Nextstop.com: Create your own travel guide or search for trip ideas

Nextstop.com: Create your own travel guide

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Looking for fun things to do when you travel?

Check out a new Web site called nextstop.com where users offer up ideas for interesting places and activities, from obscure cafes to major landmarks.

Some nextstop members recommend things they encounter in their travels, while others are locals suggesting favorite places from their hometowns and neighborhoods.

Many users create mini-guides with evocative titles such as “Man Up Texas BBQ: Eating our way through Texas’ BBQ joints” and “I miss Pasadena, won’t you go there for me?”

You can browse recommendations on a map, by city, by topic or keyword, or by following a member of the Web site whose posts you enjoy. The site also suggests other members with similar tastes for you to check out, and makes it easy to share nextstop posts on Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

But it’s just as much fun to create your own guide as it is to browse through others. You come up with a theme for your guide, name a place related to that theme, and a selection of images appears for you to choose from. Pick a photo, then write a quick, short caption or review. Add a few more items and your guide is complete.

Nextstop was developed by Carl Sjogreen, who was part of the team that worked on Google Calendar, and Adrian Graham, part of the team that worked on Picasa.