Hey all you travel enthusiasts out in the blogosphere! Alex here, the fourth of the Kango resident bloggers, and today I’m going to give you an overview of the top five most popular Facebook Applications relating to travel.

If you’re unfamiliar with Facebook, here’s a quick FBFYI:
• Originally launched in early 2004 at Harvard with the vision of bringing popular college facebook, a book made up of incoming students’ photos intended to let student body get to know each other better, to the Internet.
• 34 million registered users worldwide as of July 2007.
• Largest photo sharing site in the US with 1.7 billion pics
• On May 14th 2007, the Facebook Platform was launched, allowing external programmers to create their own applications to be used, at the each “Facebooker’s” will.

Drum roll please……..here are the top five Facebook Travel Apps…….as I see them…..

#1

Name: “Where I’ve Been”
By: Craig Ulliott
Users: 2,177,407
Description: “A detailed, interactive world map, show everyone where you’ve been, where you have lived and where you want to go.”
Overall: “Googlesque” in its simplicity and interface. Provides “fast facts” for most countries and states which include: population, GDP, life expectancy, unemployment rate, and a brief national history. As of now, this is the Facebook Travel App. I would like to see a photo album (possible user generated) for each country providing a taste of the landscapes.

K-Rating: *****

#2

Name: “Cities I’ve Visited”
By: TripAdvisor
Users: 786,897
Description: “Where have you traveled? Create an interactive travel map to share with your friends and help them plan their trips.”
Overall: Very simple concept and delivery. Type in city and a thumbtack is stuck on the map. Adding locations is very quick as a list of possible cities is displayed by popularity and then narrowed as more letters are entered. Unfortunately, once you’ve entered in your cities, there’s not much more to do with this app.

K-Rating: *** 1/2

#3

Name: “Countries Visited Map”
By: TravBuddy
Users: 488,309
Description: “Create your own travel map and see what percent of the world you have visited. Lightweight, straight-forward, simple; loads 3x faster than other maps, no bloat on your profile page.”
Overall: Quick and clear-cut check box style of choosing countries and states visited, organized alphabetically within each continent. Unlike most applications, you must become a travbuddy.com member before accessing map, which is a mild initial annoyance.
K-Rating: ***

#4

Name: “Traveler IQ Challenge”
By: TravelPod.com
Users: 233,104
Description: “In this fun (and addictive) challenge, you’ll be asked to pin point where famous places, cities, and travel destinations are located. We’ll then calculate your Traveler IQ based on how close you were and how quickly you found the spot.”
Overall: A fun and quick-hitting quiz for the traveller looking to test their geography intellect. At the end of Facebook’s “geography bee”, you are given a Traveler IQ and shown where you rank amongst your friends (bragging rights!). You may play the original world challenge or focus on a specific continent or theme (i.e. World Capitals). I found it difficult to exactly pinpoint the location in question due to a slow and jittery cursor on the map.

K-Rating: ****

#5

Name: “Trips”
By: SideStep, Inc.
Users: 199,104
Description: “Plan upcoming trips with your friends. Share your past travel adventures on your profile. What trips have you been on, who’d you go with, and when. Then attach a photo album. See your trips on a map. Where have you been? Where are you going next?”
Overall: This ambitious app aims to cover all things surrounding the “Trip”. You can create a future trip and invite your pals to join you on the venture, post travel pics from a past spring break south of the border, or contact strangers with similar trip styles to yourself. “Trips” is function over form at this point and I expect/hope to see more efficient applications, similar in objective, as the Facebook Platform grows out of infancy.
Rating: ***1/2

So there you have it, my first ever blogging effort! I look forward to sharing my passion for exotic and international travel with you in the upcoming months. And of course learning from all of you and hearing your comments, critiques, and recommendations.

“Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” ~Seneca

UPDATE: Check out TechCrunch’s Interns’ 10 Favorite Facebook Apps for more FB App reviews.

I’m packing for an overnight family camping trip with my 5-year old Alexander. We are going to Portola Redwood State Park. I also found a nice trail description at BAhiker.com, a great bay area hiking site (photo courtesy of BAhiker.com). My biggest pain point with travel with kids (especially travel with toddlers and babies) is figuring out what to pack. Well, I am going to blog all of my packing lists so I won’t lose them, and it speeds my packing the next time I take a similar family camping trip.

Packing List for Family Camping (1 5 yr old, 1 dad):

Shelter/Sleeping:

• tent, 2 person, with rain fly (note: does NOT work for 2 adults, 1 child, and 1 toddler/baby)
• tent pad
• extra tarp/pad (for putting stuff on in front of the tent and keeping it clean
• Thermarest inflatable pads (or if my wife is coming, I think she wants an air mattress!)
• Sleeping bags
• Pillow

Food Preparation:

• Coleman stove with propane
• Matches
• Firestarter
• Charcoal briquettes (Matchlight version for easier lighting)
• Plastic Tablecloth
• Duck Tape (to tape down the tablecloth on the table)
• Gallon water jug
• Ice Chest
• Pots and Pans (non-stick)
• Plates, cups, utensils, napkins, wips
• Detergent and scrubber/sponge
• Cooking Oil
• Trash bags
• Ziploc bags (gallon and quart; always have extra ziplocs, they always come in handy)
• Purell
• Paper towels
• Fork, Bowl, Colander, Knife
• Mini Cutting Board
• Cup (plastic, for hot liquids, can be purchased at REI)

Menu for dinner/breakfast:

• This time we are doing burgers and hot dogs, grilled over the grill at the campsite
• Last time we did spaghetti and meat sauce, with precooked ground beef in the ice chest, mixed into canned sauce
• Breakfast: pancake mix, eggs, cooking oil, maple syrup, strawberries
• Beverages: coffee (instant), hot chocolate bags

Evening around camp:

• Coleman battery operated lantern
• Headlamp (wish I had 2 of them)
• Flashlight
• Folding Chairs (from Costco)
• Down jackets/vest
• Comfy shoes (sneakers, Crocs)

Toiletries:

• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Quick dry towel
• Wipees (Huggies are the best IMHO)

Emergency Pack

• Matches
• Knife
• Compass
• Rope
• Small emergency thermal blanket (can be purchased at REI, size 2″ x 2″ x 4″; I have carried it on 10+ camping/backpacking trips and never had to use it, but always feel better having it.)
• Spare shoelaces
• Cloth bandage for wrapping around sprained ankle
• Med kit: Neosporin, Band-Aids, Scissors, Pain relievers, etc.

Daytime activities:

• Hats
• Sunscreen
• Backpack
• Water bottles
• Snacks
• Good hiking shoes for me and Alexander

So that is it. Seems like a lot but I guess its no big deal since we are just car camping. And this one is easy because we are leaving the baby behind with mom.

Anything I missed?

Hello world! We’re working on some very exciting ideas about how to make travel planning (all the stuff you do before you actually get to go on vacation) significantly better. What you see on Kango.com today is a pale shadow of what we are working on in our proverbial Silicon Valley garage.

Well, HP’s garage is pretty expensive Palo Alto real estate today…more than we can afford! So we’ll be starting Kango, Inc. in some rental space not too far away.

Anyway, until we’re ready to give birth to our beta baby, we’ed like to find other fellow travelers who are passionate about travel, and have a specific focus around their travel. It could be around activities or hobbies that they really care about: surfing, skiing, water-sports, etc. Your focus might be around a specific lifestyle, cause or reason for travel: ecotourism, adventure travel, family-oriented vacations. The only prerequisite is that you really care about doing something (even if that’s just relaxing) that results in a great travel experience. If you’re one of these people, we’ed love to enroll you in our project–to create a great travel website that helps you get the most out of your vacation time.

I’m Elliott Ng, the first official Kango at Kango, Inc. I’ll write a post to introduce myself (actually is anyone reading this post not someone I already know?) and share about some of my travel passions. Hope you’ll be interested in what we are doing and helping out!

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