I recently wrote about how I've started to place less credibility in travel review websites like TripAdvisor, since the reviews can be so biased
that they just aren't a reliable indicator of what a typical customer
can expect. That's why its become so important to me to get
travel recommendations from people that I trust. That includes my
real-life friends, as well as a broader circle of people that tend to have similar travel
tastes as myself, such as my "friends" on FlyerTalk.
We've all been there - someone mentions that they've recently been to a destination that you'd like to visit, and naturally you ask them to send over some recommendations on where to stay, what to eat, and things to do. Depending on the person, what they send over could be anything from a perfectly formatted spreadsheet to a stream-of-consciousness email comprised of random thoughts. And if you're lucky enough to get recommendations from multiple sources, it can be hard enough just to keep track and organize everyone's recommendations into a cohesive list, let alone transform them into an actual itinerary.
A new way to share travel recommendations - OneDay
That's where my friend Rebecca's website, OneDay.io, can really come in handy. I've found OneDay to be extremely useful for organizing, mapping, and ultimately sharing my travel recommendations with others. Here's how it works - after creating a username, you're taken to the main page (as shown above) which provides examples of maps created by others. There's a social component, as you can review, share, and comment on other people's recommendations.
OneDay feeds in the entire database of user reviews from both Yelp and Foursquare. That includes reviews for all businesses (not just travel-related businesses like hotels and restaurants) across all worldwide locations. Using this huge database, you can then search for individual entries, and curate them into your own personalized map. That map may be based on a certain theme, or may include specific food, hotel, or activity recommendations for a particular destination. And since its a worldwide, you can even think bigger with maps such as:
For example, after our honeymoon last year, I had done a detailed trip report on our 72-hour food tour through Sydney which is outlined in this post. It's a lot to sift through, and doesn't provide a simple list of the places we ate at, and most importantly their locations.
Using OneDay, here's a map I created with the same information, presented in a much more organized format. On the right-hand side, you'll see a listing for each places included in my report. For each one, you'll find user reviews from Yelp and Foursquare, the address, and even a space for my own comments. From there, each item in the list is then fed into the map on the right-hand side which is really helpful for visualizing and ultimately planning the most efficient route to take.
Using OneDay for more than just travel recommendations
While I've focused on the potential uses of OneDay for travel recommendations, it has practical uses in every day life as well. Since basically any type of business that is loaded into Yelp or Foursquare can be added to your list/map, you can even use it for grocery stores, gas stations, and even for things like recommending a plumber or locksmith.
For example, here's another map that I've created which outlines my favorite restaurants in Silicon Valley. Since I recently moved away from San Francisco to the Peninsula, I'm still new to the area and always on the hunt for delicious places to try. While my list can easily be shared with others, the main purpose for creating this one was really for my wife and I to keep a running tally of our favorite go-to places to pick and choose from when we want to eat out.
For those of you that like to give travel recommendations to others, how are you currently doing so? I highly recommend that you give OneDay.io a try, and would be interested in hearing how the experience compares to what you're currently doing.
We've all been there - someone mentions that they've recently been to a destination that you'd like to visit, and naturally you ask them to send over some recommendations on where to stay, what to eat, and things to do. Depending on the person, what they send over could be anything from a perfectly formatted spreadsheet to a stream-of-consciousness email comprised of random thoughts. And if you're lucky enough to get recommendations from multiple sources, it can be hard enough just to keep track and organize everyone's recommendations into a cohesive list, let alone transform them into an actual itinerary.
A new way to share travel recommendations - OneDay
That's where my friend Rebecca's website, OneDay.io, can really come in handy. I've found OneDay to be extremely useful for organizing, mapping, and ultimately sharing my travel recommendations with others. Here's how it works - after creating a username, you're taken to the main page (as shown above) which provides examples of maps created by others. There's a social component, as you can review, share, and comment on other people's recommendations.
OneDay feeds in the entire database of user reviews from both Yelp and Foursquare. That includes reviews for all businesses (not just travel-related businesses like hotels and restaurants) across all worldwide locations. Using this huge database, you can then search for individual entries, and curate them into your own personalized map. That map may be based on a certain theme, or may include specific food, hotel, or activity recommendations for a particular destination. And since its a worldwide, you can even think bigger with maps such as:
- Best restaurants with views in the world
- Best hotels in the world for honeymooners
- Best activities in the world for an adrenaline junkie
- Best hikes in the world
- Best ice cream shops in the world
For example, after our honeymoon last year, I had done a detailed trip report on our 72-hour food tour through Sydney which is outlined in this post. It's a lot to sift through, and doesn't provide a simple list of the places we ate at, and most importantly their locations.
Using OneDay, here's a map I created with the same information, presented in a much more organized format. On the right-hand side, you'll see a listing for each places included in my report. For each one, you'll find user reviews from Yelp and Foursquare, the address, and even a space for my own comments. From there, each item in the list is then fed into the map on the right-hand side which is really helpful for visualizing and ultimately planning the most efficient route to take.
Using OneDay for more than just travel recommendations
While I've focused on the potential uses of OneDay for travel recommendations, it has practical uses in every day life as well. Since basically any type of business that is loaded into Yelp or Foursquare can be added to your list/map, you can even use it for grocery stores, gas stations, and even for things like recommending a plumber or locksmith.
For example, here's another map that I've created which outlines my favorite restaurants in Silicon Valley. Since I recently moved away from San Francisco to the Peninsula, I'm still new to the area and always on the hunt for delicious places to try. While my list can easily be shared with others, the main purpose for creating this one was really for my wife and I to keep a running tally of our favorite go-to places to pick and choose from when we want to eat out.
For those of you that like to give travel recommendations to others, how are you currently doing so? I highly recommend that you give OneDay.io a try, and would be interested in hearing how the experience compares to what you're currently doing.
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