As head of engineering at TravelMuse, I have been rather quiet until now, being quite busy with the June launch of our Beta site. As we gear up for our next release (code name: “[Kuala Lumpur|http://www.travelmuse.com/destinations/MY/14/kuala-lumpur]“), I thought I should take this opportunity to give you some insights into the technology we’re using to provide you with new travel content on a regular basis as well as handy trip planning tools.

At TravelMuse, we’re here for the long haul to serve your needs, and we invested in a modern Enterprise Java platform based on open standards, which allows us to assemble best of breed technologies to deliver great next-generation Web applications. The 21st century brought us the open source revolution, and it happens that nowadays “best of breed” often means community-based software. That’s why many of our site’s key technologies are open source projects from the community such as GlassFish Application Server (more details in a Sun stories blog), MySQL Database Server and Alfresco Web CMS (Content Management System).

The latter is worth mentioning as it is a key enabler for our small team to be able to reliably publish destination information and a dozen new articles to the site on a weekly basis. Once the structure of each type of document is defined in the CMS and rendering templates are developed by the engineering team, our editorial team can then independently produce content into the CMS through Web forms, preview it for quality assurance and then deploy to production with minimal engineering involvement (freeing up our time to build new nifty features for you!).

Over the next few months, you will see tremendous investments made in our trip planning functionality to address all aspects of the process and improve its usability. I’m very excited about bringing all those state of the art planning tools online and we look forward to your feedback on how you use TravelMuse and what your favorite features are!

Want to plan a trip but don’t know how to get started? Too busy this summer to even pick a destination? Or maybe you’re just so worn down by all the economic doom and gloom that the last thing on your mind is putting your hard-earned discretionary income into a vacation.

Well, we feel your pain. Heck, we work at a start-up!

TravelMuse is a travel planning platform that supports you wherever you are in the planning cycle: from learning and education through detailed planning and booking. We’ve worked hard to pull together a set of tools and content that support the complete lifecycle of travel planning.

How to Plan Your Trip in Three Easy Steps

1.    Pick a destination. Try the Inspiration Finder. It allows you to quickly narrow your focus to destinations that are right for you—based on your preferences and needs.It’ll recommend up to eight destinations that fit your budget and desired activities and are within your maximum travel time and are good for the ages of travelers going.Fewer than eight results that meet your needs? Then you’ll get some alternative recommendations to consider that come close.

2.    Plan your travels. The TravelMuse Planner can help you organize your research once you’ve winnowed down the list to some really cool and interesting places. Use the “add to trip” action button on any TravelMuse article, hotel page, restaurant or attraction to instantly deposit your research into your appropriate trip plan. Share your trip plans with your travel companions and invite them to add items to your trips.

And of course it’s human nature to visit lots of sites as you plan your trip. You can use the TravelMuse Bookmarker to collect pages from anywhere on the web.

3.    Now you’re free to book your trip! TravelMuse includes a complete online reservation system to support all your air, car, hotel, cruise and package reservation needs. If you book elsewhere, you can easily add confirmations to your trip plans—so that everything is neatly stored in one central location.

One of the joys of travel is the anticipation of the trip. No matter where you are planning your vacation, chances are we have something new and insightful for you in our destination guides and articles. TravelMuse provides many ways to immerse yourself in your destination and enjoy some armchair travel before you even hit the road.

There you have it. Travel planning has never been easier, more beautiful or more fun.

Thanks and happy planning!

You may have mastered the 3-1-1 rule for carry-on liquids by now, but what about duty-free liquids, like perfumes and liquor? My husband just returned from a trip to Honduras. Because he’d had little time to shop during his stay, he bought a few bottles of rum in the airport before flying back to the United States. He thought his duty-free rum would be able to accompany him in the cabin all the way back to San Francisco.

Usually when we travel, any bottle of tequila, rum, or other spirit we acquire gets packed securely in our checked baggage for the trip home. We’ve even taken rolls of bubble wrap to Mexico to pack the bottles of tequila we knew we’d buy. And that’s why he didn’t know about the rules regarding duty-free liquids, gels and aerosols.

If you’re returning to the United States on a nonstop flight, your duty-free liquids (purchased in an international airport) will be permitted through the checkpoint only if they meet the U.S. requirements for tamper-proof bags. According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), “duty-free delivered to the aircraft for passenger pick-up, bought on the plane or purchased after the security checkpoint are allowed.”

But, if you then connect to another flight, you have to place that liquid in your checked baggage. It will not be permitted through a U.S. security checkpoint. Considering that you’ll have to claim your checked bags when you pass through customs, there’s time to get that bottle of perfume or whiskey into your bag before you re-check it for the final flight home. But if you forget and get turned back from the next checkpoint because you have liquid in your carry-on, you’ll have no choice but to either leave that bottle behind or pay for a box to pack it in when you check it. And in these days of paying for practically anything that’s checked, the cost of the box plus the cost of a second (or first) checked bag might amount to more than that souvenir bottle is worth.

It’s good practice to brush up on your TSA rules periodically because they can change. I only just realized that metal scissors with sharp tips (under 4 inches), like those used for cutting fingernails, are now allowed in carry-on bags.

What happened to the rum? My husband packed them into his carry-on bag, checked it (paying a $25 fee for a second checked bag), and crossed his fingers that they wouldn’t be broken when he arrived in San Francisco. Luckily, all four bottles made it through intact.

Today is B-Day! Beta launch day, that is (read the full press release). It’s been an exciting ride the last 13 months gearing up for today, and we’re jazzed to see what you think about the Beta!

We’ve worked hard to break away from the status quo of existing online travel sites and intelligently merge content with tools.

Now, on the new TravelMuse.com, you can discover destinations through the industry’s first Inspiration Finder, plan trips with your friends and family using the TravelMuse Planner, or just enjoy some armchair travel by perusing our original editorial content and comprehensive destination guides.

A big thank-you to our Alpha users who sent us invaluable feedback over the last four months! Many of the improvements and enhancements are due to your excellent insights.

Our goal is to provide a travel planning experience that enables you to research, plan and book the vacation you really want—not the one that you had to settle for. Let us know how we’re doing and thanks for visiting!

Happy travels,

Kevin & Eric