But all the time I was out there doing these strange kayak voyages in odd, beautiful parts of this planet, I always thought in the back of my mind about Project Orion, and how my father and his friends were going to build these big ships.

First, it bought ITA Software, which provides the underlying data to several travel booking sites (Hotwire and Orbitz) and to Kayak, as well as to Bing. Most resellers, a little nervous about Bing s tool that sends users to book directly with airlines and hotels, are even more concerned about what Google might be up to.