I love outdoor gear. On Facebook it’s my second listed interest right behind travel. So clicking through Outside’s 08 Winter Gear Guide gets me good and giddy, imagining all the fun I can have with said gear. Which reminds me, wasn’t I planning on buying skis this year?

TravBuddy is a fantastic social networking site that I am fairly embarrassed that I didn’t join until just this week. Generally I’m hesitant to jump into a new social network as I still have MySpace, Friendster, Orkut, Bebo, etc etc profiles that I never log into. However, after a little poking around it was clear that TravBuddy offers a number of services you just don’t find elsewhere.

Here’s the rundown on highlights I’ve encountered so far:

Pairing with other travelers. After my cheap ski trip to France this winter, I think I’m going to swing north and check out Switzerland for a week or so. I plugged that in as my travel plans and suddenly I have a link to other folks that are looking to go there at the same time. Couldn’t be easier.

Great use of Google Maps. I can’t deny that I love Google Maps, and TravBuddy puts them to better use than I can. When you create a profile, you also create a map of where you’ve been and where you want to go. Their interface for browsing destinations is essentially a large Google Map with markers of blog posts and pictures that users have submitted. This could keep me browsing for hours.

Energetic community. As soon as I joined, a slew of people started commenting on my profile welcoming me to the network. Before I had a single friend (er, wait, I still don’t have any), I had 8 comments welcoming me and 10 people had “smiled” at me. That warm welcome has made me that much more interested in the site, and trying to meet up with some of these folks for travels.

Other than the lack of privacy, I’m not sure I’ve found a low point that really bugs me. It’s a good site, and I’ll let you know how things go with finding a buddy for travelling in Switzerland using the site.

If you’re not a member yet, join on up. And if you are a member, go ahead and ad me as a friend.

Mashable is taking nominations for the best travel website for the Open Web Awards. As someone who thinks a good deal about travel and the internet, I felt obligated to participate in the process. But when it came time to submit my nomination I had to pause for a little bit.

Sure, just the other day I was pitching Kayak as the best site for finding flights, but I don’t think that necessarily makes it the best travel website.

After some long thought I nominated maps.google.com. Whenever I think about going anywhere – from lunch on a Tuesday to Morocco – the first site I open is Google Maps. It’s the stuff my travel dreams are made of. It helps me get the lay of the land long before I arrive, and lets me plot and scheme on routes like no other map could. So there you go, for the moment that’s what I consider the best travel website.