Rand McNally and USA TODAY‘s “Best of the Road” invites travelers to review stops on America’s highways and byways, especially small towns and points of interest in and between. The site includes photos and reviews, regional and themed road trips, and blogs with travel tips and news, U.S. destinations, and stories from the road.
Visitors to the site are introduced to nominees for Best Small Towns in America, and get to vote on Most Beautiful, Most Patriotic, Friendliest, Most Fun, and Best Small Town for Food. Blogs, photos, reviews and videos help in planning road trips to destinations that catch one’s fancy.
Here, from the Best of the Road website, is how to get on board:
- READ reviews and blogs for travel tips, popular places, local insight, and traveler favorites.
- WRITE about your favorite towns and places and UPLOAD photos from your travels
- VOTE for your favorite towns to become Road Rally stops in one of the five categories and for your favorite places to be featured on Best of the Road
- FOLLOW the annual Road Rally on our blog, facebook, and twitter
- GET THE FREE APP on your iPhone to view road trips, videos and reviews from wherever you are.
- ENTER to participate as a road rally team. Keep an eye on our blog for details.
- EMBARK on scenic, regional, and themed Road Trips
- SHARE your experiences on Best of the Road and social media to grow the community
An essay contest called “America the Beautiful” invites kids 7-12 to write about a place in the U.S. that inspires them. Prizes include a $10,000 scholarship, a NOOK Tablet, and a trip to Washington D.C.
Website: Best of the Road
The specialized search engine Real Travel brings the benefits of social media aggregation to the work of finding hotel lodging. Combining real-time pricing and availability data, Facebook “likes,” and hotel reviews from across the web, Real Travel simplifies hotel search. You’ll find hotel ratings, an easy-to-use price comparison tool, property photos, location information, information about nearby attractions, and advice from fellow travelers about lodging and “things to do.” Unquestionably one of the more useful travel tools.
