Tripbase Travel Horoscope lets the stars pick your next vacation destination

Picking a vacation destination can be a major hassle – but the folks behind Tripbase just launched a tool that could help make your decision much easier.

The Tripbase Travel Horoscopeharnesses the ancient discipline of astrology to help you through the overwhelming options for vacations and winnow the choices down from perfectly endless to merely perfect“.

Even if you don’t believe in the power of astrology, the tool is fun to use, and comes up with some fun tips. In my case, I’m being told that I should stay close to home, and that I’m allowed to splurge once.

Once you’ve been given some advice, you can use the Tripbase tools to find your perfect trip, based on recommendations from over 22 million travelers.

The Travel Horoscope tool can be found at Tripbase.com, and soon on mobile devices.

Free eBook promises a world of travel secrets and a donation to charity

It all started with a blog post. Katie Sorene of Tripbase, a Web site that gives you personalized destination recommendations, posted her three “best-kept” travel secrets and then asked five more bloggers to do the same.

The project mushroomed from there, with 500 secrets from more than 160 travel bloggers around the globe, including celebs Peter Greenburg, Rolf Potts and Johnny Jet, and the decidedly unfamous Leigh Caldwell (that’s me), who shared some Orlando travel secrets.

Now the California-based company has taken those travel secrets and turned them into a free e-book series with a charitable twist.

For every download of the free Travel Secrets e-books which were released today, Tripbase will donate $1 to Charity: Water, a nonprofit that builds freshwater wells, sand filters and other devices to bring drinking water to millions of folks around the globe who have a hard time getting it.

“We set out to make people’s passions and travel finds serve a purpose beyond sharing the memories and recommendations,” said Reuven Levitt, CEO of Tripbase. “We’re working with Charity: Water because people around the world still don’t have access to potable water and every bit helps save lives.”

Tripbase hopes to raise enough money to build four freshwater wells and provide an entire school with drinking water. All you have to do to help is download the book. For free.

And who wouldn’t want to know where to get the best risotto in New Orleans or how to find a deserted beach in Morocco anyway?

The Travel Secrets e-book series is designed to be an ongoing project. If you have a travel blog, Tripbase wants your contribution for updated versions of the books.