Nov 29th, 2010 at 1:00PM: Today is Cyber Monday. It's the internet version of Black Friday. What does all this retail marketing speak mean? Well, it's officially the holiday shopping season (with a special emphasis on the shopping). By now, your Thanksgiving leftovers have begun to spoil and your mind has replaced thoughts of turkey with lists of gifts for family, friends and coworkers. With so much emphasis on shopping, ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
books posts
SkyMall Monday: It's my first Christmas tree, Charlie Brown
Nov 29th, 2010 at 1:00PM: Today is Cyber Monday. It's the internet version of Black Friday. What does all this retail marketing speak mean? Well, it's officially the holiday shopping season (with a special emphasis on the shopping). By now, your Thanksgiving leftovers have begun to spoil and your mind has replaced thoughts of turkey with lists of gifts for family, friends and coworkers. With so much emphasis on shopping, ...Favorite hiking spots near Madrid
Oct 29th, 2010 at 11:30AM: While most people come Madrid to sample the cuisine and see the art museums, Spain has much more to offer. Just an hour from the capital Madrid is the Sierra de Guadarrama, a chain of rough mountains wreathed in pine forest. While the strange rock formations of La Pedriza are perhaps more impressive, the Sierra de Guadarrama is the favorite getaway spot for madrileños because it's so easy ...Visiting the Brontë sisters in Yorkshire
Oct 7th, 2010 at 9:30AM: People say literary genius is a rare thing, something seen only once in a thousand or a million people. Maybe so, but the Brontës had three (and maybe five) literary geniuses in the same family.
From their father's parsonage in Haworth, Yorkshire, in northern England, the three Brontë sisters Charlotte, Emily, and Anne produced some of the most popular books in the English language. ...Cambridge named UK's most boring place to shop
Sep 15th, 2010 at 4:00PM: Cambridge is high on many visitors' lists of places to go in England. The historic colleges of Cambridge University are almost as impressive as those of Oxford, and punting on the River Cam rivals a boat journey on the River Isis.
Oxford and Cambridge have always been rivals, but now Oxonians can sit back, smug in the knowledge that the "other" university is in a town deemed the blandest place ...Swap shelves in airport bookstores - Airplane tip
Aug 9th, 2010 at 10:16AM: I've been noticing swap shelves in airport bookstores lately. Store owners are starting to encourage frequent fliers to leave a book and take a book. This helps you get fresh reading material for free (or cheap) and lightens your load of a book you're done with.
A few airports, like Portland International, have used bookstores where someone has undoubtedly just sold back that bestseller you ...Galley Gossip: Funny flight attendant book - Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase!
Aug 9th, 2010 at 9:30AM: Ever since reading the book Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase: Hilarious Stories of Air Travel by the World's Favorite Flight Attendant, written by Betty N. Thesky with Janet Spencer, I've been tempted to do a spin in the middle of the aisle as soon as I've finished serving my three rows to alert the flight attendant working on the other side of the cart that I'm ready to move. Normally we'll ...More Egyptian pyramids to open to the public
Jul 16th, 2010 at 3:00PM:
Visitors to Egypt have always flocked to the pyramids of Giza and Saqqara. Many people don't realize, however, that these are only the most famous of more than a hundred pyramids in the country. In fact, there's a whole "pyramid field" to the west of Cairo that includes Giza, Saqqara, and numerous other groupings across a long swath of desert. Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities is now ...GadlingTV's Travel Talk 015: World drinking laws & Portland's hippest destinations!
Jun 2nd, 2010 at 9:00AM:
GadlingTV's Travel Talk, episode 15 – Click above to watch video after the jump
In our continuation from last week, we continue to dissect drinking laws around the world - tune in to find out who is the most liberal (no regulation at all) and where in the world you won't find a single bar.
We wrap up our Portland tour with a showcase of some of the hippest spots that the ...Madrid book fair opens today
May 28th, 2010 at 1:00PM: Madrid is one of the art capitals of the world, with amazing museums like the Reina Sofia and El Prado. What many visitors don't realize, however, is that it's a major hub for publishing too. Many of Spain's large and small presses are based here, and the countless bookshops are a bibliophile's delight.
Now book lovers are getting an extra treat, because today is the opening of the 69th annual ...Create a photo book when you get home - Road trip tip
May 9th, 2010 at 10:37AM: Use the digital photos from your road trip to make a one-of-a-kind keepsake.
A photo book is a great way to share your adventures with friends and family, and it would also make a perfect gift for your traveling companions. Services like Shutterfly or Snapfish make it easy to turn your favorite photos into books. If you'd like to include journal entries or blog posts that you wrote along the ...Roadside geology books - Road trip tip
May 5th, 2010 at 10:37AM: Ever ponder the origins of that distant mesa? Curious about those snowy mountains, those flinty hills, the flatness of Central Indiana? Perhaps you're bored to death by the lack of scenery?
Consider taking a roadside geology book on your next trip. These books contain an array of maps, easy to follow mileage logs, basic geologic primers, and photographs that can bring a landscape -- even a ...Medieval monasteries on Lake Tana, Ethiopia
Mar 28th, 2010 at 9:00AM: The Christian communities of Ethiopia have an eye for dramatic settings. From the sweeping views of Debre Libanos to the many monasteries perched atop sheer cliffs, the surroundings of a holy place are often as beautiful as the place itself.
It makes sense from a religious point of view. If you're going to spend your life celebrating Creation, where better to do it than a place where Creation ...Hit the bookstore, buy a local author - Souvenir tip
Feb 15th, 2010 at 1:09PM: Hit up a local bookstore for a good, unique souvenir.
Many self-published authors sell their books through the local storefront and many of those books are based in the area in which they live. The souvenir is not only unique, but it's entertaining and lacks the gaudiness that many souvenirs display.
Plus, you may get smarter about your destination, which makes any trip more satisfying. ...Befriend the book swap - International travel tip
Feb 15th, 2010 at 9:07AM: Instead of carrying enough books to last the length of your trip, seek out a hostel, bed-and-breakfast, or local cafe's book swap. Sometimes they're listed among a facility's amenities in guidebooks. Other times, only asking -- or (better yet) exploring -- finds one!
Using book swaps keeps your luggage light, an imperative with new airline luggage weight restrictions. Also, perhaps, you'll get ...Travel Read: Culture Smart! Ethiopia
Jan 31st, 2010 at 1:00PM: I'm headed to Ethiopia soon and I'm busy reading everything I can get my hands on about the country. Thus I eagerly picked up a copy of Culture Smart! Ethiopia. The Culture Smart! series offers insights into the customs and cultures of dozens of different countries. As a first-timer to sub-Saharan Africa I hoped to get lots of insight into a very different world.
Sadly, I didn't.
The book's ...Lon-done? Try Canterbury
Jan 21st, 2010 at 10:30AM: If you're looking for a day trip away from the noise and pollution of London, head out to Canterbury just a 90 minute train ride to the southeast.
We've all heard of the Canterbury Tales, a series of stories by Geoffrey Chaucer told by pilgrims on their way to Canterbury Cathedral. It's a cornerstone of English literature and well worth reading. Even if you weren't assigned to read it in ...Gadlinks for Thursday, 1.14.2010
Jan 14th, 2010 at 5:30PM:
It's almost Friday! Here's a few more travel tidbits from around the net to help you soldier on until the weekend.
Sometimes a country's "second cities" are even better than the more popular ones. AirTreks lists tens common stops on a round-the-world trip, and where you should go instead. [via AirTreks]
Matador has launched a campaign to round up relief workers to go to Haiti, ...Where the Hell is Matt---the book version, a perfect read for 2010
Dec 29th, 2009 at 1:30PM: This time last year, Matt Harding was named traveler of the year by World Hum. His video, "Where the Hell is Matt?," the one funded by Stride gum had gone viral earlier that year. No wonder. If there's a secret to world peace, Harding had found it.
Start dancing a silly, but engaging dance and people will dance with you-most people. The guard at the DMZ in North Korea won't dance.
In his book ...Preserving the literary treasures of Timbuktu
Dec 1st, 2009 at 2:30PM: Mali has been getting a bad rap lately with the kidnapping of a French aid worker and travel warnings about the dangers of terrorism, all thanks to Al-Qaeda's local band of nutcases. But like everywhere else there are more good people than bad in Mali and they've been working hard to preserve a unique literary heritage in the famous city of Timbuktu. Timbuktu is often thought of as a remote place, ...Oprah's 10 terrific reads for 2009 showcase diversity and travel
Nov 29th, 2009 at 11:30AM: Regardless of what one thinks of Oprah, it's hard to argue that the woman doesn't have her thumbprint on some mighty great stuff. Her "10 Terrific Reads for 2009," for example, is filled with suggestions that capture the flavor of travel, adventure and diversity. Many of them are about people from one country who have been brought to another by life's circumstances or their drive to explore.
If ...
