Jossip reports that Budget Travel has a new editor in chief in Nina Willdorf. She should have no trouble getting into the groove: She used to work at the magazine and handled the first issue of its Girlfriend Getaways spinoff.

If it's true that she's set to take over, could this be a sign that the editorial content will skew more toward women and moms? It's true that women do a majority of the travel planning for families in the United States, so further tuning the budget travel mag to their sensibilities seems like a good way to pump up readership as economic woes persist.

It's not the only change at BT, either. Mediaweek says the magazine is getting a new publisher. Bernadette Haley previously worked at Quick & Simple, a budget-minded mag shuttered by Hearst earlier this summer.

Related Stories:
· Penny Pincher Nina Willdorf Named BT EIC [Jossip]
· Bernadette Haley Installed as BT Publisher [Mediaweek]
· Erik Torkells Leaving Budget Travel [Jaunted]
· Travel Media coverage [Jaunted]]]> pbb 2008-09-17T16:07:04-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/7/11/95914/3157

There's an old saying in newsrooms that three is a trend. And if that's the case, user-generated travel content has officially arrived. What started with Budget Travel's reader-written issue then turned into planning the Frugal Traveler's itinerary. Now Janelle Nanos from National Geographic Traveler wants your travel tips.

The editor of the magazine's Intellegent Travel blog is headed to Seattle and San Francisco and is asking readers for tips:

You guys get to decide where I'll go and here's the deal: I want you to show me. I'm going to be in Seattle the weekend of July 18th, and in San Francisco the weekend of the 25th, and I'll be blogging while I'm gone. I'll have my video camera too, and I'd love not only meet our readers, but introduce them to the rest of you.

Here's your chance at travel blog stardom, you budding fameballs!

Related Stories:
· Plan My Trip! Seattle and San Francisco [IT]
· Play Travel Agent to the Frugal Traveler [Jaunted]
· Travel Media coverage [Jaunted]

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A Jaunted Exclusive

Erik Torkells, the editor of Budget Travel, will leave his magazine on July 15, a tipster tells us:

ET is leaving BT... without a new project lined up. I bet he was asked to leave. The July issue was only like 85 pages.

Actually, the July/August issue has 92 pages. But that doesn't mean Torkells is sticking around. Says the man himself:

I am indeed leaving. It's been a great run, and BT has come farther than I'd ever hoped. But I like to leave a party when it's still fun, and I wanted to go out on top--in the wake of being a National Magazine Award finalist.

Related Stories:
· Erik Torkells coverage [Jaunted]
· Travel Media coverage [Jaunted]

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Budget Travel caught our attention last year with a baby blog. Now, 730 posts later, it's finally gotten a much-needed makeover.

Blog editor Sean O'Neill filled us in on the changes:

We've added a search box, and you can now click through by month or topic or author, to find older posts...We also decided to add profile pages for our authors.

We had noticed that other great blogs, such as the LA Times Daily Deal blog, had succeeded in highlighting how their blogs are written by fun, flesh-and-blood people, instead of being--I don't know how to say this--cold and impersonal voices-from-on-high.

And this isn't the only web project the magazine has going. Its spin-off title, Girlfriend Getaways, will get its own dedicated site this week. As of now, the launch is slated for Tuesday.

Related Stories:
· Girlfriend Getaways [Official Site]
· Budget Travel Gives Birth to a Baby Blog [Jaunted]]]> pbb 2008-04-07T15:47:21-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/3/5/103326/9190

We totally love the "Confessions of..." series by Budget Travel, in which tourism insiders give us some good dish on what it's really like to be a flight attendant, a Vegas massage therapist or a travel agent. The latest column comes from a travel TV show staffer, and includes a super-juicy tidbit we can't let slide.

This particular tipster was on "the production team of a TV show about backpacking" in 2005, which basically narrows it down to Globe Trekker on the Travel Channel. The confessor goes on to say:

Out of the five hosts I worked with, four were lovely. The other one let the position go to her head. Although the budget was tight, she insisted on taking her child and nanny along on the company dime for a shoot in Europe, demanded a separate apartment and constantly disrupted production schedules.

Given that Globe Trekker is about the only travel program with an ensemble cast, we're guessing the diva is one of the hosts there. (True, there's an outside chance it's a different show.) Your guesses as to the trouble-making host in the comments, please. Bonus points if you can ID the "anonymous" confessor.

Related Stories:
· Confessions of... a Travel TV Show Staffer [BT, via MSNBC]
· Blind Item du Jour: Non-Scandal Edition [Jaunted]]]> pbb 2008-03-05T10:50:26-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/3/3/16530/93366

We're not afraid to admit that Biloxi, Mississippi has never been high on our "To Visit" list. True, it does host killer Kid Rock concerts, but that alone won't get us on a Skybus flight to the Gulf Coast.

Budget Travel magazine, though, thinks we should reconsider. Biloxi's done a lot of rebuilding since Katrina smashed the city in 2005, and big casinos are a major draw. So too is bingeing on seafood: The city was once the world capital of oysters and shrimp.

We're not too taken by the couple of museums BT suggests, but that's no big deal when there are 26 miles of beach around to enjoy. Cruising on a replica of a turn-of-the-century schooner sounds pretty cool, too.

Related Stories:
· Biloxi, Alive and Thriving [Budget Travel]
· Beaches coverage [Jaunted]

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Our friends at Budget Travel beat us to the punch with their latest feature. With tons of new non-stop flights to the Caribbean, now's the perfect time to get there quickly and cheaply--if you can sort out the complex web of routes and fares that lead to paper-umbrella-drink bliss.

Fortunately, the magazine's editors did all the dirty work for us, highlighting which Caribbean nations have non-stop flights from which US cities. (They also throw in some tips about where to stay and what to do once you arrive.) The story includes get-to instructions for almost 20 islands.

And before you think we just gripe about connections for the sake of it, consider that it's a wonderful time of year for bad weather to shut down airports. Where would you rather spend your long weekend: Curacao or O'Hare?

Related Stories:
· Easy Access Caribbean [Budget Travel]
· Caribbean Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Suburban Pity]]]> ced138 2007-12-10T15:00:02-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/