TheCitizen Launched by Travel Community TrekShare

Saint Paul, MN - Amidst rampant speculation, TrekShare LLC announced it is launching a preview release of theCitizen – a free travel guidebook written for the anti-tourist.

The inspiration for theCitizen came from a TrekShare member having difficulties finding places to party while traveling. The user said, "Visiting museums is for my Mom. I want to storm the Pentagon."

TrekShare LLC co-Founder Jeremy Ahrens commented, "this guy wants to travel like he lives. He wants to explore a city like a citizen. There is the chance he's completely crazy and actually wants to storm the Pentagon, nonetheless, we have launched a guidebook aimed at travelers who think museums and palaces are as lame as I do. The purpose of this guidebook is to disembowel the corporate crap and give travelers a chance to see a city's darker side. By recruiting local writers who embrace their city's stranger scenes, we will produce something the travel industry has never seen. We will produce travel guidebooks with zero text dedicated to tourist attractions. The Paris guidebook will not mention the Louvre. The New York guidebook, however, will talk up courier services, Wigstock and Lit, but it will not give an ounce of text to the Statue of Liberty."

The idea that alternative options exist to help people travel caught the attention of TrekShare co-Founder Joseph Kultgen. "The travel industry has been regurgitating the same tripe for years. We have access to knowledable guides in every city in the world by means of the Internet. I'd rather get the lowdown from a local and figure the rest out myself. Then again I travel to explore."

Added Kultgen, "theCitizen looks to serve a completely untouched market segment in the travel publication industry. There are hundreds of guidebooks focusing on over-priced restaurants, tourist attractions and 5 star hotels. Even more are aimed at the budget traveler. The Citizen focuses on the traveler who wants to live a city."

When asked about the target audience for theCitizen guidebooks, Ahrens added "If you're idea of a good time is eating a 12 course meal on board a cruise ship, theCitizen is not for you. If you lost your wallet last summer in a complicated scam ran by some junkie from Berlin, theCitizen might be for you. If you are that junkie from Berlin, welcome to theCitizen."

Today, a handful of writers have churned out a snapshot of theCitizen
guidebooks. From a San Francisco dominatrix to a US expat writing
propaganda in Moscow, theCitizen is looking to add talented writers who understand their city's darker side. Unlike traditional guidebooks, theCitizen is built on the idea that travelers do not want to be tourists.

Those interested in learning more about theCitizen can visit http://www.thecitizenguide.com.

About TrekShare LLC
TrekShare was conceived from the idea that people like to document, share and remember their travels. The technologies behind TrekShare enable effective web publishing while providing a resource of aggregated travel information and contacts to the people behind the photos, stories and tips. TrekShare was formed in October of 2001 and currently boasts over 15,000 bold wanderers.