GuideGecko’s travel writing contest

by Brenda Yun on


It was just about four months ago that Gadling reported the launch of a great new travel resource and bookstore, GuideGecko.com. Now, GuideGecko, the innovative publishing platform for travel, lifestyle and entertainment guides, has just announced its first travel writing contest in conjunction with the world’s largest book fair in Frankfurt, Germany.

From now to September 24, authors from all over the world can submit their own travel, lifestyle or entertainment guides, and the winning titles will be showcased at the fair. The top prize is a personal trip to the fair in October 2009.
The contest is open to everybody, from casual writers to bloggers and established authors. Topics can span from anything and everything under the sun, as long as they are travel, lifestyle or entertainment related. With no page limit, the authors have the freedom and flexibility to write their guides the way they want. Submissions can be new titles as well as existing titles previously published on GuideGecko or elsewhere.

Upon submission, the guides will be published instantly and listed on GuideGecko’s front page, where they will receive maximum visibility. Customers and viewers can choose to vote for and even order these guides immediately. Participation in the contest is free and the authors will receive full royalties and retain the copyrights of their guides published on www.guidegecko.com.

The winners of the ‘GuideGecko Writing Contest’ will be decided through online voting, which starts immediately. The first prize is a personal trip to the Frankfurt Book Fair for the winning author. In addition, the top 3 titles will be showcased on the fair. Other prizes include a selection of Lonely Planet travel guides and subscriptions to travel magazines.

Closing date is 24 September 2009 and prize winners will be announced on 25 September 2009. For more information and to enter the contest, visit www.guidegecko.com/writing-contest.

Listen to Times Online’s eco-holiday discussion today!

by Brenda Yun on

The Times (UK) is launching a new series of online chats with a discussion on green travel this morning at 8 a.m. EST (1 p.m. London time). Richard Hammond and Jeremy Smith, co-authors of ‘Clean Breaks’ the new Rough Guide to eco-friendly holidays, will answer questions on green travel.

Richard Hammond, the founder of www.greentraveller.co.uk and the co-author of Clean Breaks – 500 new ways to see the world’ will answer questions and recommend fun holidays that tick the right green boxes. Hammond also wrote an article about 10 green trips for The Times last week, which was based on his Clean Breaks book. He wrote a second article for Times Online on the ‘opposition’ – his five favourite green travel guidebooks.

Jeremy Smith, the former Editor of The Ecologist and co-author of ‘Clean Breaks’ will also be on hand to give advice. They will be joined by Steve Keenan, Times Online Travel Editor and Ginny McGrath, Times Online Assistant Editor.

To join the discussion, go to http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/holiday_type/green_travel/article6741434.ece.

Gadlinks for Wednesday 8.5.09

by Brenda Yun on

We have some pretty wonderful Wednesday offerings for you faithful Gadling readers — one that comes from our very own blogger, Katie Hammel, so let’s get started!

  • Katie offers you not 10, not 20, but 28 (!!!) ways to save money for traveling. I didn’t even know I spent my money in more ways than one! [via BootsNAll]
  • I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been underwhelmed by a travel destination because my expectations of the place were too high. This article about tourist traps for real travelers helps us understand this phenomenon. [via OpenTravel]
  • Gadling just wrapped up Hotel Month, so I guess I’ve had hotels on the brain. Our witty friends over at Travel Rants give us several things to consider with regard to the future of quality hotel reviews.
  • If you own a Kindle or are willing to lug these doozies around, they make for great travel reads — especially if you’re on a very long journey somewhere. [via Vagablogging]

‘Til tomorrow, have a great evening!

More Gadlinks HERE.

America travel inspiration: Blue Highways

by Katie Hammel on

For many Americans, dream trips involve far-flung international destinations. Traveling thousands of miles from home to a foreign land just seems more exciting. You get to experience a new culture, sample unfamiliar cuisine, and of course, get that all-important passport stamp to add to your collection.

A trip within your own country just can’t compete with that. The food is the same, the history is shared, the language is (usually) easily understood and you don’t even have to exchange money. There’s nothing exciting or exotic about that. Or so you may think.

But travel around your own country with open eyes and an open mind and you may realize that the good old US of A isn’t as homogeneous as you thought. Approach your homeland with the same anthropological curiosity and cultural hunger than you do to foreign lands and you’ll see that there may be as much to learn about different regions in your own country as there is places on the other side of the world.

One of my favorite sources for inspiration to explore more of the U.S. is William Least Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways: A Journey into America. Down on his luck Heat-Moon takes off on an epic journey around the country, sticking only to the two-lane country roads called blue highways. Along the way, he finds solace in the road and in the characters he meets on his journey. He explores the cultural differences that can exist between people of the same country and paints a captivating picture of life in rural and small town America. If you’ve never had much interest in traveling the lesser-known routes of the U.S., just wait until you see the country through Heat-Moon’s eyes. I know that I can’t read the book without feeling an urge to hit the open road and discover my own America.

Travel Read: The Weight of Silence, Invisible Children of India

by Sean McLachlan on

If you’ve been to India you’ve seen them–they beg at the train stations, or collect plastic from the side of the road, or sell candy and tissues on the buses. They’re India’s 25 million abandoned children, and the ones you see count themselves lucky. Millions more are worked to death in sweatshops or brothels, or simply left in the wilderness to die.

The Weight of Silence: Invisible Children of India, a new book by Dog’s Eye View Media, explores the struggles of India’s homeless or orphaned children. Author Shelley Seale’s discovery of this human tragedy led her life in a whole new direction, and it is this that gives the book its impetus. Not only do we learn about the struggles of India’s children, and the living saints who dedicate their lives to helping them, but we watch Seale’s personal transformation from a Yuppie into something much more real.

Besides her personal story, two things really set this book apart from the “see the horrible things happening in the Third World” genre. Firstly, it takes a mostly positive spin. While Seale doesn’t flinch from the uglier side of Indian life, she focuses on the children’s resilience and dreams. They don’t come off as poor victims waiting for rich peoples’ help. Her main point is that these kids aren’t in need of handouts, but the basic human right of a childhood.

The second strong point is that the book is well grounded in fact, skillfully interwoven with the narrative so that it never slows down the writing. We learn such nasty tidbits such as that rural doctors give their patients the wrong medicine 50% of the time, or that only one in three rural medical practitioners know how to make rehydration solutions to treat diarrhea, and horrible statistics about child prostitution. All of these are carefully annotated.

The Weight of Silence is part travelogue, part expose, and gripping reading. The fact that this book shows deep respect for India’s people while not ignoring their faults sets this book apart. Even people who have traveled extensively in India will learn a lot.

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