Using the web for travel planning has become second nature. But, there’s no reason to stop there. Pack some social media tools in your virtual luggage and enhance your trip by meeting locals, getting inside tips, and sharing your experiences with family and friends on the go. Here are my favorite social media tools for making your travels even richer.

On the Road: www.ontheroad.to

Upload your pics, videos, and messages to Facebook, Twitter, SMS or email with this one app/website. The site automatically timestamps and geotags your entries to create a virtual diary called a trip book. After your trip you can customize the entire trip book with skins and have a digital book of your travels complete with all of the posts, pictures, videos and comments. What’s great is that it captures all of the communication between you and your friends and family about your posts. You can then share the trip book with whomever you want.

Twitter: www.twitter.com

I know this seems obvious but this is all about the hashtag. Ask questions about where to eat, stay, and what to do with the hashtag of your destination and chances are you will get great replies. Also, follow hotels and cultural institutions in your vacation spot and you will be sure to get deals and inside info. Create a Twitter list of all the Twitter handles for your locale and you will have an easy reference list of resources on your smart phone.

Evernote: www.evernote.com/about/home.php

Take a shot of the wine label or menu from the little place you just ate at that’s thankfully not in Fodor’s. Capture a sound – Big Ben, your kids laughing in the pool. All of that can be stored and organized in Evernote to keep a running journal during the trip making reviews and blog posts a cinch to write and share.

Dopplr: www.dopplr.com

Traveling with friends or family? Organize yourself with Dopplr, or just link up to see when you’ll be traveling to common destinations. They call this a social atlas – you can share tips and photos with only the people you choose. You can import your web based calendar and coordinate with everyone on your trip, too. At the end of the year Dopplr gives you an annual report on your travels.

Cellphone Postcards: www.cellphonepostcards.com/web/Index.action

A friend introduced me to this service and it’s great for the grandparents (or great grandparents!) who you are basically glad aren’t in your social media world, but still want those family vacation photos. Simply take a great pic with your cellphone, email it to the company with a text message attached and tell them where to send it and they will print out a real postcard and mail it for you. All for 99 cents. Nothing uber-techie about it, but it’s a super easy way to send custom postcards the old fashioned way.

These are just a few of the interesting ways social media can expand your travels. What are your favorite social media travel tools?

Rebecca Levey

Rebecca, our social media editor, is a freelance writer and blogger and mom to identical twin girls. Her personal blog, Beccarama, is where she writes about New York City, politics, parenting, travel, technology, education, the arts, and random stuff that she’s really, really interested in. Her blog posts have been nationally syndicated through McClatchy/Tribune, appearing in the online versions of The Chicago Sun Times, The Miami Herald, and more. Rebecca also writes for CBS Local NY, and is a contributor to the Yahoo! Mother Board. She can be heard every week with her 3 co-hosts on The Blogging Angels podcast where she dishes and dispenses advice on social media and the blogosphere with humor and candor. You can follow her daily mutterings on Twitter at @beccasara.

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