Win an Intrepid trip to Egypt with the Nomading Film Festival

If you’ve ever dreamed of traveling by camel, visiting the iconic Pyramids, dining with Nubian locals in a traditional village, cruising along the Nile on a felucca, or bargain hunting in Cairo’s souqs; it’s time to pick up your camera and start shooting.

The adventure experts at Intrepid Travel have teamed up with Brooklyn’s Nomading Film Festival to offer an extensive 8-day Egyptian tour to NoFF’s winning submission. Don’t have any video experience? Not to worry – NoFF still wants to see your stories! The festival encourages people of all levels of filmmaking to submit so long as it’s under 15 minutes, non-fiction, and uploaded before April 30th (upload here).

Audiences will vote in five categories: 1) The trip I wish I was on, 2) The trip I’m glad I wasn’t on, 3) The nomad(s) I want to travel with, 4) The most enlightening trip, and 5) Simply put, that trip makes me want to travel, now!

So pack your camera, get out on the road, and find a great story that needs to be shared and you could be on your way to the Land of the Pharaohs.

[Photo by scribs]

Tripatini launches new “Ask a Travel Expert” features, contest

Gadling first reported on Tripatini, a new social networking website for travelers back in January. The site has earned a devoted following thanks to its large and growing community of passionate travelers, journalists and industry professionals. Recently Tripatini unveiled a new feature to tap into the collective experience and expertise of its members called “Ask a Travel Expert.”

For all the information that’s floating on the Internet, one of the most frustrating aspects of travel is finding reliable, up-to-date information. Tripatini’s Ask a Travel Expert fills that gap, creating a dedicated Q&A forum where information seekers can ask the site’s savvy travelers and travel experts specific questions about their trips. Right now there’s ongoing discussions about New York food trucks, shark cage diving in South Africa and tips for the Hawaiian isle of Kauai. Tripatini has also built their Ask a Travel Expert function around an embeddable widget which can be added to websites anywhere on the web.

Best of all, to help promote their new Ask a Travel Expert feature, Tripatini is giving away a trip for two to London now through June 30th. All you have to do to participate is simply ask or answer a question during the contest period and you’re entered for a chance to win. A forum to get answers to your most pressing travel questions and a chance to win a free trip? Sounds like good deal to me. Head on over to Tripatini’s Ask a Travel Expert page and complete the easy sign up for an account if you’d like to give it a try.

Name Lufthansa’s plane, win first class tickets around the globe


Lufthansa is offering one million miles — enough for two first class trips around the globe — for a clever name for their new LH A380. With the 1960s “Jumbo Jet” nickname for the Boeing 747 in mind, they’re looking for something iconic and catchy. This is an opportunity to make history.

The LH A380, Lufthansa boasts, is “the world’s biggest and most modern passenger jet.” Hmm, big, modern … The Mod Mammoth? (Thanks, thesaurus.)

Only kidding of course; like I’m going to tell you my ideas.

You can get a virtual tour of the LH A380 here to help you get started. Current favorites at the top of Lufthansa’s list include The Rheino, Starflipper and Shadow of the Crane. I know you can do better than that. Get to it.

Tell your travel disaster story and win a $10,000 trip

Does misfortune seem to follow you when you travel? Ever been delayed on the tarmac for 10 hours, arrived to find your luggage was lost, your hotel had burned down, and you’d misplaced your passport? If you’ve got the mother of all travel disaster stories, Travel Guard insurance wants to hear from you.

On December 1st, they’re launching a contest to find the worst travel tale of woe, and the person deemed to be the “World’s Unluckiest Traveler” will be awarded a $10,000 dream vacation.

Every month, one winner will be chosen (by votes) to receive a Flip MinoHDTM camcorder. Another winner will be chosen at random from among the people for voted for that story as the worst. Each month’s “worst” winner will then be entered to win the fabulous grand prize, a (hopefully disaster-free) trip worth $10,000.

So if your travels have left you broke or beaten down, get your story ready and turn your travel disaster into something positive.

Enter STA Travel contest to win trip for two

Would you turn down a trip that would take you and a friend anywhere in the world?

That’s what STA Travel is offering up, in a sweepstakes with Pier 1 Imports.

The grand prize winner gets the trip, plus two $1000 gift cards from Pier 1. Three runners-up get a $500 Pier 1 gift card and a $500 STA Travel gift card.

The great thing about this is it’s open to anyone 18 years and older. Usually STA contests are limited to 18-25 year-olds.

Enter online by midnight (CST) on Sunday, August 30th. Winners will be announced Tuesday, September 15th.