The modern travel guidebook genre is usually traced to Arthur Frommer's seminal 1957 book Europe on 5 Dollars a Day, but tips on making the most of your time abroad have been published in some form or another for centuries. A 13th century Viking travel guide, for example, highlights some of the potential pitfalls of visiting Scotland. A nifty story in the Telegraph points out that the Norse Vikings, as fierce as they may have been, were no match for some of the rougher tribes of Scotland and Ireland, who were said to butcher invaders on arrival. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-09-26T11:11:38-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/5/8/6598/54226

We've already tried to sell you on the virtues of Google Earth as a trip companion, but now a new study by a group of Cornell scientists promises to take the idea of web-assisted travel planning to a qualitatively higher level.

As part of developing and demonstrating new algorithms for photo analysis, the scientists downloaded over 35 million Flickr images from more than 300,000 users. They then analyzed and compiled the photos in all kinds of mindbogglingly complex ways, before finally doing a bunch of datamining to come to some high-falutin, scientific conclusions about our travel photography habits.]]> Omri 2009-05-08T15:01:42-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/21/143657/392

After I graduated from college in 1992, I moved to Latvia for a couple of years to do the expat thing. As I criss-crossed the continent in search of further adventures, I held my trusty copy of Let's Go: Europe close, relying on it to point me toward the best hostels, museums, and cheap restaurants. Let's Go served me well, and I won't speak ill of it, but when a fellow backpacker shared with me an early copy of Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door, I never looked back. I felt Steves' Back Door guides not only contained better practical information, but helped me become a better traveler myself. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-03-21T14:36:57-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/20/15562/3163

Journalist Cindy Perman's new book, New York Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities, and Other Offbeat Stuff, probably has a lot of area travel writers smacking their foreheads and wishing they'd thought of it first. After all, she got to spend the better part of a year crisscrossing the state and checking out some of the most interesting and unusual people, places, and things it has to offer. ]]> Victor Ozols 2008-09-20T15:56:02-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/20/143911/814

Waldo, the elusive traveler made famous by the Where's Waldo? book series, is turning 21 years old on Sunday, September 21, 2008, marking a coming-of-age for the bespectacled young man whose knit cap and red-and-white striped shirt blend in all too well in crowd scenes around the world. To celebrate the milestone, Waldo's bosses are launching FindWaldo.com, which has reports from Waldo's latest travels, a variety of Waldo games and activities, and links to Waldo pages on social networking sites.

Sensing a connection with Waldo's college-aged peers, the Let's Go guidebook series is providing a blog of travel tips on the site, with pointers on places Waldo is likely to visit as he sows his wild oats across Europe, Asia, and Australia. Have a good time, Waldo. Just don't live it up so hard that you can't live it down.

[Photo: WheresWaldo.com]

Related Stories:
· FindWaldo.com [Official Site]
· Elusive Waldo Turns 21 [USA Today]
· Travel Guide Coverage [Jaunted]]]> Victor Ozols 2008-09-20T14:39:11-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/6/224523/8149

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/2008/4/15/104030/895

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/