No more “happy pizza” in Cambodia

May 9, 2008 by starlagurl

The Earth Times has been reporting that Cambodian authorities will be cracking down on the marijuana-laced pizzas found all over the backpacker circuit in that country. Eating a slice of so-called “happy pizza” has been a backpacker rite of passage for a while now. So what will become of the hippy paradise now that the ganj is no longer a welcome pizza topping?

happy pizza

Cambodians aren’t the only ones to mix recreational drugs into food.

Have you tried the space cakes in Amsterdam? How about the mushroom shakes in Vang Vieng? Let us know about your experience in the TravelPod travel forums.

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Stressed out? Try blogging.

May 8, 2008 by starlagurl

Feeling stressed? Maybe it’s time to start a blog. Two recent articles expound upon the benefits of blogging for your mental health. One article from CNN and another from ABC in Australia cite scientific and anecdotal evidence showing how blogging can bring you back from the brink of death, (in the case of one suicidal woman) and how you can create a stronger circle of friends, simply by writing about your daily experiences on the internet.

While doctors say that blogging should never replace actual psychotherapy, some say that blogging can work well with an established therapy program. It can create a strong social support system, helping you gather a group of people who really care about you.

Has blogging saved your sanity? Traveling is stressful and it’s a great help when you know that your friends and family are behind you. Sometimes your social network can push you along, even when you feel like giving up.

Share your thoughts about blogging and mental health with other travelers in the TravelPod forums.

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Ticket with a built in watch

May 7, 2008 by starlagurl

Designers Jacky Wu, Neo Chen & Eric Liu have released their concept idea of an airline ticket that comes with a synchronized watch. When you buy your ticket, the vendor programs the time for you and you can wear the watch for the rest of your trip (assuming the batteries will last longer than your trip, of course).

Ticket watch

It’s a neat idea but in this age of airline downsizing, I’m pretty sure nobody will spring for adding this little gadget onto each and every ticket. It seems to me that the world’s still doing pretty well with everyone wearing their own watches. Last time I checked it was still spinning…

Got something to say about it? Chat about this idea in the TravelPod forums.

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Traveler IQ in Australia’s Courier Mail

May 6, 2008 by starlagurl

Traveler IQ in Australia\'s Courier Mail

Here’s some more positive press about TravelPod’s Traveler IQ Challenge, found in Brisbane’s Courier Mail. It was featured alongside other enlightening games such as freerice.com and nothingbutnets.net.

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Traveler IQ is now on Orkut

May 2, 2008 by starlagurl

If you haven’t heard already, Orkut is Google’s version of Facebook. TravelPod’s Traveler IQ Challenge game application has recently been approved for use on the social networking site. It was one of a group of only 28 approved worldwide.

Orkut Traveler IQ screenshot

Right now, you can only use it if you are registered in India or Estonia, but soon, it will be available to the whole world. Can’t wait? Just set your country information in your profile to India or Estonia, and you can start using the application.

Right now, my IQ is 118, and my score is 192,434. Think you can beat it?

Like all the other Traveler IQ apps, this one lets you compete with your friends on the leaderboard. Download and add the Traveler IQ Challenge application, then add me to your list of friends and let the competition begin!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Traveler IQ in USA Today

May 2, 2008 by starlagurl

Traveler IQ in USA Today

Traveler IQ has once again been placed among the most popular travel-related applications on Facebook. Check out the article on the USA Today website.

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

New travel gadget, SPOT Messenger

May 1, 2008 by starlagurl

SPOT Messenger

This little gadget is pretty cool. Most people have stories about a cell phone saving their life, but sometimes, if you’re out in the wilderness, or you’re just out of cell phone range, you’re going to need a satellite phone to get help.

Back in 1999, I remember lugging a satellite phone into the backwoods of the Yukon that was the size of a large briefcase and really heavy. Those days are thankfully over with the advent of smaller GPS devices, intense communications research, and this handy doohickey.

You can check in with your friends and family, and automatically send them a canned email that lets them know you’re OK, or you can call for help and dial 911 if you run into trouble.

The one critique I have about it, is that there is no way to input variable text into the email while you’re out in the bush or sailing the seven seas. I’m assuming a feature like this, however, is not far away.

What do you think?

Has a cell phone ever saved your life while traveling?

Would you rather use one of these things instead?

Let me know in the TravelPod forums!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

What not to wear on a plane

April 30, 2008 by starlagurl

After the recent incidents involving women who have been kicked off of planes for wearing too little clothing. Journalist on the travel-beat, Chris Elliott expounds upon the things that people should not be wearing on an airplane.


Kicked off airplane

I kind of agree with him. I think people should wear nicer clothing when they are traveling in general, especially when flying, but I don’t think airlines should start regulating clothing.

Come on now, if someone wants to look like they just stepped out of a girly magazine, who cares, really? If you don’t want to look at it, avert your eyes, that’s what I say.

I think there should be more regulations governing the amount of time you are without your luggage when it is inevitably lost, let’s stick with what’s important, folks. Namely, getting you and your belongings to your destination on time, appearances are inconsequential.

There’s a new discussion topic in the travel forums, have your say.
See you there,

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

The Tokyo Parasite Museum

April 28, 2008 by starlagurl

Cool Things in Random Places is another one of my favourite blogs. Today, they’re linking to the Parasite Museum in Tokyo.

tapeworm

Its crowning achievement is an 8.8 metre long tapeworm taken from the body of a human being! Just incredible. Look at this lady’s face, she is just repulsed beyond belief! So crazy.

Would you pay to visit this museum, or would someone have to pay you? I think it would be fascinating, in a strange train wreck kind of way. Discuss it in the TravelPod travel forum.

See you there!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Top 10 forum discussion topics

April 25, 2008 by starlagurl

Travelpodders are an eclectic bunch, and this month they’re talking about everything from the meaning of love to traveling in Europe on a budget. Check them out and have your say in the travel forums.

1. Love, infatuation, sexual desire, chakras

2. Amazing Facts…

3. What’s your favourite ice cream flavour?

4. Where would you live?

5. Right or Wrong?

6. Traveling or just wasting time?

7. Speaking English WILL kill you

8. When would you boycott a destination?

9. Europe on a budget, give me some tips!

10. Shooting guns…

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Show off your Traveler IQ in style

April 24, 2008 by starlagurl

TravelPod has just released some stylish new patches you can put on your blog, homepage, or MySpace page. If you add one, everyone will see your atmospheric IQ score and bow down to your geographic prowess.

Traveler IQ blog patch

Here’s the link to display one of the (quite alluring) patches on your blog or homepage.

If you have a Blogger account here are some easy instructions:

1. Login
2. Click on the layout tab,
3. Click add a page element
4. Paste the code that you find at the above link into the content box and voila, the whole world knows your Traveler IQ!

(Find instructions for your Live Journal, MySpace and spaces.live.com here)

Get more help, and ask questions in the TravelPod forums.

Fancy!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Elliott.org ranks TravelPod #1

April 23, 2008 by starlagurl

Influential travel blog, Elliott.org has ranked TravelPod at the top of the eight best travel blog sites this week.

TravelPod ranked as #1

Christopher Elliott writes that the most popular travel blogs are community-written and I think that’s exactly what makes TravelPod so great! The best writing and most interesting prose comes when we all put our heads together and create something new.

Check out the blog post at Elliott.org

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Driving a tuk tuk across India, for a cause.

April 22, 2008 by starlagurl

For most people, setting out on a cross-India tour in a “tuk tuk” would not be tops on their list of things to do while on a vacation.

Joanna Penny however, is a different sort of person. After climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, she decided to team up with her friend Sharon Jefferies and race across the Indian sub-continent in a small, golf cart-like vehicle.

“I was looking for something adventurous because I’ve never been the sort to just go on a package holiday,” Penny says.

The race is dubbed the Rickshaw Run, and it involves groups of people taking off from Kathmandu, Nepal and ending up (hopefully) in Pondicherry, India.

“It’s completely crazy,” Penny says, “we don’t have any checkpoints at all.”

Most teams are doing the race to raise money for charity. Penny and Jefferies are no exception. The money they raise will help support Mercy Corps, an organization that provides literacy and agriculture training to people who need it. They’ll also be donating money to FRANK Water, another charity that helps bring fresh drinking water to people in India.

The Loony Lassis

Penny is quite the avid traveler, and has already visited 17 per cent of the Earth’s surface, according to her travel map. She says she caught the travel bug in 1995, during her backpacking trip to Canada.

“I sort of realized that, as lovely as Scotland is, there’s a big world out there,” she says, “and I want to experience as much of it as I can.”

Penny and Jefferies leave for Nepal on May 23 and the race to Pondicherry starts June 1. To donate money or read about their trip preparations, head to Penny’s travel blog.

The “Loony Lassis” promise to write blog entries during the race, but Penny acknowledges that this could be difficult because of time constraints.

“I don’t think I’m ambitious enough to get to the podium, but I do want to get to the finish,” she says with a laugh.

You can follow their progress on their aforementioned blog, “The Craziest Idea Yet?!”

(TravelPod is a proud sponsor of The Loony Lassis as they make their trek across India)

The Naked Man Festival

April 21, 2008 by starlagurl

TravelPodder Kateinjapan has just posted a HILARIOUS video about the Naked Man Festival in Okayama, Japan. Here’s an excerpt of what she writes in her most recent post:

The festival is held in the evening at a temple in the city of Okayama, in Okayama prefecture. Eyo is a 14-day New Year ritual during which monks of the Shingon sect pray for a year of bountiful harvest and good fortune. On the 14th day, amulets (an object that protects a person from trouble) said to guarantee a good year were presented to the elders representing the people. But an increasing amount of believers began to gather for these amulets. People fought until their clothes tore off!! Thus the paper amulets were replaced by wooden sticks which were tossed into the crowd. Good fortune is bestowed to those who catch these sticks.

By the end of the 19th century, the event had evolved into the current style, being held naked (not completely but rather in a ‘thong’ that looks similar to that worn by sumo wrestlers). Recently, the festival has been attracting over 10,000 naked men who thrust themselves into the crowd upon the release of these wooden charms at midnight. Despite the chilling temperature, the intense fight produces steam that casts a mysterious spell on this winter event.”

Watch the writhing half-naked men, then chat about it in the forums.

See you there!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Three travel blogging tips

April 18, 2008 by starlagurl

The question everyone asks about blogging is: “How do I get more people to read my blog?”

The short answer is: Create better quality content.

But, how do you do that?

Here are three attributes of a good quality travel blog post. I ask myself if I have included them every time I write a new post.

1. Use of all five senses

2. Honesty

3. Use of my brain

Bonus points for: The inclusion of other people!

Check out my video and share your own tips in the TravelPod forums.

See you there!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager