It is time for another one of my random travel contest discoveries found out there on the web. I was lured to the new and very visually pleasing Dominica tourism site from an advertisement found on Nat Geo and further stumbled upon this great opportunity to win a trip to what they call, “The Nature Island.” If you have not heard, American Airlines/American Eagle has added flights to Dominica, so the winner should expect to be shipped into paradise on American, but not without answering a few simple questions. Now for the all Carib guru’s out there the contest quiz might be easy breezy like a summer wind drifting through the lush green leaves of the palm, but those just wanting a little Atlantic Ocean fun and sun with only a small amount of knowledge on Dominica will probably need to surf around the site for the answers. Questions include: What is the capital of Dominica? How many waterfalls can be found there and which type of whales frequent the waters? There are 10 questions in all, the contest is open until March 31, 2007 and winners are notified by April 30, 2007. So if your gut feeling is telling you you’ll be relaxing on the beach with a cocktail in hand this summer this could be your ticket in. Be sure to read the official contest rules.
GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of November 26
Am I the only one who can’t believe it is December 1st? Where did November go? Where did the year go? How time flashes! If the end of the week managed to sneak up on you as fast as it got me you might want to review some of these posts found here over the week.
5. ABBA Museum to Debut in 2008:
Come on! You can’t tell me you’re not excited by the news. Get your dancing feet to this one to find out the details on the new Sweden based museum.
4. Maps of the World:
Erik brings our attention to the poor quality of maps too often found in guidebooks and then provides some good resources to finding good maps to take on your trip. AAA and another site new to me called, Just Maps are the only two that he mentions, but it’s a good starting place if you’re completely lost.
3.Magnifique Martinique:
Considering how popular the islands become once winter storms start pounding less tropical lands I thought this piece on the French Caribbean island of Martinique needed extra mentioning. It’s high on my travel agenda for that particular region of the world.
2. Garlic Card:
As a child I was never a fan of garlic, but this is mostly due to my aunt draping it in my window to protect me from vampires. I kid you not. However, some people can’t go a day with seasoning their food with a pinch of garlic. Neil brings us information on a Garlic card that can be used to help bring extra flavor and taste to your meals while camping in the great outdoors. I’m sure it will protect you from vampires in the woods as well, if you buy into that stuff.
1. Space Tourism Details Start to Fill In:
Everyone ready to go to space? More and more details are starting to come in on Space Tourism and it even looks somewhat affordable. If you think about $200,000 is a lot more affordable than $20 million bucks.
First Pakistani Woman to Tour Space
Namira Salim is not an astronaut. She does music, art, sculpture and is a peace activist, but among all this she will become the first Pakistani woman to tour outer space. In 2008 she will set out with Virgin Galactic (sister company to Virgin Atlantic) as one of the good will ambassadors for the company. The lucky woman was chosen as a member of Virgin Galactic Founders Club out of some 40,000 registrants. I’m not sure who the other lucky space travelers will be as the story as featured on South Asia Biz only mentions Ms. Salim.
Now this isn’t to take any attention off of Namira Salim, but I do art, like music and consider myself a highly peaceful person and I’d like to go to space. You know, I’m just saying this in the event that Sir Richard Branson is reading right now. It never hurts to have alternates and I wonder if they have a blogger in their far-out crew? You know, I’m just going to open this whole thing up for anyone with some extra cash to burn and not just Mr. Branson – be the first to help send a real travel blogger into space. That would be me, Adrienne Wilson of course. Pretty please.
Magnifique Martinique
After lounging around and doing as I please during the long weekend and after reading this article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Martinique, I can’t keep from wanting to purchase my ticket to zoom off and away. I’ve long been interested in the French caribbean island, Martinique and for no good reason other than my affection for islands. The story which looks to have originally appeared in the NY Times at some point in the past takes island deprived readers down the 50-mile stretch that has somewhat been forgotten by American travelers. They note that 84 percent of the annual visitors are from Europe, but even with decreased American interest Delta will start weekly direct flights in December. So it sounds as though American interest is back on the rise. I’m down to go.
From their detailed travel tale you’ll learn Martinique is more than a French speaking island paradise. It offers Gallic Creole food, snorkeling, hiking and tons of history if you dig combining time on the beach with a visit to attractions like “La Savane des Esclaves.” Oh, and in case you’ve forgotten Martinique is also the birthplace of Napoleon’s love, Empress Josephine. One week should be enough for the average visitor though I think I could use three right around my own annual celebration of my birth in May if not sooner.
iPod Saves Life…Sort Of
Folks here know I am bullish on traveling with your ipod. Yes, you can get obsessive about it and tune out the rest of the world, but I am a big fan of having along a musical and/or learning accompaniment to a trip. That said, the ipod can bring other benefits….in fact, it can save your life.
Just ask Pini Nou, a 25 hiker who was out, well, looking for mushrooms last week when he got lost. Wandering aimlessly around the forest…perhaps having eaten to many fabulous fungus…he had no idea where he was. Then night came and dangers lurked everywhere. Of course, it helped he had his cell phone, which he used to tell rescuers where…about, sort of…he thought he was. And, at about 1 am, when the rescuers got close they saw the light from his ipod, which he’d been using to help himself navigate through some particularly dense underbrush. It then took them less than 20 minutes to rescue him. Everyone then celebrated by eating mushrooms and listening to Pink Floyd on the handy little white device.