Sydney Edges Negril To Win Best City Final
Votes were being cast right up until closing time last night. Cuckoo’s nominated Sydney, Australia won by a single vote at the last minute. It was a great ending to the contest, which went into overtime with Negril, Jamaica due to a tie last week. Cuckoo has won $50 for winning the contest, which has been great fun over the last month.
You can see the final brackets and poll below.
The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2009 - Final: Negril vs. Sydney
- Sydney, Australia (Cuckoo) (50%, 57 Votes)
- Negril, Jamaica (daryl) (50%, 56 Votes)
Total Voters: 113
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Daryl who nominated Negril really made the brackets exciting as did all of you who submitted a city. I appreciate it and hope you’ll look forward to the next contest in May. The best way to keep up on upcoming contests is to sign up to my RSS feed or subscribe to email updates below.
[photo by: Alex'77]
The Best Comments Of The Month: March 2009
Every insightful comment you leave on a post enhances foXnoMad more than I could with even the best travel article. I appreciate every comment, hope you’ll leave more, and encourage you to do so if you never have.
In case you don’t get a chance to follow the latest comments in the sidebar, or read through a viewer, here are some of the best comments of the month.
- Byteful Traveller leaves some great advice on the progression of a successful travel blog which begins with loving something enough to make it a skill.
- I made many of you, and Gillian in particular, happy by getting rid of the InfoLinks in my latest site redesign.
- Cuckoo hasn’t had the most wonderful travel experience of not showering for 22 days.
- Ask someone nearby to email you the picture you might otherwise miss due to a dead camera battery. I was too shy to add this in my post, but glad Final_Transit and Mark did!
- Veronica Foster leaves a load of creative tips for any first time flight with an infant.
Thanks for all of your comments!
[photo by: sea turtle]
Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2009 Final – Overtime
I was about to chalk up the winner for the Best City to Travel Tournament 2009 last Friday when Negril (Jamaica) stormed from behind to tie with Sydney (Australia) at the last moment.
To determine the winner once and for all, I’m going to open up the polls for today only. It’s the same poll so you won’t be able to vote if you already have – it’s up to all of you who’ve been watching to break the tie.
The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2009 - Final: Negril vs. Sydney
- Sydney, Australia (Cuckoo) (50%, 57 Votes)
- Negril, Jamaica (daryl) (50%, 56 Votes)
Total Voters: 113
Loading ...The poll will be open until 10:00pm EST and the winner will be announced tomorrow.
[photo by: oobrien]
NYC Bus Charters Theme Park Routes
March 30, 2009 by Anil P.
Filed under Sponsored Reviews
The tour service New York Bus Charters has slowly expanded their offerings since I wrote about them last October. New York Bus Charter is now offering routes to popular amusement parks on the US east coast, including Six Flags and Dorney Park.
Posts Resume Monday: [3/30/2009]
I’ve gotten behind on my writing this week due to an unexpectedly hectic schedule and have decided to take my own advice, and take a break, rather than publish posts I feel would be sub par. Breaks are important from time to time in order to keep your travel blogging passion alive.
Here is some other advice if you’re new to travel blogging or are in a rut that can happen after writing for a while.
- How To Build A Successful Travel Blog
- Keep Your Travel Blog Going With A Weekly Posting Goal
- Quick Things To Post On Your Travel Blog When You’re Traveling Too Much To Write
I’m sorry for the unexpected disruption in the normal schedule. My next post on Monday will announce the results of the Best City to Visit Travel Tournament final (Negril, Jamaica vs. Sydney, Australia). The poll closes at the end of tomorrow so don’t forget to cast your vote!
How Your Memory Fuels Your Fear of Flying
There are a number of you, including myself, that don’t necessarily trust airplanes even though we fly many times throughout the year. Much of our anxieties are fueled by the availability heuristic, basically how easily it is to recall past incidents, in this case, plane crashes.
Psychology Today has an intriguing article that might help to ease, or at least explain, your airplane crash worries – despite the underwhelming odds against them.
What is the probability that the next plane you fly on will crash? The true probability of any particular plane crashing depends on a huge number of factors, most of which you’re not aware of and/or don’t have reliable data on. What type of plane is it? What time of day is the flight? What is the weather like? You get the idea.
Indeed, you probably have little or no data from which to base your estimate. Well, that’s not exactly true. In fact, there is one piece that evidence that you always have access to: your memory. The easier time we have recalling prior incidents, the greater probability the event has of occurring — at least as far as our minds are concerned. In a nutshell, this is the availability heuristic.
An example of an unexpected outcome due to our generally poor ability to gauge risks became evident after September 11, 2001.
Two Cheap and Easy Ways To Get Passport Photos
March 24, 2009 by Anil P.
Filed under Pictures and Video
In the United States, England, and across western Europe, getting a passport photo taken and printed will run you around $10 (7.4 euros) for basically a low quality head shot with a white background. There are two simple ways to get passports at a fraction of the cost and at home.
Do It Yourself
A passport photo (in the US) needs to be 2 inches by 2 inches on a white background, with your head taking about 1 inch from the chin to top of the hair. Any camera over 1 megapixel (essentially all of them now) will meet the US and most European requirements.
For the white background all you need is a white wall or clean sheet (showing no shadows) and your picture will be accepted. So many people worry about their passport photos being rejected and pay a ridiculous markup for poor quality wallet sized pictures just because they are called ‘passport photos’.
- It’s important to know the requirements for your country (here are some for the United States, Brazil, and Germany for example). The ePassport Photo Blog has a full list (on the right column under ‘Tags’).
Print the pictures on your photo printer or take them to a photo shop with a laser printer. I’d hesitate printing the pictures on an ink jet however. If you don’t have access to a color laser printer, head by the photo store, just don’t mention you’re printing “passport” photos since they may charge you extra, as James warns.
The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2009 Final: Negril vs. Sydney
Chicago and Negril (Jamaica) were neck and neck all last week in the final four exchanging the lead until the very end. The resort town Negril got to the final by 2 votes and Sydney (Australia) flew by the Dutch surprise city of Utrecht. From now through Friday, March 27th, vote to decide the winner of the Best City to Visit Travel Tournament 2009.
The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2009 - Final: Negril vs. Sydney
- Sydney, Australia (Cuckoo) (50%, 57 Votes)
- Negril, Jamaica (daryl) (50%, 56 Votes)
Total Voters: 113
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The winner will receive $50 via Paypal and the distinction of nominating the best city to visit for the tournament this year.
Missed this contest? I run a number of large and small contests throughout the year. Take a look at some previous competitions and prizes and stay tuned for the next one by signing up to my RSS feed or email newsletter below.
Post Highlights: [3/21/2009]
Post Highlights are a selection of the best and most popular posts from the past two weeks updated every other Saturday. Another great way to get the best of foXnoMad is to subscribe to my RSS feed (what is RSS?).
How to Fight the Airlines Effectively
As savvy travelers you can fight the airlines and get compensation when you deserve it by being an effective complainer.
Smart Bargaining When You Don’t Know the Local Language
Much of bargaining is based on subtle physical mannerisms and a proper focus, both of which don’t require you to know more than a few words in any language.
Dealing With A Dead Camera Battery on the Road
Unfortunately there aren’t many options to getting a charge if you don’t have a charger or aren’t near a plug, but you can deal with a dead camera battery by not making the situation worse.
Dealing With A Dead Camera Battery On The Road
March 19, 2009 by Anil P.
Filed under New Blog Location, Pictures and Video
In the middle of a long road trip, you drive up on a breathtaking natural wonder that instantly makes you reach for your camera. Everything is going as planned, except when you hit the ‘power’ button on your camera nothing happens. This was the case for me the other day while traveling through Kansas, and it got me thinking about what you can do to handle such a situation.
Unfortunately there aren’t many options to getting a charge if you don’t have a charger or aren’t near a plug, but you can deal with a dead camera battery by not making the situation worse.
- Get Over It - After confirming that you don’t have a spare battery and that there is no outlet in the middle of the desert don’t spend anytime being frustrated. Not having a working camera only prevents you from taking pictures and don’t let that stop you from keeping the trip going.
- Buy A Disposable - This obviously won’t work everywhere and will have you backtracking a bit, but if you’re relatively near civilization and simply must have that shot a disposable camera will do the trick. (I don’t recommend keeping one on hand at all times though, since high temperatures can warp film and won’t hold up over a few weeks in a backpack.)
- Set Up For A Desperation Shot - Heat dissipates the charge of most batteries fairly quickly and you can try removing the battery and cooling it off on hot days for the chance at one last shot. Most camera batteries sputter a few times before completely dying, so don’t waste what’s left by turning the thing on and off. Set up and get a good angle on the shot you want and fire the trigger as soon (if at all) the camera turns on.
- Don’t Neglect Other Cameras - Your laptop or cell phone is probably equipped with a built in camera (or you might have a USB web cam). It can’t hurt to take a shot with these devices if you remember that you have them on you. (As I write this I’m just remembering that I should have done this, but forgot about the web cam I always have in my backpack.)
- Sketch It In Your Journal - Pen and paper are small travel essentials that don’t get much love in the digital age. Ever since my sister bought me a journal a few years ago for my birthday, I write a little here and there when I’m traveling. Jotting down a basic image of that scene you couldn’t capture with your camera will bring back the memories years later.
My name is Anil, a traveler and travel enthusiast. I created foXnoMad to connect with other travelers, discover their world, and share what I’ve learned about mine.
