About Smart Travel Info

Smart Travel Info publishes trip-planning guides for places you drive to and gear you use once you are there. Two sections, one standard: every fee, permit rule, closure order and specification is traced back to the body that publishes it, and the date we checked is printed on the page.

Why the site works this way

Most travel content about a park or a beach is a rewrite of other travel content about that park or that beach. The errors compound. A parking fee gets copied forward for six years after it changed. A closure order goes unmentioned by seven of the nine pages ranking for the place.

So the rule here is simple. If a guide states a number, that number came from the agency, the manufacturer or the certifying body, and the link is in the text for you to check. If a number does not exist in public, the guide says so and tells you how to find it for your own trip, usually with a phone number.

What we do not do

We do not invent statistics to make an opening paragraph land harder. We do not attribute quotes to people who did not say them. We do not publish a "10 best" list where four of the entries exist to reach ten.

Where a guide contains affiliate links, that is stated at the top of the guide, before the recommendations. The product picks are made on published specifications and certifications first. A commission does not move a product up a list.

The two sections

Destinations covers beaches, hot springs, state and national parks and city guides. These are checked against the managing agency: the National Park Service, the relevant state parks department, the Forest Service, or the municipality that sets the ordinance.

Travel Advisor covers watersports gear, travel technique and logistics. These are checked against manufacturer specification sheets and the standards bodies that certify the category, including the U.S. Coast Guard for personal flotation devices and the relevant ISO and EN standards for masks and snorkels.

Who writes it

Alice Renner edits the destination guides. Josh Whitaker covers watersports gear and public-land access.

Corrections

Rules change, fees rise, orders get lifted. If you find something on this site that no longer matches what the managing agency says, tell us and we will fix it and re-date the page. The contact form reaches the editors directly.

Our full standard for sourcing, dating and correcting is set out in the editorial policy.