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Travel Information on the Internet

I unabashedly state that I seldom use the internet for anything, especially for finding travel information. Perhaps I figure that I can figure out anything about travel in a place when I get there, or perhaps I know that the internet has become a big fat virtual shopping mall. Sales, and not information, has quickly [...]

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I unabashedly state that I seldom use the internet for anything, especially for finding travel information. Perhaps I figure that I can figure out anything about travel in a place when I get there, or perhaps I know that the internet has become a big fat virtual shopping mall. Sales, and not information, has quickly become the hallmark of the internet. For it is the company with something to sell that has the money to hire an SEO firm that will land their page high in the Google index instead the frigging nobody with an ugly site who is just publishing information for his own self gratification.

I tried the other day to find out the average price of rail tickets in Romania. I am dreaming about spending a few weeks on a train just riding around Romania, Moldova, and the Ukraine. I did a Google search for “Romania train cost” and only received t a bunch of results from tour companies wanting to sell me overpriced tickets. Granted, I did not take too long with my search, but from an initial inquiry I realized that it would be a little difficult for me to simply find the average price of a train ticket in Romania. After 20 minutes of checking out a dozen pages that did not answer my simple question I gave up.

This is representative of my experience with trying to find tactical, useful travel information on the internet.

My goal for Vagabond Journey.com and especially for the Vagabond Field Notes Travel Guide is to provide simple travel information in a simple way. I like to just construct webpages that say “Cost of Romania Train Travel” which have the prices I paid to get from X place to X place in Romania. Simple, straight forward travel information derived from personal experience. That is all I want Vagabond Field Notes to be.

Because this is the kind of information that I am looking for.

I also want to find out the travel information that people are searching for on the internet. If a few of the readers of this travelogue could send me a sample of their common search queries to my email or leave a comment below I would be very appreciative. I want to know what people are looking for and to discover if I could provide information in a better way or to just find out the information that people want to assist them on their travels. I want to continuously make Vagabond Journey.com better, please let me know what travel information you are looking for on the internet.

Thank you and Walk Slow,

Wade

Filed under: Internet, Travel Preparation

About the Author:

I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 91 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. has written 3699 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

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VBJ is currently in: New York City

3 comments… add one

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  • donald peterson January 1, 2013, 2:52 pm

    the internet=rampant advertising. it’s horrible how this is happening.
    I RECOMMEND PEOPLE USE “CONTACT” INFO ON A FEW WEBSITES AND TELL THEM THEIR ADVERTISING IS ANNOYING AND YOU WILL NOT VISIT AGAIN. it may help…

    Link Reply
    • Wade Shepard January 1, 2013, 7:35 pm

      The advertising is how sites can afford to run. No advertising = no site. Unless users are willing to reach into their pockets and pay to access the sites they regularly visit the advertising is needed.

      Link Reply
  • Marie December 22, 2013, 10:35 pm

    I find all the travel info i need at Lonely Planet thorntree.

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