Find your destination. The most important part of taking a trip is matching up your particular personality with a destination. Travelers seek everything from adventure to relaxation to exotic locales to packaged resorts to sophistication. Get recommendations from like-minded friends about favorite places they have been and stick to sources you trust.
Use guidebooks. There are many types of guidebooks that are written for a particular audience in mind. Try the Rough Guide series if you are a backpacker or like to find more local places. Read The Lonely Planet series if you want to discover a destination's culture. Browse through Frommer's or Fodor's guidebooks if you prefer to keep your trips tried and true. There is also Rick Steve's, Michelin, Sierra Club and many others.
Check out magazines. Each magazine is tailored for a particular kind of travel as well. "Travel + Leisure" is focused on a more sophisticated traveler. "Outside Magazine" is tailored to trips in the outdoors. "Travel 50 & Beyond" is for seniors. "Islands Magazine" is obviously targeted at island destinations around the world. All of these magazines have online editions but many have content in their magazines that is exclusive to the print editions.
Target your online searches. You can obviously find anything and everything about travel on the world wide web. There are great articles for the urban sophisticate on NYTimes.com. If you are planning to hit the seas, CruiseCritic.com is the definitive source for the cruise industry. EuropeForVisitors.com is a wonderful site if you are Europe-bound. Away.com is a fun-filled source of adventure trips for someone seeking an adrenaline rush.
Get personal feedback online. Although you should take anonymous posts with a grain of salt, there are many sites that offer unedited info on travel secrets. FlyerTalk.com allows people to exchange information on how to get the most out of their frequent flier miles and awards points. HotelChatter.com is an uncensored source of hotel reviews from all over the globe. SeatGuru.com provides seating maps to help you get the best airplane seat.
Find the best price. This is typically most travelers' concern for any destination. Try the meta-search site Kayak.com for the best prices on airfare, hotels and car rentals. For last-minute deals on weekend getaways, go to Site59.com. To try and negotiate your own price, there is always Priceline.com.
