The search is on for England's biggest fan...

VisitEngland.com is searching for a budding travel writer / broadcaster / social networker to take an all-expenses paid 70 day trip around England.

The chosen 'biggest fan' will take a trip around England in a van, following on the heels of the Olympic  Torch Relay

Requirements for the position are simple - you have to be a real England enthusiast who would be able to entertain England with videos, photos, blog posts, facebook and twitter updates.

According to the enjoyEngland website, the perfect fan is...

• is a go-getter who instinctively knows where the action is, and uncovers the best stories
• can write like a dream. All the better to blog with…
• has an mean eye for photography
• is charismatic, with a great sense of humour when things don’t go to plan…
• is utterly engaged with the task, and engaging by nature
• has a full, clean UK driving licence
• is over 21 years of age
• is available for adventures countrywide between 14 May – 27 July

Interested?

All you need to do is send VisitEngland 100 words on your favorite place in England along with a photograph by April 9th.

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'The Next Great Storyteller' Competition closes soon...

National Geographic and Matador Network have teamed up in a competition to find 'The Next Great Storyteller.'

Think you have what it takes to a great travel storyteller?

Can you move, touch, surprise, and entertain with your stories?

Then this is the competition for you.

Here's what you have to do.

Submit a story in any of these four categories by March 31st...

Blog (300 words or less)Magazine Article (700 words or less)Video (No more than 3 minutes)Photo Essay (5 photos or less on a single subject)

The First Prize winner in each category will be...

"...invited to a “Storytellers’ Day” with the National Geographic Traveler editorial staff at National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, DC. Airfare from any location in the US and one night in a hotel will be paid for by NGS for each winner. Each winner will also receive a one-year subscription to National Geographic Traveler magazine."

There's not much time left.

To find out more and to enter, head over The Next Great Storyteller page.

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A conference for family travel bloggers...

Family travel bloggers might want to check out this dual Family Travel Expo and Conference being held in NYC on 6th and 7th of May 2012.

According to the official website, the schedule is as follows...

Day 1 - Sunday May 6, features a family travel expo (bring the kids) with exhibits from fabulous resorts, tips from experts, and chances to win dream vacations!  Discover amazing travel experiences, take advantage of great offers and deals, win trips and prizes, and more.  You’ll hear travel tips from experts, learn about great new products, and discover how you can make your dream vacation a reality.

Day 2 - Monday May 7, kicks off an amazing day of keynotes, seminars, networking events and more for established and aspiring family travel bloggers.  With content designed specifically for travel bloggers, attendees will take part in sessions on topics such as resort-blogger relations, blog design, pitching resorts & products, photography, building your readership and more.

For more information head over to the Macaroni Kid's Family Expo and Conference page.

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Overnight Buses Travel Magazine looking for submissions....

Overnight Buses, a App based magazine is looking for submissions


To find out what they are looking for, download the Overnight Buses Travel Magazine App for iPad. There's some great featured essays by award winning travel writers such as Michael Shapiro, Marcia DeSanctis, Nathan Comp, and Ayun Halliday in the first issue. 


According to their guidelines, they want...

"...travel essays, literature, travel journalism and personal narratives; the stories of your adventures in far-off places that changed you in ways you didn’t expect. We’re looking for the stuff that will make our readers laugh, cry, shout and say “Damn! That was a darn good read.” We take pride in the fact that we publish the articles that other magazines don't. The gritty stories, the trips to the middle of nowhere, the personal narratives that really make you think, the hard-hitting journalism. If you've got it, we want it.

Articles should be in English, with American spellings (color, not colour). Non-fiction, obviously. 1000 words or more in PDF or Word format (.doc, .pdf). 4000 words is the sweet spot, long enough to draw our readers in, short enough to read in an hour."

Send submissions via email to Tom at submissions [at] overnightbuses.com

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Video: Dr. Seuss’s ‘Oh, the Places You'll' at Burning Man...

“You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go.”

– Dr. Seuss in Oh, the Places You’ll Go

Here's an amazingly unique presentation of  Dr. Seuss’s famous graduation present book Oh, the Places You’ll Go! . It incorporates the strange but happy weirdness of Burning Man while reminding everyone that  you are free to go in any direction you choose...


This video by Tedshots




(via Flavorwire)

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Photo Friday: Christchurch Cathedral

The iconic Christchurch Cathedral, once the centerpiece of the city, lies in ruins and is soon to be deconstructed. 

Check out Delicious Baby Journal for more interesting photo fridays from around the world.

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Go with Oh Travel Blogger competition...

Imagine free accommodation for a month in four European cities.

Sounds a lot like an impossible dream.

But the folks over at Go with Oh, a holiday accommodation site, is going to make this dream happen for some lucky blogger.

Interested?

All you have to do to enter is write a blog post about 5 things you'd most like to do in one of Go with Oh's accommodation destinations.

It shouldn't be to hard to do, given that their destinations are Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Vienna, Prague, Venice, Dublin, and Florence.

In fact, the only hard part would be decided which destination to write about.

Check out Go with Oh's Blogger Competition page for more information on how to enter this amazing competition.

Are you in?

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52 Perfect Days Food and Wine Travel Writing Contest...

52 Perfect Days fourth annual travel writing contest is now open for submissions.


The topic this year is Culinary or Wine Tourism.


Submission guidelines...

* article no more than 1,000 words on your perfect experience with Wine or Culinary tourism 

* detail how to spend a perfect day, evening, weekend, or week focusing on one of the following: wineries, tastings and tours, culinary explorations including culinary schools, foodie tours, B7Bs well known for their food or pairings, and food movements in particular cities. Or share a day of exploring the best restaurants, food carts, wine bars that a particular location has to offer.

* the travel story must be not only unique, engaging, and exciting to the reader and but also well-crafted and well edited.

* send the completed article and photographs to this email  

The four best entries as chosen by the 52 Perfect Days editors, will wine one of these prizes


- a trip to Calistoga in Napa Valley Wine Country


- a trip to Valle de Guadalupe in Baja Wine Country


- a WordPress website by ZDDesign


- a BottleWise Rollup wine travel case


Interested?


Then read the full submission guidelines and get writing.


Deadline for submissions is November 31, 2012

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Photo Friday: New Zealand's quirky coffee culture

Over a hill, through a tunnel, on the side of a road by the sea, this quirky van advertises a small cafe onboard Jaques Cousteau's old French built vessel the 'Physalle' that is now docked in Golden Bay. 

If you're a fan of coffee, you'll love New Zealand's coffee culture.

Part of the Delicious Baby photo friday network

(photo credit: Liz Lewis)

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Photo Friday: Port-a-loos in the Gardens

Not exactly what you'd expect to see in when wandering through a city's botanic gardens. But in Christchurch, New Zealand, nothing is as you expect it these days.

To find out the story behind the photos, head over to Perceptive Travel Blog.

Part of the Delicious Baby photo friday network

image credit: Liz Lewis

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Travelllll.com is hiring writers...

Travelllll.com, a travel blogging and media news site, is looking for a few good writers to provide content on travel blogging trends and the latest trends, news, and products in the online travel market.

What they are looking for... 

• People who are passionate about the travel industry. We’re looking for two people who are on the bubble when it comes to the latest trends, news, and products in the online travel market.

• Good writers. We’re looking for people who can craft some English prose. You don’t have to be Shakespeare. But you should feel pretty comfortable with your abilities.

• Social media enthusiasts. We write about the online travel industry, not the destinations. You’ve got to have an interest in how travel as a whole is evolving online, not just pretty beaches and where to get the best Margarita.

If that sounds like you, head on over to Travelllll.com to find out how to apply.

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Photo Friday: The fish market in Muscat, Oman...

For more Photo Fridays from around the world, head over to Delicious Baby

For ideas on how to improve your travel photographers, check out this week's photo tips for travelers.

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Weekly Photo Tips for Travelers...

Uncorneredmarket offers 10 Tips for Taking Great Food Photos

Photo Tuts has A 10 Step Guide to Creative & Colourful Market Photography

Wanderlust has an article by Steve Davey on Photographing places of worship

Digital School Photography has tips from Bob Holmes on Natural Lighting and Travel Photography

Lightstalking discusses How to Get Both Staged and Candid Travel Portraits

ephotozine looks at Photography In Graveyards

Photopoly provides Tips on Photographing Museums

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TED Video: Andrew Evans talks about pursuing your travel dream...

Andrew Evans (of Where's Andrew fame) gives an inspirational talk at the TEDxDanubia conference in Budapest about how he managed to pursue his dream of traveling to the Antarctica.

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ACTIVE TRAVEL ASIA launches travel writing contest...

Adventure tour operator ACTIVETRAVEL ASIA, based in Indochina, has launched a travel writing contest 2011 for travelers from across the world.

Enter by emailing to event@activetravel.asia a 350 - 100 word article about the writer's best holiday experience in Indochina (Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia).

All eligible enters will be posted on Active Travel Asia's facebook page (www.facebook.com/Active.Travel) and 2 travel news sites Activetravel Magazines (www.activetravelmagazines.com/) & Vietnam Adventure News (news.activetravelvietnam.com/).

The winner is the entry that has the amount of LIKE ranked highest on facebook page plus on 2 travel news sites.

The winner will receive a trip for 2 persons costing from $700-->$1000 depend on their selections of out door activities including Trekking, Cycling, Motorcycling, Kayaking in wide areas of Indochina.

For more information, head over to the ATA Writing Competition 2011 webpage.

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The Economist's audio interview with travel writer William Dalrymple

Interesting audio interview from The Economist with William Dalrymple talking about his friendship with Paddy Leigh Fermor and discussing the changing nature of travel writing.




For more about his experiences as a travel writer, check out this video discussion between William Dalyrmple and Pico Iyer about the connection beween globalisation and religion.

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Travel Writing Miscellanea...

Wanderlust reports that the Notting Hill's iconic bookstore is for sale.

Lonely Planet is giving away one of it's photo books for free at iBookstore.

At the Hay's literary festival travel writer V. S. Naipaul says women can't write

Travel Writing 2.0 has an interview with travel writer Lena Katz

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Travel Writing Miscellanea...

Grant Martin from Gadling.com offers up some tips on How to make travel editors like your blog

Alison Stein Wellner from A Very Curious Mind writes about The Art of Time in Memoir: A Travel Writer’s Review

DoLectures.com has an interesting video from Rolf Potts on traveling...

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Friday Photo: Motel Inn, San Luis Obispo

The ruins of Motel Inn

What remains of the worlds very first motel sits alongside Highway 1 on the outskirts of San Luis Obispo, California, offering a glimpse of a bygone era.

Check out DeliciousBaby.com for more photo fridays from around the world.

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California Snapshot: Old Town Temecula

Known as Southern California’s Napa Valley, Temecula has transformed in the past few decades from a sleepy commuter town into a must visit wine destination.

But there’s more to Temecula than just wine as I soon discovered.

Arriving tired and exhausted after the two hour ‘white knuckle’ drive through the maze of Los Angeles freeways, the welcoming Temecula Creek Inn beckoned like a home away from home. Within minutes, I’d booked in, unpacked, and was on the veranda outside my room, coffee in hand, breathing in the fresh air and enjoying the view of Temecula Creek’s sprawling 27 hole golf course.

Checking out the next morning, I programmed the GPS for Old Town Temecula. First on the agenda was breakfast. On the recommendation of the Temecula Creek Inn’s front desk staff, I headed for Swing Inn Café where, they promised, I’d find some real home cooking and they sure weren‘t kidding. A favorite with locals and visitors alike, the Swing Inn Café was busy with a constant stream of people coming in and out.

After filling up on pancakes and eggs, it was time to do some walking and Old Town, with plenty of history and shops, was just the place to do it.

Armed with a tour map from the Temecula Valley Museum, I wandered the streets of Old Town, learning about the various historic buildings, including the Hotel Palomar, the town’s first modern hotel with electricity and indoor restrooms.

Turns out that the Hotel Palomar and the Swing Inn Café, both built in 1927, are the only two historic buildings in Temecula that still run the same type of business that they were built for.

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