Taking off Travel blog

Are you blogging and writing about travel? Want to make some money and gain the recognition of your peers and others? Check out these travel writing and blogging contests.

Telegraph Travel Writing Competition

Called Just Back, the weekly competition offers writers the chance to win £200 in the currency of their choice. Just submit an entry of up to 500 words to justback@telegraph.co.uk (UK residents; see full T&C)

Solas Awards

An annual competition for which submissions are open all year round, the Solas Awards have a submission length of 750 words. Entry fees apply. (US residents; see full T&C). Closing date for this year’s competition is September 21, 2010.

52 Perfect Days Travel Writing Contest

Submit up to 1,000 words on an experience in a National Monument, National Seashore or Historic Parks in the United State or Canada. The prize for the 52 Perfect Days Travel Writing Contest is a trip to Hawaii. (US, Canada, Mexico residents; see full T&C). Closing date: October 31, 2010.

Read more »

Today I wanted to share with you some of the new places where Park Ride Fly USA will be hanging out online from now on. They’re not really that new but we are new to using them, at least in this incarnation. You already know how to find us on Twitter (big shout out to all our followers) which is where we’re most active at the moment.

But if you prefer to spend your online time on other sites there are a few new places where you can also connect with us. (By the way, I’m not using the ‘royal we’ — other people from the company may make an input from time to time.) On most sites you can find us as either Sharon at PRF (that’s me), parkrideflyusa or parkridefly.

One new place where we are happy to be is on Facebook where we have a brand new page. On our Park Ride Fly USA Facebook page we are sharing a few of the articles, posts and resources we find useful. I am happy to say that it’s not just going to be a rehash of our Twitter stream — our Facebook page will include items that we don’t share anywhere else. And once we’ve built up a community we hope to use that page to have more in-depth discussions about travel related issues.

Read more »

Something a bit different this week - some more inspirational travel quotes. Hope you enjoy them, and feel free to share yours in the comments.

1. Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends. - Maya Angelou
2. We must travel in the direction of our fear. - John Berryman
3. It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end. - Ursula Le Guin
4. The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.  – St. Augustine
5. The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. - Marcel Proust
6. To fly as fast as thought, you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived. - Richard Bach
7. The only journey is the one within. - Rainer Maria Rilke
8. You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water. - Rabindranath Tagore
9. Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars. - Les Brown
10. Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia. - Peanuts Read more »
    Related Posts

    • Park, Ride And Fly Quotations
    • Six Travel Bloggers You Should Follow On Twitter
    • Tips For Enjoying A Great Staycation

According to a recent study vacation planning makes us happier than taking a vacation. I found this little titbit through a post on by Christine Garvin on the Matador network, titled The Truth About Happiness and Travel. In it, the author examines this study and finds that there might be some truth in those results but I began to think about how this applies to my own situation, and concluded that I didn’t entirely agree.

Planning A Trip

For me, while there is some anticipation in the planning stage  of a trip (mainly because I’ll be thinking about a really great place) this part of the process can also be stressful. That could be because I’m a control freak — or to be a little kinder to myself, like to get every detail right. When making decisions about how to travel and where to stay, I have no idea how it will turn out. Depending on how good my research is, that might be a cause of stress.

Where’s The Fun?

I agree with Christine Garvin that some parts of travel aren’t as much fun as they could be. As I said before, when ranting about the things that annoyed me about travel, spending hours in queues even when you are using the fast bag drop, the interminable security process, cramped seats and poor airplane food (when you get any) make the journey to your destination not that much fun. Some people relax the minute they decide to go on holiday; I only relax when I’ve reached to where I’m staying. (I’m not saying that’s the way to do it; that’s just the way I am.)

Vacation Travel — Still A Thrill

Where I disagree, however, is in finding that the actual vacation experience is less thrilling than I anticipated. Generally speaking I really enjoy vacations. They represent a good chance to see, do and eat something different. They are a change of scene. It doesn’t much matter whether I am traveling for a short while longer period — I still enjoy the experience of being in a new place. Keeping some perspective also helps make vacation travel an enjoyable experience. If you don’t expect everything to be the same as it is at home then you will find difference exciting rather than exasperating.

For me, this was the best point Christine made in her post:

The point of travel is not only to achieve a high return on happiness – it’s also to learn about ourselves, other cultures, and even to be challenged to grow via those pesky annoyances.

I definitely agree with that.

A recent post by Ken McGuire wondered whether airport parking online was a bit too easy. He discussed his experience of travelling through Dublin airport and avoiding the old hassles of having to pay for your space before getting on the bus to get you back to the car. He commented favorably on the rate offered for a weekend’s airport parking. For our money, this is the way it should always be. What’s the point of looking airport parking online if it doesn’t save you hassle?

Choosing Off Airport Parking

When I travel I always arrange airport parking in advance. It’s usually offsite and I usually get an excellent deal. There’s no big secret to this — it just involves looking around to see who has an off airport parking lot close to the airport I will be flying from. That usually narrows it down to just a couple of options. My next step is to see how else I can save. For example, if I’m collecting air miles or have loyalty cards from hotels or car rental firms, then I see if they have a deal with the off airport parking lot I plan to use. Depending on the length of my stay, this can save me quite a bit. Read more »