Back in June, 2008, I was a correspondent for a blog called Gridskipper, a snarky travel site run by Gawker Media. Gridskipper wasn't hitting its numbers, so Gawker sold it to the Curbed Network, which relaunched it as a luxury travel site. I don't blame them for trying something new, but I didn't love the direction it was going, so I decided to jump ship. I got in touch with the editors at Jaunted, Gridskipper's longtime competitor, or, as I often described it, the Pepsi to Gridskipper's Coke. Jaunted was good enough to take me on as a weekend editor, and I spent the next 18 months posting 363 entries (now 364) on topics as varied as the vagaries of TSA I.D. requirements and the vacation habits of my Russian barber, Oksana. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-12-19T15:55:26-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/4/10/9357/01205

While we've been busy musing on whether or not we'd go to that far away land of Australia, the gang down at Tourism Australia have been figuring out yet another strategy to convince us. And it's one we're pretty in tune with: blogging.

Tourism Australia has just started inviting influential bloggers from various nations to visit Oz and (presumably) blog up a storm about it. They've got a bunch of super-fashionable fashion bloggers lined up right now, including New York's The Sartorialist and Julia Knole from Germany's Les Mads, and even one of the most popular Chinese bloggers, Yibo Fan.

Presumably the tourism board is hoping treating these bloggers like royalty will lead to enthusiastic promotion of Australia as a destination. Here at Jaunted we've got it the wrong way round: we've been doing the enthusiastic promos already, because we love the place. Can we have a free trip too?

Related Stories:
· Bloggers New Weapon in Australia's Tourism Campaign [AAP]
· Everyone Wants You To Go To Australia But Are You Really Gonna Go? [Jaunted]
· The Five Best Beaches in Sydney [Jaunted]

[Photo: El Fotopakismo] ]]> amandak 2009-04-10T09:56:35-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/25/42935/8392

A bit of neighborly rivalry is normal, but a couple of bloggers from Australia have taken their not-too-pretty description of next-door New Zealand a bit far, according to the tourism CEO of Auckland.

The Aussie bloggers who've just moved over to Auckland have been posting their opinions of New Zealand at their Fush'n'Chups blog and there's been quite an outrage over some of their ideas--for example, that Auckland is a "horrible soulless city" inhabited by "hobbits".

The bloggers are defending themselves by saying it's just a tongue-in-cheek blog and the Kiwis should get a better sense of humor. They even mention beautiful parts of New Zealand from time to time. The moral for the rest of us is to remember never to mistake a New Zealander for an Aussie, or there could be trouble.

Related Stories:
· Kiwis Upset By "Pathetically Rude" Aussie Bloggers [The Age]
· Fush'n'Chups [Official Site]
· New Zealand Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: mgrenner57] ]]> amandak 2009-03-25T10:33:23-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/2/7/15052/61675

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so maybe we here at Jaunted, a website about travel, should be thrilled that former Google employee Dorothy McGivney has given the name Jauntsetter to her own website about travel. Hey, it's not the same exact word, it just takes the root of our name and adds a different ending. In fact, when she thought of her site's name, she probably didn't even know we existed, because if you're launching a travel site, the last thing you would want to do is look at the travel sites that are already out there. Totally cool, right?]]> Victor Ozols 2009-02-07T15:00:52-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/4/155644/5467

Geopolitics junkie and Knife Tricks blogger Paul Karl Lukacs had a bit of an oral revelation the other day, and since it's 2008, he blogged about it. Problem? Infected wisdom tooth. Solution? Surgery at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Thailand.]]> pbb 2008-09-04T16:00:22-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/26/125159/640

Now that American Airlines has its in-flight WiFi working, we're expecting lots more mid-air liveblogging, like this report from "Big Brother" obsessive Ben at the B-Side Blog:

I've done a lot of flight blogs--or flogs--in my time, but never in all my time have I been able to actually LIVE blog my flights....

Not this time, my friends. American Airlines just introduced in-flight WiFi [six] days ago on selected routes, and yours truly has the luxury of flying one of those special planes.

Ben goes on to tell us about some pre-flight tire repairs, a sassy flight attendant and even some hellish fellow passengers, but our favorite bits are about how useful the wireless connection is:

Let me just reiterate that I absolutely love being able to sit here above the clouds and read Big Brother updates. Best flight EVER.

Related Stories:
· Live Flight Blog: Seriously, This Is Live [B-Side Blog]
· In-Flight WiFi: Our IM Interview with an AA Passenger [Jaunted]
· American Airlines Announces WiFi on Some Flights [Jaunted]

[Photo: B-Side Blog]]]> pbb 2008-08-26T13:00:17-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/26/11927/5606

If The New York Times, Budget Travel and National Geographic Traveler can do it, then so can Conde Nast Traveler! The glossy travel mag that's farmed out its web operations for so long has decided to build a new website of its own--and the magazine needs your help to do it.

Consumer News Editor Wendy Perrin, who is web savvy enough to have a Twitter account, announced the news on her blog:

Conde Nast Traveler's Web site, CNTraveler.com, will be spinning off from the Concierge.com mother ship next year and voyaging into cyberspace on its own. We're building our brand-new site from scratch--which has us all very excited--and I've been in a lot of discussions lately about what the new CNTraveler.com should be and what features it should have. Of course, we'd love to hear from YOU as well.

Crowdsourcing: Hotter today than it was in 2006!

Related Stories:
· We Want Your Opinion! [Perrin Post]
· Three Is a Trend: Travel Media Pro-Am [Jaunted]

Disclosure: Jaunted was acquired by CondeNet in April, but no one working there asked us to write this post!]]> pbb 2008-08-26T11:15:16-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/