✈️ Wanderlust: Your Ultimate Travel Marketplace

Wanderlust is a comprehensive platform built to connect travelers with unique stays worldwide. Whether you're looking for a cozy cabin in the woods or a luxury villa by the beach, Wanderlust provides the tools to find your next adventure or host your own space.

System Architecture

The project is structured using the MVC (Model-View-Controller) pattern to enhance maintainability and scalability:

• Models: Defines the data structure for Listings, Reviews, and Users using Mongoose schemas.
• Views: Server-side rendered templates using EJS to display dynamic content.
• Controllers: Contains the core logic for handling requests, interacting with models, and rendering views.
• Routes: Manages URL endpoints and maps them to specific controller actions.
• Middleware: Handles authentication checks, authorization (ownership), and data validation before reaching the controllers.

Key Features

• User Authentication: Secure signup and login functionality using Passport.js.
• Listing Management: Users can create, edit, and delete their own travel listings with detailed descriptions and pricing.
• Image Uploads: Seamless integration with Cloudinary for uploading and hosting high-quality property images.
• Review System: Interactive review and rating system for listings.
• Authorization: Middleware ensures that only listing owners can modify or delete their posts.
• Geospatial Integration: Includes geometry data for mapping listings (Mapbox ready).
• Flash Messaging: Real-time feedback for user actions like successful login or error alerts.
• Custom Error Handling: A centralized error-handling system for unauthorized access and invalid routes (404), providing clear feedback through a dedicated error page with a graceful fallback to the main listings.

Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Database: MongoDB (via Mongoose ODM)
• Frontend: EJS (Embedded JavaScript templates), EJS-Mate (Layouts), Bootstrap, CSS3
• Authentication: Passport.js with Local Strategy
• Cloud Storage: Cloudinary (for image uploads via Multer)
• Security & Validation: Joi (Schema validation), Express-Session, Connect-Flash, Cookie-Parser

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v20.17.0 recommended)
• MongoDB Atlas account or local MongoDB instance
• Cloudinary account for image storage

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone <repository-url>

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Environment Setup: Create a .env file in the root directory and add:

   ATLASDB_URL=<your-mongodb-url>
   SECRET=<your-session-secret>
   CLOUD_NAME=<your-cloudinary-name>
   CLOUD_API_KEY=<your-cloudinary-key>
   CLOUD_API_SECRET=<your-cloudinary-secret>

4. Run the application:

   node app.js

   The server will start on port 8080.