Write a blog, go to Antarctica!

by Kraig Becker on

Ever had the urge to visit the Antarctic? Do you have a knack for writing interesting, inspiring, blog posts? Then check out the latest contest from Quark Expeditions, an adventure travel company that specializes in journeys to both polar icecaps.

Quark has launched the aptly named BlogYourWayToAntarctica.com and has invited adventurous travelers to register to the site and write a 300 word blog post on why they should be the Official Quark Blogger. Writers are encouraged to be creative and use their imaginations, as others will be reading, and voting, on the best entry. The blog post with the most votes at the end of September will win an all expense paid trip for two to Antarctica.

The Antarctic cruise is scheduled for Feb. 20 to March 3 of 2010 and includes airfare from the U.S. to Ushuaia, Argentina, as well as one nights stay in that city. The next 11 days are spent aboard the cruise ship Lyubov Orlova exploring the Southern Sea and making day trips to the Antarctic Penninsula.

The contest just got underway a few days ago, and it runs until September 30th, but the sooner you get your entry in, the more time you’ll have to lobby your friends, family, and complete strangers, to vote for you. Head over to the website now and get blogging!

NY Times realizes Twitter is useful for travel

by Tom Johansmeyer on

It takes the NY Times to catch up with the world around it … especially when technology is involved. Hey, the newspaper wouldn’t be in so much financial trouble if this weren’t the case. But, they don’t get it wrong; the reporters over there just take a bit longer to grasp what’s happening.

So, I was pretty psyched when I saw in the “Frugal Traveler” column that Twitter can be used to get dinner reservations – even when you’re on jury duty! Did you know that you can just peck a few characters into your cell phone or Blackberry and send it to thousands of people who might have an answer?

The Frugal Traveler is not ready to “Twitter [his] way across the country,” but the Gadling team is.

Name Your Dream Assignment Contest

by Brenda Yun on

Calling all aspiring travel photo-journalists! If you’ve ever dreamed of having $50,000 in cash to live out your travel dreams, keeping a blog, and taking photos along the way, now is your chance. Lenovo and Microsoft have teamed up to offer an unbelievably cool travel contest that is really as simple as putting your dream assignment in photos and words for the rest of the U.S. to daydream about.

The contest is called the Name Your Dream Assignment, and it’s open to writers and photographers of all backgrounds. The contestant with the winning idea will win $50,000 to bring his or her dream assignment to life. In addition to this amazing cash prize, the winner will win a digital camcorder and a Lenovo ThinkPad. Two runners-up will get the Lenovo laptop too.

The contest started on March 3rd and will continue until April 3. At that point, the 20 entries with the most PICS will be judged by an expert panel, which will choose the winner based on originality, creativity, skill, and experience.

Get crackin’, people! Some Gadling members and readers have already submitted their dream assignments (see links below). If you have dream up of an assignment and post it on the site, feel free to add your link to the comments section below. I’m more than happy to PIC yours if you PIC mine! :)

Mine:
http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/hibren/minority-languages/

Reader Bernie’s:
http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/berniesiao/drowning-cultures/

Gadling Guru Willy’s:
http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/WillyVolk/shooting-sharks-around-the-world-underwater-and-topside/

Virtual exhibition: Calling all Paolo Coelho fans

by Abha Malpani on

If you’ve read the The Alchemist and want to be a subject of a virtual art exhibition hosted by the man himself — Paolo Coelho — the process couldn’t be easier. Send a picture of you reading the book, and voila, you will forever be part of virtual art history!

The exhibition is to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Alchemist, that has till date sold a 100 million copies. Holy gonzoly. So far, 38 people have sent in some cool photos of them reading the book; the photos will be uploaded for the rest of the year.

Coelho is quite the tech-savvy writer dude. He keeps a regular blog, and has the occasional vlog. Obviously, he understands the importance of connecting with his readers, and enjoys the process too.

So take that picture and send it in to: paulocoelhocovers[at]gmail.com, perhaps you will be displayed in a gallery somewhere someday! If you don’t have the Alchemist on hand, any of his books will do. Coelho wants to see your face, so be careful not to cover it with his book, and don’t stress about quality.

(In the image, I’m holding his book Eleven Minutes, one I enjoyed way more than The Alchemist. I haven’t read any others. Urrr…yup, I’m going to send it in.Cheap thrills.)

How to tell the Chinese and Japanese apart

by Jerry Guo on

Sometime all you need is a picture (or two in this case). James Fallows, a correspondent for The Atlantic based out of China right now, has posted a great observation about the difference between the Chinese and Japanese. He looked at a simple case of how workers refuel a jet. When it comes to the Japanese, they’re fastidious, orthodox, and dressed to match. With the Chinese, well … anything goes.

I’ll leave it to him to fully explain; don’t want to ruin the delightful juxtaposition of the two photos. I think he really hit something here with the observation that China is all about “finding a way to do things” while Japan is all about “the way of doing things.” It’s a succinct but thoughtful way of looking at things. Though I would caution, as someone very familiar with Chinese culture, that the country’s moving away from this wild wild west image. Or at least they want to. I feel they’ll be more like Japan in 5, 10, 20 years. Or maybe even by next summer’s Beijing Olympics. They’ll be on their best behavior I suspect.

By the way, Fallows has a wonderful blog about China on which he files pretty in-depth posts. He also had a short piece in this month’s Atlantic on tourism to Wolong Panda Reserve that’s worth checking out.