If you like to travel and explore, there are many ways to go about it. You can, for example, book a trip to some faraway exotic place and enjoy whatever comes your way. I've done that many times and almost always had a good time. I also like to just hop into my car and drive and see places. I've driven across the country several times and never tire of the sights and beauty of our great nation. However, if I could wish for one thing, it would be more straightforward, unbiased information about the places I am going to see. Sure, there are travel guides and glossy brochures, but for the most part they are advertising. Traveling and visiting places can be expensive, and I'd like to know the real scoop - what real people have to say about a place. Well, the other day I was looking for information on Door County, a place that I'm thinking of visiting on a future trip. If you haven't heard of Door County, it's in Wisconsin and covers a gorgeous peninsula in Lake Michigan. It's also one of the nation's most popular vacation spots. What I was looking for was more than just the usual Chamber of Commerce website or what I could find on a search engine. I wanted to see actual reviews of Door County restaurants, lodging, shopping, events, and activities. I cannot emphasize enough the difference between a real, detailed review and an advertisement. Ads can certainly be a good thing, but they are designed to entice you to go to a place and buy something. Once you get there, the restaurant may not be at all what you thought it would be, or the hotel or lodge is next to a highway, which the ad, of course, never tells you. An event or attraction might be run down or closed, or it's terrific - you just don't know. Reviews tell you about such stuff so you know what to expect. To me, that's invaluable information. Not all reviews are the same, of course. In this day and age, you can find online "reviews" and opinions on just about everything. In fact, the Web seems to have given birth to a whole subculture of folks who delight in either praising things into high heaven or ripping them to shreds. This means grossly exaggerated positive or negative opinions that don't help at all. What I found is that it is actually possible to find websites that have actual reviews and not just ads, and where the reviews all have substance and then some. One site I found was so detailed that a review on a market told you about the owners, what special cheeses they have, and what wine selections are best there. It even included pictures of the layout. Or I picked a town or village and saw what they had to say about a certain cottage or inn. Instead of a general description, a good review-based website walks you through the facility, pictures and all, and describes everything in an informative conversational style. By the time you get there, you already know the place. Same for activities. If you golf, there should be detailed course descriptions as well as advice. If you plan a sailing cruise based on a review website, you should already know what to expect before you even get there. If you're really lucky, detailed, helpful reviews and descriptions are not all that's available. Innovative, progressive web designers may even add videos and podcasts, all neatly organized in a common format. In some categories you may find dozens of videos, all using a common interface. This way you cannot only read about places, but also see them in video. As far as I am concerned, review-based travel and tourism sites provide the best information. This is what travel guides should be like. If you plan a vacation to Door County WI, or any other place for that matter, skip the usual promotional websites and check out one with reviews instead. It's better, more useful information.
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