© 2001, English Language Institute
University of Florida
StudyEnglish@eli.ufl.edu

The ESL Travel Center   

This page uses Internet resources from the travel industry as cultural lessons and for writing topics by students of English as a Second Language. The ESL Travel Center  provides links to useful sites for travelers and those working in the travel industry.  Exploring the United States   focuses on regional information for the United States.  The Teacher Tips  page offers suggested activities to use with these travel links, as well as useful links to resources for teachers utilizing the World Wide Web.  The Student Tips  page offers links to activity pages and language help for students of English. (This site prepared by Holly Berggren)

Travel Guides: Travel guides are useful resources that provide information on a variety of destinations across the world.  One can find information on hotel options, places to visit, and how to get around.  Another feature commonly found in travel guides is a general description of each area, including historical and cultural information.  One way to learn about American values would be to read these descriptions in order to see how Americans view the rest of the world.

• AirWise   A guide to international airports around the world.
• CNN Interactive Travel Guide    Find articles of interest to travelers, complete with links to other sites related to each topic.
• Excite Travel Page    Destination information for every corner of the world.  Search by area or by city.
• Geographia    A British publication providing destination information for Africa, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean, and Latin America.
• Holbrook Travel Catalog   This site, published by a local tour company, provides general descriptions of countries in Latin America and Africa.  Compare these descriptions with those provided by Geographia.  What kind of differences are there between the two descriptions?  What kind of information does each site focus on?
• Lonely Planet   A popular travel guide for budget travelers.  Good overall descriptions of many destinations across the world.  Here's an idea:  look up the guide for your country, or a country you have visited, and read the cultural description.  How does their perspective differ from your own perspective?  How does it demonstrate American values, and what they consider to be important?
• Moon Travel Guide   Another favorite among budget travelers.  Offers extensive information for those who like to travel on their own.  Compare the Moon descriptions, to those in the Lonely Planet guide.
• Yahoo! Travel    Visit Yahoo!'s travel page, and find travelogues, destination and booking information.  Users are required to sign in for some portions.

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Traveler Resources:  These links offer more specific information that pertains to traveling.  These would be good resources to supplement information found in the travel guides.  For instance, one can learn about weather, time zones, currency exchange rates, and more for just about any destination.

• Art of Travel    This site offers information for the traveler on a budget.  Focuses on economy, safety, and practicality.
• The "Compleat" Carry-On Traveler   Imagine the ease of traveling with only one suitcase.  This is not always an easy task to accomplish.  This site offers some useful advice on how one can do it successfully.
• Currency Converter    Up to date exchange rates for all major world currency.
• Expedia Travel News   This site provides travel advice, news, and information.  Also includes maps and booking information.
• International City Information    Find information on accommodations, airports, time zones, telephone codes, and more.
• The Library of Congress Country Studies   Search this database for studies on many countries across the world.  See how the United States government perceives the rest of the world.
• Maps.com    A site with digital maps of the world.  You can search by country or U.S. state.
• Rain or Shine   Get a five-day forecast for any major city in the world.
• Tourism Offices World Wide Directory   Search this directory by country or U.S. state.  From there the user can link up to various offices within the designated area.
• Travel links   provided by the King Wood College Library Travel Subject Guide.
• Travel Warnings and Consular Information Sheets    A site maintained by the U.S. State Department, advising of dangerous areas for travel.  Read the information provided for your own nation of origin.  Do you agree with what the government is informing the American citizens about your country?
• UN News    Regularly updated news provided by the United Nations.
• Weather Channel.com  Always check the weather before traveling, so you will know what to expect.
• Web of Culture   Lots of useful information on the people and communities of the world.  Offers advice for cross-cultural communication.
• World Wide Holiday and Festival Page    A comprehensive listing of holidays observed across the world.  Search by country, religion, or holiday.  See if the same holidays are celebrated in the United States (US Holidays ).
• The World Time Zone Page    Use the search function to find out the time for any major city of the world.

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Travel Forums/Journals: Travel forums and journals are places that even the novice traveler can share his/her experiences with others.  You may just want to read the postings, another way to learn about American values (most of these publications are American based).  Another option would be to participate.  React to a posting or tell others about your own experiences by submitting an entry to one of the forums, and see if you generate any response.

• Fodor's Travel Forums    A travel forum is a place where travelers can post messages about a place they have visited, or would like to visit.  The message is posted, and anyone wanting to reply or comment may do so.  This site, provided by an American based travel publication, organizes postings by place and topic.
• Frommer's Travel Message Board    Another American based travel forum brought to us by Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel Online.  This message board is also organized by destination.
• National Geographic Traveler    Regularly updated e-zine produced by National Geographic.  Features short articles on a variety of destinations around the world.  Each article is accompanied by a photo and a list of links to sites with more information on that destination.  Also features a message board.  To find postings on a particular destination, select "message boards" and scroll down to the bottom of that page.
• Traveller's Tales    Brought to us by Conde Nast Traveller Page, a British publication covering travel destinations throughout the world.  Find the traveler's tales by going to Destinations, and then to Traveller's Tales.  Compare the perspective of British travelers, to that of American travelers.  What differences do you notice?
• Venture Up    A travel journal for adventurous travelers.  Features insightful articles about the impact of tourism, as well as traveler's adventures embellished with photos and illustrations.
• Wanderlust Travel News   A less formal travel e-zine which features articles written by traveler's about their visits to all sorts of destinations, as well as an extensive travel forum.

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