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Tags: Volunteer Travel / Disney / Orlando Travel / Travel News / Freebies / → All Tags
Spend One Day Volunteering And Get A Free Pass From Disney
Mickey's giving away free one-day passes to Disney's Theme Parks and all you have to do to get one is spend a day volunteering. Beginning on January 1, 2010, you can sign up to volunteer with any participating organization for just one day, and in return you will receive a one-day pass to any Disney park. Disney is hoping to inspire one million people to volunteer (and spend money at Disney World) next year.
If you're not sure how or where to volunteer, Disney has made it easy by teaming up with HandsOn Network, which links volunteers with more than 70,000 nonprofits across the country. Once you've completed your day of service, it will be verified by HandsOn and you will receive a voucher good for one day at any Disney park.
Tags: Recessionomics / Freebies / Australia Travel / → All Tags
Australia Says 'Mayday, Mayday, We'll Pay You To Visit Us'
It's just a plan that won't be presented to the government until next week, but the idea alone is exciting: tourism operators in Australia want to pay your airfare to persuade you to vacation Down Under.
The "Mayday" proposal being put forward by Independent Tourism Holdings is that the government might pay for a tourist to fly to Australia on the condition that they spend a certain amount of money while they're there. The amount suggested is A$5,000 and the weak Aussie dollar makes that just US$3,200.
Paying visitors to come to your country might sound a bit desperate, but presumably far-away Oz is one of the first places people drop off their itineraries when times get financially tough. But don't go hunting for your free ticket yet--we have to see what the Australian government thinks, and although Australia might be different in many, many ways, politicians are the same the world over.
Related Stories:
· Plan To Give Tourists Free Flights [The Age]
· Australia Travel Guide [Jaunted]
[Photo: KayVee.INC]
Tags: Australia Travel / Camping / Freebies / → All Tags
Camp For Nix Down Under
Camping sounds like a smart way to enjoy a country as sunny and warm as Australia, and you'll probably get to meet a bunch of friendly Aussies sitting around the campfire with a beer or ten. On November 9, 2007 you'll be able to afford more beer because Big4 Holiday Parks are having another Come Camp Night, where you can pitch your tent and not pay a cent.
When we mentioned Come Camp in 2006, we were probably unnecessarily cautious about dangerous snakes and koalas. Big4 Holiday Parks doesn't mention any nasty critters at all--in fact the campground operator talks more about mini-golf, spas, swimming pools, tennis courts and giant jumping pillows. Although maybe the giant jumping pillows could turn out to be just as dangerous. Happy camping.
Related Stories:
· Come Camp Night [Official Site]
· The Great Aussie Camping Giveaway [Jaunted]
· Australia Travel Stories [Jaunted]
[Photo: strangejourney]
Tags: Beer / Museums / Freebies / → All Tags
Sapporo Brewery Tours & Museums
For those of you who hate sake or are simply equal opportunity drinkers, know that there's beer to be tasted in Japan, too. Asahi may have pioneered the fabulous beer robot, but Sapporo is still more famous. So famous and important in fact, that they have the Sapporo Beer Museum, "the only beer museum in Japan." Except for the Beer Museum Yebisu which is listed right below it on Sapporo's website.
Technicalities aside, Sapporo offers some interesting museum and brewery tours in Japan for beer aficionados. Brewery tours are free, as is museum admission. Tours are in Japanese only, but there must be some sort of universal language at work here.
[Photo: Ross Mayfield]
Related Stories:
· Sapporo Brewery & Restaurant Guide [Official Site]
· Beer coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Adventure Travel / Active Travel / Freebies / → All Tags
Soviet Skydives For Free
Much like those chronically expensive Antarctic expeditions, trips to the North Pole don't come cheap. A Russian tour company called North Pole Adventures has an alternative for all you cheapskates out there, but you'll have to bring them big business before it works for you. Here's to hoping you've got some rich friends. Per their website's F.A.Q.:
It is my cherished dream to go to the North Pole but I don't have so much money. What should I do?If it is indeed your cherished dream to hurl yourself out of an Ilyushin Il-76 into the impossible frost of the north, bless your heart. It's good to know there are options out there for the less fortunate. The company's standard skydive-inclusive expeditions cost about $13,300.
The most common way to get to the Pole free of charge is to find for us several clients who can afford paying full price. So if you act as our agent either privately or as a travel agency you may go free if you find at least 10 customers.
Related Stories:
· North Pole Adventures [Official Site]
Tags: Drinking / History / Beer / Freebies / Art / → All Tags
Bottoms Up! Canada's Boozy Past on Display
Not only does this exhibit look awesome, but it's free. "Bottoms Up! A Spirited History of Drink in Canada" examines the history of Canada's love-hate relationship with alcohol, and how "it has become a vital part of [Canadians'] social lives, political lives, health, media and popular culture." BlogTO recently checked out the show and had some nice things to say about it.
From the "outlandishly amusing" anti-booze propaganda posters to more serious historical anecdotes, "Bottoms Up!" provides a brief but satisfying study of Canada's boozy past. Though the drinking age in some provinces of Canada is now as low as 18, our friends to the north weren't always so enlightened and evolved. Before you head over to the Bovine Sex Club to get crazy drunk, stop by the Steam Whistle Brewing Gallery (255 Bremner Boulevard / Monday - Saturday, 12 p.m to 6 p.m. and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. / Until April 2) and pay tribute to your forefathers. Not all of them were so lucky.
Related Stories:
· Examining Our Alcoholic Past [BlogTO]
· Bottoms Up! [Steam Whistle Brewing]
Tags: Strange Things / Lonely Planet / Guidebooks / Freebies / → All Tags
Gettin' To The Little Nations
We usually accept there are around 200 countries in the world, give or take a few toppling dictatorships, reunifications and independence declarations. But if you start including those strange entities called micronations--those parts of the world that might issue their own passports or currency but are not UN-recognized nations--the list gets much longer. Wikipedia lists nearly 40 of them, and Lonely Planet has published a guidebook about them.
You might be grateful to learn, however, that the traveling public might not be quite so keen on reading about these weirdo mini-countries. Lonely Planet's had to resort to sending copies out as a free gift now if you spend over $40 on their other goods. Maybe, after all, we do have the taste to know we want to travel to real countries.
[Photo: misterbisson]
Related Stories:
· Free Micronations book & free delivery! [Lonely Planet]
· Buy a Country, Be Your Own Whackjob Dictator [Jaunted]
Tags: Passports / Freebies / Tourism Boards / JetBlue / → All Tags
Free Passport Photos from JetBlue, Tourism Boards
JetBlue can't make you look any better in your passport photo, but they can at least save you from questioning why you paid for something so heinous. On every Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this month, JetBlue will partner with the tourism boards of Aruba, Bermuda, and Nassau to provide free glamour shots within its terminal at JFK Airport in New York.
To get your photo, go through security at the JetBlue terminal and head to gate 12A between 12:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, or 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays. Be prepared to have a lot of tourist propaganda forced on you, too. The truly paranoid can get primped at the in-terminal Oasis Day Spa.
Yup, this sounds just like a Sweet 16/Bat Mitzvah party activity...down to the part where you have to sneak your bubbly in. Except in this case, Kip Hawley's doing the fun-hating, as opposed to your friends' folks.
[Photo: w0rdfight]
Related Stories:
· No Passport? No Problem! [JetBlue]
Tags: Beaches / Crime / Freebies / → All Tags
Get Your Beach Looting on Here
According to the BBC, "hundreds of people have made off with" the valuable spoils of shipwreck at a beach in England. The abandoned cargo ship was left to be beached after its crew escaped during a storm, and some area folks managed to make off with goods like BMW motorcycles.
Apparently it pays to be near the beach in England in the dead of winter. The beach in question, Branscombe, is promoted by the local tourism industry as a romantic place to visit. Your time for beach looting may already be up, but lodging options in the area include the charming Mason Arms Hotel, where rooms start at ฃ75 a night.
Related Stories:
· Scavengers take washed-up goods [BBC]
Tags: Museums / Music / Freebies / Boeing / → All Tags
Boeing Buys Your Ticket at the Experience Music Project
Boeing is sure in a good mood after the whole A380 delay debacle. The schadenfreude has got them so sauced up, they're keeping up their offer to pay your way through Seattle. Well, they'll pay for a bit of it.
On the first Thursday of every month, Boeing sponsors All Access Nights at the Experience Music project, when admission is free from 5-8 p.m. It's the perfect time to visit, because tickets are otherwise a whopping $19.95. Not a big surprise for this type of place, but a bummer nonetheless for those who just want to rock or whatever.
Permanent installations at the EMP include a Jimi Hendrix exhibit, the Sound Lab recording studio, and an experience called On Stage that'll let you play rock star and simulate the experience of playing an arena in front of thousands of fans. Hookers 'n' blow not included with freebie tickets.
[Photo: ringey]
Related Stories:
· All Access Nights at EMP/SFM [EMP]
Tags: Airports / Freebies / Parking / Free WiFi / Airport WiFi / WiFi / Lists / → All Tags
Airport Battle: Daytona vs. Cincinnati vs. Your Wallet
It's customer service month at Daytona Beach International Airport in Florida, where they're giving out free key chains (!), free Cokes (!), free shoe shines, and free one-week long parking (!!!). To be eligible for the free parking, you must first "park in and exit the Airport lots in January" one time. AirTran passengers will receive unlimited free parking coupons. AND there's free WiFi. AND their security staff will mail you back any harmless confiscated items (nail scissors, more than 3 ounces of body lotion) you lost in line...FOR FREE!
Doesn't sound like a real airport, does it? Too bad you can't get too many places from DBIA--except maybe to a moment frozen in time, where you'll meet Kevin Seal (or your '80s VJ crush of choice) on an MTV Spring Break set.
There are far more connections into and out of Cincinnati (the airport's actually in Northern Kentucky), including a non-stop to Paris, which we had no idea about. Unfortunately for Cincinnati travelers, flying from CVG is anything but free. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, "With the average roundtrip ticket costing $570, CVG continues to be the nation's most expensive major airport to fly to or from." It's the third quarter in a row that the airport has topped the DOT's list. Blame Delta--they operate 80% of flights there.
Related Stories:
· Customers are tops this month at Daytona Beach International Airport [Orlando Sentinel]
· Sky-high airfares tops in U.S. [Cincinnati Enquirer]
Tags: Hotels / Los-Angeles-Parking-Guide / Parking / Jaunted Parking Guides / Los Angeles / Drinking / Restaurants / Freebies / → All Tags
Free Parking With That Drink at Angelina's Sex Hotel
A while back Hertz banned us from renting their cars because of excessive parking tickets, no joke. We are fighting back by trying to help give visitors a clear view of the entire parking scene in a particular locale. We have put together our guide to parking in LA, and an accompanying map. On the map, we have plotted six LA public parking spots where we have had the most luck. Send along LA parking tips, tricks, and advice and comment here so other folks don't rack up steep parking fines, or worse yet, get towed.
After we sent our baby, the Los Angeles parking guide, out into the published world yesterday, we received a tip about parking in Beverly Hills. It came straight from the Raffles L'Ermitage, a top Beverly Hills hotel and one object of our luxury travel lust.
It turns out that patrons of the hotel's bar or JAAN, its restaurant, don't have to pay for parking there. The restaurant is open all day. The Writer's Bar is open from 11 a.m. for liquid lunches, and is a famous hideaway for Hollywood types. Of course, the parking won't feel so free when you factor in an expensive cocktail, but the perk is worth noting.
Bonus: the L'Ermitage was supposedly Angelina Jolie's sex hotel of choice back when she had "lovers" and before she settled down with Brad. If only they could get her on parking wench duty there! We'd pay, like, $150 for a gin and tonic.
Related Stories:
· Jaunted Parking Guide: Where To Park In Los Angeles [Jaunted]
· Raffles L'Ermitage Beverly Hills [HotelChatter]
