When it comes to planning our excursions, usually we first hit up Kayak, Orbitz, and Travelocity to find a decent airfare. Then it's off to Tripadvisor to read hotel reviews, so we know which new bloated display of luxury is going to offer free wifi and an International Herald Tribune each morning while still situated close enough to nightlife that we can stumble home without finding a metro stop. But a whole new web service just entered the fray, adding the MySpace factor to travel. It's called Tripmates, and it's hoping to be the stepping stone between getting the travel bug and showing off your holiday photos on Flickr.

Founded by "Los Angeles’ hottest under 30 power couple, entertainment lawyer Sam Rogoway and publicist Emily Dahlberg" (from the press release, hah), Tripmates takes new factors into consideration when traveling, such as your relationship status and whether you're looking for a traveling partner. (Thus far, however, we're disappointed that it doesn't take your sexual orientation into account, or at least offer to.) Throw in features like blogs, photo albums, travel log, and destination forums, and you're looking at an excuse to lose hours as you throw darts at the map on the wall.

The signup process was pretty easy (though our "dream destination" of Antarctica wasn't recognized as valid), though like any new launch, Tripmates suffers from the inevitable lack of community (read: forums are all but asleep) so far. But even MySpace had only a few members when it first started, so there's plenty of room for Tripmates to grow. And as avid travelers ourselves, you might find us as one of the most active charter members.

TripMates