Official Trip Hopping Blog

New Brew Release is Live

2011-11-18T12:46:00.000-08:00

For the past month, some of us have been gathered here just outside of Phoenix pecking away at keyboards listening to a loud bird squawk for attention and a giant dog roam around nudging us with the occasional drool deposit, all in the name of Trip Hopping, it's been awesome!

We called it our Brew, a gathering of folks interested in inspiring free and spontaneous travel, this website is our outlet (and we also brewed some beer, of course!).

Trip Hopping aims to show people all possible ways of getting to where they want to go, searching many rideshare sites, buses, trains and hitchhiking sites and more. Built around this are other tools that similarly aggregate the best places to stay, things going on and gives you a better spatial idea of your friends travels.

Here at the end of the Brew we've released one our biggest updates, the site is vastly improved on all levels. We'll go into greater detail of some of the coolest new features in some later posts along with some videos, but here's what's new in a nutshell:

Friends
Your friends are your friends, so it shouldn't matter what service you've "friended" them on, you shouldn't have to start from scratch when you find a new tool online you like to use. That's why we've added the ability to import your Facebook and CouchSurfing friends and plan to add more services in the future. The coolest part of this is seeing them on the map or show up in searches for places when you wouldn't have thought to check for them. Kasper said it best when he started realizing how many people he knew were in California because of this feature, "This is cool!".

More ways to get places
We've added more rideshare sites and more transportation to our search results, as well as more hitchhiking spots and information from hitchwiki.org, you can even find a hitchhiking partner by searching or posting yourself. This makes it even easier to find the cheapest or fastest or most adventurous way of getting to where you want to go. We'll always be adding more too, that's kind of the whole point of the site!

More places to stay
We've tapped into more sources of hospitality and accommodation. When you search a place you can see hostels, hotels, couchsurfers, campgrounds and some alternative methods you may not have thought of. It's useful to see this on the map as well, many people will love the feature of seeing all the towns with couchsurfers along a route, perfect for scouting out where to stay on your next road trip.

See who's around and what's going on
You can now post on the new Community page, about whatever you want - a meetup, thoughts on a place, questions, travel advice, anything. You can tag your post with a location, say Phoenix, and people nearby in Scottsdale will see it as well. In addition you'll see public posts form CouchSurfing if there's a nearby group, places of interest (libraries, bars, anything you can type in a search box) and you'll see who's nearby, which includes your friends.

Trips
You can now add any kind of trip, not just rideshare. This means you can note that you hitchhiked from Berlin to Amsterdam and other people can check it out and comment on that. It's also just a click away to share your trips or ride posts on Twitter or Facebook, or just grab some embed code you can post on any site that accepts HTML posting.

You'll notice some other little features here and there too, we're loving it. Things are more stable as well and our code base is cleaner and much more collaboration friendly, I'm looking forward to encountering some more coder types interested in jumping in on the project and moving it along even further.

A big thanks goes out to Larry, Kasper and Laura who've played the biggest roles in the Brew the past month, and also to our friend David who made the labels for our beer and helped with other artwork as well. It's exciting seeing so much interest and energy being put into this, I hope everyone enjoys this travel toy as much as we do.

Hopping to Zend

2011-11-17T17:08:00.000-08:00

When I met up with Walter Heck in 2009 at hackdeoverheid.nl, we had a little brainstorm about a freer way to do rideshares. He also told me about Kenny and Triphopping. It took until Summer this year to actually meet Kenny, when he stayed quite few days at my place, I hooked him up with git and I started fixing some security issues on Triphopping.

My history with "free and spontaneous travel"... After some failed attempts I gave hitchhiking another chance back in 2003, quite successfully. In 2004 I found out about hospitality club, the year after about couchsurfing. In 2006 I started volunteering for couchsurfing, even spent quite a bit of time at collectives. In 2005 I bumped into a small unmaintained wiki with 20 articles about hitchhiking which we turned into Hitchwiki, now the ultimate world-wide guide to hitchhiking.

Hitchhiking is not for everyone - yet. So even though I've only successfully used a ride share website once in my life, I think there's a lot of potential. The main problem is that it's all over the place. If you're trying to find a ride in Europe you'll have to know which sites to check... Not so easy. Here's where triphopping comes in perfectly - you can use it as a search engine for rides from lots of different sites, craigslist, couchsurfing, several European sites and we'll keep on adding more.

I love spaghetti but not when it's in code. Or well, it's fun actually to try to see some structure and make that easier for others, just like I did with couchsurfing code. So I figured triphopping needed a framework. We researched a couple of options and decided to go with Zend Framework. Not for any particular reason but that it's widely spread, that Drupal would be a hard beast to tame for this, and that we can gradually move towards using Zend.

Now after a couple of weeks coding and geeking in a more consistent way we have a more solid deployment system, a slightly cleaner code base and tons of new functionality. I personally focused on the first things of this. Kenny worked on lots of goodness in terms of new features...

The next day and a half we'll be perfecting the last bits... let me end this with Walter's words about the version that'll be up tonight:

I must say that everything looks and feels a lot more solid and smooth and it seems this might finally give TH the kick in the ass it needed so much :)

The Brew is Underway

2011-10-26T14:57:00.000-07:00

The Trip Hopping Brew got a head start this past week at the home of the venerable Larry Streech, one of the masterminds behind Trip Hopping. It's perfect weather in Phoenix these days and we're enjoying every minute of it.

The Trip Hopping Casa

Corona's Palace

Corona talks. A lot.

The office

Our fearless leader, Kenny

Security

What would a Brew be without the brew?

10 days to go...

We've got potlucks, hikes and Halloween parades planned for the weekend, and we're looking forward to meeting new volunteers in the coming weeks. So hop on a train, plane or boat, or start thumbin rides, cause it's high time you got yourself to Phoenix!

Volunteer with us this November at the Phoenix Brew

2011-09-10T03:59:00.000-07:00

If you're a fan of Trip Hopping or just travel in general, perhaps you'd like to volunteer your efforts with us this November. We call it a Brew, good people coming together to collaborate on Trip Hopping and bring it a step further.

This November we'll be gathering at a house in Phoenix starting November 2nd until just before Thanksgiving. Some will be staying the whole time, others may just drop in for an afternoon. Food and accommodation is free for volunteers of course while you're there helping out, plus we'll be organizing an event or two to have some fun. If you can't make it to Phoenix and still want to help, that's totally cool, there's already a few people planning on helping remotely as well as chiming in via video chat every once in a while.

Our main objectives for this Brew are to increase the amount of sources for travel options that Trip Hopping searches, improve the feel of the site across all platforms, get the word out and solidify our volunteer structure.

These are the types of tasks and positions that will be needed:

Research and data entry
Coders (PHP, javascript, java, html5)
Designers (CSS, artistic)
Marketing & Communication
Happiness (cooking, smiling, massaging, dropping in with beer)

If you think you can help in any of these ways (or another way), then you should send us a message via this short form: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dEUwUkxjUl9nU1A2T1lqQUt2WnZaV1E6MQ#gid=0

It wouldn't be a Brew without some home brew! If you like quality beer, there will be some fermenting alongside us and ready to sample before the end of the month. Also some other surprises for volunteers who stick all the way through.

Hope to hear from many of you, thanks!

Big update, here's what's new and what's coming

2011-07-17T15:04:00.000-07:00

After many changes behind the scenes over the past year or so, we've finally updated the live site to share with everybody.

The look has been changed a bit, things should seem less cluttered and more organized. When you focus on one location, you can see all the activity going on there, as well as places to stay. Activity includes people coming and going, their comments, blogs and posts from couchsurfers in the area (only in select areas, more coming soon).

Couchsurfers will also be happy to see a few other new features too. Now you can see all the places along a route where there are couchsurfing.org hosts, and also all the couches close by whatever location you're looking at, great for people who want to stay just outside the city.

Hitchhikers can be happy too as there's now better integration with hitchwiki.org to retrieve relevant articles and get hitchhiking spots for the map.

This update also includes the upgrade to the latest version of the Google Maps API, this is lighter weight and works better on mobile devices.

Poke around and you may see some other things here and there that you like.

This is only the beginning of a rush of new energy being put into the Trip Hopping project. Over the next several months you will see some great new changes, behind the scenes things are getting more organized as well which will speed things up significantly.

Want to be a part of it? Check out triphopping.com/brew if you'd like to volunteer your efforts in any way. In November we will be having a volunteer marathon in Phoenix for the whole month, so let us know if you'd like to join.

Keep hopping!

Tent Surf 2011

2011-05-19T22:55:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again, time for Tent Surf! Trip Hoppers and Couchsurfers filled the beaches, boats and bars in Rocky Point, Mexico last year and had incredible good times. Four days and three nights on the beautiful beach with plenty of exciting activities planned and of course lot's of people you'll love, you'll be one of them!

Trip Hopping is guiding the caravan on June 9th at 8am for travelers arriving in Phoenix. The fun will begin right away and go through June 12th.

Find out more at TentSurf.com

Some more links to find out more on couchsurfing, facebook and twitter.

Last year was a blast and this year should be even better, people from all over the planet will be coming, see you there!

Facebook talking with Trip Hopping

2010-09-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

Trip Hopping is now working with Facebook, here's how you can take advantage:

Login to Trip Hopping with your Facebook account, no Trip Hopping account needed.

See your Facebook friends on the map (along with your Trip Hopping and Couchsurfing friends).

Share your rides in your newsfeed.

Simple as that, we'll be working on more too, hope you enjoy!

Passing the bump in the road

2010-09-01T23:38:00.000-07:00

About a month ago we missed a payment and a miscommunication cost us dearly when our hosting company deleted all of our data. Things have looked dire, the site was down and there were few answers. I've since managed to restore as much of the data as possible and get the site back online.

All data (meaning members, ride and locations posted) has been restored to December 11, 2009, but everything past that date is mostly gone. That means if you became a member after that, you'll have to join again. For the majority of people, this is just a five minute fix, but still, I apologize for the lameness of all this.

The site may be a bit buggy for a bit while I get it adjusted to the new server and sort out any issues that may arise, but I really wanted to get it back online, so it's up! Moving forward, I won't let this sort of thing happen again. I put my trust in the wrong places, lost focus on the core goodness of the idea and failed to get basic things done such as more frequent backups.

I'm in talks now with more talented folks that are eager to be a part of this site and I'm always open to anyone else who'd like to be a part of it. Good times.

Tent Surf 2010 was Awesome

2010-06-20T14:03:00.000-07:00

For those of you who made it out to Rocky Point, you already know how great a trip it was. For those who couldn't make it, go ahead and check out TentSurf.com to see what we got up to, there's a lot of pictures posted!

We relaxed on the beach, we partied on the beach, we partied on a boat, we jumped off a boat, plenty of bars, plenty of music, plenty of good times. Tent Surf 2011 is already in the works, go ahead and sign up now on the Facebook event page, you won't want to miss it - same place, same time of year, but even more people and events going on.

There's plenty more events and festivals coming up this summer too, I'm personally looking forward to the North American Hitch Gathering in Boulder, Colorado this August. If you didn't know, Trip Hopping isn't just about finding rideshares, but also connecting with hitchhiking partners, the preferred arrival method for the Hitch Gathering. Hope to see some of you there, bring on the summer!

Tent Surf 2010

2010-05-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

Tent Surf is back! Last year Trip Hopping helped people all over North America car pool and find hitchhiking partners to get there way to Colorado where all the action was. This year we've gotten more involved, heading down to Rocky Point to scope out the area, and we'll also be heading the caravan from Arizona down to the campsite.

Don't know what Tent Surf is all about?

Get ready to Camp with CSers and THers! This is going to be a four-day three-night camping extravaganza on the beach in Mexico. Wake up every morning to shake off the sand, walk over and jump into the 75 degree water of the Sea of Cortez. Rent a jet ski and explore the beaches of Mirador, Sandy and Cholla bay. Explore the Fish Market or many of the late night activities that are planned. Let’s celebrate not only each other’s company but also International CS day.

Travelers arriving in Phoenix, TripHopping.com will be guiding our caravan down into Mexico starting at 8am on the 10th Camping will begin when we arrive and will end at sunset on June 13th. Maps will be provided.
Here are just some of the activities you can expect at CS Camp.

- Bonfire
- Live DJ’s and Artists on stage
- Dancing
- JetSkiing
- Hiking
- Pillow Fight (Dayna B.)
- Camp Pot Luck
- Body Painting
- Fire Spinning
- Drum Circles
- Sky Diving
- Ultra Light Rides
- Charity event

Registration:
This year there will not be a registration process. We will have a table set up to get a wrist band that will be used throughout the weekend for out of camp activities.

Location:
The location of the camp will be on Sandy Beach just east of The Reef bar and restaurant. Please see map here:

http://www.thereefrvpark.com/location.jpg

We will have an organizer directing traffic and lining up tent rows as people arrive.

Elevation:
The best kind of elevation is Sea level

Terrain:
Terrain in the camp will be sandy. The spots closest to the entrance are harder and more suitable for 2 wheel vehicles. Other areas that are available for camping will require 4 wheel vehicles.

Weather:
June on the beach of Rocky Point is sunny and a stable mid 80° F/30°C during the day. Night time temperature can dip into the high 60° F/20°C. The Sea of Cortez water temperature is steady during this time of year at 75°F/23°C day or night!

Lodging:
You have options when it comes to lodging at the camp out! Of course you can bring your tent or RV (RV hookups available on the west side of the restaurant)That is what camping is all about. If you’re not into sleeping on the sand you can also rent one of the many condo’s that are in the area or stay at a local hotel in Puerto Penasco about 4 miles from Sandy Beach. Please contact any of the local resorts for pricing.

http://www.sandybeachresorts.net/

Getting There:
Travelers participating please understand the closest airports to Puerto Penasco is Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) and Tucson International (TUS). There is an operational international airport about 15 minutes away from Puerto Penasco that does not provide international service at this time. (PPE) Please arrive to Phoenix or Tucson on the 9th if possible to secure a ride-share to Mexico on the 10th. Please make your arrangements prior to your arrival.
We have partnered with www.triphopping.com Want to see all the options available to get to the camp, and partner with others that will be attending the camp out go to: www.triphopping.comPlanes Trains Hitchhiking and rideshares will be available on Trip Hopping. Also be sure to check the event page for other campers offering rides.

Fees:
Organizers will not be collecting any fees to cover this event. There will be charges for using local businesses and services. There is a fee to enter the campgrounds. This generally runs $5 - $10 per vehicle for the whole weekend and is collected by the guard. We will hold a raffle and an auction to cover some operating cost however these activities are completely voluntary.

What to Bring:
BRING YOUR PASSPORT or PASSPORT ID
I have made it back to the US using only my AZ ID however the wait and hassle of doing so will delay getting back into Arizona for everyone. Passport ID’s are cheaper and can be obtained in one day (Show this event information to the clerk with your application). More info here:

http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html

Pets are OK on a leash!
Please Bring your off road vehicle, ATV Boat or Jetski, we love rides!

Camping is fun and exciting but it doesn’t have to be a chore. This will be a self-sustainable camping experience. What this means is bring your own supplies. The standards are Tent, Sleeping bag or blankets (remember it will be cold at night) Propane Camp Stove, Flashlight or Lantern, Food and Water to last the amount of time you will stay and proper clothing. Extras would be Hibachi, portable shower, playing cards or games, fishing gear, radio, hammock…etc. Clean toilets and showers will be available to all at a small cost. Facilities and convenient store is managed by The Reef Bar and Restaurant. Most camping supplies can be purchased from Wal-Mart, Target or your local sporting goods store. There are local shops and markets not far from the campground if you will need additional supplies.

What NOT to bring:
Just like any good run campsite there are items that will not be allowed at the event. No Glass Bottles, NO DRUGS, No Weapons of any kind, No hazardous Chemicals, respect both the landowners and Mother Nature to assure a welcome return for the future. These rules will be handed out at registration

Services:
There are many amenities that will be available at the campout location here is a list.
- Showers and Bathrooms
- Wi-Fi (on the RV side)
- Restaurant and Buffet
- Convenience Store
- Bar and Nightclub

Activities:
We have a team of organizers working on daily activities to keep you busy in-between the relaxing times of your stay. Party Boat, Ultra light Rides, hikes, Pub Crawls and workshops are just a few of the activities that will take place. Tent decorating contests and musical acts on stage are among others. I heard a rumor about another attempt at a pillow fight may take place. Please feel free to dream up what you would like to contribute at the campout. Please keep in mind that we do not want to disrupt or destroy the beauty of our surroundings. Whatever is dreamed up in those wonderful minds of yours; please make sure that we can clean it up easily. If you would like to add a workshop or group activity please contact organizer April to get your idea on the event schedule.

Contacts:
Here are your Organizers (Camp Counselors)

Jon Cordoba - Organizer
http://www.couchsurfing.com/profile.html?id=3HRAF60

April Menegazzo – In Camp Activities http://www.couchsurfing.com/profile.html?id=64MYY8K

Larry Streech – Organizer / www.triphopping.com, Travel http://www.couchsurfing.com/profile.html?id=JF0KFK

Mike Huang – Welcome Party and Website
http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/muchium/

Get Faq’s on twitter

https://twitter.com/TentSurf

Still on the fence? Come interact with the organizers and other campers?
Check out our group:

http://www.couchsurfing.com/group.html?gid=16378

on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/tentsurf

By attending this event you understand that traveling into another country and participation in is at your own risk. You or your guests will not hold couchsurfing.org, the organizers, affiliates and or sponsors liable under any circumstances. This is not a sanctioned CouchSurfing.org or TripHopping.com event.

For new info you can also check www.tentsurf.net

We will be leaving by Caravan from West Phoenix at 10 am. We are meeting at Walmart on Estrella and I-10: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=N+Estrella+Pkwy&daddr=I-8+BUS+W%2FW+Pima+St+to:AZ-85+S+to:31.880582,-112.817101&hl=en&geocode=FXaK_gEdOQdN-Q%3BFeyt9gEdxtJH-Q%3BFV287gEdtrdF-Q%3B&mra=mi&mrcr=2&mrsp=3&sz=15&sll=31.887688,-112.801652&sspn=0.029515,0.055747&ie=UTF8&ll=33.454575,-112.383657&spn=0.029002,0.055747&z=15

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=N+Estrella+Pkwy&daddr=I-8+BUS+W%2FW+Pima+St+to:AZ-85+S+to:31.880582,-112.817101&hl=en&geocode=FXaK_gEdOQdN-Q%3BFeyt9gEdxtJH-Q%3BFV287gEdtrdF-Q%3B&mra=mi&mrcr=2&mrsp=3&sz=15&sll=31.887688,-112.801652&sspn=0.029515,0.055747&ie=UTF8&ll=32.170963,-112.373657&spn=3.765896,7.13562&t=h&z=8

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=N+Estrella+Pkwy&daddr=I-8+BUS+W%2FW+Pima+St+to:AZ-85+S+to:AZ-85+S%2FN+Ajo+Sonoita+Hwy%2FN+Sonoita+Hwy&hl=en&geocode=FXaK_gEdOQdN-Q%3BFeyt9gEdxtJH-Q%3BFV287gEdtrdF-Q%3BFUx25gEdJI1G-Q&mra=ls&sll=33.454575,-112.383657&sspn=0.029002,0.055747&ie=UTF8&z=9

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=101878008033279927742.00048774559cae91e2c69&ll=33.335118,-111.846313&spn=3.717026,7.13562&z=8&iwloc=000487745dc6010dde972

See you guys there !!!!!

New dashboard and speed improvements

2009-12-14T22:23:00.000-08:00

We've made some updates! The most noticeable, for members, is the new dashboard showing useful information on where you are now and your next destination. This includes a preview of rideshare results, places to stay, friends nearby and the buzz from nearby couchsurfing groups.

Rideshare results are all around better, and will continue to improve on top of this. We're now searching more sources and gathering more information to better filter through rides to find the ones most useful for you.

The site has a cleaner look and things have sped up considerably. We've optimized our javascript and CSS so the files are more efficient, a lot smaller and will be run quicker once loaded. We've also upgraded other software on the server so things like our database run smoother, faster.

You'll notice some other small but cool changes, like seeing your friends pictures on the map in relation to where they are. We'll keep you posted as to other cool stuff you may like and more improvements we are continuing to make. As always, trip on!

Hopping Along

2009-10-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

We've been quiet lately, as far as letting everyone knowing what we're up to, it's about time to clue everyone in.

I'm Kenny, the fingers behind the bulk of the code on Trip Hopping. In August I traveled though Mexico, mostly by thumb, in the few weeks I was there I didn't write a single line of code for Trip Hopping. I flew to Phoenix and stayed with Larry, also from Trip Hopping, and started getting cracking on code and operations again.

I've since gone up to California where I've been somewhat stationary for longer than I usually do (I've been living out of my backpack over 2 years spending an average of 3 or 4 days in one spot). Despite being along up here, as far as people working on Trip Hopping, I've brewed a beer in the spirit of Trip Hopping brews; a brew is what we call our concentrated efforts of improving our project, usually with volunteers. It's a porter, a week or so away from being drinkable.

Anyhow, I'm in California coding. Specifically, I've put a lot of hours into improving, and extending, our rideshare search algorithm, for one. I've been making it able to search more rideshare sites, and sort the information better. For example, we now search couchsurfing.org's local city groups for posting that we sense are people offering rides, and show these in our results, it's friggin' awesome. It's also now scalable, meaning we can easily start searching many of the premier rideshare sources, beyond just rides posted on our site.

Larry is the couchsurfing ambassador of Phoenix and Arizona, on the Trip Hopping team. He's taking care of our verification process. At the moment our hang up is finding a better provider for the patches and bumper stickers we want to send to every verified member, soon we'll be sending these out.

Besides this, a lot of general tweaks have been going out to increase speed, but also a design change that should make things more clear and easy to find. Keep on tripping all, enjoy!

End of the Brew, here's what's new

2009-06-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

The first Trip Hopping Brew in Arizona was a success! We had fun meeting volunteers showing their interest in Trip Hopping and watching the number of rides and member sign ups continue to grow. We've added features, sped things up and improved our organization in general, we've also laid out some more ideas for going forward.

Here's what's new:

Search rides more efficiently, prepare for the weather

Visually, you'll notice highlighted lines on the map that follow the roads for people's ride posts, green for offers, orange for requests. This is an improvement from before when we showed straight as-the-crow-flies lines. You'll notice that the map in general has a cleaner look with things organized better, there's an updated Google search bar at the bottom too that let's you search anything from sushi to bike shops.

More rides are shown now, a search from St Louis to Denver will turn up more rides that may be relevant. This includes ride that may be passing through, like rides from New York to Utah, as someone may be willing to stop along the way and pick you up.

Weather is now on the map! You'll see little icons of the sun or storm clouds all along your route when you do a travel search. Clicking these icons gives you a more extensive look at the upcoming weather forecast. This is particularly useful for hitchhikers like myself, it may be sunny here in Phoenix, but it can be good to know that you'll be getting rained on come Utah.

After posting a ride, you'll be given an easy copy/paste option to embed your ride into other sites like Craigslist and Couchsurfing to improve your chances of connecting with someone.

Focus on the people

There's a new tab you may have seen already, "People". This is a look into the newest members, latest blogs and photos and even the most recent rides posted to Trip Hopping. It's got a simple lay out, you can also switch to "Friends" to see the same information, but just from your friends.

More pictures! We're not a photo site, nor do we want to be. At first we only allowed one photo upload per person to keep things simple. As more people joined we realized one was not enough, but at the same time, we didn't want to open the floodgates and have people uploading 60 odd pictures. We decided to let you upload a few more pictures, but we're making it fun by adding specific types of photos. One is of you clearly, a profile picture that people can identify you from. Then a picture of you with a cool background, a Hopping picture (you must be airborne, falling, jumping) and a picture of you traveling, so hitchhiking or in your car or whatever you can think of. This is already turning up some very cool results, upload your cool pictures! Of course, if you have 60 odd photos you want to show off, you can check out Google Picasa which lets you upload a ton of photos, when you upload photos you'll see how you can link to all of your photos there.

Profiles in general are looking a bit cleaner and more consistent. When you look at your own profile, you'll see some code you can embed on other sites to show off your Trip Hopping profile, look right below your "About Me" section. Put this on your blog, website, couchsurfing profile, anywhere you want people to notice your presence on Trip Hopping.

We're also working on a Community Forum where our members can talk with each other. Mark Ovaska flew all the way from New York to volunteer with us and got this started for us. It's still in testing so we're not linking to it directly on the site yet, but if you want to check it out and help us find any flaws with it, go to http://www.triphopping.com/community and the conversation started!

Hopping faster than ever!

We've made some significant speed improvements! Walter Heck, our database admin, has been squeezing in what little spare time he has to optimize our databases to make accessing data from them lightning quick. I've also been working with him to improve the queries to the database to be more efficient across the site. Mark came in and chopped 1000 lines of code off our CSS, and we've also improved our javascript to run more efficiently. Things are hopping along nicely.

Supporting Trip Hopping

We've decided to just about do away with advertisements on the site, and have stripped them off. Sometimes ads are useful and relevant, and sometimes it makes sense to show support for companies we know and trust. We don't want to say ads are gone for good, but we will say they won't come back unless it's truly awesome stuff. This means that donations and verifications from you will be what's keeping us hopping. It costs money to maintain our servers, cover business expenses and afford to spend our time improving the site. If you love the site and like where it's going, get verified or donate!

We've also made a volunteer page at http://www.triphopping.com/brew. If you're interested in offering your time and talents to make Trip Hopping better, check it out! We're looking for all kind of folks, from techies to fundraisers to communications to PR people and more.

Thanks!

We had a great time playing with the site, we even got a day off going tubing on the salt river which was awesome! We hope you enjoy all the updates we've mentioned, there's plenty more things we couldn't quite squeeze in here that you'll notice too. Thanks to all our volunteers that came and helped with techie stuff, artwork, data entry, design, donations and helping to get the word out, you guys make this work.

Follow the roads and find people

2009-06-01T01:04:00.000-07:00

The Brew here in Arizona is starting to take off, I've personally been going around the clock non-stop pecking away at keys and making the site better. We've pushed an update releasing some new features as well as some bug fixes.

Follow the roads. Now when you do a search for rides, say Phoenix to Denver, you'll see icons on the map showing people requesting and offering rides. Only now, the lines between follow the road based on the best route, this is instead of the straight bee-lines we used to display. It's cool to see the slew of lines twist around!

People! We've added a "People" tab where you can see some of the latest members and the newest blogs and photos they've posted as well as the latest rides posted to Trip Hopping. You'll notice that you can filter that to see just your friends' action.

We've made some speed updates too, so you should notice things are a bit snappier. We'll be doing a lot more to increase performance over the next couple weeks while the Brew is going on, as well as sneaking a few more features in. If you're still interested in coming to the Brew in Arizona or helping from afar, check out the Arizona Brew page.

What's Brewing at Trip Hopping

2009-05-13T01:42:00.000-07:00

Things at Trip Hopping are starting to take off, excitement's the word. With more people flooding the site every day, it's becoming that much more important that we keep up and continue making the site as good as it can be.

We can't do it alone, so we've organized a "Brew" to get people together who want to volunteer their time and talent to Trip Hopping. The first one will be in Arizona in the town of Avondale in the Phoenix metro area, May 29th to June 12th.

We're looking for techies, fundraisers, marketing/pr types and anyone else who loves the site and is willing to help. There's tasks like research and data entry that just about anyone can help with, so we're looking for all kinds of decent folks.

While it'll be two weeks of your good hard work, we'll be having some fun too. Of course we'll provide you with a place to stay and food for the time you're here, but we have a trip or two in mind as well.

And what's a Brew without... brew? We'll be home brewing some beer in celebration, call it a metaphor, when the right things come together at the right time it makes magic. I'll spare the "hoppy" jokes... for now.

If you're interested in getting involved, you can fill out a super short form to apply at http://www.triphopping.com/brew/arizona. Even if you can't make it out this time, apply anyhow, there's plenty of opportunities for volunteering remotely and at future Brews. Thanks everyone!

New Server is Hopping

2009-05-06T21:15:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we upgraded to a new server to better handle everything, it went well! Thanks for dealing with the short amount of downtime it caused.

New Server in the Works, Expect Some Downtime

2009-04-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

We're excited about how many of you are enjoying the site, we've getting an explosion of new members and people posting rides, thanks! We'll be upgrading to a new server in the next few days to handle all the traffic, this is a good thing.

While we transfer over there will be a short amount of time where the site will be down, so don't panic, we'll be right back! Along with the new powerful server we'll be releasing a few more bug fixes and really cool features, should be good times.

Thanks for hopping along with us!

Now on Twitter

2009-04-13T23:46:00.001-07:00

Trip Hopping is on Twitter, check it out! We're using it to post quick updates about new features, old features you could be using, and just generally what we're up to. Enjoy!

Back Online!

2009-04-07T00:18:00.000-07:00

A little over a month ago, we tripped and went down, for a while. We missed a payment for our server and had to wait to come up with the money. When we did, we found out that our hosting company, 1and1, deleted all of our data. Ours meaning all of ours, yours, everything. 1and1 is not to be trusted, and asking around we've heard similar horror stories.

Of course we're mostly to blame for having missed the payment, but luckily we had a great deal of the data backed up, but not all of it. We've got everything back online on a different server, I (Kenny) hitchhiked into Phoenix and have been working with Larry the past couple weeks getting everything cranking.

We're working on making the site better every week and will continue to add cool features to simplify and enhance every one's travel experiences. Still very much in the start up phase, we're looking for ways to bring in enough money to cover our costs so a missed payment will never happen again. One thing we've done is set up a way for people who love Trip Hopping to make donations to the site, as well as verifications. Verifications allows members pay a small fee, and in doing so we can validate your identity. This allows other members to see you have done so and therefore add a level of instant credibility and trust, which will result in more connections, more rides, more good times.

Enjoy your trips, I know I will, I'm hitchhiking to Vegas in the morning, glad to be back online!

New Year, New Features, Better Performance

2009-01-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been busy on the Trip Hopping front, and on New Years Eve we pushed out a whole bunch of changes and new features to get the site working a lot smoother. Bugs have been squashed, we're hopping along nicely.

Profiles got a complete redesign to make better use of space and flow better. Some people's maps are looking very cool, and it's easy to update your map. When you first login you'll see a text box that says "Where are you now, where to next?", whenever you update your location or tell us about a destination you have in mind, a marker will be added to your map as well. You may also be happy to know when your friends update their current location you have the option to recieve a text message to let you know! Just click "Friends" on your dashboard and you'll see how.

There's a lot more going on, we'll let you discover some cool stuff on your own, as well as highlight some of our favorite features in the blog regularly. Don't forget to click "Talkback" in the top right corner whenever you see something act funny or if you have a cool idea to share, keep on Hopping!

Happy Holiday Travels!

2008-12-24T15:33:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone is enjoying themselves this time of year, we are! We've been making some significant updates to the site, some changes you've seen already, and there's many more to come. More and more people are joining and using the talkback feature to let us know what they like and what could be better.

With our next big update we'll be sending out a message to all our members, and updating this blog of course, and make sure everyone is informed. It's exciting to watch Trip Hopping grow, hop on my friends, and stay safe!

Ride, make stops, have good time

2008-08-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

Exciting this have been happening with Trip Hopping, some I'll save for another time, but there's been great new developments since the last post.

The travel page rocks. It looks a lot cleaner, different travel styles are separated and have become more accessible. Finding and posting rides has become easier and more detailed. Now you can add multiple stops along your trip, not just a start and end. To make it better, we even suggest stops for you based on where your friends are and places you've added to your map that may be along your route. Speaking of your map, now your stops and destinations from rides your offer or request are automatically added to your map as future destinations if they weren't there already.

Craigslist rides are also displayed better, just roll over them with your mouse and the entire post is shown in a box on the same page, it saves you the hassle of clicking the link to a whole new web page, cutting out that step encourages you to look at more rides that may be what you're looking for.

Maps keep getting better and many people have expressed interest in an embed feature to put it on there blog or elsewhere. Done. Just throw an iframe up with this as the source: http://www.triphopping.com/mapembed?name=kenflannery

In general a lot of small bugs and quirks were fixed making the site quicker and more reliable. I'm sure everybody will notice other small little treats along the way, and as always, use the Talkback link at the top of every page to let us know what you like, what you don't like, and what you want.

Some features coming very soon include the addition of Flickr on profiles (if you're in a hurry just hit the talkback with a link to your flickr page and I'll get it working just for you). Good times, and happy tripping!

New Members, Features, and Ways to Talkback

2008-07-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

We've had some more people using Trip Hopping, and we're expecting a wave of people to join in the coming weeks, it's an exciting time. I've been working on fixing bugs, adding new features, and making general tweaks to make everyone happy.

Talkback to us! If the site acts funky or does something unexpected, we need to know so we can fix it. At the top of every page you'll see the talkback link, click that to quickly report a bug, suggest a new feature, or just tell us what you like.

Add that bus you know about. At the heart of Trip Hopping is the ability to find all the means of travel from one place to another. While posting rides is probably the most fun way to travel, there's also super cheap buses and other ways to travel. Now you can add buses you know about to the site so other travelers can find them too. You'll see a list of added transportation methods when you do a search in the travel section, along with a link to "Add Transit" yourself.

Text message alerts to your phone when your friend gets somewhere new. You decide which friends you'd like to get updates from when they arrive somewhere new. Go to settings and add your mobile number, then your friends page to check which friends to get the updates from.

Much more is coming, with all these new users we'll start getting a better idea of what everyone wants and what our priorities should be. Happy Trip Hopping!

Introducing Trip Hopping

2008-06-11T23:22:00.000-07:00

A year ago I (Kenny) started working on Trip Hopping unknowingly, long before it was called Trip Hopping, I simply had the idea to create a resource and tool for getting around easier and keeping my friends up to date with my travels. I met Larry couchsurfing in Phoenix, he loved the idea and the name Trip Hopping came about, we've been working on the project ever since.

The meat of Trip Hopping is rideshare and travel. We want people to see every possible method of travel to get to where they're going, and that includes offering and requesting rides from fellow travelers. We think that if people have a profile with references from people they've rode with before travelers will be more willing to offer and request rides.

Profiles are more than just references, but a window into each person's travels. You can have a map showing where you are now and places you visited or plan to visit. Videos, pictures and travel blogs can be imported from popular sites like YouTube and Picasa (adding support for more sites in the future), when you first log in you'll see the most recent locations and stories your travel friends have to offer.

Like any new site we are feeling things out. Some things may act funny, some things you'll love, and you'll have ideas for cool additions to the site, we do too. Shoot an email to ContactUs@triphopping.com with anything and everything on your mind, we love feedback.

Happy Trip Hopping everybody!