Aug
31
How to Prevent Mosquito Bites
August 31, 2011 | Leave a Comment
Thanks to Anne Sigmon for her post on Jungle Pants: Twelve tips for avoiding mosquitos–and the serious diseases they carry. Anne also provides a link to Tipnut’s Over 40 Mosquito Bite Itch Relief Tips.
Apr
19
San Francisco waterfront knowledge can help you win prizes
April 19, 2011 | 2 Comments
| April 20, 2011 | ||
| 12:00 pm | ||
| April 27, 2011 | ||
| 12:00 pm | ||
| May 4, 2011 | ||
| 12:00 pm |
The San Francisco Waterfront Challenge, a new weekly “identify-the-photo” game, is giving prizes to waterfront-savvy locals and visitors. The challenge starts at noon on Wednesday, on April 20th. The photo challenge is a celebration of San Francisco’s lively waterfront and a promotion for the San Francisco Waterfront website and mobile application.
Here’s how it works:
- Each Wednesday at noon for the next for six months, a photo taken somewhere along San Francisco’s waterfront, from the Golden Gate Bridge to AT&T Park, will be posted online at San Francisco Waterfront. SF Waterfront Challenge rules are on the website.
Apr
19
Nifty travel wallet
April 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment
I love this sturdy, way-clever, thin-as-paper, easy-to-conceal travel wallet. The linked article includes easy do-it-yourself instructions. Make several before your next trip, and stash your cash safely.
Mar
7
International Mobile Phones
March 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment
To take your mobile phone along or not? Does your next destination use CDMA or TDMA? AMPS? TACS? Here’s a site for travelers listing what phone systems work where.
Mar
7
Electricity Around the World
March 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment
Unsure about the electrical system at your next destination? Few other countries use the 120 volt system that is standard in the US and Canada. Libya and Aruba are close, at 127 volts, as are the Dominican Republic at 110 and El Salvador at 115. Turkmenistan is on 220, 230 is standard for the EU, and Australia uses 240.
Here’s a handy source for information about electrical systems around the world: the Global Electric and Phone Directory.
Feb
21
How to fold a shirt—fast!
February 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment
Anyone who plans to travel anywhere, ever—and I think that’s pretty much all of us—will want to watch this amazing 15-second video about how to fold a shirt. (So that’s how they do it!)
Thanks to John Montgomery (Montgomery Photographic) for the link.
Sep
28
Travel writing, Westie-style
September 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Travel writers and photographers Laurie Weed and Jak Wonderly (yes, they both do both) are back from nearly six months in Mexico. The lived and traveled in a VW Westie, and by the end of the trip had become experts at setting up camp. Here’s how.
Sep
3
San Francisco Waterfront travel app coming soon
September 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Suzie Rodriguez and I (Laurie McAndish King) are developing an iPhone app about the San Francisco Waterfront. We’re having great fun doing this “work” as we write about some of our favorite places and discover hidden gems. One of my favorites so far is the public amphitheater pictured here; it’s made from recycled automobile hoods!
We expect the app to be available in a month or so; in the meantime, here’s a link to the Facebook page we set up to let people know what we’re up to and gather ideas about the best places to include. We’d sure appreciate it if you’d visit the page and “like” us. Thanks!
Sep
3
Track local weather at U.S. airports
September 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Thanks to Alan Ruffalo for this link to a NOAA map that lets you mouse over areas of the US to learn current weather at local airports: temp, relative humidity, dew point, wind speed and direction, cloud cover, visibility, precipitation, more.
Sep
3
Peace Corps visits Marin County
September 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment
| September 14, 2010 | ||
| 6:00 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
The Peace Corps will be 50 years old in 2011. What better way to celebrate than to volunteer?
Become a grassroots entrepreneur in one of 77 countries as a Peace Corps volunteer. RSVP now and come to this Marin County orientation session to start your journey:
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
6:30PM to 8:00PM
Fairfax Library
2097 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard
Fairfax, CA 94930
Contact: Peace Corps San Francisco Regional Office:
(510) 452-8444 or sfevents@peacecorps.gov
Jun
26
Get Carried Away
June 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
This looks like a great idea for visiting out-of-towners: Carried Away offers small, customized tours of the San Francisco Bay Area. “Book an unconventional outing with Carried Away and experience San Francisco and the Bay Area in a completely new and different way. Each outing is designed to surprise and delight. We want you to have fun and feel great – to have the best day ever.”
You’re guaranteed lots of personal attention from Carried Away founders Vikki and Dianne, long-time Bay area residents who are known for knowing — and going! Introductory pricing is good through August, 2010.
Apr
28
Fluent in 3 months
April 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Traveling soon to a country where you don’t speak the language? There are many helpful posts on Benny Lewis’ FluentIn3Months.com, “a how-to guide and story of becoming fluent in any language quickly. After over seven years of travelling and learning languages I have picked up quite a lot of short-cuts, unconventional learning techniques, and a pretty good mentality that has hugely helped me to learn these languages, and earn the title of ‘polyglot’. This site is for sharing these tips so that others may also live their dreams of being able to speak other languages!”
Posts include these:
Dec
27
Lee Foster’s way-cool accomplishment
December 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment
I have a huge amount of admiration for Lee Foster’s travel writing and photography, technological savvy, and “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” philosophy. Like the rest of us, Lee has been affected by the downturn in publishing. But he did something about it: he turned one of his books, San Francisco Photography Guide, into an iPhone application and released it in the Apple iTunes App Store (it costs just $1.99). It “assists users to create, collect, and enjoy their own postcard perfect photos and memories of San Francisco. Lee presents his top 100 views of The City, from vistas to iconic details, and shows the user how to duplicate them. The app has Lee’s comments on how to make the photo and why the view is significant, even if you only want to enjoy the view and not photograph it. Interactive maps show what photos/views can be savored in a given neighborhood.”
Dec
27
First aid kit for travel
December 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment
I’m getting ready to take a trip, and pulled out some notes about what first aid items to bring along. I am not a doctor (nor do I play one on TV), but here’s a basic list complied by one. Of course your own list will depend on where you’ll be, and what your individual needs are. Be sure to check with your health care provider (you could use the notes below as a discussion guide).
- Antibiotic to use for treatment for travelers’ diarrhea (item number 1 on the list for a good reason?).
Dec
27
UV Disinfector
December 27, 2009 | 1 Comment
Has anyone tried a product like this? I’ve seen UV disinfectors for $95, and for $19.95 (wonder what the difference is…?), and they seem like a useful item to travel with these days. According to the instructions, they use “the same technology hospitals use to sanitize,” killing 99% of germs [mold and] and bacteria with ultraviolet light—no chemicals. The UV sanitizer pictured at left runs on batteries and is about 20″ long.
Nov
18
Free e-books for your Kindle
November 18, 2009 | 1 Comment
Erin Van Rheenen shares info on how to get free e-books for your Kindle on her blog, Living Abroad in Costa Rica. File conversion takes a few steps, but it looks do-able. Erin also writes, “Even as I take advantage of these free digital books, I know that Google’s drive to get all the world’s books online is problematic for authors and publishers. For more about the class action lawsuit against Google books, go to the Practical Nomad, then scroll down to ‘Articles by Edward Hasbrouck on other topics’” to read a ddownloadable PDF.
Oct
10
FlyersRights.org
October 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Thanks to Gayle Keck for this link to FlyersRights.org and the suggestion about adding their hotline (877-359-3776 or 877-flyers6) to your cell phone speed dial if you’re flying anywhere soon. Call if an airline is treating you poorly, and FlyersRights can sometimes help resolve things. If you’re stuck on the tarmac, they can get pizza and water delivered—or help get you off and onto another flight.
Aug
14
Best online travel resources: Know before you go
August 14, 2009 | 4 Comments
Laurie McAndish King’s article about quirky and helpful websites for travelers originally appeared in Examiner.com in April:
Travel fares are temptingly low these days, but all travel is not equal. Here are some websites to help you find the best seats and meals, avoid dangerous destinations, stay healthy, comply with travel regulations, get through airport lines more quickly, purchase travel insurance, and more.
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Airlinemeals.net is the “world’s first website about nothing but airline food,” which is currently displaying “more than 17,000 photos from more than 520 different airlines. Monthly, we receive 300 new meal pictures.” There are also photos of what the airline crew eats, food from airline lounges, and behind-the-scenes photos from airline caterers.
Aug
14
Laurie McAndish King’s article below about online sources for travel information originally ran on Examiner.com in April:
One “benefit” of the current worldwide economic crisis is the super-low airfares we’re seeing lately. Cruise lines, too, have some amazing specials. In both cases, the bulk of the owners’ costs — building and owning the planes or ships, or having already committed to a cruise on a particular vessel at a particular time, are already “sunk.” That means the owners need to sell space at whatever price they can get — in some cases, they’re even selling at rates that are lower than their actual costs — in order to recoup at least a little of their investments.
Here are some websites to help you find the best travel deals:
Apr
20
Kayak and SideStep
April 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment
From Kayak and Sidestep:
A little while ago, two companies independently created a new way for you to shop for travel products: visit one web site that would search all the others, then buy from whatever web site you want. You, the traveling public, liked this idea, and both Kayak and SideStep have become very popular.
Apr
20
Airfare Watchdog
April 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Airfare Watchdog is another site that lets you sign up to receive emailed information about air fares.
“The airlines lower airfares every day without advertising them. Our team of fare experts tells you about these “hidden” fare reductions and alert you to $0 “blooper” fares and other air fare bargains that you might otherwise miss. And we provide straight talk about finding low air fares on the Web. Airfarewatchdog.com is the only fare listing site that shows fares on all airlines, even Southwest.”
Apr
19
Bay Area Travel Writers
April 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment
I’m thrilled to announce that the Bay Area Travel Writers newsletter is now live as an online e-zine. April Orcutt, who has contributed to Travel Writers News many times, is doing an excellent job of editing it.
One reason I’m thrilled is because the newsletter contains lots of useful tips and information for travel writers; the other reason is because I worked very hard to get the online newsletter up and running, and now that it’s working I’ll have a life again. In addition to April, Diane LeBow, Marc Longwood, and Bradley Charbonneau all contributed many hours to the site development.
Apr
17
Yapta
April 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment
I haven’t used Yapta airfare and hotel price tracking, but it sure looks good. Here’s what they say about their service:
Yapta is intended to help you get a handle on fluctuating travel prices so that you know when to “buy low.” Yapta conducts daily price checks on the specific flights and hotels that you choose, and alerts you when prices drop or when they fall within your budget. Yapta also alerts you when you can use your frequent flier miles to book award seats on the flights of your choice.
Apr
13
Writing Workshop in Turkey with Larry Habegger
April 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment
| June 12, 2009 | ||
| 12:00 am |
Learn how to craft a travel article, write a memoir, and publish your book.
Two 7-day Intensive Workshops
September 12-19 & 19-26, 2009
Turkey, aboard a Turkish yacht!
Registration Deadline: June 1, 2009
Class Size: 10 Participants
Info: http://www.larryhabegger.com/teaching/
Heads up writers! It’s that time of year to reserve your spot for the popular September Writing Workshop on the Turkish coastline led by Larry Habegger, Executive Editor of Travelers’ Tales and organized by Robin Sparks. These workshops, limited to 10 participants, have been so popular that Larry and Robin have scheduled two sessions to meet the demand. Don’t miss the experience of a lifetime to get your writer on while partaking in one of the most beautiful, luxurious, relaxing experiences in the world. There is nothing like a Blue Voyage on the Turkish Coastline aboard a hand built Turkish yacht! What will you learn?
Feb
26
Flip Video
February 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Flip Video Cam
Maybe it’s premature, but I’m flipping for the Flip video camera. Just bought the $150 version a few days ago, then got a notice today from Amazon.com that the $129 version is on sale for $69.99.
It’s small, easy to use (although limited in capability), produces high-quality images … and the built-in USB port makes it easy to upload images. Limited editing capabilities are built in.
For more info, check out the website.