Darren Cronian of Travel Rants, a great, UK-based travel news and advice blog, picked us as one of his top ten travel sites for 2006. We clocked in at number nine on a list that also included sites such as Lonely Planet, SideStep, YouTube, and Google Maps. Considering that we only launched in October of the year in question, we’re well pleased (and just a little abashed) to be thought of in such good company. Aw shucks, Darren.
Here’s the whole list:

10. Travel Rants

Sorry, I couldn’t help it – there’s nothing more fun than self promotion. Travel Rants has grown rapidly in the last 12 months with over 330 blog articles, and over 2,500 comments from travellers, travel professionals, and anyone interested in travel.

9. Travelistic
8. SkyScanner.net
7. Lonely Planet
6. SideStep

SideStep is relatively new in the UK and Ireland Travel market, but what I love about SideStep is the very well designed filter search system, where you can search for all hotels in London who provide Internet access – searching is simple, and allows you to filter right down to the hotels which exactly match your needs.

5. WikiTravel
4. Travel Supermarket
3. YouTube

YouTube has changed the internet – reports this week suggest that people are moving away from watching mainstream TV, to spend more time watching videos via the internet and YouTube. If your looking for information on a specific destination then its worth checking out this video networking site, first to see if anyone has taken a video, for you to watch.

2. Google Maps
1. Trip Advisor

Google Maps was a close second, but it was beaten to the finish line by Trip Advisor, simply because as a traveller, it’s imperative that when you are searching for a hotel, you can read real hotel reviews from other travellers who have stayed there.

Yes, you have to have an open mind, and whilst the Trip Advisor hotel review concept has been put under some strain from the media lately (as reported on the Travolution Blog) you shouldn’t book a hotel without checking out this website first.