Journey Like the Wolf


1219160297Today’s travelers have more options than ever when booking trips online. Some are decidedly time-saving; others, not so much. Indeed, Al Gore‘s little invention has spawned an entirely new way of thinking about travel, not to mention swapping tips and slamming unworthy destinations.

And just when you thought the virtual travel market was saturated, along comes another upstart, this time from former Bostonian Alex Trieb.

Launched in the United States last month, tripwolf is like a tripadvisor-meets-MySpace-meets-OkCupid melange. It’s a “social travel guide” that combines Google Map technology with online member reviews, original content, and lots and lots of photos of cute young things traversing the globe.

As with many travel sites, tripwolf’s challenge is condensing a nearly uncondensable topic—world travel—into a tidy, user-friendly platform. On some levels (cool graphics, ample city guide pics) it succeeds, but, not surprisingly, the sheer volume of information can get overwhelming. (Not to mention time-consuming; and you thought Facebook was a time-suck.)

Trieb, a Boston University alum and graduate of local dot-coms such as Think! and Zooba, has the world view to make his site work. Raised in both Vienna and Connecticut, he’s already recruited 10,000 tripwolf members. Those “travelers” are taking advantage of the site’s coolest feature—the opportunity to create their own personalized trip guides.

Bostonista’s bottom line? tripwolf is worth a visit or, for hardcore travelers (or eager daters done with the usuals), a free membership.

www.tripwolf.com