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Matador Travel
Matador mixes professionally-written content with Facebook-style blogs where fellow travelers share stories and offer inside tips on your destination. Check out the community map, where quick links can show you map pins for member blogs, staff guides, eco organizations and more. Fancy yourself a travel writer? Matador is one of the few sites on the web that that pays contributors. Just head to the "Bounty Board" and see what stories are up for grabs. The pay isn't enough to finance that dream trip to Fiji, but it's better than most. 

TripIt
One of the site’s coolest functions is the itinerary builder: Forward all of your e-mail confirmations from airlines, hotels, and travel agents to plans@tripit.com. There's no need to set up an account, the site will do that automatically, as well as compile your confirmations into a downloadable schedule, along with weather forecasts, maps, and restaurant ideas. TripIt also has a strong community of travelers -- members often use the site to arrange carpools to and from the airport, serve as "hometown guides" and more. 

GeckoGo 
By opening up nearly all its content to member editing -- it works much like Wikipedia -- GeckoGo almost instantly attracted a thriving community full of trekkers supplying hotel and reviews, photos, comments, and suggestions. Be sure to check out the "answers" tab, which acts like a Yahoo Answers for travel. Post your questions about a place and members will offer their advice. Our query about boutique hotels in Paris had three replies inside of 48 hours.