You used to return home from you travels bearing postcards, a few good snapshots, lots of bad ones. You probably had a few yarns about your journey, and, maybe, a humorous story of culture shock.

The internet has changed all that. Now you can sit in a room in the middle of nowhere and relate each day's events to those back home. Sites like blogger and wordpress are simple enough to use for that purpose. Opening a free account on YouTube or Flickr is all it takes to be able to post videos and photos respectively. In short, it has never been easier for mom to access that picture of you ingesting barbecued snake in Shenzhen.

For more serious travelers, online travel communities are the best place to relate experiences and get advice. Perusing through the blogs of other travelers on sites like Bootsnall and Matador is a great way to get firsthand advice. I find that most experiences and advice on these sites is more accurate than elsewhere. These communities are free to join and offer a chance to network as well as to share stories.

Travel communities are also great for those itching to hit the road again. There are oodles of vicarious experiences to be had by simply reading others' travel yarns.