Travel Applications on Facebook

Taking on friends at the social networking site has led to an unhealthy obsession. A geography quiz can lead to ticking off cities and booking random trips…

Social Networking Site Facebook

I’ll admit it. Like just about every other bored office worker across the western world, I have become addicted to social networking site Facebook. It will probably be the death of my career, and not just because I spend far, far too much time sending nonsense to people I’ve not seen or heard from since school.

Traveler IQ Challenge

No – it’s the travel related applications that have really got me suckered. It all kicked off with the Traveler IQ Challenge, which is basically a geography quiz. I’m pleased to say I managed a Traveler IQ of 130, and none of my friends have (yet) managed to top my score.

TripAdvisor Travel Map

The real problem came when I discovered the TripAdvisor Travel Map. This basically allows you to mark off the cities you’ve been to. I gave up on that, however, after realising that it would take me about an hour to tick off everywhere in Australia and the UK, let alone elsewhere.

Travbuddy Countries Visited Map

Then came the real killer – the TravBuddy Countries Visited Map. This allows you to mark off the countries you have visited, then colours them green on a world map, and lets everyone know what percentage of the world’s countries you have been to. This has sparked an obsession to get to as many countries as I can as quickly as possible. And, as a result, I’ve started booking trips to places I’ve not been to before on a whim. I’ll have visited 27 separate countries in 2007 by the end of the year. That’s just childish, isn’t it?