Trip-planning site helps find others to travel the world with

There are myriad sites out there already that help to connect travellers—those using the same airlines, for example, or wanting to share a cab—but typically such connections are fleeting, and they aren’t made until the trip is under way. Globetrooper, on the other hand, lets world travellers find like-minded companions to share a jointly planned group trip. Globetrooper is “a tool for adventurous travellers to create trips and invite people from all over the world to join them,” in the site’s own words. Users of the free site can begin by browsing through the user-created trips already listed there, or they can create their own and invite friends, family and even strangers to join them. Trips listed on the site include ratings for difficulty, culture shock, remoteness and risk; they can also be shared via multiple social media. Examples currently listed include a two-month trek through the Mongolian Gobi Desert and a two-week circumnavigation of the Indian Railway network. Members who decide to join a particular trip are listed as “confirmed troopers,” while those still undecided can follow its planning progress. Numerous how-to tips are available on Globetrooper, as is a travel forum for users to exchange thoughts and share details. We’ve already seen plenty of mass-mingling innovations that help people meet up in the real world, but the expansion into world travel takes that “meeting up” to a whole new level. Spotted by: Ulrika