There are scores of companies that are willing to give away something fairly valuable in exchange for giving them your email address and touch of demographic information. I’m not really a gambling mad, but I’m willing to hand out my email address (my spam address of course) in exchange for a slight chance to win a trip. If you’re of the same mindset and have an hour to burn, you might want to enter all of these:
I’m sure there are other travel sweepstakes out there, so if you know of any, please post them in the comments. And less cross our fingers that someone in the Questing for Adventure communty scores one of these trips!
You get the most out of a trip if you know a couple of things before you hit the ground in a new country – duh. Don’t get me wrong, my favourite trips are the ones with the least planning and greatest spontaneity. I like travelling without a guidebook and having to ask people who I should do, and I love being on the road and not quite knowing where I’ll end up at the end of the day. But just to prevent yourself feeling like a idiot while you figure out the lay of the land, it’s handy to know a few things that can get you started and help you along the way.
While being able to sail or lead a group rock climbing might help win some friends and make the trip a touch more interesting, here are the five key things I think you should know before starting off your adventure:
Current exchange rate and what some simple goods (cheap meal, t-shirt, bottle of water, etc) should cost.
How to say at least a few key things – like hello, goodbye, please, and thank you – in the local language
Popular local scams. From the steps of Sacre Coeur in Paris to the Royal Palace in Bangkok, I’ve had scammers try their moves on me, and being aware of the popular local tricks helped me avoid them.
Visa policies for neighbouring countries. You never know where the road may take you, so it’s good to be ready.
The cheapest way to get to and from the airport (or train station). You could end up paying tons for a taxi into town, or wait a little while for a cheap bus. Choice is yours.
Other than that, I say let curiosity fuelled by polite ignorance be your guide.
The 2008 Weblog Awards are open for voting, with a list of intriguing travel blogs, many of which I was unfamiliar with. I love reading about people’s travels and spinning that into ideas for future adventures. Questing obviously isn’t in the running for these awards, but you can vote for this blog in the blogger’s choice awards. We’re in the top 10 right now, and I’d be very grateful to you all if you could toss a few votes our way.
Kristina Roe is guest blogging here on behalf of responsibletravel.com. After my largely uninformedposts about volunteer travel I reached out to responsibletravel.com to see if they could offer some advise on having an impact with a volunteer trip. Here’s the result. – Weldon
There are more and more organisations that are beginning to offer volunteering trips and for this reason, we at www.responsibletravel.com feel it’s more important than ever that people take the time to research the different options, choose a trip that best suits their needs / ages / skills sets and take steps to ensure that the company they are traveling with, offers ‘responsible’ volunteering options. We believe that all volunteer projects should be based on a real local need and work in partnership with local people. We always encourage travellers to ask plenty of questions of companies before making any decisions. Here’s our ten-point checklist of questions to ask companies that they are speaking with:
Is the project based on a real local need? If so, what?
Was the project suggested by local people rather than invented by a marketing department?
Is the project run jointly with local people? (this transfers skills and ensures longevity)
Can you see an independent report on the benefits (both short-term and long-term) of the project to local people/environment?
Can you speak to a previous volunteer?
What pre-trip briefing and training is needed or available?
Can you see their policy for responsible tourism?
Do they offset the Co2 from the flights of all personnel?
Is there transparent information around cost and where the money goes?
Does the organization take steps to match your skills to the needs of the project?
World Hum has put together a list of the 40 greatest travel songs. Well worth checking out as there is a embedded video for each one. Of course one is always going to have disagreements with this sort of list, like that Metallica’s wherever I May Roam not being included, but over all it’s pretty comprehensive. City of New Orleans isn’t number one on the list, but I think it’s my favorite of the 40 so I’m sharing it here (better version than the on they put up too).
