Travel Blog Carnival Week 3, 4, 5 and 6

Travel Rants’ Travel Blog Carnival Week 3, 4, 5 and 6

I have been away on holiday and when I returned I had a work overload. So I missed some of the fun. Here are the Travel Blog Carnival Weeks 3, 4, 5 and 6 for you. There is a lot to cover, therefore I had to decrease the size of my Travel Blog Carnival logo:-)

Week 3

Darren Cronian dutifully recapped it for us here in his Travel Blog Carnival Week 3 post:

Gudrun Enger’s of Kango Blog Choice:

• Barbara over at Hole In The Donut compiled a great list for the solo traveler in Traveling Safely. I actually found it to be outstanding for anyone traveling, offering advice on everything from notifying your credit card and bank about your upcoming travels to using your web mail accounts to keep copies of important documents. My favorite tip? While visiting in a country where you don’t speak the language, pick up several business cards from your hotel with the name and address. Just hand it to a local taxi driver when you are ready to return to your hotel and there will be no problem with the language barrier!
• Over at Cruise Bug Chatter, I was offered tips for a successful trip to Mexico, whether by land or by sea. Some were the usual reminders, cautioning you to avoid tap water, dressing appropriately when visiting churches, and learning a few words of the local language to ease your trip. Also discussed was the best way to bargain so that everyone feels good. Of course, my last trip to Mexico (on a cruise ship no less!) involved a visit to the local WalMart, which I found to be pretty similar to the one at home. I know, that is like eating at McDonald’s in Paris, but sometimes you get homesick!
• Finally, Fox Nomad’s Flier Etiquette Tips brought to my attention that Delta Airlines is unveiling a training system for their passengers, claiming that airlines have not properly prepared passengers for what is to be expected aboard a plane. Fox Nomad pulled together a list of basics, including using your manners (Please and Thank you go a long way), limiting the amount of chatter with your seat mate (unless you are related or really getting on well) and avoiding overindulging in the little bottles of love the flight attendants bring around. Drunk in the air is quite different than drunk on the ground. All good advice for anyone who flies!
• And even though it did not fit into my theme of lists, I also want to give a shout out to Family Travel at Away.com for the piece on Nordic Skating. I enjoyed this since I had just finished reading The Greatest Skating Race by Louise Borden, to my kids. After reading the book, which describes a long distance ice skate adventure from Belgium to Holland during WWII, I was interested in finding out more about doing that here in North America. Family Travel outlined a couple programs in New England and eastern Canada, and I look forward to making the trek with my family one day.

Note: In one way or another I am not able to find the link to this article.

Week 4
Week 4 shows a greater influx according to Darren:

Erica Johansson of Blisful Travel:

• Experiencing one of the most dangerous countries by Barbara of Hole in the Donut
• World Reviewers Experts by Karen Brian of Europe A La Carte Blog;
• Price of Transportation (POT) by Foxnomad;
• Top 25 Castles by Brian of International Listings.

Kevin May of Travolution Blog’s Top Three:

• Price of Transportation (POT) by FoxNomad
• WHTI Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative by Kim of White Point manor Blog
• Hotels in Best price Guarantee! Laughter and Irritation on the client side and Mismanagement of the Hotel by Claude Benard of Les Explorers

Gudrun Enger of Kango Blog made her Choice:

• Barbara over at Hole in the Donut writes about the dangers of Zimbabwe and her personal trip to this area in 2007. I don’t know if she was a fearless adventurer or just in the right place at the right time, but her experience sounds exciting and diverse. Now that Zimbabwe has been put on the list of dangerous places to visit, Barbara’s account might be the closest we all get to visiting!
• Claude from Les Explorers showed us the pitfalls of the current hotel search system, and how he managed to find the lowest rate for his upcoming stay for ITB PhocusWright in Berlin. What a nightmare to go through, there is definitely an opportunity for innovation here.
• Over at Yearn To Travel, Medelise talks about the Stowe Derby, the oldest and most unique ski race in North America. While not a skier myself, I was fascinated by her description of the terrain. Definitely sounds like a “crazy” race!
• And finally, Brian over at International Listings put together a very detailed list of the top 25 castles in the world. The pictures are outstanding, and based on his descriptions, my favorites would have to be Kolossi Castle in Cyprus and Himeji Castle in Japan. Even our lovely Hearst Castle in California is included!

Carianne of Traveling Cari:

• Experiencing one of the most dangerous countries from Hole in the Donut really struck a chord with me. As was the case in Tony Wheeler’s Bad Lands (and he’s contemplating a sequel!) the experience that the traveler gets, especially an open minded traveler, is often far removed from the dire warnings and classifications on lists such as the one Forbes published. While I’m not sure I have any interest in Zimbabwe, the photos are beautiful. The author hits the nail on the head when she speaks of the “real Zimbabwe” — the country you see with your eyes, not one you hear on a list.
• So you’ve decided you’re going to Zimbabwe, or another country that strikes your fancy. How do you figure out how much this is all going to cost? How to create a vacation Budget from FoxNomad provides some great information. It’s not impossible. Using some of the tools provided, it’s not even particularly hard. I’ve never been particularly good at setting budgets, or sticking to them when I have a rough idea, but it is a good idea. This site is also valuable if you’re one of those people forever trying to convince your friends that travel is possible and that it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg.
• So now you’ve set your budget, but you’ve realized you’re really not up for a visit to a place that’s been identified as Dangerous. Something more along the lines of a fairy tale is what you’re interested in. Then the Top 25 Castles in the World from International Listings is a good place to start. It includes some very well known Castles: Windsor, Château de Versailles, Arg-é Bam Castle and Angkor Wat (although I never knew the latter was considered a castle) as well as some I was completely unfamiliar with. I was surprised not to see the Taj Mahal or Neuschwanstein Castle included. Either way, it’s got me itching for another trip!

Barbara of A Hole in the Donut:

• On the Kango blog, Paige Jackson writes an informational and amusing piece about traveling on west Texas roads.
• For those looking for a bit more adventure than afforded by a drive through flatlands, try out this article at the Away.com Family Travel Blog, which features the sport of bodyflight (note again an error!). The video of kids and adults flying around in what appears to be a wind chamber is truly amazing. I felt like I was flying just watching it. This is something I definitely want to do!
• The White Point Manor blog looks at the controversial issue of the WHTI Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, the U.S. legislation that will (eventually) eliminate the ability for Canadian Citizens to enter the U.S. by showing only a driver’s license.
• And finally, perhaps my favorite post of the week is to be found on Highland Business Research’s Tracking Tourism Blog. It’s an hysterical article about a new method for tracking tourism being used by the folks in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and it links to an even funnier article in the Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog that used every “potty mouth” pun it could come up with to describe the town’s state-of-the-art tracking methodology.

Week 5

Darren’s Recap

Anil’s of FoxNomad:

• Enchanting Paradise – Kashmir
• World’s First Carbon free City is to Rise
• American Tourists No Longer Canada’s Bread and Butter

Vicky of Highland Business Research:

• Confronting Complaints
• Right in my Backyard
• WAYN Saga will run and run and run
• Space Tourism in Cape Breton

Week 6

Darren’s Recap

Tracy’s of Travel Betty Choice

• Why Staying in a Condo on a Hawaii Holiday is a Savvy Choice
• 48 hr Family Trip to Mexico
• Intro to China

Erica Johansson’s Choice

• Celestial paradise: Tawang
• 15 Reasons to Go Green
• Why Staying in a Condo on a Hawaii Holiday is a Savvy Choice
• 48 hr Family Trip to Mexico

And Finally chosen by Darren himself:

• Last Time I used a High Street Travel Agent
• Holiday for One: The Single’ s Survival Guide to Valentine’s Day
• What’s the Best Way to go to The Airport

Seeing all these wonderful reviews two questions hit me:

1. It is a lot of work. There are some doubles. Maybe the weekly frequency is a bit too much and a monthly frequency with say 15 or 20 chosen posts is a better idea ?
2. Alternatively: Why not chose one reviewer per week? Then you don’t have doubles and you don’t run out of reviewers so easily

and a memo to self:

Oops 1: I have a lot to update on the T-List, but that will have to wait till next month.

Oops 2: I now see a wrong date above this post, but I won’t change it because the date is part of my archive. 5th February is when I started it and today 12th February, 2008 is the date when I finished it. A similar basic mistake I made with my post of our Queens Birthday which, until today I had labeled as “Private” instead of “Published”