offices, it will give or send you free detailed travel information on tours, trip plans, accommodations, etc., including free maps. Addresses, phone numbers and some web sites for most tourism offices around the world can be found at the following web sites.

Chambers of commerce also frequently provide free travel information for their destinations. Search the International Chamber of Commerce Directory to locate a chamber.

Web Sites with Databases of Upcoming Special Events Around the World

If you want to plan your trip around special events in various places, check out the following sites:

  • Fairs Net -- Information on upcoming North American fairs.
  • Festivals.com -- Information on upcoming festivals around the world.

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