Trip planning is an art. But it’s also very personal. While some travelers plan every second in hopes of seeing & experiencing it all, others don’t plan at all and parachute in with their passion for spontaneous exploration. The travel industry, knowing this, has developed every kind of travel guide possible for every kind of potential traveler. But if Google plays their cards right, few travel guides will be able to meet the customization and accessibility of their latest project – City Tours.

As Google describes it, City Tours helps the user “identify points of interest and plan multi-day trips to most major cities throughout the world.” Currently it’s still in beta and fairly limited, but we’re excited to see where this goes. With Google’s suggested sights, the ability to manually enter your own points of interest and view refinements like distance & time, this is a very functional tool for users planning a trip – no matter what your trip planning disposition may be, packed days or leisurely finds.

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Written by Brit Kleinman: I always assumed that lost luggage ended up in the same place as my lost socks. A communal forgotten location where the realities of where or who actually has your belongings is unquestioned. Well recently we came across a website that ventures to this land of the unknown in order to return lost luggage to its rightful owner. Call it charity or a weird voyeuristic passion, this website collects lost luggage, photographs it, and then displays its contents on the web creating a virtual lost and found.

With discerning humor they claim, “It’s a little odd but not as odd as stamp collecting, just a little harder to find storage space. When a bag gets lost the airport or airline will store it for a while and try to find the owner. If they can’t identify the owner of the case they send it to be auctioned off with the profit going to charity. I go to these auctions and buy the cases so I can photograph them…The reason for the web site? I would really like to try to find the people who own my suitcases, so if you have any friends who have lost a case please get them to have a look.” Click Read More for additional information and photos.

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Travel guides are loaded with maps to art museums and well known galleries. But what about directions to your favorite street artist’s work? The work that lines city walls is often overlooked or seen as a nuisance. But if you’re like us and find it beautiful, you’ll definitely appreciate the latest iPhone application from adidas.

Adidas created a free downloadable guide to Berlin’s street art. As spotted on Springwise: “Users download the application for free, giving them access to a Google map of Berlin that’s pegged with the locations of its urban art masterpieces. The map can be navigated in several ways: “Find artworks nearby” provides users with a map of art works in their immediate vicinity; “Tour guide” calls up a curated walking tour of local urban art; and “Gallery” gives users the option to browse the city’s street art and then seek out their favourite pieces. Users can click on each marked location to call up images as well as information about the piece, the artist and further references.” Be sure to download it before your next trip to Berlin. Click Read More for additional information.

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Our friends at Unlike recently released a powerful application for the iPhone. Their fantastic online city guides are now downloadable and utilize the phone’s GPS to help you feel like a native in any foreign land. Be sure to check it out. Their cities include Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and more. [iTunes]

From their site: “Not your average city guide, Unlike picks the most select, hip locations within the city. Our team of culture-savvy journalists, fashion, art and music professionals recommend the highlights of the world’s most fascinating cities. Location-based technology allows users to search all the best restaurants, bars, clubs, hotels, museums, and shops within relevant proximity to your current location. Download the entire city so you don’t have to pay for nasty roaming fees.” Click Read More for additional information and photos.

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The Google giant keeps getting bigger. Today we discovered they added a new transit layer to their mapping services. The Transit Layer is available in more than 50 cities around the world and makes it easier for citizens & tourists to access public transportation line information. Basically, this means if you want to get from point A to B without a car, Google’s got the answer. Take the 6 to the E, walk three blocks and jump on the Q to arrive at your destination which equals awesome.

More from Google’s map team: “The Transit Layer is a part of Google Transit. Whereas the main Google Transit product has the goal to provide full schedule information and routing, the objective of the Transit Layer is to overlay lines visually on Google Maps. Think of a virtual metro map on top of Google Maps—even when we don’t have itinerary planning available, we want you to be able to see public transit options that are available. Our goal is to be able to offer transit information as an alternative to driving directions wherever possible.” We’re looking forward to seeing how this grows. Check it out here.

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written by Brittany Kleinman The inauguration is quickly approaching and everyone is scrambling for accommodations. Most hotels within 2 hours of the beltway are sold out. DC friends and family are ducking your calls. And you can’t figure out what park you want to camp in. So then what?

We suggest Airbed & Breakfast – the successful marketplace for peer-to-peer traveling. It’s pretty simple. As the site explains, “Nice folks, folks like you, list their guest rooms, futons, and even couches on the site and set a price per night. Adventurous travelers looking for a place to stay can search the listings for an accommodation that’s just right. When they find a match, guests can book the room via credit card.” So if you’re looking for that last minute place to stay, check out Airbed & Breakfast. They also sent over a promo code that’ll save you money when you book. Enter “wejetset” before checkout.

We recently had the opportunity to interview Joe Gebbia, one of the brilliant minds behind Airbed & Breakfast. Click Read More for the article and photos.

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Photography is a big part of our travel. From day to day jaunts to long trips, we’re always armed with our camera. So in continuation of our ongoing search for photography tips, we came across another great post by Digital Photography School. This time they’re squarely focused on travel photography. At first the tips look simple, but they’re something everyone should consider when shooting on their next trip. It’ll help you tell the story a bit better. Visit DPS for tips on Travel Photography [Here]

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