I love to try and test new social tools but when I find one I like I usually stick with it for that particular area for a long time. In regards of travel related stuff I originally used “Plazes”. I especially loved their map badge that could be integrated easily into every blog or webpage (this was long before Foursquare was around). Unfortunately after they were aquired by Nokia I wasn’t too happy with their design changes.

So my next stopp had been “Dopplr”. No map but still a nice badge and I (still) like their idea to color code destinations. But as with most tools they come with a big downside: Adding the data manually. As well as most other people I only have a certain amount of time available and I need tools that integrate into each other easily. If not it becomes a burden to keep them accurate after some time.

I’m still fine with the trio Facebook – Twitter – Foursquare. If I have content that goes into Facebook, I do it there. If I have content for either Twitter or Twitter & Facebook, I’ll do it in Twitter. And for location based stuff I use Foursquare, either alone or in combination with Twitter and/or Facebook. But in all these cases I have a single point of data entry. I just have to think about which is the right one and who do I want to address.

Therefore I started to be lazy on updating my data on Dopplr and recently checked out TripItagain. I did look at TripIt when they were quite new but never felt comfortable with them at that time. Not sure if they changed or if I changed (or both) but from the beginning I felt well at home there now.

Of course you can enter your trip data manually. That’s what I did with my first trip. And even so it isn’t complicated I started to think about the fact how long I might be able to keep it accurate over a longer time frame. But then I found the real power of TripIt: In most cases you don’t need to punch your stuff in manually. Just use your confirmation email and forward it to plans@tripit.com (of course only from one of your registered email adresses) and your trip information magically appears in TripIt just a few seconds later.

But it even get’s better! You have an iPhone or Android device? Then you have to get the TripIt App. Why? Because with the synced data from TripIt you never have to think about were to store your travel information. Every bit (flight times and numbers, Hotel addresses etc.) can easily be accessed with a fingertip.

Honestly, I still have to do my first trip (starting tomorrow) but I already can’t imagine anymore how I was able to travel without that tool. Of course you can connect it to Facebook and Twitter to automatically generate footprints of your trip.

And no, this is not a paid or forced advertisement! It’s just a tool I think that is so great that one has to write about it. If you know anything better then TripIt let me know … but I tell you, those features are hard to beat. And if you haven’t tried it – give it a try. Even for an occasional leisure traveler this tool has a lot of advantages and can be a great help to ease your trip organisation!