European Travel Commission launches Facebook contest

by Chris Owen on

The European Travel Commission (ETC) today announced the launch of their new social media Facebook contest entitled I Wish I Were There. Hosted on the ETC’s official Facebook page, the contest will encourage fans to photoshop images of themselves in their dream European destination and then post the new photos to the ETC Facebook page to be automatically entered to win a Grand Prize trip for two to Europe.

Choosing to vacation in Austria, Croatia or Poland, the Grand Prize winning photo will be picked from the top five photos that got the greatest number of “Likes” obtained by Visit Europe Facebook fans. The national tourism organizations of Austria, Croatia or Poland are sponsoring the prize which includes hotel stays, ground transportation and cultural activities for the winner and one guest.”I Wish I Were There” is one of several social media events targeting the U.S. consumer. The “Follow Your Dreams: Visit Europe” campaign aimed to educate travelers on the compelling tourism offerings available within Europe with an emphasis on history, culture and gastronomy.

The European Travel Commission (@visiteurope) was established in 1948 to promote Europe as a tourism destination and provides travelers with commentary on services and attractions to help plan their visit to Europe.

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Summer hotel bargains from AccorHotels

by Kraig Becker on

Travelers looking to save some cash this summer travel season may want to check out the major sale going on at AccorHotels.com at the moment. The site is offering up to 50% off nearly 1000 hotels in popular destinations across Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim. The online only bargains are good for travel between July 8th and September 4th of this year, and extend across the Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure and Adagio line of hotels.

Using the online search tool, I picked a few random destinations and found some excellent deals on hotels in a variety of places across the globe. The tool allows you to select your country and city of choice, and then presents you with a multitude of options on where you can stay. Those that are offering the discount were always at the top of the list in the searches I ran, making it even easier to find the best deals for your summer getaway.

The sale actually began on Friday, but only runs through June 22nd, so hurry and book your accommodations quickly. At these prices, many of these hotels are sure to fill-up fast.

Grab a magazine, charge your phone, have a nice flight

by Chris Owen on

Hudson News is the largest airport retailer in the United States. Over 1.7 billion passengers walk by Hudson News stores annually and a good number of those have cell phones that need a charge. Now, Hudson News has partnered with KeoConnect to bring us KEO, a new place-based interactive media platform targeting the traveling consumer that provides information, entertainment and a secure, free charge for mobile devices.

KEO are interactive kiosks rolling out in airports around the US, and they offer free charges to mobile phones, as well as news, weather, and more through interactive touch screens. Users can drop their phone off in one of KEO‘s password-protected locked bins, then go shop or grab a bite to eat and return to their newly-charged phone, all for free.KEO’s exclusive “lock and charge” system gives a free charge to almost any mobile device. Leave your charger packed away; with KEO, users lock their phones in one of KEO‘s charging lockers then go shop, relax, eat, barter with gate people for an upgrade on that next flight or simply forget about someone stealing their phone while it charges.

I’m reminded of many times being focused, alert and on-guard close to a gate where a possible upgrade/flight change might happen while a traveling companion “watched the phones” being charged. This could end that game.

For those not quite comfortable about straying too far from their mobile device, KEO presents entertaining content like travel tips, book and magazine reviews. A few taps on KEO‘s touch screen gets users flight information, news, weather, stock information, sports and probably an advertisement or two while they wait.

Coming up soon for KEO will be high-speed transfer of movies, music, magazines, audio books, newspapers and more (porn/revealing photos of politicians?) direct to your phone, SD card or USB.

The only drawbacks I can see are putting my phone in one of the secure charging lockers then either forgetting all about it until boarding time or slowing down the process by forgetting my secret passcode, forcing a manic run through the terminal at the last minute. That or fighting with the other 1.7 billion people in the airport for one of the four secure charging lockers it looks like each machine has.

Flickr photo by ishane

National Geographic offers Dreams of Burma

by Kraig Becker on

National Geographic Traveler and Fotopedia have teamed up to deliver yet another fantastic travel app for the iPhone and iPad. Entitled “Dreams of Burma,” the new app manages to captures the spirit and culture of the Southeast Asian country in a host of images, maps, and other features that make it the next best thing to actually being there yourself.

As you would expect when Nat Geo and Fotopedia get together, photography will play a central role in what ever they produce. That is definitely the case with this app, which comes packed with more than a thousand stunning images from Burma. Those images offer everything from intriguing glimpses inside ornate local temples to breathtaking views of some of the stunning landscapes found throughout the country, however it was the photos of the people, going about their daily lives, that left the biggest impression on me.

Your favorite images can be used to create slideshows or set as your desktop background on your device. Built-in connections to email, Facebook, and Twitter also allow you to easily share the best photos with friends and family as well. The app also features a “Trip Builder,” which lets you create your own Burma getaways, both real and virtual. There is also a forward written by Traveler Editor-in-Chief Keith Bellows, as well as interactive maps and a comprehensive search feature as well.

This new app is available now and is completely free. It does require an Internet connection to pull in much of the content however, so be aware of that before you use it on the go. Other than that, I can’t think of a single reason why anyone who considers themselves a traveler, and owns one of Apple’s i-devices, wouldn’t have this app installed. Get it now by clicking here.

Fly or Drive? I can’t decide. Now I don’t have to

by Chris Owen on

Sometimes it’s hard to decide whether to fly or drive to a destination within the continental United States. Cost comes into play either way and sometimes its the price of gas to be concerned about. Other times, flights are expensive so there’s that too. A new online tool takes some of the guesswork out of it and can steer us in the right direction.

The new Fly or Drive Calculator from BeFrugal.com might be just what the doctor ordered for your ailing travel budget and its easy to use. I entered information on a trip from Orlando to Chicago with just a few keystrokes, added my vehicle information, how many hours a day I might drive and what a hotel might cost along the way. Easy-to-navigate screens then asked for my home airport and the airport at my destination along with how much time I thought I needed for check-in at home and at the destination airport after landing. Finally, I could add in transfer cost to and from the airports, baggage fees and either accept the tool’s estimated flight cost or plug in one of my own. The results looked quite realistic.

So much for saving money by driving huh?

The Fly or Drive calculator also gives me turn-by-turn directions on how to get where I am going should I choose to drive and links to air tickets via Priceline or Travelocity should I choose to fly.

I had fun replacing my 2008 Honda Fit with a 1989 Ford Thunderbird V-8 which ran up the price about $300. That might have been worth it though. The T-bird would probably make for a much more enjoyable road trip.

The Fly or Drive calculator is just one tool at BeFrugal.com. They also have tools to help find out how much to spend on a car or another one that tells if its worth buying an Electric Car instead of Hybrid or Gas. The site has online and printable coupons, discounts and special offers from a variety of sources and a round-up section that has the latest ads on stores from fast food to hardware.

This one is a winner and a great example of social media coming home with something we can use. Gadling got this tip from Chris McGinnis, @cjmcginnis on Twitter. That’s sure a good one to follow, all the way to the bank.

Flickr photo by MSVG