I've been experimenting with a new 'travel helper' gadget called gliider, which is a free add-on for Firefox 3.x (alas, it doesn't currently support my default browser, IE 8). gliider claims to help you "plan funner trips" and, I must say, I think it can deliver on that promise.
Gliider provides an easy-to-use means of organizing trip details and "clippings" of things you need to remember (or simply want to do) for your upcoming trips.
End-to-end Trip Organization
gliider includes a number of elements that will help you when you're planning a trip, all the way from thinking about it, through to booking, then finally deciding what you'll do when you get there. There are 3 tabs you work with:
- My Trips: This is a well-organized filing cabinet for each trip. I'll give you a few more details in a bit…
- Ask Around: This tab gives you an easy way to ask other people for advice about your destination. gliider can connect to FaceBook to allow you to ask your FB friends, ask through Twitter, etc. Pretty cool idea - of course, you can ask using those tools already, but if you ask through gliider, it will capture and associate any responses into the appropriate trip.
- Deals / Alerts: This tab within the gliider interface will help you find good deals. Currently, it only looks for hotel deals, but they are planning on adding flights and other stuff.
It's all about the trips
Now, back to the "My Trips" tab. This tab is a mini organizer for data about your trip. You can drag sample fares, confirmed itineraries, and related info into the "Flights" folder, drop sightseeing ideas into the "See" folder (as I've done in the screenshot above for my upcoming trip to Berlin), and much more.
Adding the information is pretty simple. Simply highlight the text and images you want to save in your browser, then drag and drop the info onto the appropriate folder icon in gliider. As you research things you might want to do, this approach makes it very easy to build a list of candidates to choose from.
Some other odds & ends:
- gliider makes it easy to share information about your trips with others (caveat: they'll need to install gliider to see what you've shared)
- there is a function that allows you to print a hard copy "dossier" with all the information you've collected about your trip - this looks awesome as a paper backup with all your reservation details, confirmation numbers, etc.
Try gliider for free
If you find anything you don't like or want them to add, share it with them since this is still in its formative stages (there is a Feedback button right there in the app's window).
My gripes and wishes so far? Not many, but here is the list:
- I want IE8 support
- The gliider UI has a problem with long passwords (so don't use a password any longer than 9 characters for now)
- I wish Deals/Alerts provided more deal types
- An iPhone app would be nice (you can forward details and access them via the iPhone browser, but hey…)
- I wish I could share info without requiring the recipient to install gliider
- Integration with TripIt would be awesome
Nonetheless, I like gliider so far. gliider is free to use, and very easy to install. If you're doing any traveling, it's a good gadget to check out.