The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2010: Elite 8

After a very strong showing last week in the Best City To Visit Travel Tournament Sweet 16, the remaining Elite 8 are all European cities. (Istanbul is technically in Europe and Asia, but close enough.) New York put up a good fight against London and Paris continues to dominate but this week things get interesting. Vote for your favorite cities – Istanbul vs. Barcelona, Amsterdam vs. Venice, and two other match ups that will be decided this week. Voting ends this Friday March 19th at 12 noon US EST.

• Those of you reading through RSS or my daily email will need to click through to the site to vote.

You can take a look at the entire bracket so far below (or see the larger version).

The winner will be determined on Friday, April 2nd 2010. 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 find out about my next contest first by signing up to my bi-monthly newsletter.

Receive email updates:

[photo by: Kyle Slattery (top picture)]

The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2010: Sweet 16

There were several close contests and an upset in the Best City To Visit Travel Tournament Round of 32. Stockholm was back and forth with Washington DC all week before coming out on top the final day of voting, while David may have riled up the Zermatt fans to victory. Ho Chi Minh City also got past Berlin with a single vote to make it to the Sweet 16 round. Now it’s time to vote for your favorites – London vs. New York City, Istanbul vs. Sydney, Amsterdam vs. Rome – select which cities will make it to next week. Voting ends this Friday March 12th, 12pm US EST.

• Those of you reading through RSS or my daily email will need to click through to the site to vote.

You can take a look at the entire bracket so far below (or see the larger version).

The winner will be determined on Friday, April 2nd 2010. 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 find out about my next contest first by signing up to my bi-monthly newsletter.

Receive email updates:

[photo by: Eva The Weaver (top picture)]

The Best Comments Of The Month: February 2010

Every month it gets harder and harder to pick out even just some of the best comments of the month. As always, these are just a select few and you can find many wonderful comments in a variety of posts from the past month.

• Ayngelina recommends Thailand or New Zealand (for the more timid) as great places to begin your backpacking adventures.

• It’s amazing what resolution you can get with a point-and-shoot digital camera these days. Kim Kinrade was able to spot several “Dublin clues” in my picture of D’olier Chambers.

• Gemma Ray shares 5 good backpacking tips.

• In case you’re planning a stopover in Iceland, Nomadic Chick has some local music to put you in the mood.

• Earl agrees, while it’s OK to hate some places, it’s hard to hold a grudge for long.

• I thought Amsterdam had a high bike-to-person ratio but according to Birgul, Ula, Turkey beats it out hands down.

• Dublin has endeared itself to more than a few of us giving Susan and others a home-away-from-home homesick feeling.

I really do mean it when I say I appreciate each of you taking the time to leave a comment. You have my many thanks and I hope you will all keep leaving your thoughts and comments from time to time.

-Anil

[photo by: riNux]

The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2010: Round Of 32

Starting off with 56 cities from around the world, last week you voted for the top 32 leaving 24 cities behind. While some places like Prague, Vienna, and Los Angeles barely missed out it’s now time to vote for your favorites in 16 city vs. city match ups. The cities were roughly seeded based on the number of votes and there are some interesting contests between Washington DC vs. Stockholm, London vs. Chicago, and Dublin vs. Barcelona. Vote for your favorites between now and this Friday, March 5th 12pm US EST.

• Those of you reading through RSS or my daily email will need to click through to the site to vote.

You can take a look at the entire bracket so far below (or see the larger version).

The winner will be determined on Friday, April 2nd 2010. 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 find out about my next contest first by signing up to my bi-monthly newsletter.

Receive email updates:

[top photo by: urlba]

The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2010: Preliminary Round

Every Monday beginning today and throughout the month of March you’ll help take this group of 56 cities and narrow it down to the single best city to visit. The winner of the winning city will win $50 (or $100 if they’ve signed up to my RSS feed or email updates). Today we’re starting with the preliminary round, so choose your favorite 5 cities. The 32 cities with the most votes by noon US EST this Friday February 26, 2010 will advance to the round robin stage. (Seeded based on the number of votes as well.)

• Those of you reading through RSS or my daily email will need to click through to the site to vote.

The winner will be determined on Friday, April 2nd 2010. 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 find out about my next contest first by signing up to my bi-monthly newsletter.

[photo by: urlba]

Enter The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2010

Choose your favorite city in the world to visit and win $50 in the Best City To Visit Travel Tournament. Entering is simple, all you have to do is leave your city in the comments below. Only one city per person (more precisely per email address) and your choice of cities is first come first serve. The deadline to enter a city is midnight US EST this Friday February 19th and all I need is a comment below with any city that’s not already taken.

On top of that, if you sign up now for my RSS feed or daily email updates during the entire tournament month of March and win the contest, I’ll double the prize to $100 for you.

Voting for the preliminary round will begin next Monday, February 22nd. Each Monday during the month of March readers will vote in a tournament-style bracket as each city is paired against another. The person who selects the city to win the tournament gets the cash (via Paypal).

Cities That Are Already Taken

Since I let my newsletter subscribers know ahead of time about the contest, the following cities have already been taken:

• Boston – (Susan)
• Barcelona – (Stephane)
• Kyoto – (Guner)
• Paris – (Rod)
• New York City – (Michaela)
• Istanbul – (Deniz)

Contest Details

• One city per email address.
• Leave your city in the comments below and look to make sure you’re not nominating a city someone has already added to the comments.
• Once you pick a city it’s yours, no changing your mind later and your first name will be posted along with your entry.
• Voting takes place for each round beginning on Feb. 22 and ending on April 2nd (prizes sent out before April 30). The winner will receive $50 and if you’ve subscribed to my RSS feed or email updates throughout the month of March your prize is $100.

I’ll take up to 64 cities so don’t be shy and add a city. It’s an easy contest to enter and you can check out last year’s tournament to follow the path Sydney, Australia took to winning the title of best city to visit.

[photo by: bjorn1101]

How Many Posts A Week Would You Prefer? [POLL]

Over the last few months I’ve been contemplating reducing the number of posts I write per week from the normal 5 per weekday to something like 3 (not including picture posts), and I’d like you get your opinion on it. It’s not that I don’t have something to say, or ever post for the sake of posting, but think it may be easier for subscribers to consume. So, what do you think?

I already write for Tech Guide For Travel, How To Travel With Pets, and Travel Blog Advice so there are always new posts on my other sites (at least 5 a week total). I’ll also be adding more videos to the site as well as getting more of my pictures up to my gallery. There are other changes coming to foXnoMad and will start rolling them out over the next few weeks.

Tweetup In Amsterdam

• I’m still planning the details but will be in Amsterdam on Monday night for a tweetup. I’m hoping to meet Keith from Velvet Escape in the Leidseplein area and if you’re free around 7pm would love to meet you. Feel free to send me an email if you’re up for it.

Thanks for sharing your opinions and helping me improve the site!

-Anil

The Best Comments Of The Month: January 2010

I’d like to thank all of you for commenting and bringing each of my posts to life. These are just some of the best comments of the past month.

• Although I was able to convince Monica to freeze her ass off, I don’t think Heather quite believes The Blue Lagoon is as warm as I say it is.

• Greg Stock recommends Cambodia and the temples around Siem Reap as places to visit on a weak dollar and David reminds us to be flexible.

• Barbara left a ton of useful information about planning an RTW that you should read if you are going to travel around the world.

• I really liked Shannon’s vision board concept on setting travel resolutions.

• You can start to learn how to take a motorcycle trip around the world and connect with like minds by reading Johnny Vagabond’s recommendations.

• Although I personally loved it, I agree with Akila and can see how the Guinness Storehouse wouldn’t make this list.

• Luke says you’ll fill up your backpack no matter what size it is.

• Go for the smaller hostels says Mark H.

I appreciate your comments, thoughts, and insights on each post, thank you!

[photos by: Roberto Berlim]

Part 2 Of My Interview With Roger Middleton About RoomAtlas

On Monday I posted the first part of my interview with Roger Middleton who helped create the very useful Google Maps mashup RoomAtlas. I was lucky enough to get geeky with Roger about RoomAtlas over on the Tech Guide Of Travel (one of my other travel blogs) which is reserved for those type of things. It’s a slightly technical discussion but if you’re wondering how some of these nifty travel tech tools work, or are considering developing your own, you’ll find it a fun read.

Some Other Tech Guide For Travel Posts You May Find Interesting

• Comparing The Traveling eBook Readers: Amazon’s Kindle vs. Barnes & Noble’s Nook
• Luggage Limits Lets You Find Out Just That For Over 55 Airlines
• A Traveler’s Guide To Hacking Wireless Networks [Part 1 of 2]

I’ve written quite a few tech posts and interviews here on foXnoMad as well, including with Ben Kazez about the free iPhone app HotelPal and with Ray Carcoana about TravelHolic Confessions.

[photo by: visual.dichotomy]

foXnoMad’s Most Popular Posts From 2009

These are some of my most popular posts in terms of page views and comments from the past year. I’ve also included some of my favorites that might not have been as popular but that I think are worth highlighting once more.

Most Read Posts

• Use Sun Tzu’s The Art Of War To Win Battles At The Ticket Counter
• Essential Software Tools For Digital Nomads
• Overcoming 7 Major Obstacles To Traveling The World – #2: You Think It’s Too Expensive

Most Commented

• 4 Word Combinations You Shouldn’t Neglect To Translate Before Your Next Trip (47)
• Overcoming The 7 Major Obstacles To Traveling The World eBook (39)
• Can You Stop Aging Out Of Travel? (39)

On a side note, I’d like to thank all of you for reading and continuing to support foXnoMad and my other travel websites. It’s been a wonderful year and this site has grown beyond all of my initial goals and expectations – none of which could be possible without you. All the best and wishing you a very happy new year!

[photo by: hapticflapjack]

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