TravelPod News

This is incredible. These tribespeople in South America were spotted in a helicopter flying over the borderlands of Peru and Brazil. Here’s a link to the original article.

Just when you think that humans have been absolutely everywhere, all over the planet, you find out that there are some people and places no one else has ever touched before.

There are so many undiscovered places in the world, but I want to believe that there aren’t.

When I look at the photos they look really fake to me, but maybe I am just jaded. Plus they were released to the public by the Brazilian government…not the most reliable source of information out there.

Remember that ad campaign for “wolf boy” for some popular auto manufacturer? I just think it reminds me so much of that. I keep expecting a Toyota logo to pop out of the background somewhere…

I don’t know…I just can’t take this seriously, and I probably should.

What do you think? Are the pictures real or fake? Pick a side in the TravelPod travel forums.

See you there!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Expedia has just released the results of a survey of 4,000 hoteliers who ranked their favourite tourists. The United States came in 11th place. They were cited as being noisy, messy, unfashionable, and they also complain the most about accommodations.

On this same survey, Canada came in third place. Why is that? Are Canadians just a meek sort of people? Do we clean up after ourselves, keep the volume down and remain complacent about poor service?

How is it that people who live just a little north of an imaginary line can be perceived as better tourists?

Do you represent your country well while you are abroad? Which country do you think has the best tourists?

Tell us in the TravelPod travel forums.

See you there!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

I haven’t seen this show yet, but The Amazing Adventures of a Nobody is a reality travel show that follows a guy around Europe spending 5 Euros a day. He’s not allowed to touch money, but he is allowed to beg and barter.

I guess it could be an interesting idea for a television show, not one that I would watch, however.

In one episode, the main character Leon Logothetis meets a choir from America in Venice, and proceeds to sing “God Save the Queen” for them, in exchange for 50 Euros. It’s enough to get him on his way to Austria.

It occurs to me, that their generous donation could’ve been better spent elsewhere. In case you didn’t notice, Venice is full of people (including children) begging on the streets for their livelihood. This guy is traipsing around Europe with expensive camera equipment and still begging on the streets. Something is wrong here.

I understand the importance of a plot for reality TV. Or at least the appearance of a plot. But I think this goes way too far.

What do you think? How could this show be improved? Or do you like it as it is?

Tell me about it in the TravelPod travel forums.

See you there!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

is an art exhibit in New York and London that allows you to stand on one side of the Atlantic Ocean, and peer through a “secret tunnel” displaying the other side.

You can view the American side at the Fulton Ferry Landing near Brooklyn Bridge and the British side is on display on the south side of the river near Tower Bridge.

If you live in New York and have friends in London, you can coordinate your visits and wave to each other through the “tunnel”. It looks pretty cool and lots of people are having fun with it.

If you’re planning on going to check it out, it’s only on display until June 15.

Have you seen it? Who did you see on the other side?

Tell me about it in the TravelPod travel forums.

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

A few months ago, we launched the “Where I Stayed” feature. Itlets you keep track of all the hotels that you stayed at on your trip.

The problem is, it’s not very useful unless our members actually tag their entries and photo with the names of the places they’ve stayed in.

Sooo, I’ve got a big favor to ask. Could you dig back into your memory and take a quick minute to add the accommodation names to your entries and photos? You should see a prompt to do this as soon as you login, which makes it easy to do.

If you could take the time to tag your photos and entries it would make our hotel directory much more useful for our visitors. It’ll also be a helpful reminder for you next time you think back “Oh yeah, where did I stay again?”.

Login to TravelPod and start tagging.

Love hotel tagging? Hate it? Let me know in the TravelPod travel forums.

See you there!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Although there’s no lack of places to play Traveler IQ, we’ve rolled out yet another platform for the ever-popular game.

You can now play Traveler IQ on Hi5!

If you’re not already on it, Hi5 is a stripped down version of Facebook, it’s pretty cool. I just joined and found that 20 people I already knew were on there.

If you think you can beat my Traveler IQ of 118, install the Traveler IQ application and get clicking!

Then add me as one of your friends and just try to beat me: http://starlagurl.hi5.com

See you on Hi5!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Google has just recently updated their map system, and so has TravelPod. Anyone who has a blog on our website, also gets a snazzy ultra-lifelike 3D map!

Here’s a scenic screenshot from my latest trip to Montreal, Quebec:

You’ll be able to play with your map just like it’s a globe. You can spin it around with the compass tool and zoom in on your destination until you can almost touch it! For a geo-geek like me, t’s simply amazing.

Right now, a 3D map is only available when you click “Enlarge map” on one of your blog entry pages.

Click “Earth” in the upper right hand corner and you’ll be able to explore your trip route like you are there all over again.

All this is only possible if you have the Googlemaps 3D plugin. You can find the magic plugin at Google maps.

You should find a screen like this, that will ask you to download the plugin, click it and you’re ready to explore TravelPod in 3D!

If you don’t have your own map to explore, you can start by zooming around the world on my “life-trip”. Just click the “Earth” button on the map to see it in 3D.

If you’re having any problems, ask me anything in the TravelPod travel forums. I’ll be there to help you.

See you there!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Every month, I pick the hottest travel discussion topics in the TravelPod travel forums. This week, podders are talking about bum cracks, tattoos, underrated destinations and travel inspiration derived from movies. Check them out:

1. Get your lycra out!

2. Which movies inspire you to travel?

3. What tattoos do you have?

4. Computer Lingo (for you mmbcross)

5. Amazing Facts…

6. Brainstorming Party…

7. Pub bans male bum cracks

8. Travel cliches: are they worth it?

9. The most underrated country in the world

10. What do you do to cure the blues?

See you in the forums!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Offered the chance to go traipsing around Europe with one of your favourite bands, most of us would jump at the chance. That’s exactly what happened to Matthew Carroll, a merchandiser for Warner Brothers. He was asked to accompany The Spill Canvas on their inaugural tour in Europe, as they opened for superstar rockers Plain White T’s during their most recent international European tour. (You know, they sing that Delilah song)

“The Spill Canvas was headed over to Europe for the first time, and we decided it would be a good thing if I went over there and did the merchandise for them,” he says. “I just went to make sure everything went smoothly.”

At some point, Carroll decided to write a TravelPod blog. “”It was the first time I’d been to Europe. I’ve never been a guy who takes pictures or writes journals. I just felt like for this trip, I needed to do it, and I’m glad I did.”

The first thing a casual observer of Carroll’s blog will notice is that his profile picture is none other than Jesus Christ. He chose this picture because his passport photo is pretty much identical to the Chosen One. After taking the picture, but before leaving on the trip, he cut his hair and consequently no longer looked like the Saviour of Mankind. “I got the double look at every checkpoint, every airport, everything,” he says with levity in his voice.

The tour provided him with the opportunity to see what touring on an international level was like from the other side of the merch table. His blog is peppered with amusing videos of crazed teenagers shoving each other for a chance to buy a T-shirt or memento of the concert, and spaced out girls proclaiming their love for the Spill Canvas in broken English.

“It was really cool to be out there with young kids and watching them experience what I used to experience when I was younger,” he smiles, remembering his younger days, finally back home in his office in Los Angeles. “They are completely moved by the music. That was really cool to see.”

He also managed to become completely obsessed with the “mannequin pis”, after seeing the famous urinating statue during the band’s stop in Brussels, Belgium. He carried a two foot tall replica all the way home, but can’t remember how much he spent on the purchase. “I bought it in the middle of the night, when I was really drunk and I just didn’t care,” Caroll says with a laugh.

All this music business is not just fun and games, however. It requires a lot of hard work and sometimes incredible stamina. “Sleeping in the van, eight of us in a van, sitting up in Stuttgart, Germany, was a rough night,” he says. “And then walking into the hotel at like 6 a.m. and trying to get our rooms early, and being told, ‘no’”, he pauses for emphasis. “That was the roughest time.” Everybody had to kill five hours before being allowed to pass out in a proper bed. For Carroll, most of this time was spent in the lobby, or wandering city streets, dazed.

Asked if he would do it again, he replies, “100 per cent!”

Check out Matthew Carroll’s travel blog.

Find out more about the Spill Canvas.

While perusing the internet last week I came upon this article in London’s Times Online. Some travel writers and experts make the bold statement that the internet is ruining travel. Why, you ask?

They say that people are now spending more time blogging and chatting with friends back home at internet cafes when they should be out and about, enjoying the scenery. They single out TravelPod bloggers as some of the worst offenders.

I allowed myself to ruminate over this during the weekend before I made a hasty blog post, so here it is.

Travel blogs do not ruin travel. Period. In fact, writing a blog greatly enriches one’s experience of a place. I’ll give you an example and tell you why:

When I blog my trip online as I go, I tend to write about my travels in a lot more detail than if I was writing with a pen and paper. Computers really do allow you to be more creative and put your thoughts together while you are in the moment, or shortly thereafter. I think this is great.

When I’m old and grey, I’ll have lots more detail which will allow me to remember and look back on my trips, since lately I have been recording my travels a lot more than usual.

Last week, I was going through my old travel journal and I found that reading it over really helped me to remember intriguing little details of my trips that I had completely forgot about. I wished I had written more, and I probably would have if I had access to a blog and a computer at the time. (For example, I wrote about a lightning storm in the Saskatchewan prairies. I had totally forgotten about this wonderful and beautiful experience until I read that page of my travel journal again.)

This was the late 1990s, so writing a blog wasn’t a reality for the mainstream population of course. Right now, I am kind of jealous of all the people who get to grow up with this technology that will help them remember more about their youth than I will.

Anybody that says that the internet is “ruining travel” is simply an old fogey and a laggard when it comes to preserving memories that will allow you to enjoy life to the fullest.

Sites like TravelPod are extremely important because life is short and as soon as your adventures are over, they have disappeared forever, unless you capture them today. To fully appreciate life, you’ll need to remember your past while you still have the capacity to do so. Anything that enriches the memory process is a great benefit.

No matter where people type up their memories, the more people write about their experiences the better. This does not have a benefit for the individual alone, but also for the rest of the world.

What do you think? Are the old fogeys right or wrong? Is TravelPod “ruining” travel?

Let me know what you think by posting your response in the TravelPod travel forums.

See you there!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

All of us can brush up our writing skills every now and again. Author of the book Ruinair, Paul Kilduff has shared eight useful tips for keeping your travel blog fresh and exciting.

Find the original post on Killing Batteries.

A couple of the tips that I liked:

#2 Don’t try to make everything funny

Oh my… yes. I don’t know how many times I come across blogs that try to be funny… all the time… many times they are hilarious! Usually they are not. You may be the class clown, but don’t fool yourself, not every single sentence you write is funny. Having a joke or sarcastic comment at the end of every paragraph is tiring. Like Kilduff says, less is certainly more in this instance.

#3 Pray that something goes wrong

This is absolutely right. Nobody wants to read about “the perfect trip” and your sickeningly sweet adventures into fantasy wonderland. My most popular blog entries are not coincidentally my most traumatizing ones. Just tell it like it is, and your readers will be pleased.

What makes your travel blog enticing and enthralling?

Share your writing tips with me in the TravelPod forums!

See you there,

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

TripAdvisor released their top 10 free attractions in the US and Europe today and I am very surprised at the result.

How come Niagara Falls was not included? It’s absolutely free, you can see it for nothing! Even from the American side.

Also! What about Mount Rushmore?! Where is that on this list?! Mount Rushmore is pretty amazing. Why isn’t that included? Last time I checked, it was free to look up and admire a giant sculpture in a mountain.

I can’t believe that some mundane fountains made number one on the US list. The entire United States of America must have more exciting and beautiful free things to do, don’t you think?

What about in Europe? I think that list is a little bit better than the US one.

What I learned today is that there are beautiful things everywhere that are free, and it can’t be whittled down to 20. No how, no way!

Does anybody else disagree with this list too? Come chat about it in the TravelPod travel forums.

Here is the unedited list in question:
Top 10 Free U.S. Attractions

1. Bellagio Fountains, Las Vegas, Nevada

2. Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia

3. Waimea Canyon, Waimea, Hawaii

4. Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California

5. Angel’s Landing, Zion National Park, Utah

6. U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii

7. Pacific Coast Highway, Route 1, California

8. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.

9. Freedom Trail, Boston, Massachusetts

10. Central Park, New York, New York

Top 10 Free European Attractions

1. Pantheon, Rome, Italy

2. National Gallery, London, England

3. Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, England

4. Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France

5. St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral, Brussels, Belgium

6. Duomo - Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy

7. Retiro Park, Madrid, Spain

8. Westminster Abbey, London, England

9. St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice, Italy

10. Giant’s Causeway, Bushmills, Northern Ireland

See you in the forums,

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

The UK’s Times Online has come up with the 50 most common questions about traveling, and really straightforward answers to all of them. Original article

I know quite a few of these questions have been asked (and answered) in the TravelPod travel forums including this one:

11 If I go to Cuba, will the passport stamp prevent me from travelling to America? No – the Tourist Card, £15 from the Cuban embassy or your tour operator, is a separate document from your passport. US immigration need never know.

and this one:

19 What’s the best way to do Angkor Wat? The most popular option is to whizz in and out on a short flight from Bangkok to Siem Reap, which has established itself as a tourist base for Angkor.

But there are some really interesting ones that are very helpful, like this one:

33 How will I know if I have enough time to connect between flights? Every airport has MCTs (minimum connecting times), which specify how long you need to change planes there – for you to walk, and your luggage to be kicked, between aircraft. It varies from airport to airport, with Vienna at just 30 minutes and Heathrow at up to two hours.

And I especially enjoyed this one:

48 Is the brace position bunkum? Conspiracy theorists have it that putting your hands on your head and your head between your knees is designed to expedite death and prevent decapitation – so bodies can be easily identified from dental records. Which is cheery. In truth, it’s imposed on airlines by aviation’s governing bodies. The CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) says that bracing helps to minimise fatalities and facial injuries caused by flying debris in the cabin.

Got any more questions? Ask the friendly community in the TravelPod travel forums.

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

Have you seen this? Some bright 19 year old, flight attendant, apparently upset at being responsible for the boring Minneapolis to Regina run, doesn’t quit, or ask for a different job. Instead he…sets FIRE to the aircraft…yep…

Well he’s charged with “setting fire aboard a civil aircraft” anyway… whether he did it or not is up to the judge to decide I suppose…

Something tells me somebody didn’t take a psychological exam before he was hired at Compass Airlines

Link to the article at Travel Weekly: http://www.travelweekly.com/Article.aspx?id=173912

What do you think? Would you still fly Compass Airlines? Are you afraid of flying in general because of these types of incidents?

Come chat in the TravelPod forums about it!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager

According to the latest data from eMarketer.com, 13 per cent of internet users in the US have updated or published a blog entry in the last three months. That’s over 25 million bloggers!

And they’re predicting that the numbers will probably rise in the coming years. What better time than now to snag your own little piece of the blog-o-sphere? Jump on the bandwagon early with a free travel blog and stake your claim.

Already have a blog? Chat with other bloggers in the TravelPod travel forums.

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager