TravelPod News

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

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

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

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

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

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

A new service from Rovair, allows you to rent an internet “aircard” for “as low as” $5.95 per day when borrowing it for 30 days or more.

Here’s how it works:

You order the card, they send it to you in the mail, then you can plug it into your USB port and use the internet pretty much anywhere you want to go in the United States.

One reviewer took it to New Orleans and used it in a taxi, at his hotel and at the airport, so I gather he saved a lot of money. Just by skipping those hefty internet access fees in the airport waiting lounge alone would probably be worth it.

I’m curious as to how far into the wilderness the coverage goes and how it works in other countries. This could be very good, especially for someone blogging about a multi-city or RTW trip.

Update: After a quick call to the RovAir marketing department, I was informed that the service does not officially extend into Canada, but it is indeed possible to receive the signal outside of the U.S. They also told me the company is working on a bigger, international network, but for now, it will only work in domestic U.S. locations.

There go my dreams of blogging from the wilds of Yellowknife this summer like this guy in Costa Rica:

Would you use Rovair? How do you get connected when you’re on the road?

Come talk about it with me in the TravelPod forums.

See you there!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

This has got to be the best celebrity-product pairing I have ever seen.

Jaunted is reporting that William Shatner may be the next spokesperson for Virgin America. With their tongue-in-cheek advertising and generally campy ambience, Shatner couldn’t have found a better partner.

He’s currently “negotiating” with Priceline, so there’s no telling what he’ll do with Virgin.

Watch out here he comes! *duck*

What do you think? Could Virgin POSSIBLY get a better celebrity endorsement? Methinksnot.

Which celebrity would be a better match for Virgin than Mr. Shatner?

Tell me in the TravelPod forums!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Today, I’m asking the TravelPod community: “Where would you like to live for the rest of your life?” If money wasn’t a problem, and you didn’t have to worry about working or anything else, where would you live out the rest of your days?

In the forums, there is quite a bit of discussion surrounding the potential for floods on small islands due to global warming. Maybe it would be better to set up shop on the top of a mountain. Perhaps you’d like to live in a small European village, or maybe a place where you can stretch your hard earned dollars the furthest.

I’m curious, let me know by posting in the TravelPod forums.

See you there!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Oh horror of horrors! They took down the Back to the Future ride at Universal Studios to make room for The Simpsons ride.

Was this the right choice? I really don’t think so… While The Simpsons is not a passing phase, certainly it can’t be more influential than the likes of Back to the Future trilogy!

I think this is a bold move on the part of amusement park management, what do you think!? Have your say in the TravelPod travel forums.

I will sorely miss the Back to the Future ride…if I ever go back to Universal Studios again, that is…the park will never be the same again…
Here’s the article at the LA Times

Here’s a blog post about it at Jaunted

According to a friend of journalist, Ben Groundwater, some people who call themselves backpackers are just lazy people, going around, getting stoned and drunk in various locales. In short, wasting precious time. Does this sound like you?

Groundwater hypothesizes that there are three kinds of travelers, doers, watchers and wanderers. The stereotypical “lazy” backpacker presumably fits into the “watcher” or perhaps the “wanderer” category, but definitely not the “doer” category.

Many Travelpodders can’t decide how to categorize themselves, and there is a whole sub-discussion on the definition of “doing” a place.

Where do you fit in? Join the discussion in the forums!

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.

We were flattered to find TravelPod recently included in a Top 20 list titled: The 20 most inspiring travel blogs of 2007