Many people view the internet as just a place that you can purchase items, including airline tickets, or research people, places, and things. There are many other things you can do including actually planning a trip. The internet gives you the ability to map your path, reserve hotels, locate restaurants, identify the location of the nearest gas station or ATM, and even let you know points of interest along the way. Not only that but it can calculate the expected amount of travel time and estimate the costs of the trip.
Top Map & Trip Sites
There are many websites that offer detailed maps and information based on the information you put in. The top 5 map sites in alphabetical order are Ask City, Google Maps, Live Search Maps, MapQuest, & Yahoo Maps.All of these have great tools in addition to the maps themselves. Some of the features include pushpins to mark places on the map, traffic information, save your routes, dynamically add a stop to your trip by dragging the route, send your trip to your cell phone, and more. Each of the maps only have some of these features, but all of them have street maps and satellite views.
Other Useful Map & Trip Sites
AAA members can use the TripTik service which highlights and binds a series of maps and clearly delineates your route, as well as road symbols, driving regulations and emergency phone numbers for each state you will be crossing. You can now order your TripTik on the web (www.aaacolorado.com). Just type in your membership number, your starting point and destination, preferred highways and where you'd like to stop along the way. The online form is then assembled by hand and mailed to your nearest AAA branch, from there it's mailed to your home, usually within a few days.
Freetrip (www.freetrip.com) will give you a list of historical sites along the route if that is your desire.
Rand McNally (www.randmcnally.com) allows you to dodge roadwork by checking construction updates. You can also store ideas for future trips.
If you're a tourist who's had his fill of government monuments, you simply must visit Roadsideamerica (www.roadsideamerica.com). It contains a list of some of the most bizarre landmarks in America, like the World's Largest Ten Commandments in Murphy, North Carolina, or Jim the Wonder Dog Memorial Park in Marshall, Missouri, which honors an allegedly clairvoyant English setter who died in 1937 and was thought by some to be a reincarnation of King Solomon.
