mytropicalescape.com

As we all know, there is a TON of travel related information on the web so I have decided to start a regular feature where I review websites that are devoted to traveling (backpacker to luxury), overseas living, and place specific (e.g. gotopuertorico.com) tourist sites. Everybody has their own personal preferences and since this is my site I will conduct my reviews based on what I typically look for when searching for travel content – my initial response (concept, well laid out, too busy etc), the information (content, useful, relevant), and detractions or minuses (too many ads, spelling mistakes, not relevant). Instead of using a common number scale (e.g. 1-10) for ranking I will just state whether I will be a “regular reader,” “will check back from time to time,” or “once was enough.”

Before I do my first review I wanted to let everyone know that tomorrow (Friday 9/27) we will be featuring our second guest author. Henkel Smith, who lives and owns Water’s Edge International Realty in Nicaragua, has been kind enough to write an article on what it is like living and purchasing property in Nicaragua. Please visit back if you want to learn more.

Today I will be looking at three different travel websites BOO.com, clearlyenlight.net, and one, which was recommended by Terence Chang, rosettarants.blgospot.com.

Boo.com bills itself as “collective wisdom” where you can search for information on over 2000 destinations. Similar to tripadvisor and yahootravel I think Boo is aiming for more of the independent traveler market and seeking to be viewed as a social networking site for travelers. The layout is easy to understand with a larger than normal “search box” area where you type in the destination that you would like travel information on, e.g. Culebra. The search is supposed to return all of the reviews, hotels, and travel stories that have been submitted thus far. The only problem I had with BOO was when I tried to put in a generic review of Culebra I kept getting an error saying that I did not fill out a section, but I am positive I did. Small glitches, such as erroneous error messages, could keep potential reviewers from coming back. As a final point, I also tried to register our guesthouse as a place of lodging, and although the process seemed to go well, as of this morning I still do not see the Palmetto Guesthouse listed. My rating – when traveling again I will go back and give BOO another shot.

The next two sites are travel blogs [ps – I can’t stand the word blog!] that contain the individual travel thoughts and experiences that each of the site owners have had, or are going to have.

First off, clearlyenlight.com, is the personal site of Enlight a Santa Cruz, California resident who will be leaving on November 11th 2007 to travel the world for the next 4 to 7 years. The website is very well laid out, easy to follow, and at first glance aesthetically pleasing. The site’s concept is summed up in the quote in his header, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” I believe (or hope) that Mr. Enlight’s goal is to not only give travelers a glimpse of the journey he is planning to undertake but, also to inspire people to get out, travel, and chase your goals. Kudos to Enlight because there is far too much useless drivel on the internet these days. The only down side that I can see is that we have to wait until November when his travels actually start, and I look forward to seeing more maps (I am a geographer) of the destinations he will be traveling to. My review – as an armchair traveler I will be a regular reader.

The second site up for review is RosettaRants, which is run by, “the Translator.” I had not been to this site before so I was interested to go by and have a look. On first view, the layout is nice and the title of his post today, “People that Park Like Idiots Really Tick Me Off” had me drawn in immediately. Although the site does have some travel related content, I think its strength lies in the offbeat news stories it carries. You just can’t go wrong with a website that can instruct you on the uses of the Toilet Snorkel. My review – when I want to read interesting offbeat stories I will go back.

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