I don't know a lot about KAYAK (it's a site like Expedia), but I am a fan of really cool new web tools that come out. And KAYAK's Explore is very interesting (which is why I am telling you about it).

I can't even begin to imagine what the backend of this looks like and how much data it is sorting. I can handle project-managing a website, but there is a whole other level of information architecture here that goes over my head. Hundreds of hours to build this, I would imagine. But it really seems to work well.

You just input your home airport (defaults to NYC), what types of activities (if you want), how much and when and it will pull different packages from its database from all over the globe that are available for you. It's pretty slick.

I think this is the sort of experience (though on a smaller scale) that I'd really like to create here. You say where you are (or are going) and it pulls up our stories on places nearby to you. In fact, I think I might go mention this idea to my boss right now.

Let me know what you think and if you think it's a good experience/service for you.

(I found this via Kotke.)