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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: Destination Dissing / Auckland Travel / Travel Blogs / Blogs / Tourism Boards / → All Tags

Australian Blog Says Auckland is 'Inhabited by Hobbits'

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]

Tags: Coincidences / Travel Media / Blogs / Jauntsetter / → All Tags

Hey Look, There's a New Travel Site Called Jaunt ... Wait, WTF?

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?

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Tags: Medical Tourism / Medical Travel / Blogs / → All Tags

First-Person Medical Tourism: How Are the Dentists in Bangkok?

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.

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Tags: In-Flight WiFi / Aircell / Gogo / American Airlines / Blogs / Flight Reviews / → All Tags

First-Person Flight Review: Liveblogging an American WiFi Flight

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]

Tags: Travel Media / Conde Nast Traveler / Blogs / Travel Websites / Wendy Perrin / → All Tags

Crowdsourced Travel: Conde Nast Traveler to Relaunch Website

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!

Tags: American Airlines / Travel Marketing / Travel Websites / Websites / Blogs / → All Tags

Not Available Via In-Flight WiFi: The American Airlines Blog

We declared the American Airlines blog "officially dead" back in June, but at least earlier this summer the archives were still available. Now a UK blogger who follows online media and public relations reports that "AA Conversation" has been completely yanked from Blogger:

I've previously mentioned how I was unsure if the American Airlines [site] was either an awful blog or a parody. ... Was this stopped by the person blogging, perhaps beacuse it was realised [he was] doing a bad job of it?

We'd say yes! But it's not for a lack of trying on the part of AA's Billy Sanez, who wrote the blog posts. We pin the embarrassment on management, which was too busy cooking up frequent flier program cuts and merger schemes to fund a blog that would generate tons of free goodwill for a carrier that desperately needs it.

Related Stories:
· The American Airlines Blog... [Press 2.0]
· Our IM Interview with an Airborne AA Passenger [Jaunted]
· American Airlines Blog on Life Support [Jaunted]
· Blogs coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: TSA / Airports / Security / Airport Security / Laptop Bags / Blogs / Travel Blogs / → All Tags

Seemingly Impossible Travel: TSA Blog Reaches New Level of Absurdity

Tomorrow, the latest TSA shitshow starts, with passengers trying--undoubtedly with varying degrees of success--to run their laptops through x-ray machines while still inside carry-on bags. So how did the agency remind travelers about the new policy today?

James Brown once sang that Papa's Got a Brand New Bag. Well, it may be a different kind of bag than what the Godfather was singing about, but now everybody can feel better than James Brown and keep their laptop in their "checkpoint friendly" bag as long it meets certain criteria.

There you have it: Just buy a magical bag and you'll feel better than a guy who died from congestive heart failure brought on by pneumonia!

Related Stories:
· Keep Your Laptop In [TSA Blog]
· Adventures in TSA Logic: Explaining the New Laptop Bag Rules [Jaunted]
· TSA coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Biking / Adventure Travel / Outdoor Travel / Travel Blogs / Blogs / Videos / → All Tags

Adventure Travel Update: Daryl and Davy Already Setting Two-Wheeled Records

Back in April, we filled you in on Daryl and Davy Vogel, 10-year-old twin brothers planning to ride from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina. (They were nice enough to invite their parents along.) And though they've "only" made it to British Columbia so far, they've already managed to set a world record: They're the youngest duo to ever bike the whole 1,422-mile historic Alaska Highway.

Daryl took some time to write a blog post about the accomplishment:

WooHoo! We made it to "Mile 0." While we were riding there, Davy rode right in front of a car. Luckily he made it back to the shoulder in time. We got to stay at the Best Western. They have a waterslide!

After the kids finally got out of the pool, the family kept heading south. Only 27,700 miles left to go!

Related Stories:
· A Wayward Journey [Official Site]
· Adventure Travel: Daryl and Davy Bike the Pan-American [Jaunted]

Tags: TSA / Security / Airport Security / Kip Hawley / Blogs / Travel Blogs / → All Tags

TSA Backpeddling on Suspicious Passenger List Story

This is why the TSA has a blog. Yesterday, USA Today revealed that the agency was collecting data on people who came to security checkpoints without ID. In the evening, the TSA posted a public reply to the piece:

An August 13 USA Today article overstated the Transportation Security Administration's interest in passengers who come to airport checkpoints without identification but cooperate in establishing their identity. The story gives the public the impression they might be put on a "list" if they forget their ID. That is false.

Passengers whose identity is confirmed will not be added to any watch list or face additional scrutiny during future checkpoint visits.

Well, not any longer anyway! While this misleading comment from the TSA jives with the newspaper's story, it fails to point out that up until yesterday, Kip Hawley and company *were* collecting data on passengers.

Fortunately the commenters on the TSA blog aren't dumb enough to buy this double talk. It took 57 minutes before "seth" wrote:

Kip says that the names were being collected and that the practice stopped yesterday. You're now saying that the names were never being collected. Which one is it?

Related Stories:
· You Won't Be Put on a "List" [TSA Blog]
· Fliers Without ID Placed on TSA List [USA Today]
· Are You on the TSA's Latest Watchlist? [Jaunted]
· TSA coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Green Travel / Tourism Board Travel / Tourism Boards / Blogs / Travel Blogs / → All Tags

Green Travel: Feeling "Ecothusiastic" in SF

San Francisco has pioneered many green initiatives from hybrid taxis to a ban on plastic bags, and the city has a stellar reputation for trying out things that will benefit the world at large.

So hoping to capitalize on SF's green obsession, the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau has just coined a new word for you: "Ecothusiasm." The office has even devoted a section of its website to visitors who want to plan a green adventure in and around the city.

From eco-conscious meetings at the Moscone Center to environmentally friendly trips that involve the use of public transportation, the website offers solutions to travelers worried about their carbon footprint. There's even a blog, Eco411, where you can stay up-to-date on all the city's environmentally sound planning and development.

Related Stories:
· Green SF [Official Site]
· Green Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: rick]

Tags: Maps / Travel Websites / Travel Blogs / Blogs / → All Tags

Toronto Travel: Mapping Where the Cool Kids Are

Online mapping programs have made traveling foolproof--for the most part. But there's always a time or two when you wish you could just type in a particular neighborhood instead of a specific venue. If you're planning a trip to Toronto anytime soon, you're all set.

BlogTO has gone the extra mile and offers maps and tips that offer directions as well as the vibe of the city's many neighborhoods. Available at hotels and other local establishments, the maps can also be ordered online and be shipped direct to you as long as you chip in for a small shipping cost.

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