The net managed to make our holidays smarter

Columbus could have put his affairs in order, and managed to have a bit of fun, if he had had access to WikiTravel. Facetious opening line aside, how did we travel without the Internet anyway? True, our parents may have been more resourceful than our children ever will be, but how did we find bargains, pick great hotels, or know what to order at Ethiopian restaurants without recommendations from a few thousand tourists walking before us?

Among the nicest things the virtual world has done for us -- and the list is an impressive one -- is help make our holidays smarter. It has gently, but firmly, nudged aside travel agents long bent on foisting their idea of a vacation on clients. And never mind us ordinary folk, it has even made travel better for those who don't necessarily think they might need help -- like frequent flying businesspeople.

Take Dopplr (.com), for instance, which has a lot of applications any net-savvy business traveller ought to be happy to use. He or she can log on, create a travel itinerary, check out travel plans of contacts, arrange meetings at mutual convenience ("Quick Cappuccino at Zurich airport while in transit?"), get advice from like-minded high-flying honchos, and tips from the site's Social Atlas application to make those short trips at least somewhat memorable.

You can list travel plans months in advance, then click to see which friends' or contacts' journeys overlap with your own. Listing is easy because Dopplr lets you do it by email, Twitter, even SMS. It can also import plans from a web-based calendar, if you happen to use one. Think of it as a cross between Facebook and Foursquare, only for globetrotters. For large companies, it also becomes a great way of planning meetings that depend on senior management travel schedules. In short, if used wisely, it can cut travel budgets significantly.

True, it does nothing much for us non frequent-flyers. It also takes the joy out of spontaneous meetings with friends. In all honesty though, when was the last time you saw a smiling businessman at an airport?
u00a0-- Lindsay Pereira is Editor, MiD Day Online
twitter.com/ lindsay pereira