How handy this would have been as my friends and I were planning our Senior Trip!  There were 10 of us girls who were all trying to coordinate what was, for most, the first out-of-country trip we had ever been on.  And since we were going to be only days out of High School at the time of the vacation, and en route to the wilds of the Costa Rican rainforest, needless to say, most of the parents were a little overbearing when it came to the details of our itinerary.

Countless back and forth emails ensued whenever we would add an activity to our itinerary, and panicked moms would break out the trusty phone tree to re-confirm that everyone was on the same page.

Sound familiar?

10 years later…enter TripIt.

This free online-based travel tool allows you send it all of your itinerary emails – flights confirmations, rental car reservations, hotel information, train/bus confirmations and even restaurant reservations – and then TripIt compiles all of it into an easy to read/edit/share online itinerary of your entire trip.  To get started, send or forward your confirmation emails and receipts to plans@tripit.com.  If you are a new user and your email is not yet registered with TripIt, they will create a username and password for you.

From there the helpful TripIt fairies gather additional information that may be useful (weather information, maps, further flight details,  etc.) and compiles everything into a chronological and comprehensive itinerary that you can then go back through and add your own notes to.   Once your itinerary is set, you can invite others to view it or it can be forwarded to friends, family, business associates…even panicky moms.

Certain information may not be recognized by TripIt, but it is saved and you can go back and manually add it in the right day and time.  You can also update, add or delete information at any time – and those you have invited to see your travel details will see these updates too.

If some unforeseen event occurs, such as a weather delay on your flight or your rental car running late due to traffic, TripIt’s schedule will be thrown off, but you can easily reconcile the dates and times once you are back on track.

An as the company is still new (it was launched in September of 2007) they are still working out the kinks.  But the San Francisco based company is open to suggestions from TripIt users (go ahead – send em to feedback@tripit.com) and is constantly updating their service and adding new features.

Blackberry and iPhone apps (both free!) have been released, which only increase the handiness, portability and convenience of TripIt.

Overall, this is a great tool that frequent travelers should take advantage of.