Tag: Blogging View All Tags
Tags: Australia Travel / Tourism Boards / Tourism Marketing / Blogs / Blogging / → All Tags
Australia Loves Bloggers, Invites Them Down Under
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]
Tags: Travel Sites / Blogging / India Travel / → All Tags
Bloggers Sleep Free in India
Set up along the same lines as Couchsurfing, there's a new website that will help you out if you're looking for a free place to stay in India. ExtraBed.in is a portal that connects bloggers from India and around the world, with the Indian bloggers offering others a spare bed for a night or more in cities and towns across India.
The idea of connecting bloggers is kinda neat--the theory is that if you can read somebody's blog, you'll get to know a bit about them and you won't feel like it's a complete stranger coming over to stay. The site encourages you to bring a gift for your host, and some blogger hosts also want you to do some light chores--or once in a while, babysit their kids! But that only seems fair when you're saving on hotel costs and meeting some interesting Indians.
Related Stories:
· Stay in India For Free [Reuters]
· ExtraBaed.in [Official Site]
· Making More Internet Friends [Jaunted]
[Photo: Dream.Chaser]
Tags: Travel Hell / United / Airlines / Blogging / → All Tags
United Airlines Gets Jarvis'd
[Publisher's Note: If blog impressario Jeff Jarvis can call out Dell, and get the Fortune 500 company scrambling, why can't we call out United and get a similar reaction?
What's that you say? We don't have the same pull as a buzzmachine like Jarvis, and according to Mr. Calacanis's engaged travel blog, we are nothing more than a mid-level band grappling with our limitations in the harsh glare of success.
Well, we figure what the hell. Vacations are trying times. Right up there with divorce and moving on the stress level in our book, so stories like this must be told, and we are here to tell them. Here is juliana's think piece on United. What follows is a true story.]
Let's see....
Where does one even begin to start this story? Should I start with how I raced around that morning at 7am doing last minute packing? Or how I had to drop the dog off at the kennel? Maybe I could start with the shuttle bus I had to take from the airport parking lot and how it costs $2 to check in your bags at the curbside?
Actually, I'll just get to the good stuff right away. I was on the 10:20 am United Flight 552 from Los Angeles to Denver on Friday, July 1--which just happened to be the busiest travel day of the year--yeah, apparently LAX doesn't observe the day before Thanksgiving.
Tags: Blogging / Celebs / → All Tags
Blogging with Bono
Boston Globe travel writer Tom Haines has one sweet gig this summer: trek around Europe and blog about U2's summer tour. Read: Interject stories about cultural differences with nights spent jamming with Bono and probably get backstage all while picking up a paycheck.
Friday's entry from Poland highlighted the fact that U2 can't be bothered to hire translators as Bono attempted to tell his story about meeting Pope John Paul II and had to search the concert crowd for free labor:
"Somebody out there who speaks good English," he said, looking in the front rows. "You, come up. I want to tell a story."
Apparently whoever he got lied and didn't speak English very well (Bono, it's well, not good) and the story didn't have quite the delivery he hoped for, but of course the show went on.
Related Stories:
· Tom Haines's blog [Boston Globe]
Tags: Airlines / Blogging / → All Tags
Boeing 777 Crew Blogging
The flight crew of the new Boeing 777, the longest-range passenger jet ever built, is blogging.
The interior of WD002 was specially designed and is really something to see. There are several high-definition monitors in an area reserved for press and customer briefings. There's a section of advanced interior accommodations. And to provide a comparison, there's a small section of A340-style seats on board to contrast with the roominess and comfort of the 777 family.
The triple 7 is currently at the Paris Air Show, and will embark on a full blown media tour this summer.
Qatar Airlines has ordered at least 20 777s (a $4.6 billion deal) and hopes to take the delivery between 2007 and 2010.
Related Stories:
· Boing 777 Blog [Flight Test Journal]
· $4.6 Billion 777 Deal [HeraldNet]
Tags: Blogging / → All Tags
Bloggers Shill For PAyola?
It seems the state of Pennsylvania does not mind greasing the palms of bloggers to make itself look good.
As reported in Business Week, the state has paid six bloggers to transverse PA and write about their travels.
The VisitPA site says they are "real people, taking real roadtrips" and they get to "make their own decisions." Apparently just as long as they don't bash The Keystone State's offerings that is.
Business Week notes that they seem "relentlessly cheery, like brochures traveling under another name." gee, wonder why?
C'mon PA bloggers get some balls. Ask the hard questions, like, why are there so many -chester towns in PA? And do the Amish celebrate Christmas? And was the movie Kingpin based on true PA stories? What about the village?
Related Stories:
· Pennsylvania Pays Travel Bloggers [Business Week]
· Real People, Real Roadtrips [VisitPA.com]
