That’s the idea behind TripIt, a travel site that removes a lot of the hassle from travel management. After signing up for a free account, you simply forward all travel-related confirmation e-mails (i.e. those you get from airlines, hotels, car-rental outfits, etc.) to plans@tripit.com.
The service culls all the pertinent details from those e-mails and builds slick, chronologically organized itineraries, complete with weather forecasts, maps of each destination city, driving directions (from, say, the airport to the hotel), and more.
You can add notes to each itinerary, share them with friends, check flight status, and even get airplane seating advice from SeatExpert.
Thankfully, there’s also a mobile version of the TripIt site (m.tripit.com) where you can view all your trip details right on your phone. iPhone users will definitely want to check out the free TripIt companion app, which is basically just a spruced-up, easier-to-use app version of the mobile site.
It’s worth noting that the Pro version of TripIt ($69 per year) adds a few extra features like automatic trip sharing, mobile alerts about flight delays, gate changes, and the like, and tracking of your frequent-flyer and other travel-reward accounts. But I suspect most folks will be perfectly satisfied with freebie TripIt. I know I am.