Travel contest season is in full swing

by Chris Owen on

January brings cold weather, post-holiday blues, dreams of travel and travel contest season every year. With few exceptions, sellers of travel roll out some of their best promotions during this time too. Aimed to make those dreams reality and have us focus on whatever travel product they are selling, travel companies want to bring our attention to their options over another.

Amble Resorts’ Life-Changing Travel Contest has travelers looking at their new travel blog, The Ambler, for a chance to win a free flight anywhere in the world. Launched in mid-December, the contest is quickly gaining momentum as globetrotters from around the world share their most life-changing travel moments in the hopes of fulfilling resolutions to travel in 2012.

This contest asks visitors to reflect on their own life-changing travel experiences and draw inspiration from the stories of others, encouraging people to broaden their travel horizons and explore the world in 2012. The contest will reward one commenter with a trip to the destination of their dreams, in the form of a $1,500 travel voucher (OK, maybe not anywhere in the world) on the airline of the winner’s choice, valid any time in 2012.Getting serious, Travel+Leisure has the Dream Of A Lifetime $25,000 Spain + Venice sweepstakes where the grand prize winner gets a travel package worth up to $30,000 or can take a $25,000 cash option as well.

Even non-travel companies are getting in on the January travel mania with Fisher Boy frozen food company giving away a Caribbean vacation at one of Beaches Resorts worth $8,000. You’ll have to tell them why you like their products (fish sticks) as part of the entry but liking them on Facebook is not required as many contests are.

The cruise industry has “wave season“, that time of the year when everybody wants to buy a cruise, going full speed ahead. In addition to some of the best values of the year, multiple lines are having contests that result in someone winning a cruise. Holland America, Celebrity Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean all have their versions

One of the best payouts comes from a contest run by TripFilms, a travel website that brings destinations to life through video. Their Watch and Win contest grants one entry for each video watched from start to end. The prize? A trip for two people that the winner may select from a bunch of destinations as well as a travel stipend of $500 per person ($1000 total).

The choices include Costa Rica Natural Paradise, Guatemala with Tikal, Panama Canal Cruise & Tour, the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore & Yellowstone, California Coast & Yosemite and others.

Most of these contests end January 31, 2012. Many of these and other contests can be found at TravelOnion where most current travel contests are rounded up and updated frequently.

Not feeling lucky? How about some money-saving tips if pay you must?





Flickr photo by Tostie14

Browse historic photos of San Francisco with Old S.F.

by Jeremy Kressmann on

A photographer could spend weeks wandering around San Francisco – between the city’s dramatic natural setting, bright murals and colorful rows of Victorian homes, there’s a lot to see (and shoot).

As Gadling blogger Jessica pointed out recently, it’s also a city rich with history. In fact, photographers have been documenting this City by the Bay ever since the very first days the camera was invented. Now a website called Old S.F. lets you blend these two pursuits, displaying the city’s pleasing photography and rich history via an interactive map.

The story behind Old S.F. begins when resident Dan Vanderkam was looking at historic photos at the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection and came upon an image of his block that was identified with the wrong cross streets. The inaccuracy inspired him to start a searchable database, layered onto a Google Map of San Francisco to help others find them more easily. The rest, as they like to say, is history.

To start using Old S.F., just pull the sliders along the top to adjust the date the photos were taken (starting at 1850 and ending at 2000) and then click on one of the red dots to see images from that location. It’s a fascinating journey through some of San Francisco’s most famous (as well as its most intimate) landmarks – witness the chaos and destruction that followed the 1906 earthquake, or watch the elegant Golden Gate Bridge as its construction slowly creeps across the Bay. It’s your own personal time machine to San Francisco – and you’re holding the controls.

[Photo courtesy of army.arch]

Hipmunk launches mobile hotels app

by McLean Robbins on

Jumping on the mobile hotel bandwagon today is Hipmunk, known already in the travel world for its flight planning website.

Just like the flight tool sorts by level of “agony” involved in each flight (based on cost, flight time, number of connections, ect.) the hotels tool uses a heat map based on current location and overlays it with data showing price points and proximity to areas like shopping, dining and nightlife. Pretty nifty, hmm?

The tool lets you compare up to three hotels at a time and allows you to book reservations directly through the hotel or via third party provider like Orbitz. If you’d prefer to complete the transaction on a laptop, the app lets you paste a code into your computer that will keep your data and search history ready for you.

VentureBeat spoke positively about the app, calling the user experience “a great one,” but correctly pointed out that, like its flight app, much of the data is dependent on third party aggregators instead of one-to-one partnerships.

The app is available on iPhone, iPad and Android.

PUBLIC Hotel in Chicago plans $1 sale

by McLean Robbins on

Ian Schrager may already be the hotel world’s darling, but he’s going to capture even more fans when his hotel, PUBLIC Chicago, launches their $1 sale soon. We’ve seen a few of these before for special promotions, and they’re usually hellishly hard to score. That won’t stop us from trying, however.


Here’s how to snag a deal on this one:

  • For a 90-day period commencing on a secret date soon to be announced, PUBLIC will offer three special guest rooms per night, each with a rate of only $1.
  • Participants must sign up to receive a priority email detailing when the sale goes live
  • Once the sale goes live, participants will have 48 hours to book a room at the $1.00 rate – first come, first served.

PUBLIC’s One Dollar Sale will be announced through social media, email, PUBLIC Chicago’s website, and the hotel’s partners.

“PUBLIC is a brand that stands for outstanding value – not to mention sophisticated, authentic style and spot-on service. We thought this would be a really fun thing to offer our guests to expose them to how special the hotel is,” said Schrager.

Of course, we’ll let you know when we see the deal live – be sure to let us know if you scored a room!

Oh Ranger! ParkFinder guides you to public parkland

by Jeremy Kressmann on

I often forget the amazing wealth of national parks, hiking trails and historic sites within easy access of my home. For instance, did you know there’s 260 sites within 100 miles of Brooklyn, NY? In fact, iPhone users can now find out for themselves just how many great outdoor sites are near their hometown using a great smartphone app called Oh Ranger! ParkFinder.

The American Park Network, a publishing company that creates visitor guides for national parks, is behind Oh Ranger, a searchable database of outdoor activities ranging from cycling to historical sites to camping to bird watching. In addition to their free web database, they’ve released Oh Ranger! ParkFinder for iPhone and iPad Touch, a fantastically useful mobile extension that makes it easy to track down your favorite activity at a park near you. Once you’ve downloaded the app, you can easily search for parks based on favorite activities, search for a specific park, or use your iPhone’s location to find sites nearby.

Whether you’re a die-hard outdoor lover or simply looking for some great weekend or daytrip getaways, Oh Ranger! Parkfinder is a nifty, convenient way to find it. You give it a try for free by downloading from the iTunes app store. Although there’s not yet an Android version of the app, the Oh Ranger website utilizes the same park database.