Taking off Travel blog

Did you ever wish you could find out more about the people behind your favorite blogs, Twitter accounts and Facebook pages? As an incurable knowledge collector, I do too. And since the only way to find out is to ask, I asked a few of the travel bloggers I connect with for a brief interview so we could all get to know them better. The first few interviewees are already lined up (in no particular order):

• Annabel Candy of Get in the Hot Spot
• Marina Villatoro of Travel Experta
• Barbara Weibel of Hole in the Donut
• Andy Hayes of Sharing Travel Experiences
• Lea Woodward of Location Independent
• Loredana Pascal of Travel – Moments in Time

I’m planning to run the interviews on Tuesdays, with the first one starting on September 6.

I’m happy that these bloggers have already agreed to be part of the series, but I don’t want to stop there.  If you have a travel blog that’s been running at least six months, with a clear purpose and identity, I’d love to talk to you. I’d also like to meet and feature some of the travel bloggers who comment on this blog so I’ll be approaching people over the next couple of weeks. If you want to be featured (or want to suggest someone whom you’d like me to interview), then take a shortcut by leaving a comment here so I can check your blog out and email you the questions.

OK,it’s not Friday, my usual time for highlighting great posts on other blogs, but here are some interesting travel posts I’ve bookmarked and shared recently.

Why Every Location Independent Entrepreneur Should Read More - WomanSeeksWorld

This is a great post on getting out of the cubicle and living the dream, using reading as motivation. Here’s an excerpt:

I had no savings, no motivation and no real plan for the rest of my life – I felt like my destiny was sitting in an office cubicle for 8 hours a day and that scared the hell out of me. I knew I wanted more, I just couldn’t put my finger on it, so I started reading.

Reverse Culture Shock – USA Over Consumerism - SoullTravelers3

What happens when you return home after a break? Jeanne Dee discusses reverse culture shock (which I’ve experienced myself). Here’s an excerpt:

Just hearing everyone speak English everywhere is a big cultural shock as we often go years without hearing hardly any English except among ourselves. The bigness of everything..from the gigantic washer and dryer in our Santa Cruz beach rental to the several gallons huge Cosco mayonaise jar in my 83 year old mother’s refrigerator …shakes up our consciousness.

25 Fun Things to Do in England - Europe a la Carte

There’s much more to do in England than visit London. Karen Bryan highlights a wealth of English attractions that will give every visitor something interesting to experience. Here’s an excerpt:

[Windsor Castle is] the largest inhabited castle in the world, and it’s quite impressive that visitors are allowed to see so much. It also struck me that it’s located so close to other buildings in the town – not far away on a distant hill (as castles in my imagination tend to be!).

How to Fly First Class Without Paying For It - Lifehacker

Lifehacker’s always good for advice on just about anything and these travel tips are no exception. This article gives 8 great ideas for upgrading your travel experience for free, including this simple one:

One of my favorite mottos when it comes to miles and points is, “it never hurts to ask.” You’d be surprised at how empowered check-in agents and gate agents are when it comes to re-assigning passengers. I recommend being extremely friendly and appreciative.

Behold the anti-social social media strategy in travel - Tnooz

Finally, this was an interesting story about places that are making a virtue of their remoteness and using social media to do it. Writer Troy Thompson says:

I love the thought of creating empty social profiles to drive home the point that your lodge is an escape from daily life.

Me too!

It’s summer vacation time for millions of people – and one of those people is me!  I’ll soon be on my travels. Now, I wouldn’t want you to have to do without your daily fix of PRF goodness, so I’ve lined up some great guest posts for the time that I’m away.  Here are just a few of the awesome posts that are coming your way:

• Improving the Ergonomics of Your Seat
• Best Cars for Road Trips
• Unmissable Historical Sites
• A polemic on travel insurance (more interesting than it sounds)
• and much more.

I’ll be checking in from time to time to see what’s happening here and on Twitter and Facebook, of course, and I’ll be back with you full time in early August, when you can look forward to updates on the places I’ve visited. I’m going to be checking out some new Florida attractions and seeing a few sights in New York and New Jersey.  See you soon!

Remember I mentioned that we were encouraging other travel bloggers to post on the Taking Off Travel Blog? Well, I’ve also been spreading my wings and posting posts and articles on other sites. Here are a few of our most recent articles:

• How To Plan A Green Vacation – tips on a more eco-friendly vacation
• An Introduction to Frequent Flyer Programs – exactly what it says on the tin
• How to Travel Cheaper This Summer – money saving travel tips
• Barbados: Behind the Scenes – the best Barbados attractions
• 5 Things To Do If Your Flight Is Delayed At LAX – Los Angeles attractions
• 5 Things To Do When You Visit The Big Apple – New York attractions
• 8 Online Lists to Help You Get Packing Under Control – taming that pesky packing
• How To Move Abroad – if you’re moving to a new country, what should you do to get organized?

Want me to post on your blog? I can’t promise to accept every request, but let me know and I’ll try to come up with some good post ideas that suit your audience.

You’ve probably noticed that we’ve been accepting more guest posts recently. In fact, as part of our blogger outreach, we have a regular weekly guest posting slot. A lot of people have been asking how they can contribute to the site, so I thought it was time to update the guidelines I provided last year.

What kind of guest posts are you looking for?

I am looking for well written, high quality travel guest posts of 500-600 words. Park Ride Fly USA provides off airport parking  mainly for the US business travel market, so I am looking for posts that are relevant to this audience. Posts that offer something different or a unique twist on an old topic will be given priority, as will posts from real travel bloggers (as opposed to reps from SEO firms). I generally publish 1 guest post a week, though I may occasionally publish more.

I have an idea; what should I do?

Here are some general guidelines:

1. Search the blog to make sure the topic has not been covered before (or at least not in the same way.)

2. Contact me with your post idea (sharon at parkrideflyusa dot com). We welcome posts from both new and experienced travel bloggers. You don’t need a resume or a long list of previous blogging credits to be considered.

3. If I like your idea, write it up and get it back to me ASAP, and I’ll see if I want to publish it. Please make sure it is error-free before you send it. If I don’t acknowledge it within a couple of days, send me a tweet (@parkrideflyusa) to check that I’ve received it.

4. Include a link to a suitable image to accompany the piece (Creative Commons or public domain, preferably).

5. Provide a two sentence bio with one link to your travel blog.

6. If your post is accepted and published, please reply to any comments on the post and feel free to promote it via social media (I will too).

7. I have final editorial control and may make small edits if I think they are needed. If I need to change anything major, I’ll discuss it with you first.