Many solo travelers are discovering that they’re not alone, after all.

In fact, a look at some new websites shows that the Internet is helping travelers all over the globe — at least the ones who want to — connect like never before.

Many solo travelers are discovering that they’re not alone, after all.

Three of the more innovative sites in this regard include TripHub, Travel Chums and TripUp.

There are also a number of other travel sites, including Travelocity and Site 59, that among others, are expanding their offerings in ways that might make traveling solo better than ever.

TRIPMATES/TRIP UP

Much was made of the 2005 purchase of the social networking website MySpace by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. MySpace invites users to create online profiles, and meet and make new friends using the site. It also offers users the chance to join discussion groups, find old friends, share music and news, and write blogs. Some argue that online social communities represent the wave of the future, citing MySpace’s massive growth (it’s now consistently one of the ten busiest sites on the web), while others dismiss them as a fad.

But regardless of their future, the former Tripmates, recently re-christened as Trip Up, is here today. This site utilizes many of MySpace’s popular features — like profiles and discussion groups — while adding other features that make the site more travel oriented. For example, TripMates features travel blogs, along with reviews of restaurants, hotels, shops, parties, sights, and activities. In addition, the site’s trip planning tool allows solo travelers to check out trips which others are setting up, or alternative, set up their own itinerary which they might invite others to join.

One particularly unique feature of TripUp is the ability to become a “Travel Guru” for a specific destination. Upon signup, travelers can declare themselves gurus for their hometown, current location, or a favorite destination. A Travel Guru is someone who claims to be knowledgeable about certain aspects of a destination, and therefore, presumably a good source for information. The site’s search feature enables solo travelers to find and contact local gurus for further insider information on their destination. And since TripUp costs nothing to join and has no subscriber fees, it’s a financially painless way to potentially find some new travel companions. To check out TripUp for yourself, visit TripUp.

TRIPHUB

While groups are the primary focus of TripHub, many of the groups using this site begin with a single traveler. Unlike TripUp, TripHub is primarily for people who already know with whom they want to travel — not for making new travel buddies. Once solo travelers have identified the people they want to travel with – often people in other locations — they can set up a TripHub home page to make coordinating the trip easier.

TripHub provides a sort of exclusivity not found with other social travel sites. For solo travelers, this can be a “safe” way to extend invitations to others in their social networks, without having their trip be viewed by the general public, as on TripUp.

To the extent a solo traveler has a trip idea in mind (i.e., a birthday trip, a family reunion, a buddy trip, etc.) and wants to expose that idea to a limited number of people, they could use TripHub and invite only the people they want to view the plans and details. Many of TripHub’s features — location descriptions, dates, event schedules/itineraries, and additional information in the TripBlogs — may also be useful for to the solo traveler.

While the travel industry has traditionally defined a group as ten or more people on same itinerary, TripHub makes it easier for parties of two or three people to plan trips together. According to TripHub, “If there is more than one credit card involved, it’s a group.” And while other “group” travel sites focus on automating the group inventory booking process or discovering new social networks, TripHub offers an integrated trip planning experience to help private social networks of families and friends communicate and collaborate on group decisions.

TRAVELCHUMS

The oldest of these meet-and-greet trip-planning sites is TravelChums, founded in 2000 by ShawGuides, and described as a “learning vacations directory publisher,” by site publisher Dorlene Kaplan. More colloquially, it’s kind of like MySpace for frequent travelers. There’s no charge to sign up for this site, but once you do sign up, you are eligible to create a profile, search the site for tips and travel knowledge, and post on the message boards. Additionally, subscribers can spend $15/month or $95/year to gain the ability to send messages to other members and subscribers.

With over 35,000 members, TravelChums boasts a fairly diverse range of ages and backgrounds. Solo travelers may enjoy browsing the tips and member profiles, but because of the subscription nature of TravelChums, it may not be the easiest site through which solo travelers can link up. Only subscribers can send out emails — members who don’t pay can only respond to any subscribers who might write them. Still, as the oldest of these solo-oriented sites, the collective knowledge of its members — on display in its databases — may be useful for some.

TRAVELOCITY’S “MEET ME IN…”

Originally launched in 2005 by last-minute travel discounter Site 59.com the “Meet Me In…” feature has since been partially co-opted by Site 59’s owner, Travelocity. Essentially, each site enables solo travelers from different cities to plan trips that allow them to meet up in the same city.

Located in Travelocity’s Last Minute Packages section, the “Meet Me In…” feature offers mainly discounted, last-minute (two weeks to a few hours before departure) packages. These pre-packaged offers cover more than 170 international and domestic destinations from about 150 different departure cities, with prices starting at around $200 for short domestic jaunts. Some last-minute packages may include hotel, flights and rental cars, while others are flight + hotel, and others are only for flights.

This tool can potentially be of great use to solo travelers in different cities who want to meet up in a common destination. By coordinating flight itineraries, “Meet Me In…” can help maximize the time travelers spend together. In fact, the site offers a “time together” calculation that shows, to the minute, how long you and your travel partner will be in your destination together.

Once the basic itinerary is established, travelers can sort through package options based on variables like price, preferred airlines, departure times, arrival times, and total travel time. All prices are shown up front for everything that’s included in the package, as well as a price breakdown for each traveler that suggests how much each one should be kicking in for the trip. For more information, please visit Travelocity’s Meet Me In feature.

So while Travelocity and TripHub are making it easier for solo travelers to plan trips with others from different cities, TravelChums and TripMates are helping solo travelers find new travel partners. In any case, for those with access to the Internet, traveling solo may never be the same again.

Get tips for traveling safer solo in our Travel Safety & Security section.

And if you want to travel with a group, check out the Group Tours section.