personal travel web sights
 

I saw a posting on this site last fall which suggested a web site where one could post travel journals and photos from personal trips. I believe it also included mapping software so you could track your journey on a map. Naturally I seem to have misplaced the address. Can any one help?

Sounds like the Virtual Tourist site - www.virtualtourist.com

It's an excellent site with a very good message board (which I now visit more often than fodors) and lots of space to post photos, tips and advice about where you've been, listed under about 10 different categories - must-do's, accommodation, etc. Members rate each others' tips for accuracy and helpfulness, so you can see what's worth taking note of.

Not sure about the mapping software though, it just gives you a map of the world to mark up which countries you've been to.

jane1144, I think you might be talking about MyTripJournal.com.

Thanks, Xenos, for the alternate website for more travel info.

Thanks for these tips. I started looking at virtualtourist adn it is great. So many people who live in Japan sharing their insight and tips (it's like hundreds of KimJapan!), and pictures of everything. I had never seen this site before. And it is sturctured in a very helpful and organized way. Will definitely use this site to plan our trip.

I also checked mytripjournal.com Should probably mention that it is fee based, and very pricey to set up and maintain a page there. I can't figure out if you have to pay to view the pages, but it looks like you do; is that right??

emd - I stumbled across VT when I was planning my trip to Malaysia earlier this year and was really impressed with the in-depth knowledge of its members.

If you look at posters' profiles, it seems to be far more international than a lot of other sites, which tend to attract a core membership from mainly one country or continent with just a handful of "experts" or locals for less popular destinations.

(Hope this doesn't get me banned here btw!)

I think you are right, from what I saw in my early morning session today on that site. There are several Japanese people living in Japan who have very nice photos and great "off the beaten path" tips. And you can email them privately- and have your own mailbox on the site to get responses. I see this sharing happening regularly and one thign I have enjoyed is the fact that Fodors does not block it or erase it, as some other sites do.