Category Archive: News

Google Hangout: Talking About TBEX, Travel & Tourism, & Dublin

This morning I had the chance to chat with some friends and colleagues about the upcoming TBEX conference in Dublin. A lot of people do a lot of work to make this all come together, and I’ll admit to lots of late night crankiness here at my house as well, but once I get on the plane on Sunday, it’s all smooth sailing. This Google Hangout was organized by Alastair McKenzie as part of his Travel Coffee Break series. It’s a lively and informative discussion on not only the TBEX conference, but also our thoughts on the evolution of travel and tourism and its relationship with the media.

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Do This Weekend: Great Backyard Bird Count

Sometimes creating a great travel experience isn’t just about decide where you’re going to take a trip. Sometimes it’s about doing something to ensure that others who travel can experience things you might take for granted. This weekend, February 15-18th, 2013, you have a chance to enjoy a weekend and home, while at the same time performing a valuable service to the environment and future travelers to your home town. The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual 4-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are. While here in the Pacific Northwest it’s easy to look outside and see birds in every tree, this environmental initiative is a worldwide event. As a bonus, you can count wherever you happen to be – even if you’re traveling. […]

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Talking Travel at the Seattle Golf & Travel Show

Beautiful and exotic, Japan often seems like a destination that will overwhelm travelers. The language, both written and spoken, is not easy to follow along in a guide book, the capital city of Tokyo is home to around 12 million people (in the greater Tokyo area), and food may be different that what we’re accustomed to at home. It’s understandable that some travelers may not want to rise to the challenge of visiting Japan. And as my recent trip to Tokyo proved, letting the myths of traveling to Japan get in the way of traveling there is a big mistake.’ I’ve written about the things that I didn’t know till I got to Japan, some of the things that surprised me, and later today I’ll be speaking at the Seattle Golf & Travel Show about how you can create a […]

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Romantic Travel: A Blog Roundup

For some people, February is the most romantic month of the year. For others, romance is a year round event. Travelers find the beauty of romance is a variety of ways. And locations. Just take a look — and if you have a romantic travel post that would fit our theme, please add it to our link round up below.  Loading InLinkz …   Photo credit:  shutterstock

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This Week in Travel: Dreamliner Declared too Young to Smoke (#131)

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to be a guest on This Week in Travel. It was an opportunity to dish about some of the latest in travel news with a few bloggers that I’ve grown to have the utmost respect for – Gary Arndt, of Everything Everywhere, Chris Christensen of the Amateur Traveler, and Jen Leo of Best Kids Apps. The program was recorded using Google Hangouts. Clearly I have to master the art of best camera angles and staying in the shot, as well as dressing for the fish eye on my computer, but cut me a little slack on that, and instead enjoy an informative, and often irreverent take, on the week’s travel news. This Week in Travel is available in iTunes.

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Finnair Flight Attendants: Tales from a Thousand and One Flights

Finnair Flight Attendants have published a collection of stories from their lives in the skies aptly titled Airborne: Tales From A Thousand And One Flights, Drawing on  decades of flight attendant history and experiences, Airborne is a collection of true stories written by the professionals who’ve seen it all. You think they make this stuff up, huh?  Not a chance!  There are too many crazy true stories, you just don’t have to make it up. The book is available in English and Finnish, with profits from the sale donated to the Finnish Central Association for Mental Health to be used in the prevention of mental health issues among children and adolescents. Finnair won the World Airline Award for Best Airline Northern Europe for the past three years running. Photo credit:  Atar Publishing  

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Updated Map of Where I’ve Been

Now that I’m back from TBEX in Spain, it’s time to update my map of how much of the world I’ve visited. I still have lots (and lots!) of countries to visit, but plan on checking another one off this coming week. Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

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Photo Op: TBEX Collage

I’ve spent the past few days in Denver and then in Keystone, Colorado, for TBEX –  the world’s largest gathering travel bloggers, writers, and new media content creators.  As the TBEX Conference Director, I attended all the events but often found myself so busy that I didn’t have a chance to connect with all the travel bloggers that I wanted to. For those new friends and old who I had the opportunity to chat with, please know that it’s your energy, enthusiasm, and love for travel that makes the conference so great – and that keeps me so enthused.  And for those I was unable to connect with, I know that our paths will cross one day soon.  Maybe in Girona for TBEX Europe or maybe just as our travels take us. Photo credit:  From the TBEX flickr pool 

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May Day: How Do You Celebrate?

Today is May 1st, and depending on where you are in the world, the significance of the day runs for substantial to relatively unimportant. When I was a kid, growing up in a small town, May day was a day of leaving flowers – anonymously – on neighbor’s doorsteps.  We’d gather up brightly colored construction paper, draw and decorate it, then roll and tape it into a cone.  As a final touch we’d attach a thin strip to make a long handle.  Once complete, we’d fill the cone with flowers from my grandmother’s garden.  I’m not exactly sure what flowers we’d put in it, but grandma’s garden always seemed to have an abundant supply of blooms to fill a dozen or so May baskets.  As I got older, the May baskets went from that rudimentary cone to woven ones, and […]

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Brand USA: Land of Dreams by Rosanne Cash

Brand USA officially launched at this past week’s USTA PowWow in Los Angeles.  Brand USA was created in 2010 to encourage travelers from all over the world to visit the United States.  The public-private marketing entity works in close partnership with the travel industry to maximize the economic and social benefits of travel in communities around the country. Through its website, Discover America, Brand USA will inspire travellers to explore America’s boundless possibilities. As part of the new branding campaign, Brand USA commissioned Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Rosanne Cash to create a song that could serve as a new anthem for America.  An anthem that represented the diversity of this country and that would invite and welcome visitors from around the world to our country. Featuring guest artists that include Los Lobos, Bebel Gilberto and TREME, I think the video captures […]

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