Lori Rackl

By the time Lori Rackl accepted a buyout from the Sun-Times last February, she’d earned a solid reputation as an insightful TV critic and a seasoned travel editor.

Now making her mark as an independent journalist, Rackl has combined both interests — television and travel — in a smart new website.

TVtrippin.com officially debuted this week with a review of Sunday night’s “Mad Men” series finale and a feature on a “mystery man” who tracks TV series and movies filming around Chicago for a Twitter account.

Rackl calls her new blog “a work in progress” that she has been fine-tuning with Web designer Rex Chekal. In the meantime, she is continuing to write free-lance travel pieces for the Chicago Tribune and the Boston Globe, among other publications.

“News, reviews and tidbits about any TV show — it’s all fair game,” she wrote in an introduction to readers. “But you’ll probably notice the site skewing toward series filmed in Chicago. The city is where I was born, raised (western suburbs . . . Addison to be exact) and now live (West Loop . . . right across the river from my old office at the Sun-Times).

“Any places are fair game, but the focus will be on travel that’s related to television. That might mean a story about visiting 'Game of Thrones' filming locations in Northern Ireland or writing about 'Mad Men'-inspired things to do in New York City this summer.”

After 11 years at the Sun-Times (including stints as TV critic and travel editor), Rackl was among 15 editorial employees who accepted buyouts in a management plan to offset layoffs. She is married to Chris Fusco, who continues as an investigative reporter at the Sun-Times.