Blog your travel on the move
By Kim Komando
If your family and friends are online, you can skip the postcards during your vacation this summer and instead create a Web log of your travels — and include pictures, maps and more.
There are many places online where you can set up and maintain a blog, but travel blog sites provide tools generally not available on generic sites. Some sites allow visitors to follow your itinerary as you write and upload pictures during a trip. Some sites also have a mapping feature that traces your route and let you upload video and audio files.
At TravelPod (www.travelpod.com), you can upload video (MPG, AVI, WMV and MOV files) and photo (JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP) files. You can also upload MP3 audio files. Storage space is limited to 5 megabytes, which TravelPod says is enough for 600 compressed photos.
TravelPod is free to use as long as you like. But if you make a one-time donation, your storage space increases. Each $1 gets you another megabyte of photo storage. For $20, the ad banners go away. If privacy is important to you, spend $50 for a password-protected travel blog so that only people you authorize can view it.
You can send automatic notifications to friends and family when you post a new entry. Visitors can post comments, but they must register first. You can disable comments and delete posts, but TravelPod retains the right to use your travel for promotional purposes.
If that bothers you and you don't need to post audio or video files, try MyTripJournal (www.mytripjournal.com). You can sign up for a free 45-day trial. During this time, you can post eight entries and 20 photos. Your images must be in JPG or GIF format.
After 45 days, you must pay to continue using MyTripJournal. A standard membership lets you post 60 photos per month. The number of journal entries is unlimited. This runs $19 for 60 days, $39 for six months and $59 per year.
A premium membership gives you unlimited photo storage, however, images cannot be larger than 5 MB. You can password-protect your entire site and you keep the rights to your posts and photos.
TravelPost (www.travelpost.com) offers completely free travel blogs. You can only upload photos, not audio or videos. Images must be in JPG, GIF, PNG or BMP format.
There are no limits on journal entries, photo uploads or travel itineraries and your travel journals stay up indefinitely. Photos are automatically optimized, so you don't need to worry about file size.
Others can post comments, but registration is required. To delete comments, you must contact TravelPost. You can't password-protect your blog, but you keep the rights to your posts and photos.
Whichever site you choose, register before your trip, familiarize yourself with blogging and research your destination. Read other travelers' opinions and recommendations.
Buy a small Universal Serial Bus (USB) memory card reader to transfer pictures from your camera's memory card without having to worry about camera cables and software.
Internet cafes are handy when you're in a strange city. Find their locations before you leave. Three sites that offer listings of locations are World66 (www.netcafeguide.com), Cybercafes (www.cybercafes.com) and CyberCaptive (www.cybercaptive.com).
