Geeky Traveller » Networking http://www.geekytraveller.com Gadgets, tools, and tips for geeks who love to travel, and travelers who are geeks. Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:34:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 SoSauce lets you share your travel stories with others http://www.geekytraveller.com/2008/10/sosauce-lets-you-share-your-travel-stories-with-others/ http://www.geekytraveller.com/2008/10/sosauce-lets-you-share-your-travel-stories-with-others/#comments Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:24:07 +0000 http://www.geekytraveller.com/sosauce-lets-you-share-your-travel-stories-with-others/ Post from: Geeky Traveller

]]> SoSauce.com is another fun site that combines travel with social networking. Their Travel section allows you to share your travel stories with other visitors.

In the My Trips area, you can view you global footprint that shows a map of all the places you’ve been. Mine is woefully empty in comparison to the overall size of the planet. I’ll have to work on filling it out more! You can also show off your trips by posting photos, travel journals, tips you picked up (like where to go to get the best deals on local goods), reviews of the places you went (hotels, restaurants, clubs), and your favorite tourist spots.

As you make “friends” on the site, you can check out their travels as well, both via maps and their own review listings.

The community area allows you to ask members for tips on good places to go, and you can also view the editors’ picks for the most popular destinations and locations.

SoSauce isn’t groundbreaking; more and more social networking travel sites are popping up these days. However, it’s a great and handy site and I really like the way it’s all laid out. Check it out and start sharing info while you pick some up for your next getaway!

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]]> http://www.geekytraveller.com/2008/10/sosauce-lets-you-share-your-travel-stories-with-others/feed/ 1 Get the “Guideal” guide http://www.geekytraveller.com/2008/07/get-the-guideal-guide/ http://www.geekytraveller.com/2008/07/get-the-guideal-guide/#comments Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:27:59 +0000 http://www.geekytraveller.com/get-the-guideal-guide/ Post from: Geeky Traveller

]]> While I have the utmost respect for travel agents (I studied to be one myself before changing career track ideas), there’s something I absolutely love about websites that allow your average amateur at home to help you with your travel. Many sites feature sections where you can review your opinions on hotels, restaurants, and attractions where you’ve traveled. However, Guideal (how cute is that name) lets the locals help you out – in person.

Basically, the gist of it is that people sign up to offer their wisdom and advice as a tour guide in their own area. A local guide will sign up and place an ad, basically, explaining what they’ll show you on their tour of their city. If you’re traveling, you can then contact a guide and set up a personal tour. Much like eBay, there is a feedback rating to help people figure out if a guide is right for them.

Some guides offer their services for free while others will charge a nominal fee – it’s up to you to decide how much you wish to pay, if anything, and choose your guide from there.

The benefits of this is that travel books and travel agents will focus on the bigger, more obvious attractions, the restaurants that are reviewed in papers, the sights everyone knows about. The local guide will know about that really good Italian restaurant that outsiders haven’t heard of. A local guide will be able to tell you a great place to go dancing that isn’t as crowded as the one that got listed in the travel brochure.

The site is still fairly new so they’re working on building it up – there are still a lot of places that don’t have guides yet. It seems to be catching on a bit though, so it may grow quickly.

I know that I enjoy telling people who plan to visit Montreal about a few of the places they might otherwise miss, so I think this idea is great!

What do you think? Would you sign on for a travel guide? Would you hire one?

(source)

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]]> http://www.geekytraveller.com/2008/07/get-the-guideal-guide/feed/ 4 Business lunches with Wi-Fi http://www.geekytraveller.com/2008/05/business-lunches-with-wi-fi/ http://www.geekytraveller.com/2008/05/business-lunches-with-wi-fi/#comments Tue, 27 May 2008 15:34:41 +0000 http://www.geekytraveller.com/business-lunches-with-wi-fi/ Post from: Geeky Traveller

]]> When you’re doing business, even the toughest entrepreneur needs to break for lunch of dinner. In fact, business dinners are frequently a huge part of business travel and are a great opportunity for some networking in a more relaxed environment than the boardroom.

Work From Anywhere
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What about another kind of networking though? Conducting business has changed over the years and no one wants to lug a briefcase full of memos and papers to dinner. With everyone owning Blackberry devices or other similar PDAs or even laptops, what people want to know now is: Where can I get Wi-Fi access?

If you want to discuss the latest business trends or check out a report over Chardonnay and pasta, you need wireless. This website offers a listing of over 2600 Wi-Fi hotspots in various restaurants all over the U.S. If you’re traveling in the near future, check your destination city to find out which restaurants you should suggest to your boss for lunch and get in some business while you wait for your salad.

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]]> http://www.geekytraveller.com/2008/05/business-lunches-with-wi-fi/feed/ 1 Meet new people for lunch http://www.geekytraveller.com/2007/10/meet-new-people-for-lunch/ http://www.geekytraveller.com/2007/10/meet-new-people-for-lunch/#comments Fri, 12 Oct 2007 01:45:34 +0000 http://www.geekytraveller.com/meet-new-people-for-lunch/ Post from: Geeky Traveller

]]> Noonhat is a website that refers to itself as an easy and safe way to meet people for lunch. The way it works seems pretty straightforward. You enter your email address, the date, and then choose your location. After you submit your info, Noonhat will find other folks in the area who are looking for lunch buddies.

The brain behind the site, Brian Dorsey, hopes that it will help people to meet up and enjoy some good conversation with people they might never meet otherwise. It sounds a little wacky, but then again, think back to the early days of the Internet. How many of us started making friendships with people we didn’t know in other cities or countries? How many of us started online journals, then blogs, and reached out to others, sharing part of ourselves in the process? Many people thought those of us who did that were weird – I can’t tell you how many people couldn’t understand why I wrote about myself on the Internet. Now every other person you speak to either has a blog or reads some. Online friendships are common, and so some day meeting lunch dates over the Internet might not sound so strange either.

It’s currently available in North America. I confess that I’d be a little apprehensive only because I’m not super fond of small talk. Still, I’m curious about it, and I can see how it could be interesting if you were traveling around and wanted to meet up with some locals to chit chat over a plate of pasta about interesting sights to see.

What do you think? Would you try it out?

(Source)

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