If you’ve checked out Wanderfly, the new travel planning and booking service that suggests destinations and activities based on your interests, you know they’ve come up with some unique and untouristy destinations. Now they’ve gone beyond the beaten tourist track with 25 newly-discovered travel destinations. Why just see the Great Wall of China when you could see a whole city full of kittens in China (far greater if you ask us!)?! Fan of Dolly Parton? Thousands go to Dollywood, why not relax on a man-made archipelago in the shape of Dolly and Kenny Rogers at Islands in the Stream in Dubai? Can’t get enough of that rascal Charlie Sheen? Intrepid adventurers can get inside his brain and see what all that tiger’s blood does.
The Wanderfly researchers teamed up with Whim Quarterly to unearth these new places and the best activities to do. The new destinations were chosen for their interactive experiences to give travelers the most authentic experience. “We challenge any traveler to find even a single destination that can compare to these unearthed gems,” says Wanderfly co-founder Christy Liu. “Paris? London? Cleveland? With respect to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they all pale in comparison to such places as ObeCity, Funkytown, and Your Mom’s House.”
For more on these exciting new discoveries, visit Wanderfly.com and click the crazy kitten on the home page and then Get Going. But hurry, some of these destinations may only be available on April 1st.
Earlier this Friday, travel writer Zack Jones put the finishing touches on a post the online publishing community is hailing as a new standard in the realm of web travel journalism. The piece, titled “Lady Gaga Justin Bieber Drunken Airplane Bronx Zoo Cobra Bikini Mishap Injures 11,” offers an exclusive chronicle of an improbable mid-air tussle between the two famous pop stars, interrupted by an escaped venomous Egyptian snake and the eventual intervention to end the melee by the Swedish Bikini Team.
As bizarre as the incident was to Jones and his readers, the page views it created for his website, Travelizcool.net, have been even more astounding. The post’s SEO-friendly subject matter has placed it as the #1 result across searches on Google, Bing, Altavista, Lycos and Excite. It’s also quickly become the #1 trending topic on Twitter and has already collected over 500,000 Likes on Facebook. Jones was able further encourage the spread of his post by allowing readers to check-in to the story on Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt and through a unique “story remix contest” on YouTube, where readers were encouraged to record themselves reading the piece out loud using Autotune for a chance to win a month long blogging stint at Travelizcool.net.
The post’s continued success and soaring ad revenues have Zack thinking big plans for the formerly tiny Travelizcool.net website. “This story’s success was anything but a flash in the pan” said Jones in an interview by phone. “We’re hiring 500 new writers in the coming months to keep up with the demand. By the way, can you make sure to StumbleUpon this interview when it gets published?”
With the goal of improving its cross-platform social media presence, Gadling proudly announces the Ugly Truth, a new video series hell-bent on capturing the viler dimensions of the travel blogger lifestyle.
The Ugly Truth series will revolutionize the sanitized travel show media with depictions of a host of things designed to provoke intense, visceral reactions from viewers.
There’s some great hardcore gross-out material, of course, and there are also plenty of examples of a newly-diagnosed condition referred to by doctors as TBRC (Travel Blogger Rage Syndrome).
“We’re excited to bring the more disgusting side of travel to the attention of Gadling’s audience,” says Gadling Editor-in-chief Grant Martin. “And really, who cares about boring travel news or how-to posts dealing with travel logistics, flight upgrade strategies, or museum discounts when you’ve got video footage of Meg Nesterov consumed by TBRC, beating a defenseless Turkish cat? Or a video of Jeremy Kressmann having eating one too many Big Macs in Thailand, losing his lunch in a tuk-tuk?”
Which Gadling writer chewed so much khat in East Africa last summer that he puked for days? We’ll tell you–better yet, we’ll show you.
Which Gadling writer had a torrid affair with the head of a major European national tourist board? We’ll show you that as well, with crystal-clear HD footage that leaves nothing–not even some unfortunate back acne–to the imagination.
There is also a mine of simply baffling, unclassifiable material on tap, like the dreamy sequence documenting the Gadling contributor so in love with the room’s décor at São Paulo’s Fasano that she arose from a nap to lick the edge of her desk.
Martin, again: “We’d really like to become the first place people turn to for disgusting travel videos, and we’re really pushing our stable of writers to take the lead by getting themselves into some truly gross situations. I can’t wait to see the enormous traffic these gems are going to get!”
And as for rumors that Martin’s recent TBRC episode involving an inefficient airport employee at Kastrup will appear in a The Ugly Truth episode to be released on June 17? “No comment.”
Check out the first installment of The Ugly Truth in early May.
After years of murders, kidnappings, and heists, the lawless sea near the horn of Africa seems to be getting worse. A Dubai firm is capitalizing on these pirate infested waters with a strange new form of pirate tourism. The tour company, Dubai based Seahunters LLC, sells both 7 and 14 day cruises embarking from Salalah, Oman and Abu Dhabi, UAE. Unlike the quintessential cruise, the cruisers do not board in hopes of devouring mid-morning nacho buffets or snorkeling with dolphins. These cruisers board in hopes of embarking on a hunting trip with the most taboo of target – humans.
Like any proper cruise, you can choose a type of stateroom with offers ranging from the humble sounding “standard inside” to the opulent “Hemingway suite.” The similarities to any other cruise end abruptly when you begin assembling your personal armory. With offerings such as the predictably yielding “bazooka package” and a “mercenary madness” kit, you can personalize your weapons cache almost endlessly. The “mercenary madness” package includes rental of a M107 .50 caliber sniper rifle, an AR 15 assault rifle, and an 18kt gold plated Desert Eagle pistol. Bow and arrows are also available for purists. Flamethrowers can be rented as well, though require a 3 day licensing course prior to departure.Ports of call include the otherworldly Socotra island known for its Dragon’s Blood trees, and Mogadishu – the most dangerous city on the planet.
With only 17 rooms, the pearl white yacht is sized to attract attention from opportunistic pirates while spending days drifting aimlessly through the Gulf of Aden. Seahunters does not guarantee that pirates will attempt to board the boat, but in the event that they do, the cruisers are free to defend themselves with their weapons. What this defense entails has been the target of several human rights organizations. Decrying this bizarre form of freelance privateering, many groups feel that baiting the pirates into the line of fire is an extreme example of human insensitivity and a case of morbid exploitation. Seahunters maintains that their program will provide substantial positive externalities such as safer waters due to a fearful pirate population.
A typical seven night cruise itinerary
Day 1 – Flight to Salalah Airport from Dubai, welcome dinner and concert
Day 2 – Boat departs
Day 3 – At sea
Day 4 – Mogadishu tank tour
Day 5 – At sea
Day 6 – The “Splendor of Socotra” tour on Socotra Island
Day 7 – At sea
Day 8 – Return to Salalah
Are you a foodie with a taste for travel and adventure? Have you mastered the arts of cheesemaking, coffee roasting, patisserie, and charcuterie? If yet another holiday spent making wine in Napa Valley, rolling pasta with Tuscan Nonnas, or whipping up tom yung goong in Chiang Mai makes you want to yawn, then you’re going to love the newest culinary travel company to emerge in this burgeoning industry.
Jaded Palate Tours, based out of San Francisco, California, offers “luxury artisanal culinary adventures” for the the discerning, well-traveled foodie who loves to be on the cutting edge of all that’s edible. Imagine the bragging rights you’ll have after spending a week deep in the Sulawesi jungle, harvesting kopi luwak–the world’s most expensive coffee–with local indigenous peoples. You’ll hand-sort the rare and precious beans by extracting them from the dung of the native Asian Palm Civet cat (after the creatures feast on coffee berries, their digestive enzymes soak into the beans, giving kopi luwak its prized aroma and lack of acidity).If you’re more in the mood for la vida loca, journey to glorious Coria in northwestern Spain to partake in an ancient culinary tradition: the Toro de San Juan. You’ll participate in this public running of the bulls, joining the colorful townsfolk at throwing scissors, knives, darts, and other sharp implements at the fearsome creature until it collapses. In this daring game of courage, agility, and skill, the main objective is to cut off the bull’s testicles while it is still alive. Even if you can’t meet this noble goal, you will have the opportunity to prepare and eat the “criadillas” with a famed Extremaduran chef, in an exclusive Jaded Palate cooking class.
Other offerings for 2011 include:“Tanzania Safari/Maasai Hut-Stay,” where you’ll learn how to herd and bleed your host family’s cow, before joining them for a delicious repast of curdled milk and blood.
Tour the romantic countryside of Gascony, for our “Fun with Foie Gras” adventure. You’ll stay in quaint village pensiones, when you’re not helping local farmers force-feed their geese with the finest non-GMO corn. You’ll learn how to prepare and cook this most classic of French delicacies from local farm wives.
In the Peruvian Amazon“Chewing Chicha Adventure,” sleep in luxe hammocks (mosquito netting included) under the rainforest canopy. Learn to use a blowgun to hunt rare forest creatures for your dinner, and make chicha (the saliva-fermented beverage made from banana or manioc) with the Hauorani people, before joining the village in a traditional chicha bowl-passing ceremony (Malaria and tuberculosis prophylaxis and dysentery not included in this itinerary).
Sign up now for our ultra-exclusive winter tour of the famed “Qing Ping Market Feast” in Guangzhou, China! You’ll shop for the raw ingredients for your hands-on cooking class with a local Master Chef, and then sit down to a traditional banquet featuring delicacies such as Siberian tiger penis, snake wine, and Guangzhou’s specialty: stewed “fragrant meat,” also known as dog. December, 2011 will be the only time this tour is offered, due to the forthcoming ban on dog consumption in China, and the lack of Siberian tigers left in the wild. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
Foodies, the world is your oyster. Go shuck it. For more information on Jaded Palate Tours, click here.
As a preview for our 2012 tour, “Mountains, Mutton, and Maggots: Cheesemaking in Sardina,” watch acclaimed Italian chef Antonio Carlucci enjoying the island’s famed Casu Marzu maggot cheese. Buon appetito!