BOULDER, Colo. — Planning a trip can be as much of a pain as getting stuck on a delayed flight.

A new Web site called TripIt came to the rescue as I was planning three out-of-town weekends in a row this fall.

Despite a few minor flaws with the free service, TripIt is a wonderful, easy-to-use product that's bound to come in handy for the holiday trips ahead — whether you're visiting family in a major city or going hiking off the beaten path.

To get started, all you need to do is forward all the e-mail receipts from airlines, hotels and car-rental companies. Then you could easily add driving directions and other useful notes.

Because I was using an e-mail account TripIt didn't recognize, the service automatically generated a TripIt account and password for me the first time. That's a wonderful touch, though I later wished it didn't automatically create a second account for me because I was using a second e-mail address. I had to manually merge the two, which wasn't too difficult.

For the Boulder trip, my United Airlines flight confirmation was automatically converted into a TripIt itinerary marked Denver, for the destination airport.

TripIt pulled the relevant details such as flight times, seat number and the availability of meal service. It checked industry databases for information not on the e-mail — in this case, adding the aircraft type.

A map of Denver was also automatically added, along with average weather for that day from the past 25 years. (TripIt doesn't give you forecasts because often the trip is weeks or months away.)

There were a couple of forwarded e-mails the service didn't recognize, including a confirmation from the marathon I went to Boulder to run. But the service simply set aside the item, which I could easily move to the proper itinerary.

I could add personal notes, such as how to find the shuttle to Boulder and where my friend was going to hide the apartment key. I also added details about things to do, including a visit to the house that appeared in the Robin Williams TV classic "Mork & Mindy."

Finally, I added some driving directions — to my friend's place, to the marathon start and to Mork and Mindy's house. TripIt nicely integrated the map tools powered by Google Inc.

Along the way, items get sorted by date and time. Friends and travel partners can follow along — you can give them full editing privileges or just the ability to view your trip.