TravelPod News

Right now, everyone’s talking about human rights abuses in China. How will this affect the Olympics? Some people are calling for a boycott to the event.

Would you boycott China or any other country because of their political track record? Would you have gone to South Africa during apartheid, or Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban? Some people would rather not travel to the U.S. or Israel, what do you say about that?

Do boycotts even help the situation?

Let your views be heard

See you in the forums!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Indian newspaper The Hindu has just discovered the neverending benefits of blogging on TravelPod. Pegging it as a useful tool for “nomadic netizens” who love to communicate everything instantaneously to all their friends, they have published a glowing review in the “Web-Sight” section of their newspaper. Reporter Sriya Narayanan just gushes when she says “TravelPod is probably the closest mankind has ever gotten to telepathic communication, for now, anyway”.

Our newest Local Expert, introducinlyric posts another entertaining article on the dirtiest places in the world. One travel writer gives Agra, India the “Golden Garbage Can” award and describes it as home to one of the most beautiful structures in the world, and also the most disgusting.

Which place gets your Golden Garbage Can? Tell us in the TravelPod forums. 

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

A quick note to let you all know that we’ve released a new and improved photo uploader for Internet Explorer. It’s much better but you’ll be asked to install the new uploader when you upload next time. The same instructions apply as given in the FAQ.

 Have a great weekend!

Shaun

Three times a week, I’ll be picking the most popular topics in the discussion forums and posting them here for your reading enjoyment.

On Monday, introducinlyric posed the question: Do cell phones and other tech-devices ruin your holidays? Or have they gotten you out of a difficult situation?

I don’t really believe that cellphones have a place in a traveler’s backpack, but I think it could be helpful if you don’t want to be inconvenienced. However, it’s these inconveniences that make great trips and become part of the great stories to tell people when you get back.

Penny for your thoughts?

See you in the forums,

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

All you Traveler IQ addicts out there can now add the Traveler IQ application to your MySpace page! Show your friends your geography smarts and beat them with your atmospheric Traveler IQ score.

I’m pretty addicted to this game, and my Traveler IQ is only 100. Why don’t you add me and try to beat that score? Once all your other friends have installed the app, you can see their scores compared with yours on the Leader Board. Watch out, competition can get fierce.

P.S. Don’t forget that you can learn game techniques and strategies in our Traveler IQ discussion forum.

This week’s most popular forum topics are:

What’s your favourite Caribbean drink?

Spending those long days on the beach can become tiresome, unless you are inspired by a new cocktail, beer or local spirit. What is your favourite Caribbean specialty? Our forum members have vouched for Red Stripe and Presidente beer, along with some very fancy rums. Which beverage quenches your thirst?

Should airlines cancel near-empty flights?

Some environmentalists are calling for airlines to cancel flights that are close to empty because of the waste of pollution and carbon emissions. What do you think? Would this just cause chaos? Tell us how you would feel if your flight was canceled due to poor scheduling.

What’s your favourite traveling meal?

It seems that some of our members are little portable Julia Childs. They expound upon the myriad array of ways of cooking on the road and in the hostel kitchen. Share your favourite road-recipes with the rest of the travel community.

Till next week,

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

We’re looking to hire a bunch of cool new people into TravelPod this year so I thought it was about time to get our jobs listed on TravelPod.

TravelPod now has a new section where all of our jobs are listed. ( Check it out )

Right now we’re looking for a Senior Manager to run TravelPod Labs (TPL). TPL is a new group dedicated to innovation, Social Networking apps ( like Facebook, MySpace, etc ) and other cutting edge stuff… if you think you have what it takes for this key job, let us know!

Here is the position description:

Healther Welch, aka 2olives, is one of TravelPod’s newest Local Experts. She probably knows more about Missouri and the American mid-west than anybody else on our discussion boards.

She’s a relatively new blogger, and has been writing about traveling with her partner Kelly, since May.

“In the beginning, I thought my friends would be interested, but they don’t care!” she says with a laugh. “Now it’s just kind of a record for ourselves, so we don’t fight over what happened.”

Welch only recently stumbled upon the wealth of information on the message boards, and she has found it quite addictive, remaining an active contributor in some lively travel discussion, especially within the U.S.A. group.

As a Local Expert, she has made a weekly commitment to helping travelers with problems and giving out advice on her home state, Missouri.

“It’s a great place, I wouldn’t move from here.”

She then proceeds to remind me that the state is pretty much smack dab in the middle of the country. “It’s such a good launching point for trips around the U.S.” Welch states matter-of-factly.

If you’re thinking about a trip to the middle of America, Welch recommends Kansas City as a must-see destination. She simply raves about the latest effort at downtown revitalization. “Even I am dying to get down there, it’s so new. It’s exciting, because we haven’t had anything new in a while.”

However, Kansas City is not her next destination, it’s Decatur, Georgia. Why, you ask? A member of her favourite band, the Indigo Girls has opened a restaurant there. “We’ve built an entire four day getaway around the fact that I want to eat at this restaurant,” she says with a slight southern drawl, “So we’re a little crazy.”

After Decatur, she plans on traipsing around the light rail system in Atlanta, “God knows what we’ll find, but that’s half the fun of it!” She’s also pretty determined to check out a WNBA or an Atlanta Braves game.

One of Welch’s fondest travel memories is taking a cruise and hiking in the Turks and Caicos, “That was the most beautiful three hours of my life,” she laughs again, “By the time I bought my stamps, we had to go back.”

Note: I’m always looking for knowledgeable and compassionate people like Heather to share travel knowledge with other people. Help make the world a smaller place one person at a time, by becoming a Local Expert.

Read more about Heather’s travels…

or

Become a TravelPod Local Expert

The threads that are burning up the forums this week:

Poll of the Month: Do you travel alone?

We all love traveling, but I want to know who you normally travel with. TravelPodders are quite often lone wolves, enjoying their surroundings, and observing others on their own. Are you? Vote and share your opinion on travel buddies.

Food trends around the world

Do you eat as much as a typical North American family? Maybe it’s more like somebody from India? Compare your food habits with people from all over the globe, as we discuss the costs (and tastes) of living on this planet called earth.

Photo of the Month

Help us select this month’s featured photo. So far, a very ingenious image of buildings reflected in a puddle on a cobblestone street in Warsaw is winning with 47 per cent. Vote in the poll and let me know!

Till next week,

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

I just came across this “Backpacker’s PC” and it looks very enticing to me. I would probably buy one when/if it comes out.

The idea is that it looks like a book, and you can flip the pages, depending on what you want to do. One page is for writing, another page for recording. Another bonus is that it’s got a built in solar panel, so it can charge up anywhere, and you can blog from anywhere!

I’m very impressed.

The term “RSS feed” looks scary, and very technical, it really is not.
If you can use email, you can use an RSS feed! Here is a conversation between Reluctant RSS Feed User and Enthusiastic Convert:

(If you still have questions after reading this primer, mosey on over to the TravelPod forums and ask me anything!)

Reluctant User: I’ve been hearing a lot about these new-fangled doohickies, RSS feeds. What in tarnation is an RSS feed for?

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Enthusiastic Convert: RSS feeds are for reading blogs, news and frequently updated websites, such as www.travelpod.com

R: Why do I need RSS feeds if I can just visit each website individually? I have all the websites bookmarked in my browser already, it’s easy!

E: Because it’s faster and even easier than bookmarks! An RSS feed reader collects all of your favourite blogs and websites into one place, and with a single glance, you can tell which ones have been updated in the past day, week, month or whenever. The format is very similar to an email browser such as Thunderbird or Outlook. On TravelPod, every blogger has an RSS feed, even if they haven’t started their blog yet. By adding your RSS feed, your friends can stay updated on your travels without getting a bazillion emails every time you leave town.

R: OK, sounds interesting, how do I get started?

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E: Good! My favourite RSS feed browser (and the most popular one on the web) is FeedDemon, you can find it at this website. Download the software, and sign up for an account. Then you can start transferring your “oh-so-2005″ bookmarks to your RSS feed browser.

R: Wait! Not so fast, how do I know if my favourite sites even have RSS feeds?!

E: Calm down, you can subscribe to any site that has a logo that looks like this: Usually, you can just click on the little orange logo, and it will auto-magically open FeedDemon. Then, you’re only a few clicks away from subscribing to updates. As I said before, every blog on TravelPod has its own RSS feed. Try adding some of our most popular blogs to FeedDemon by clicking on this orange logo next time you are reading one of them.

R: OK, I checked, and my favourite non-TravelPod site doesn’t have an RSS Feed! Arg!

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E: I hate to break it to you, but if your favourite site doesn’t have an RSS feed yet, it’s probably not a website you should get your daily news from. Chances are, the site is out of date, and it isn’t updated very regularly.

R: But I know this site is updated all the time!

E: If you know for a fact that the site is updated regularly, you should contact the administrators and ask them if they have an RSS feed. Perhaps they will create one after you ask for it. Chances are, you aren’t the first person to ask.

R: Thank you Enthusiastic Convert, for liberating me from the confines of web browser bookmarks!

E: You are more than welcome, no-longer-reluctant RSS Feed User!

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(Cue big cheesy smiles, bear hug, freeze frame and cheap synth music. End scene.)

You’re not the only one who doesn’t understand RSS feeds, visit our forums to ask questions and find out how to use them!

Are you ready to subscribe to some blogs? Why not add my blog to your feed reader? Or browse some of our popular blogs and add them. After you’ve found one that you like, click on the orange logo and get yourself updated!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager