If you cashed a check for a Nigerian prince and you're still waiting on that payout, then have we got an offer for you!

World Swirl Press is looking for stories related to all kinds of travel misfortunes. If you've been pick-pocketed, scammed by your travel agent, kidnapped or were positive that he was a she or she was a he, then they want to hear from you. You'll even get paid if your story is selected, but just how much hasn't yet been decided.

Don't forget the details, as they want to know about every little miserable misfortune of your personal travel hell. If you've got a winner just bop on over to their site and submit away. They're accepting stories through the end of this year and hope to go to print sometime in 2009.

Related Stories:
· World Swirl Press [Official Site]
· Travel Writing coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: jepoirrier]]]> kjb 2008-08-07T12:15:06-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/6/25/21118/7723

We used Lonely Planet: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and the Greater Mekong while traveling Southeast Asia. Here's where it led us in the right direction.]]> ced138 2008-06-26T15:30:06-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/6/25/21327/1692

We used Lonely Planet: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and the Greater Mekong while traveling Southeast Asia. Here's where it led us astray.

]]> ced138 2008-06-26T15:30:06-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/6/2/12205/21045

Our recent foray into Beijing was more of a cultural primer for first timers and Olympics-watchers. But what to do if you need the nitty gritty details like which restaurant pours on the Commie kitsch and which nightclub has an awesome 80s night? The newly released Zagat Beijing has all the info you need, crammed into a super-slim volume perfect for packing.

A couple warnings: Like most Zagat guides, the Beijing book tends toward the pricey, and while we actually think the quote-packed descriptions are cute, perhaps you don't. And when it comes to cultural stuff, the background info in this book is a little skimpy. (Just one paragraph on Tiananmen Square? Really?)

Still, if you're just headed to the city for a week or so, do you really want to haul around a couple hundred pages of Chinese history you'll never actually read? We'd rather just know that Red Capital Club is the place to eat and that we should rock our leg warmers at Alfa.

Related Stories:
· Zagat [Official Site]
· Beijing Field Trip [Jaunted]
· Beijing Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Tim and Nina Zagat]]]> pbb 2008-06-02T12:30:02-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/5/15/8728/52485

Love or loathe the English? The latest Rough Guide for England has a few choice things to say about them. First the bad news: It says that English people are quarrelsome, contradictory and "obsessed with toffs and C-list celebrities."

The good news is more, well, quaint, than good. The Rough Guide people decided that England is

A country of animal-loving, tea-drinking, charity donors, where queuing remains a national pastime and bastions of civilization, like Radio 4, are jealously protected.

We've heard a few complaints about the British before so this quirky Rough Guide assessment comes as no surprise. But since we love a good cup of tea, we haven't struck England off our visiting list just yet.

Related Stories:
· Rough on England? [Ananova]
· World's Worst Tourists: The Bad, Bad British [Jaunted]
· UK Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: pondocus]]]> amandak 2008-05-15T09:00:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/4/28/13710/8193

Maybe Lonely Planet has been feeling a little isolated lately. The travel guide publisher just launched its own video site, Lonelyplanet.tv, and is looking for your videos of excursions far and near.

Of course, to be featured on the Lonely Planet YouTube channel you'll have to compete with a bikini'd man swimming in Antarctica, a "Hills"-worthy tour of Paris and (above) a belly-dancing, ghost-riding cabdriver who confidently declares, "I am not normal."

One bit of advice: Videos of you guzzling cachaça and popping pills in a Brazilian hostel while on assignment, we'd imagine, won't earn you a five-star YouTube rating from LP.

Related Stories:
· Travel Videos coverage [Jaunted]]]> egw 2008-04-28T14:00:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/4/15/104030/895

In the wake of Thomas Kohnstamm abusing them for publicity, Lonely Planet has decided to show how classy an outfit it is with... a recipe for world-class pub crawls?!

We know most of the people who are dumb enough to tote an LP guidebook--besides those nice new National Parks guides of course--will probably rate getting wasted in a foreign pub as the greatest thing ever. But do lager louts really deserve a play-by-play?

For a great pub crawl, you need a few ingredients:
· a city with pubs in profound proximity
· a forgiving transport environment (you don't want cars bearing down on you as you stumble towards your goal)
· good weather (try crawling on ice--not fun!)
· an established drinking culture (you don't want to be the boorish outsider who's annoying the locals)

There you have it, Lonely Planet-carrying tourists: No boorish outsiders, please!

Related Stories:
· World's Greatest Pub/Bar Crawls? [LP]
· One Travel Writer, at Least, Might Just Go to Hell [Jaunted]
· Lonely Planet coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Kirstysplodge]]]> pbb 2008-04-15T11:00:02-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/