最值得收藏的10个旅游网站
People managed to travel quite well before the Internet came along, although how they did it is now shrouded in mystery. There are so many Web sites to help you plan trips and book trips and fantasize about trips and (best of all) save money on trips that the difficulty is not finding a site that will help you but choosing from among the bounty.
在互联网出现之前,人们旅行得也挺好,至于他们是怎么做到的,对我来说是个谜。现在有很多网站帮你计划、预订甚至幻想旅行,最重要的是帮你节省旅费,所以找个可以帮你的网站不难,难的是在这些多如牛毛的网站之中选出最好用的那些。
It's been a while since I updated the bookmarks you'll find next to the articles on the Frugal Traveler blog page, so I've decided to add a bunch more, ranging from the indispensable to the just-for-fun. Here is a selection of 10 that you should consider bookmarking.
在“穷游天下”(Frugal Traveler)博客网页的文章旁边,你会看到一些书签,但是我很久没有更新这些书签了,所以我决定再加一些网站,包括那些必不可少的网站和那些纯粹为了好玩的网站。下面是其中精选的10个网站,你可以考虑把它们加入你的书签。
1. Dishtip.com
Though if I had to pick just one site to help with restaurant recommendations around the globe, it would be Chowhound, DishTip organizes the world of eating out in the United States a whole new way: By clam chowder. Or turkey sandwich. Or blueberry pie. In other words, by single dish, not by restaurant. The site sorts through reviews across the Web, figures out what has been raved about, aggregates its findings and spits out rankings of the best dishes in Denver or the pizzas in Portland or the fried food in Phoenix.
虽然如果只能选一个推荐全球餐馆的网站,那我肯定选Chowhound,但是DishTip网站介绍在美国外出就餐的建议时,采用的是全新的方法:上哪儿喝蛤蜊浓汤;上哪儿吃火鸡三明治;上哪儿吃蓝莓派。总之,就是按照单个菜品来推荐,不是按饭馆推荐。这个网站整理网上的评论,找出那些受到热烈赞美的菜品,进行统计,做出排行榜,比如丹佛最好的菜肴,波特兰最好的披萨,或者菲尼克斯最好的煎制食品。
The result may not be perfect, but it sure is helpful if you're obsessed with one dish or simply like the very rational idea of determining where you'll eat by the meal you want rather than by the chef who will cook it or the neighborhood it's cooked in. Go ahead, try it with a dish you like in a city you know. Sure, you may not specifically agree with its "choices" for, say, the best cookie in New York City - 1. Oatmeal raisin from Levain; 2. Chocolate chip from Jacques Torres; 3. Macaroon from the Meatball Shop - but you have to admit, not bad for a computer.
它给出的结论未必完美,但是如果你对某样食物特别着迷,或者就是喜欢根据你想吃的菜选择去哪儿用餐,而不是按照常理那样,根据做菜的大厨或者餐厅的位置来决定,那么就在你知道的一个城市里尝尝你喜欢的一道菜吧。当然,你不一定正好同意它的“选择”,比如,纽约城里最好的饼干——1. Levain的燕麦葡萄干饼干;2. Jacques Torres的巧克力碎块饼干;3. Meatball Shop的蛋白杏仁饼干——但是你得承认,把这个网址加到你的收藏夹里,并不是什么坏事。
2. Skypicker.com
Skypicker basically helps you figure out where you can fly within your budget. It's sort of like the "explore" page of Kayak.com, but focuses exclusively on Europe, and on very, very cheap flights.
Skypicker网站能帮你找到在你的预算范围内能飞到哪儿。它有点像是Kayak.com的“搜索”网页,但是它只关注欧洲的航班,以及非常非常便宜的航班。
Let's say you're somewhere in Europe (or planning to be), and you want to see where you can go from there for very low cost. You plug in your approximate date of departure, about how many days you want to stay, and voilà: there's a list of the cheapest flights available. (Not all fees are included - you won't find out the exact cost until you go to the airlines' Web sites to book.)
比如你在(或者计划去)欧洲的某个地方,想知道花很少的钱能去哪儿。那么输入你出发的大致日期,以及你大概想呆多少天,就会出现一个列表,里面是最便宜的航班。(不是包含所有的费用——只有到航空公司的网站上预订机票的时候,你才能知道准确的费用。)
When I tested the site, pretending to be driven insane by foggy, rainy London and wanting to go anywhere cheaply for a long weekend two weeks ahead, I ended up with a 38-euro (or $48) round trip on Ryanair to Nîmes in the south of France. When I actually went to Ryanair to book, the cost was £35 (or $55), including fees, and I assume the final cost (with a luggage charge, perhaps) might be a bit more. But still, a good deal.
我测试这个网站的时候,假设我被伦敦雾蒙蒙、阴沉沉的天气折磨疯了,想在两周后花一点钱去什么地方呆个长周末,结果我找到了瑞安航空公司(Ryanair)飞往法国南部尼姆的航班,双程的票价是38欧元(48美元)。我到瑞安航空公司的网站上预订时,票价是35英镑(55美元),包括其他各种费用;我估计最终的费用(也许还会有超重行李费),可能还会再多一点。但是,这已经非常好的价格了。
3. Stay.com
I'm generally dubious of sites that claim they can plan your trip for you. But for a quick and dirty agenda with a few useful extras, stay.com is not bad at all.
我一般对那种声称可以为你计划行程的网站持怀疑态度。但是如果你的日程很紧,而且比较混乱,stay.com是个不错的选择。
Here's what you do: Choose one of more than 100 destinations, from Aix-en-Provence to Marrakesh to Lake Tahoe. Then go through their listings of top attractions, museums, shopping, restaurants and the like, clicking on whatever appeals to you. Those choices magically turn into a personalized itinerary that you can either turn into a pdf file and print or, better yet, send to your smartphone, where with the Stay.com app you can use it - and the city map that comes with it - even when you're offline (meaning no international roaming charges).
你可以这么做:在100多个目的地(例如普罗旺斯地区的艾克斯,马拉喀什,塔霍湖)中选择一个。然后浏览一遍该地最有吸引力的地点,比如博物馆,购物中心和餐馆,点击你感兴趣的所有地点。这些选择会神奇地形成一个私人旅行路线,你可以把它转成pdf文件打印出来;更棒的是,你可以把它发到你的智能手机上,只要下载Stay.com的应用程序,你就能用它了——还随附城市地图——即使离线也能使用(这样你就不用花国际漫游费了)。
And you're not limited to the places you've initially chosen: you can add from their lists (and, theoretically, from your friends' suggestions) on the run as well. Sure, guidebook apps might be more in depth, but stay.com is free and easy.
而且你还可以不局限于一开始选择的地点:旅行过程中,你还可以从他们的列表(理论上还可以从朋友建议的地点)里添加一些地点。当然,旅游指南的各种应用程序可能更有深度,但是stay.com是免费的,而且好操作。
4. Staydu.com
A neat site that matches hosts from around the world with travelers looking for unique local experiences. That can mean volunteering to teach English or doing farm work in exchange for lodging and meals, or simply paying a small fee to move in with a local resident. The site is not overly populated with opportunities yet, but shows a lot of potential.
这个网站很简单,它把世界各地的主人和寻找独特当地体验的游客联系起来。你可能需要免费教英语或者在农场里干活,以获得免费的住宿和餐食,或者是花很少的钱,住到当地人的家里。这个网站人气还不是很旺,所以机会还不太多,但是貌似很有潜力。
5. Vayama.com
Vayama is a flight search engine that specializes in international routes - the Achilles' heel of the sites you already use, whether you know it or not. Vayama simply seems to know about more airlines and often finds two one-way flights on different airlines that beat out a round-trip flight on a single one. It also occasionally offers you a lower price on a "secret carrier" whose identity you don't learn until you've booked the flight.
Vayama是个航班搜索引擎,专门搜索国际航线——你可能不知道,你已经在用的那些网站,正是在这方面比较薄弱。Vayama似乎比其他网站知道更多航线,经常能找到两家航空公司的两个单程航班,加起来的价格比同一个航空公司的往返航班要便宜。有时候,它会报出一个由“秘密承运人”给出的更低的价格,但只有在你预订了该航班之后,才知道是哪个航空公司。
6. Trivago.com
If you want to compare many hotel sites at once (including heavyweights like booking.com and hotels.com), try Trivago, an easy-to-use metasearch site. Trivago can be especially helpful in more unusual destinations. I was recently searching for a hotel stay in Fortaleza, Brazil, and Trivago included a few affordable rooms that were exclusively from volayo.com, a Brazil-based hotel booking site I had never heard of.
如果你想同时比较多家酒店网站(包括那些重量级的网站,比如booking.com和hotels.com),那么可以试试Trivago,它是一个很好用的元搜索网站。当你想在一些不常见的旅游目的地寻找酒店时,Trivago显得特别有用。我最近想在巴西福塔雷萨找一家酒店,Trivago介绍了几个我住得起的酒店,这些酒店都来自巴西的一家酒店预订网站——volayo.com,以前我从来没听说过这个网站。
7. Matadornetwork.com
Matador is a free online travel community whose site contains treasure troves of articles written in a variety of styles, organized into topics like "art and design," "culture and religion" and "language and study abroad." You can get lost in here, coming in via a search for essential Russian phrases and ending up craving lavender and hibiscus Popsicles from an Edmonton farmers market.
Matador是个免费的在线旅游社区,这个网站收藏了很多风格各异的精品文章,整理成了很多主题,比如“艺术与设计”,“文化与宗教”,“语言与海外留学”。在这里,你可能会转晕了,本来打算去找俄语基本词汇的,最后却眼馋起埃德蒙顿农夫市场的薰衣草和木槿冰棍来。
8. Seat61.com
"It would be lovely if there was a single Web site that sold tickets for any European train journey at the cheapest price, but there isn't," writes Mark Smith, better known among the frugal train-riding set as "the Man in Seat 61." You could just go to raileurope.com and book a ticket, but in many cases you'll pay more than necessary. Mr. Smith's site is friendly and informal in style but encyclopedic in content, and full of links to get you to the right booking sites.
“如果有一个网站,用最低的价格,销售欧洲所有的火车线路的车票,那就太棒了,可惜没有这样的网站,”马克·史密斯(Mark Smith)这样写道。在火车穷游界,他以《61号座位上的男人》(The Man in Seat 61)这本书为人所知。你可以直接去raileurope.com上订票,但是很可能会让你多花一些冤枉钱。史密斯的这个网站很友好,不怎么正式,但是内容很全,有各种链接,能帮你找到合适的订票网站。
9. Triptuner.com
No idea where you want to go? With Triptuner, just use a panel of six sliders (like the kind on graphic equalizers) to "tune" your trip. Do you want "relaxing" or "active" or somewhere in the middle? "Bikini" weather or "parka" weather? An "urban/lively" spot or a "remote/quiet" one?
不知道该去哪儿玩?在Triptuner网站上,拉动控制面板上的6个滑动条(就像图像均衡器上的那种),你就能“调制”出你自己的旅行了。你是想去“放松”的地方呢,还是“活跃”的地方,还是介于两者之间的?是要“穿比基尼”的天气呢,还是要“穿皮大衣”的天气?想去“城市/热闹”的地点呢,还是“偏远/安静”的地点?
When I maxed out the sliders toward relaxing-bikini-urban/lively trip, I got suggestions like Miami, Phuket and Salvador, Brazil - pretty good choices. When I went the opposite way - active-parka-remote/quiet, Triptuner came up with Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, or Torres del Paine, Chile. The site doesn't go much farther than that (though you can book hotels), but it's enough to get you thinking.
我把“放松—穿比基尼—城市/热闹”的滑动条都拉到最高,得到了这样一些旅行建议:迈阿密,普吉岛和巴西的萨尔瓦多——都是很好的建议。我又试了试相反的选择——“活跃—穿皮大衣—偏远/安静”,Triptuner给出的建议是瑞士的少女峰或者智利的百内国家公园(Torres del Paine)。这个网站除此之外没有更多内容(虽然你也可以在这里订酒店),不过这已经够好的了。
10. Expatsblog.com/blogs
The best travel guides are often expatriates who have lived in a destination long enough to know it intimately but still maintain an outsider's perspective. This site lists over 300 expat blogs by destination, and in many you don't have to delve very far to find travel tips disguised as personal narratives.
最好的导游通常是那些在一个地方住了很久的“老外”;他们对这个地方够熟悉,同时还能保持一个外国人的视角。这个网站列举了300多个“老外”的博客,按照居住地分类。在这些讲述自己的故事的博客里,你不费吹灰之力就能找到很多旅游小贴士。