With the holiday travel season quickly approaching, here is a list of the best free tools available to plan and execute the perfect vacation or business trip.

Know Where to Go

IgoUgo.com
IgoUgo is a site where travelers share reviews and photos from trips around the world. Check for “Things to Do” at your destination and read the top-rated travel journals for ideas. You can earn frequent flier miles by submitting reviews and photos from your trip.

TravelMuse.com
Set your preferences and use the Inspiration Finder to discover the perfect destination. You can also use the TravelMuse Planner to gather research from around the web and share it with friends and family.

Travelistic.com
Travelistic offers thousands of videos from travelers organized by location.

Find the Best Flight

Farecast.com
Farecast tracks pricing trends to predict whether fares are going to rise or fall. Based on the prediction, it can recommend whether you should buy now or wait for a better fare.

Kayak.com
Kayak searches over 140 travel sites at once to find the cheapest rates and fares. With powerful filtering and sorting, it’s a great starting point for your search.

InsideTrip.com
InsideTrip adds a new dimension to flight search by including TripQuality in the search criteria. Are you looking for more leg room? Highest on-time percentages? A new plane? InsideTrip can help you find the best match.

Tip: After finding the best flight at Kayak (or InsideTrip, Orbitz, etc.) it is always a good idea to check the airline’s site directly. Because the airlines do not pay a commission when you book directly, you’ll often find the fare is lower.

SeatGuru.com
Once you have chosen your flight, it is time to book and select your seat. SeatGuru provides information on the seat quality of each aircraft type and airline.

Note: It’s a shame that I cannot include AirlineMeals.net in the list. The site is currently down for maintenance, but it’s worth bookmarking so that you can check back later. As the name implies, it provides photos and reviews of the food served on different airlines.

Find the Best Hotel

TripAdvisor.com
With over 15 million traveler reviews and opinions, TripAdvisor is the undisputed champion in this category. Even if you’re looking for an obscure hotel or vacation rental, chances are you’ll find it here.

Get Upgraded

Good Advice from Mahalo
Upgrades are never guaranteed, but this article provides an interesting approach using a site called FareCompare.com (which just barely missed this list behind FareCast). I also like the tip “Be Nice.”

Make the Most of Your Miles

FlyerTalk.com
FlyerTalk is a large, active forum dedicated to the topic of frequent flyer travel. Thousands of members discuss new programs, bonuses, conversion, and just about any other topic you can think of.

Organize It

TripIt.com
TripIt is one of the most innovative entries on the list. The concept is simple. Just forward all of the confirmation mails from your flight, car, and hotel bookings to plans@tripit.com. Tripit will then generate a beautifully organized itinerary for you, complete with weather, driving directions and confirmation numbers. You can also add notes, and invite friends to review and comment. Here is a sample itinerary.

OneBag.com
I traveled from the US to India for 2 weeks with a single carry-on using some of these tips. I found traveling light can be a huge stress reliever. Even if you don’t plan to reduce your burden to 1 bag, be sure to check out the tips and tools, such as this 1-Page Packing List.

Get There

AirportTerminalMaps.com
If you’ve ever had a tight connection at DFW, you’ll appreciate the value in having the airport terminal map before you pull up to the gate. The site is simple- just find your airport by code. No bells or whistles.

FlightAware.com
FlightAware offers live air traffic data for all flights. You can track planes in near real-time as if you were air traffic control.

Tip: If your flight is delayed because the plane you’ll be taking hasn’t arrived yet, use FlightAware to pull up the arrival flight # (which should be posted at your gate). You’ll see exactly where your flight is and how long you can expect to be delayed. This will usually give you more information than the gate agents have.

FlightStatus.com
Better than just checking the weather, FlightStats gives you a complete look at flight status, delays and airport information.

Tip: From our Google SMS post, you can also get a flight status by txt’ing the airline code and flight number to 466453 (”GOOGLE”). Example: “flight dl 75″

Did I leave anything off the list? If so, please leave a comment below and tell me what’s missing.

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