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

Ready to Roam loves TravelPod

April 18, 2008 by starlagurl

There’s a very nice review of TravelPod today on the travel blog Ready to Roam. Vagabondpoet says that “Travelpod is great simply because it’s the biggest”, and lists it as one of his favourite travel blogging sites.

Check it out.

Thanks for that endorsement Vagabondpoet!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

How to get internet (for cheap) everywhere you go

April 17, 2008 by starlagurl

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:

http://www.downtheroad.org/Publishing/1TheRoadnoEnd/Images_Filesb/a12Costa_Rica/jacocamp.JPG

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

William Shatner: Virgin America’s newest huckster? Awesome!

April 16, 2008 by starlagurl

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

Lonely Planet Colombia writer never set foot in the country…

April 14, 2008 by starlagurl

http://www.lostweekend.tv/Colombia.jpg

Wow, talk about some travel controversy. The Lost Weekend is reporting that author Thomas Kohnstamn had written the Colombia guidebook without even going to Colombia. He justifies it by insisting that Lonely Planet wasn’t paying him enough to write the thing.

Is that the best you can come up with? I personally, spent a few years being a freelancer, however, not as a travel writer. I was also paid a pittance, but I never faked my writing and editing! It never even crossed my mind! Travel writing is something you do for the love of travel, not for the virtually non-existent paycheck.

In this case, I am more disappointed in the starving writer than in the big corporation signing his cheque. If you want to be a travel writer, you should be a travel writer, and worry about the money later. Not only does constantly worrying about money corrupt your travel writing biases, it also doesn’t get you into an occupation that you will enjoy.

What do you think? Tell me about it in the TravelPod forums.

See you there!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Where would you rather live?

April 11, 2008 by starlagurl

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

The Simpsons Ride at Universal Studios

April 10, 2008 by starlagurl

http://images.eonline.com/eol_images/Articles/20070424/285.simpsons.ride.042407.jpg

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

Staying away from the USA

April 9, 2008 by starlagurl

There are some real numbers behind the decline in tourism to the United States. Overseas arrivals in the U.S. have declined 11 per cent this decade, down from 26 million in 2000 to 23 million in 2007. That has all happened while the travel industry as a whole grew 6 per cent per year!

That’s some astounding stuff. Why are people staying away from the states in such numbers? Is it American’s attitude toward foreigners? Cutting through the red tape needed to visit? How about a lack of signage in other languages? I guess it all adds up.

Will you be visiting the states anytime soon? Why or why not?

Come tell us in the TravelPod discussion forums.

See you there!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Traveling or time-wasting?

April 7, 2008 by starlagurl

Waiting backpacker

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

The worst airport EVAR

April 4, 2008 by starlagurl

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/airport-denver-photo20b.jpg

Which one couldn’t you wait to leave? What makes a bad airport suck so hard?

One of our forum members says Miami’s airport is constantly under construction, another says Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 is “a joke” and he also hates the plastic chairs at Frankfurt Hahn.

There’s also the danger factor. There’s a myriad of dangerous airport runways around the world. Saba, in the Caribbean has the shortest in the world, would that scare you away from visiting the airport? What say you?

See you in the forums,

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

TravelPod is now on MySpace!

April 3, 2008 by starlagurl

Did you know, you can put your new blogs on your MySpace page, just like on Facebook? I just tried it out for the first time today, and I was really impressed. You can display your travel map on your MySpace homepage and all your blog entries are just a click away! Your friends can display your entire trip route or narrow it down to view just one of your blogs.

Check it out on my homepage for yourself, then add the travel blog application to your own homepage and watch as your blog hits rise!

travelpodmyspace.jpg

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Traveler IQ: 2nd most popular travel app on Facebook

April 2, 2008 by starlagurl

Elisabeth Osmeloski of SearchEngineWatch has written recently that TravelPod’s addictive gaming creation, Traveler IQ, is continually “blowing away the competition” on Facebook. Read it for yourself:

“There’s little doubt that travel lends itself well to the most popular social networking tools on the Web. As I write this, there are 174 travel applications on Facebook, but of those, it seems like only two have actually been able to prove themselves. The two most popular examples – TripAdvisor’s Cities I’ve Visited (with more than 60,000 daily users) and TravelPod’s Traveler IQ (with more than 20,000 daily users) – both blow away the competition. No other apps even come close.”

SearchEngineWatch.com

When would you boycott a destination?

March 26, 2008 by starlagurl

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

Gushing review in The Hindu

March 25, 2008 by starlagurl

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”.

hindutimes.jpg

Grottiest place on Earth?

March 24, 2008 by starlagurl

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