Hey Look, There's a New Travel Site Called Jaunt ... Wait, WTF?

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so maybe we here at Jaunted, a website about travel, should be thrilled that former Google employee Dorothy McGivney has given the name Jauntsetter to her own website about travel. Hey, it's not the same exact word, it just takes the root of our name and adds a different ending. In fact, when she thought of her site's name, she probably didn't even know we existed, because if you're launching a travel site, the last thing you would want to do is look at the travel sites that are already out there. Totally cool, right?

Eerie, innocent coincidences aside, Jauntsetter represents one of the latest forays into an already crowded field of travel blogs. Designed for New York women, the site includes posts about nearby destinations such as New Paltz, the latest travel deals, and interviews with "jauntsetting" females such as an "awesome" and "fun" Q&A with New York Times reporter Jennifer 8. Lee. The site also features an email newsletter that's sent out every Wednesday to 1,000 subscribers, reminiscent of Thrillist or Daily Candy.

Since my chromosome configuration precludes me from properly evaluating Jauntsetter, I'll tap the expertise of Jaunted and HotelChatter senior editor Juliana Shallcross, a well-traveled woman who has subscribed to the Jauntsetter newsletter for several months.

Maybe the site could talk about women actually traveling, and we don't mean profiling famous successful women each week that run in your social circles. We know tons of women who travel more than twice a month, often alone, often on business but also for pleasure with boyfriends, girlfriends, and families. How about a real woman's point of view when it comes to traveling? And other than profiling rich women, broadcasting travel deals for Carrie Bradshaw, and a crush on Capt. Sully (that's sooo early January 2009), we haven't seen much "jaunting" on this site.

I don't know. If McGiveny was smart enough to take a job at a pre-IPO Google, she just might know something about this travel blog thing that we haven't yet been schooled to. So we at Jaunted had better keep an eye on all the new developments in Jauntsetter-land. After all, you never know where the inspiration for your next big idea will come from.

[Photo: coolbuddy.com]

Related Stories:
· Jauntsetter [Official Site]
· Rich Ex-Google Employee Still Has Money To Spend [Valleywag]
· Can One of Google's Ex-'Creative Maximizers' Make a Travel Site Fly? [The Observer]
· Travel Media Coverage [Jaunted]

Comments (8)

Return to » Hey Look, There's a New Travel Site Called Jaunt ... Wait, WTF?

It looks quite nice, but the writing is simply horrible. The reader is attacked with the kind of dogged cheeriness you expect from a holiday rep or a kids' party magician or, it must be said, a Googler. In the 'Trip pick of the week', 'Say Si to San Juan, Puerto Rico!', I counted 13 exclamation points in 900 words. As Fitzgerald wrote, an exclamation mark is like laughing at your own jokes.

And you've been working in the tech sector too long if you can write a sentence like this with a straight face: "Flights... clock in at just 3 hours and 58 minutes".

Other than these minor quibbles, it's great!!!

Hey, my first comment wasn't posted so I'm rewriting this. I actually like the site. It's geared to a more specific demographic than this one, and I like the very particular, local deals. As for your critique, having your own editor cattily dismiss a competing site as 'carrie bradshaw' (v. creative) is hardly a critique: unlike your editor, I actually went and read all the newsletters. Her featured 'jauntsetters' include an NYC school teacher, make-up artist and others who are hardly rich. I'm surprised by the vitriol in this post and the valleywag one you linked to, although I guess people love to hate on ex-googlers. Why not welcome another travel site to the mix? If it's because you think she stole your name, I hereby inform you that 'jaunt' means short trip in the Enlish language.

just to clear up any misconceptions...i am all for new travel blogs and newsletters joining the world wide web. if there's anything i've learned over the years here it's that a "one size fits all" travel guide isn't possible. so the more travel perspectives, the better.

and "about the real women traveling" bit, i did catch the one with the NYC public school teacher (Newsletter issue, Oct. 14th--it's still in my inbox) but i wish there were more travel tips and suggestions specific to women. dorothy seems like a smart chick so i'm sure that she will get that going soon.

in short, i am not trying to hate on my fellow female travel bloggers. i wish them the best of luck. and i do like that suitcase logo. it's so darling.

Hi Juliana, Thanks for your response. I think reading your comment in the context of the article made it seem harsher -- glad to see a more particular criticism. It's a good point, hopefully the editor will read and note!

... then I have to agree with MattyC's summation of "dogged cheeriness" - like the current top story which starts off "we have a super easy but wonderful getaway for you". Maybe it's because I'm not a NY woman, or even because I'm a down-to-earth Aussie woman or whatever, but the whole site's just too pretty for me. I don't care much whether Jauntsetter sounds like Jaunted (I can love Vagabondish and Vagabonding equally), but my 2 cents worth is that until there are a few less adjectives and a lot less exclamation marks, Jauntsetter isn't really my cup of tea.

Jauntsetter is a stupid name. It doesn't make any sense. Why not Jaunts R' Us or JauntBoings or Instajaunt or Huffingjaunt Post?

I don't know... I'm not feeling it. There's a lot out there in both print and online about "travel for women," and I have to say, as someone who is likely their target market (single, young professional female with money to burn [um, kind of]), none of it appeals to me. I just want to be a PERSON who travels, and be told the truth about whatever destination, not re-fed a bunch of PR/tourist board mumbo jumbo. And ditto on the exclamation points--puke!!!

As a long-time Jaunted reader and new Jauntsetter subscriber, I find this post surprisingly harsh and a little mean-spirited. I don't really see how she is ripping off your name or covering the same beat of travel. I like the site but it's still finding its feet. Given the economy and the state of media these days, shouldn't we be happy that someone else is entering the world of travel writing and trying to encourage more people to travel?!

Jaunted

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