Startups that make traveling less of a hassle and help you find good, local food.

By Craig Newmark (Founder, craigconnects)

This post originally appeared on craigconnects.org.

Hey, I travel quite a bit. I travel for public service and philanthropy, not business; I haven’t been in craigslist management since 2000. (I hear that people travel for “pleasure” or on “vacation,” which I understand are mythological concepts.)

It’s always nice to see new apps and startups that make traveling less of a hassle, and that help you find good, local food.

1. TripCommon

Follow on Twitter at @tripcommon
TripCommon was born out of cofounder Gillian Morris’ years of struggling with outdated, buggy travel search and booking tools. It’s an early seed stage startup disrupting the travel industry. They’re working on making travel work at the right time and the best price. TripCommon’s rebuilding the travel search and booking experience. The company’s first product, Hitlist, helps users travel more by leveraging data in their social graph to present them with relevant destinations and deals (see #2).

2. Hitlist

Follow on Twitter at @hitlist_app

At Hitlist they have one mission: to help you travel more for less. Their intelligent filters help you find trips that suit your time, destination preferences, and budget. Their goal is to help people connect face to face, and in doing so they hope to build a friendlier world.

3. Traveling Spoon

Follow on Twitter at @TravelingSpoon
Traveling Spoon was founded by Aashi Vel and Steph Lawrence, who met at the Haas School of Business in 2011 around their joint passion of food. They shared a dream of helping people connect with authentic food experiences while traveling. They founded Traveling Spoon to build a community of fellow food and travel lovers seeking meaningful experiences around the world.

They’re passionate about food, and believe that by connecting people with authentic food experiences in people’s homes around the world they can help facilitate meaningful travel experiences for travelers and hosts worldwide.

4. Foodspotting

Follow on Twitter at @foodspotting
Foodspotting is a visual guide to good food and where to find it. Instead of reviewing restaurants, you can recommend great dishes and see what others recommend wherever you go.

Cofounder Alexa Andrzejewski started Foodspotting in 2009 with the realization that there were many restaurant review apps, but there was no easy way to find or rate specific dishes.

About the guest blogger: Craig Newmark is the founder of craigslist, one of the world’s most visited websites, where he continues to work in customer service. In 2011 Craig launched craigconnects, his personal initiative to advance the use of technology and social media to benefit philanthropy and public service. He lives in San Francisco.