I’m not subtle in my love for Kayak. So I’ll be forward about my unabashed affection for the new Kayak Explore tool.

I previously claimed that Kayak Buzz was for people dreaming of heading out on an adventure. But Explore takes that power of dreaming to the tenth degree. You just pick where you’re leaving from and how much you can spend. If you want, you can narrow by when you’re looking to go, but it isn’t compulsory. It’s amazing. I might just buy a couple of flights for next spring because of it.

A friend pointed me in the direction of an interesting new site social recommendations travel site – Rolling Globe. It’s an interesting site, Trav Buddy, but with more of a focus on reviews and recommendations and less on social networking for globetrotters. If you need a little incentive to check it out, then it’s worth knowing that they are running a contest for a free trip to Munich for Oktoberfest if you sign up right now.

What I found most interesting about the site was the introduction post, essentially introducing the site as a place to recount the places you went as an American student studying abroad:

Sure, we opened a book or two (don’t get us wrong, we’re all for education), but what we really studied was the pulse and culture of the city in which we lived. We are firm believers that every city has the potential to be the best in the world. What determines that for each of us are the experiences and people we come across during the time we spend there.

So that’s where you come in. We’ve taken it upon ourselves to compile an insider’s guide to the world’s top destinations. Now we’ve got a good start, but we can’t do it alone… We need your advice, your memories, your good times and your bad… and a couple of uploaded photos wouldn’t hurt either… so that we really can create the ultimate travel guide from the world’s most reliable source: fellow travelers.

Other than the objection that a study abroad student’s view is hardly “insider”, I wish I could take more issue with this introduction. But the fact of the matter is that study abroad was the best travelling I’ve done in my life. If I have any advice to give on travel, the bulk of it certainly comes from the time while I was studying abroad. So I suppose I’ll take a look at what other people longing to re-live their story abroad glory have to say about places, and follow their advice as to what I should be doing. I hope they find mine useful as well.

Sarah, Alan, and I have all written little bios on ourselves and a little blurb about Questing for Adventure for our brand new about page. The mission of the blog is also paraphrased in a new section of the side bar. Basically, “We share stories and travel ideas that keep us dreaming about the road yet untraveled.” Glad to have all of you along with us as we scheme and dream away the wanderlust.

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.

The weblog award nominees are:

MyKugelhopf
Lots of talk about food mixed in with the travels and spectacular photos to boot.

Folie a Deux
A blog for dreaming about comprehensive trips with a strong personal touch.

The Asian Traveler
A look at some of the fun and funny kitsch of Asia, but with an annoying design.

Curious Expeditions
The bizarre and macabre from around the world, unfortunately not updated that often.

Notes from the Road
Not so much of a blog as an online photo magazine detailing various areas.

The Lost Girls
A group of friends roaming the world, the fun they are having shows.

LL World Tour
A serial traveler going to areas that are fairly accessible from the US.

Jaunted
An online travel magazine that churns out a ton of material.

Intelligent Travel
National Geographic’s standard travel blog, with a bit of a focus on Washington DC.

The Cranky Flier
Mostly blogging on the aviation industry, which of course is a central industry for travel.

Mashable just announced the winners for the 2nd annual Open Web Awards, and Spotted by Locals is taking home the prize in the travel category. Spotted is a series of city blogs where locals post about their favorite local haunts. Right now all of their cities are in Continental Europe, but you can probably look for that to change soon. Meantime, if you are planning a trip to Europe, Spotted blogs should be one of your first stops.