Europe at your fingertips

Travel to Europe your way: book trains, hotels, sightseeing tours

www.EuropeanDestinations.com

RailEurope.  Europe has some of the best railway systems and scenic routes in the world.  This is a great site for finding train schedules, Eurail passes and rail/drive and rail/fly packages.

• World Weather Forecasts. So you'll know whether to take your umbrella to London or your swimsuit to Rio (not that you wouldn't anyway!).
  
• Currency Exchange Rates. Microsoft's Expedia has one of the most comprehensive currency converters available. (If you don't see what you want, choose “Expand Currency List.”)  TravLang also has an excellent currency converter, with some nice features.  Another good one is the Oanda Currency Converter.
  
• Times Around the World. Does anybody really know what time it is? These Aussie guys do. Another one to check out is Time and Date.com.
  
• Foreign Languages for Travelers.  Learn useful words and phrases in more than 60 languages.  To talk dirty, however, you'll need to consult The Alternative Dictionaries.
  
• The Art & Science of Traveling Light..  Overpack...who, me?  Doug Dyment's well-organized site waxes eloquent on the fine art of traveling light.  Who says you can't live indefinitely out of a carry-on bag?
  
• Airport Codes.   Air travelers regularly wade through an assortment non-intuitive airport codes like LHR, YYR, GIG, CDG, etc.  This searchable database operated by the Melbourne Airport Authority lets you identify an airport code code or look up the codes for the airports in a particular city.  Airlines are similarly coded; the Airline Designator Codes feature lets you find these codes in a number of ways. 
  
• Subway Navigator.   Whenever I visit a new city, I make it a point to ride the subway (metro, underground, "tube," subterráneo, whatever...).  This page is one of the coolest I've seen, with info on subways around the world.  If you carry a Palm or Pocket PC, you might also find Metró to be a useful program.
  
• Which Side of the Road Do They Drive On?  Should you need to take the wheel, this will help determine which side of the car you need to get into to avoid looking foolish (it happens to the best of us!).
  
• VISA ATM Locator.  Because of the increasing number of automated teller machines worldwide, I no longer use travelers cheques (big difference in the exchange rates).   This page helps you find the closest ATM to wherever you are. There's also the Mastercard/Maestro/Cirrus ATM Locator for users of those cards.
  
• Current U.S. State Department Travel Advisories. See what Uncle Sam has to say about conditions in your destination country, including danger zones and general information about crime, road travel and the quality of medical care.  Similar information is available from the UK's Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
  
• Hot Spots.  As you no doubt know, there's a fair amount of unrest and turmoil in the world these days.  Air Security International prepares daily reports each Monday through Friday to keep travelers advised of global events ranging from guerilla attacks to protest marches to union elections, along with tropical weather updates and significant dates worldwide.  Also, the CIA World Factbook is more chock full of facts than a high school geography text.
  
• Traveler's Health.  Vital information from the US Center for Disease Control & Prevention on needed vaccines, areas of concern, and how to keep the food and water from spoiling your trip.
  
• World Public Holidays Database. A searchable listing of national and religious holidays around the world.  It might keep you from scheduling that conference during an important religious holiday in a certain place.  
  
• On the Road Newsletter. News and resources for the computer-carrying international traveler.  Bless their hearts, they wrote about me way back in the 20th Century.
  
• Cybercafe Search Engine.  Locate Cybercafes around the world to improve your odds of Internet access while traveling.  Also worth a visit is the Internet Cafe search engine at Backpacker's Cafe. 
  
• World Official Tourism Sites.  Links to state and national official tourism sites around the globe.