Yesterday, while reading through reviews of TripTie, I came across one that pushed my buttons a bit. I have no idea who Mike Fridgen is besides what I could find on the Internet. He works for Farecast as a VP of marketing and is an advisor to TripHub. In other words, he is an entrepreneurial guy who is in the Travel 2.0 arena.

In his post titled “Social Travel Overload,” he first mentions Pete Cashmore’s review of TripTie over at Mashable, then proceeds to say that “there are too many players in this space already…doesn’t help that a new one crops up every day.” He then furthers this by saying that TripTie is without much differentiation from its competitors, and then concludes by mentioning a site called wherenext.com (a web 1.0 trip building application) - obviously meant to say that the idea of building an app for sharing trips is not a new one at all.

Of course, this is simply one man’s opinion, just like the post I’m writing right now. It is a compelling piece, and a well-written one at that. But, coming from a fellow Travel 2.0 entrepreneur, a bit oblivious. Let me explain my point-of-view.
Continued…

The TripTie Ruffians want to graciously say “thank you” to all of its pioneering members for helping make the TripTie travel-community grow. We are extending this gratitude to participating members by offering them a free small gift. For the next month, TripTie members that share a trip, or just a handful of favorite local hangout spots, will receive an all-expense-paid luggage tag courtesy of TripTie! (hehe…I told you it was small.)

Here are the instructions:

Sign-up at TripTie.com, create a Trip Plan and share one of your trips, or just 5 of your favorite locations from around your neighborhood. Submit the name of your plan and your contact information by messaging Andrew (who automatically appears as one of your “Contacts” when you first sign-up). TripTie will then ship out your luggage tag right away! There are no fees of any kind, and TripTie promises never to use your contact information except for sending you the luggage tag.

Offer ends November 30, 2006.

Albert quit his day job in New York City, hawked his worldly possessions, vacated the life he knew, and moved to Switzerland for 3 months (for a girl no less, but we won’t get into that). He’s now writing about his journeys and experiences in a blog called Swisslicious. Why, you ask? He answers: “not only to share with everyone my time in central Europe, [but] also [to] be able to look back 20 years from now and reflect on how I actually survived living in a society who’s diet is solely based on cheese, cured meats and sausages.”

I guess you can say that he’s living my dream. For now, I’ll just live vicariously through Swisslicious. You can too.

We Ruffians are honored that Gen Taguchi of 100shiki.com just reviewed TripTie as the dot.com of the day. I am still looking for a good translation of the review, but I think it’s a well-received one, especially judging from our spike in traffic. Arigatou Gozaimasu Gen!

TripTie was also mentioned on:
Web2Null (German)
Emily Chang’s eHub

Related: Check out my Trip Plan for 25 Days in Japan

This is my favorite part about starting a business: seeing your company mentioned around town. Here are some of the latest reviews of TripTie. It’s great to see people picking up and finding different aspects of the application useful and unique.

On NewYorkology, Amy Langfield says: “a new travel planing site powered by user-created lists, has one especially nice feature you don’t find in many other sites: easy to find prices.” (Did you know that on TripTie you can also automatically convert currencies of entire trip plans on the fly?)

On Bondville, Stephanie Bond says: “the clever aspect of the site is that you can read and submit your own trip itinerary…and if the content has changed, you can edit other people’s itineraries.” (Well, you can’t actually edit another person’s itinerary, but you can definitely update a trip item if it moves, goes out of business, or changes management, for example)

On MyMarkup, Erik Stattins says (in Swedish): “men idéen är kul…Användarna kan sedan sätta ihop sina egna reseplaner utifrån andras, på ett kollage-liknande sätt. Snyggt genomfört.” (Translation by our own Swede, Svante: “a fun idea…The users can then put together their own trip plans from others’, in a way similar to a collage. Neatly put together.”)

Thanks to all for helping us get the word out! Have you written about TripTie? Please let us know.

Previously:
Budget Globetrotting Reviews TripTie
Two More Mentions (Gadling and BajaCoste)
Our First Review (Geeky Traveller)

Sometimes, the best part of the big city is the breath of fresh air and release when you get out of it. Kelli and I needed a day off, so we both headed to New Jersey (that’s right, The Garden State) to be one with Mother Nature and to pick some of her apples. We rented a car from Enterprise (friendly folk there) and headed about 1.5 hours south-west to Eastmont Orchards. Apple picking was a blast (so was tasting the different varieties they had) and afterwards, we headed over to Delicious Orchards, a wonderful grocery store filled with fresh country food. Apple cider and apple cider doughnuts are their specialty. Yummmm. But wait, here’s the best part: when we got back (to the city), Kelli used a bag of our pickings to make a delicious, and fresh, hot-outta-the-oven apple pie.

Check out our trip plan, and more of our photos on TripTie.

Today is the day that the TripTie Ruffians have been working towards. Today is the day that TripTie officially launches. It’s a grand feeling. Go check it out:

http://triptie.com/

(a fitting photo by Luca Mearelli, of his TripTie luggage tag in London)