Taking off Travel blog

The next best thing to traveling is reading about travel. Here are some of the articles that caught my eye recently.#

Why lying is wrong — even when an airline does it

Consumer advocate Chris Elliott weighs in on some of the pitfalls of the codeshare system – you might not always get what you think you paid for. Even worse, all of us might end up paying more.

Best Apps and Websites for Travelers

There are 37 apps and sites to help travelers in this roundup – and it’s not just the usual suspects.

5 Best Treehouse Hotels

There’s a certain romanticism about treehouses and a sense of adventure, too! Perhaps that’s why treehouse hotels have a little extra cachet. This article by Go Green’s Katie presents five of the best.

The Economic Impacts of Tourism in 2012: International Travel Drives Record-Setting Year

Mauiva Adventures reports on stats from the USTA reporting the impact of international travel. Have you taken a trip abroad this year?

Surprising New Study Abroad Hot Spots and What It Means

Planning to study abroad? You could be going as far afield as Ghana, according to AIFS. There are some popular new destinations for students leaving the US, including Taiwan, India and Israel.

How to Make Airport Layovers Fun For the Whole Family

It’s not only the destination that counts when flying with your family on vacation; take advantage of everything the airport has to offer and start the fun before you even arrive. Here are four tips for keeping the kids occupied while at the airport.

Finally, if you’ve been waiting to visit your local museum, you could get in free in a couple of weeks. September 29 is Free Museum Day – which museum will you visit?

It’s another in our series of travel blogger profiles. In the spotlight today is Will Peach, currently traveling around Spain.

Will, what’s your travel background?

Howdy! I’m a travel blogger and editor who’s spent the last six months living and travelling in different parts of Spain. I’m now on the verge of living in my third city in six months!

Before Spain I was living in London where I worked as a site editor at gap year travel site Gap Daemon. My travel experiences up to then included two years living in Saigon, Vietnam (where I got to travel to Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Indonesia), a year living in Miami (as an exchange student) and forays into Italy, Russia, France and Australia along the way. I guess I was pretty well qualified!

Now I’m all set up as a true location independent worker and run a string of travel blogs and edit over on the digital travel magazine Vagabundo. My two main blogs are MySpanishAdventure (where I record my travel and learning experiences in Spain) and TravelSexLife, a site dedicated to love and romance on the road. I also run the busy travel blogger interview site TraveLinkSites! Read more »

Today’s featured travel bloggers are self-proclaimed travel junkies Lane and Juliet from the Lost Backpack, who encourage others to challenge their ideals and beliefs through travel.

Lane and Juliet of The Lost Backpack show off the tiger bite.

What’s your travel background?

Lane:  I was born into a family of truck drivers.  We all have road maps for veins and asphalt in our blood.  I’ve covered the U.S. from coast to coast.  In 2002, my daughter and I took our first overseas trip — ironically, to England.

Juliet: I have one British and one American parent and was raised in the UK. Early family trips included visits to the US and many trips to France–I had my first wine tasting experience at age eleven! During summer vacation in college, I went backpacking around Europe and the US. In 2002, I moved to America.

What’s different about your blog or site [or travel and lifestyle business} and please provide a link to it.

The Lost Backpack maintains a good balance between humor and conveying information–we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We are relevant to a broad range of travelers, as we cover both domestic and more exotic locales.

What’s the most unexpected thing that has ever happened to you when you traveled and how did you handle it?

Lane: I was canoeing in Tennessee when nature called. I was answering the call behind a bush when I realized that a Boy Scout troop was setting up camp next to me! They had toilet paper.

Juliet: I got bitten by a tiger in Puerto Vallarta. We were visiting a zoo where you can help socialize baby big cats. I was rolling a ball for a tiger cub to chase. He got over-excited and nipped my leg. I showed off that bruise for days.

Complete the sentence: I never travel without … because … Read more »

This week’s featured travel blogger is Federico Arrizabalaga of MaiTravelSite. Fede has been a world traveler since childhood and continues to explore to find places that are different and far away.

Fede, what’s your travel background?

By the age of 10 I had lived in 3 countries in two different continents and 5 cities, so I guess it was only natural that I developed a thirst to explore and learn more about our world. As a surfer I first began to explore destinations where to ride waves, and from there I moved on to explore others as well, usually as different and a far away as possible from where I was.

What’s different about your site?

I like to tell about my experiences but I also like to provide facts and information that provide value to the reader. Very soon I will be releasing a completely new version of MaiTravelSite which will be much more user friendly and provide lots of information on how to travel the world on a budget, find accommodation, choose appropriate gear, dealing with cultural differences and all aspects involved in international travel.

What’s the most unexpected thing that has ever happened to you when you traveled and how did you handle it? Read more »

It’s time for our annual roundup of the best of the blog. Before I get to the list, some interesting stats. This year blog traffic increased by over 30% over the previous year. While most of you (79%) visited from the US, we also saw lots of blog readers from Canada, the UK, India and Australia. The post that generated most traffic this year was our profile of JoAnna Haugen, part of our travel blogger interview series. And now, here are the rest of the stats.

Most Discussion

Our most discussed posts this year were a mixture of old and new. This only looks at discussion on the blog but the first post on this list also generated good discussion and sharing on Twitter, Facebook and Google+:

• Do You Speak Brit?
• Three Travel Trends That Tick Me Off
• Six Travel Bloggers You Should Follow On Twitter
• Layover In LAX – Things To Do
• Inside Chicago O’Hare (ORD) Airport
• Would You Work For Free To Save Your Company?
• Layover In JFK – Things To Do
• The Best iPhone Apps For Travelers
• Top Tools For Staying Connected
• Layover In Tampa Airport (TPA)

Made You Look – Most Viewed Posts

Again, there are perennial favorites in here as well as some new ones. In this economy, it’s no surprise that our posts on saving on travel got some attention, but people were also interested in travel trends for the year:

• International Body Language, Gestures & Manners: Don’t Be “That Guy!”
• Beat The System: Killer Priceline Tricks For Hotel Deals
• The Secret To Getting Best Travel Prices on Priceline & Hotwire: Part One
• Why Hotels Hate Priceline Guests & Other Dirty Little Secrets
• Layover In JFK – Things To Do
• Layover In LAX – Things To Do
• New Indy Park Ride & Fly Opens – Travel News
• Six Sensationally Strange Celebrations From Around the World
• The Best iPhone Apps For Travelers
• Japanese Customs, Quirks & Other Fascinating Oddities
• Luggage Trends – Interview With John Ebb Of Suitcase.com

Personal Favorites

Finally, here are a few that I enjoyed writing and you enjoyed reading too.

• Pack It Up! – Online Packing List Tools
• 20 British Expressions You Will Never Hear in the US
• Fun Facts about Valentine’s Day
• Five Fab Facebook Pages for Travelers
• The ABCs Of International Business Etiquette