New Server in the Works, Expect Some Downtime

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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!