Do You Want To Travel Around The World?

Are you itching to leave your day job and travel full time or have you already left, like Gary Arndt, Nomadic Matt, and many others?

Is English The Universal Language? [POLL RESULTS]

Aside from the poll, there was an excellent conversation about the question, is English the universal language? While the poll showed most of you said yes, English is universal, the comments showed the complexities of that question.

Later on today I’ll be explaining to a space alien why English is the universal language to learn for a visit to Earth and for us traveling around the world.

Is English The Universal Language?

There was an interesting back and forth Twitter discussion between Gary @EverywhereTrip and Soultravelers3 @Soultravelers3 yesterday about languages, specifically English. It began somewhere with Gary’s statement that “English has become pretty universal.”

The conversation is good and raises a good question. Follow some of the highlights from the conversation below and add your opinion in the poll below.

Language has brought up some lively conversations in the comments here too and I’d really like to hear your opinions. I’ll be posting my take on the question a week from today when I have the results from the poll and hopefully some comments from you all as well.

Which Star Trek Crew Member Do You Travel Like? [POLL RESULTS]

Leading up to the opening of the Star Trek movie last week I wanted to find out which Enterprise crew member’s travel style you think you’ve got. I thought there would be more variety, but not surprised that drinking and partying Kirk was the top answer.

I’d have to say I fall somewhere between Spock’s logic although without his planning skills. Now that you know who in the Trek  universe you travel like, find out Star Trek’s best intergalactic destinations.

What Features Do You Wish Online Travel Agents Offered?

Most travelers book their flights and make their hotel arrangements using online travel agents. They are convenient, fast, and make it easy to compare and find low prices – but there is a number of things that online travel agent services, like Kayak, SideStep, and FareCompare simply don’t (or can’t provide).

That’s probably one of the major reasons that 23% of travelers say they would use a good off-line travel agent if they could find one. Later this week, I’ll be looking at the various online options you have to finding a good off-line travel agent.

To help my upcoming post, I’d like to know what features you wish online travel agents offered?

Maybe you want to see ‘free airport wi-fi’ or ‘Starbucks’ as search options or Facebook integration. Personally I’d like integrated statistics to let me know what the chances are a connecting flight will be delayed and give alternatives (something a human travel agent could do very easily).  Or do you not care so long as the process is fast and you get a low price? Help me out in the comments by letting your ideas roll and your rants rip.

[photo by: alexanderdrachmann]

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.

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.

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[photo by: Alex'77]

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 poll will be open until 10:00pm EST and the winner will be announced tomorrow.

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[photo by: oobrien]

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 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.

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3 Travel Related Things About You

I’ve been working on sharing more of myself and posted 15 travel related things about me a few days ago, and hopefully you’ve gotten to know me a little better. I promised that you all weren’t off the hook and would like to learn more about you.

I encourage you to share 3 travel related things about you in the comments so that we can all get to know a little more about each other.

I look forward to hearing from you about your travel quirks, habits, and opinions.

[photo by: MargauxV]

The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2009: Sweet 16 17

Time to enter your votes in the Sweet 17 round of the Best City to Visit Travel Tournament 2009. It’s 17 instead of 16 since I didn’t want to go through a complicated process to eliminate one team for an even 16. So, the most crowded region in northern Europe will have 3 cities competing against each other to advance to the next round.

Vote below for your favorite cities in each individual poll through Friday.

The winners will advance to the next round of 8 for a chance at winning $50…and bragging rights for their city. Voting for the Elite 8 will start up next Monday, March 9th.

[photo by: joshbousel]

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