71Miles is a great travel guide for short break and week-end trips around major cities.

With special focus on local and authentic travel, deep travel knowledge and driving trips, 71Miles is changing the landscape of Travel information.

For my geeks readers, 71Miles it's built with WordPress !!! Yes, they use Wordpress as a "Travel Content Management System (CMS)" ;-))
Great idea and great job for the technical team.

John A. Vlahides, 71Miles Executive Editor and Co-founder tell us more about this great website, Travel 2.0 and how he use Twitter as a tool for the 71Miles community.

> John, can you tell some information about you and 71Miles

I'm the co-founder of 71miles.com, which launched in March 2007. 71Miles is the first comprehensive site for regional driving trips around major metropolitan areas---by locals, for locals. We cover Northern California and just added D.C. Metro; we'll be adding other American cities in the coming months.

Personally, I've been writing about travel in the western US since 1999; in that time, I've authored ten books for Lonely Planet, another 20 for Fodor's, and written numerous articles for other major US publications. I used to work as a *Clefs d'Or* luxury-hotel concierge. Before that I studied cooking in Paris, at La Varenne, with the same chefs who trained Julia Child. I also have a background in music, and currently sing tenor with the San Francisco Symphony.

> You manage the operation for this regional travel online community and new type of travel guide. Can you tell us the story and some facts about this project? Seems you are very innovative and explore a marketing travel niche !

Every other travel site is built around air travel, its content written primarily for out-of-towners. Not at 71Miles.
We focus on driving trips---the fastest-growing segment of travel.
The trend is for short trips, but until now there was no single site where you could find information about local travel. The travel sections of newspapers are good, but who can remember where they put a clipping from the newspaper? Now all the info you need to plan a trip is one single place.




>Can you give us some outline about your goals with 71Miles!

In addition to a partnership with Kayak (we're the first to use their new hotel API), we've got deals set up with local media outlets to broadcast travel segments on television and radio. (See our press page - http://71miles.com/press - for my latest appearances.) We've also shot a pilot for a travel show on TV. In the coming months, we're redesigning the site so users can customize their own trips.

> Tourism is a people business and a destination experience with personal encounters. Do you think the resident community can leverage a destination thanks to a web site and tools like using 71Miles?

Absolutely. Travel is about finding new perspectives, new ways to view the world we live in. People want authentic travel experiences, but don't have time to do the necessary research to make that happen. But since I have been to all the places I write about, readers can build on my own authentic experiences to create their own.

>Who will use your services ? Do you have a target audience ?

Our target audience is everyone who travels. I write for young families, gay travelers, old couples---anyone who has a love for making new discoveries in the world around them.

> Do you see everywhere you write about ?

Generally, yes. I see about 95% of the places I cover. But when I can't, I try to make it clear to readers where I've gotten information. Reliability and truthfulness are key to our success.

> Can you give us advice to use 71Miles

If you're short on time, you can get the flavor of a 71Miles destination by doing two things: reading the short introduction at the top of the page, and watching the two-minute video in the middle of the page. If you have more interest in a destination, then read the complete reviews. And check out the

>Internet is going faster and we talk now about Web 2.0 and Travel 2.0. What do you think about this evolution in the tourism & hotel market place ? Social media and User Generated Content are the big trends for Travel 2.0 ?

I'm glad web users can now post their own reviews on various travel websites. But Web 2.0, in its early stages, relied too heavily on user-generated content. With so many conflicting reviews, whom do you believe? At 71Miles, we feel that there's room for both expert opinion AND user-generated comments. For example, I have worked as a chef and a luxury-hotel concierge, which gives me more insight into food and hotels than the average Joe. However, I want to know what Joe's personal experiences of the restaurants and hotels I cover. I help him, he helps me. Web 2.0 is about *conversations,* and such dialogues help us all make better decisions about travel.

> How do you use Twitter and other new interactive tools ? It's a way to build interaction with readers ?

I post on Twitter whatever I'm doing right now---on the road, or in my writing---as it relates to my experience as a travel writer. Ask an American what his dream job is, and chances are he wants to be a travel writer. By using Twitter, I can show readers the truth about travel writing, good and bad. People love it!

>What are your taste for:

>Travel:

Support the local economies of places you visit by avoiding chain stores. For example, I don't drink Starbucks coffee, and I don't shop at Walmart. These places put family-owned cafes and shops out of business. Travel is about discovering new worlds you never knew existed. Keep them alive by shopping locally.

>Travel destination:

I live in my favorite city: San Francisco. It's at the westernmost edge of Western civilization. How cool is that? My second favorite city is Paris. (Predictable, but true.) I also love small, out-of-the-way ski towns like Taos, New Mexico. I admit it: I'm a Westerner.

>Hotel :

I'm a luxury-hotel service expert, so I like to stay in top-end hotels---not because they're so comfortable, but because I like to test the service. Most so-called luxury hotels are actually business-class hotels, and I'm usually disappointed in the service. But I l-o-v-e discovering the real thing, places where the staff anticipates your requests before you even ask for them. Now that's service! I also love simple, mom-and-pop inns where every detail has been carefully thought out. That doesn't necessary mean luxury, but it does mean quality. A good example: the housekeeping cottages at Mar Vista Cottages , on the Mendocino Coast. Cottages have top-of-the-line mattresses and high-end linens (they even iron the sheets before placing them on the bed!), but there's no space-occupying froufrou to get in your way. And there's a big organic garden outside, which guests are expected to feed themselves from during their stay. In the morning, the innkeepers leave a basket of freshly laid eggs (from the chickens outside) by your front door. What makes Mar Vista so successful is that they're not trying to be something they're not. Again, travel should be authentic, not template-driven.

>You have the micro

Why go through the hassle of getting on an airplane when there are so many amazing things to see near home? Travel locally! You'll not only discover new places you might never have known existed, but you'll also gain new perspectives on your world. Now *that's* a vacation!

Thanks. ---JV***

If you want great advices and tips about your next trip to US and California, try 71Miles. John make a incredible job and you will find unique and authentic travel content.

Credit : John photo thanks ABC local