As my previous post mentioned, tomorrow I head off to Wellington, New Zealand to attend Webstock09, what looks to be an absolutely fantastic web conference. The programme line-up is superb, with a mix of both presenters I have seen before, and a stack of people I haven’t.

I’m looking forward to checking out Wellington, and catching up with old friends, as well as meeting plenty of new folk. If you do see me, please do come up and say hello (we can trade Webstock Trading Cards whilst we’re at it!)!

I hope to post a wrap up of the event here, and perhaps a post or two in between if I get the chance. Oh, and you can see my stream of 140 character travel reports over the next six days via Twitter.

Meanwhile, you can read my interview with Mike Brown, one of the organisers of the event.

Image: Airport codes for my multi-leg trip. Perth to Sydney to Wellington, and then to Brisbane and finally back to Perth.

It’s no secret that I enjoy going on journeys both across Australia and overseas. During the next two months, I am off to Wellington, New Zealand in February and then Bali, Indonesia in March.

I was speaking to a few people the other day, about what each of us do for planning. Here are the five main websites I use to discover the area I am visiting, before I get there.

Wikimapia
This is a great site, which is literally a wiki overlay to Google Maps. You can select areas and tag them and write short descriptions, and then others can explore a city or area from above. Here’s the Wellington, New Zealand wikimapia section.

Trip Advisor
This is a great review site, and a very active forums community as well. I’ve reviewed a few places on there in last 12 months, and even have my own travel map, showing where I have been (fairly limited, I know!). Here’s their Bali, Indonesia section as an example.

Flickr
This may sound like an odd choice, but you can find out a lot about a city by the photographs of it on this great photo sharing site. The easiest way to search is by keyword, such as ‘Wellington, New Zealand‘. You can see my photos here.

Wikitravel
This is another wiki-based website, with succinct articles about thousands of locations around the world. They tend to be written by people who have vast experience in the area, and I’ve used their recommendations on previous trips. Here is the Wikitravel page for Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.

Delicious
Social book-marking pioneer website, Delicious, is a great place to see hat others are bookmarking and tagging by the destination name. Here’s an example of people tagging websites with ‘Sanur‘, one of the places I am staying in Bali.

What sites do you use to research travel destinations before you leave?

Really, has it been nearly a month since I last posted? If you’re anything like me, you hate to see blog posts where people apologise for being recalcitrant in keeping their blog up to date.

I have an excuse! Well, not really. I’ve been in Bali you see, for 15 days of blissful family time, with my children and wife and no email or phone. A week in Sanur, a week in Ubud, and a day in Kuta to remind us why the beaten track is the better track.

We practised our Bahasa (Tidak Bagus Bahasa!), we took many photos (3,000+) and we ate and drank our way through every meal. I’ve come back with a beard, Meredith came back with a tan and the kids came back with a cultural experience, fond memories and plenty of DVDs.

Where’s your favourite holiday destination? It need not be overseas, or even that far from home, but what makes you a relaxed soul?

I’ll be back as soon as reality kicks in.

Photo: Statue, Puri Saraswati, Ubud, Bali.