Intelligent Traveler hosts Geotourism Challenge

by Grant Martin on

Got a favorite green tour operator or event? National Geographic’s Intelligent Traveler blog wants to know. They’ve partnered up with Ashoka Changemakers, an open-source community dedicated to social change to sponsor The Geotourism Challenge.

Readers are invited to nominate a type of tourism that “sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place: its environment, heritage, culture, aesthetics, and the well-being of its residents.” And if you post a brief story on how or why you believe in your nominee, you’ll be entered in a drawing for a free week of travel to anywhere that whl.travel, a contest partner, operates. And I know what you’re thinking, yes, they do offer trips to Swaziland. Count me in.

Even if you don’t get the chance to submit a green topic, you should check out Ashoka’s website. It’s a pretty sweet initiative and deserves a read from all of us.

Northwest Airlines Sponsors Destination and Miles Giveaway

by Grant Martin on

For those of you frequent flyers out there who subscribe to Northwest Airline’s Worldperks program, they just launched their fall promo. Dubbed Mystery Miles, this season’s dish is another points-based program, encouraging travelers to fly certain routes in certain fare classes to collect points. Come January 31, points are tabulated and you get a mileage bonus for the number of points you earned. This can be anywhere in the neighborhood of 500 – 100,000 miles, but 95% of us will be under 10k.

Earlier this year (or was it last?) I participated in the ‘Mile Safari’ promotion where I earned points in a similar fashion. While it didn’t turn into a wealth of miles, six thousand miles here and there never hurt anyone, especially if all I had to do was plug my frequent flyer number into their form.

In addition, Northwest will be posting clues on mystery destinations each week. If you can figure out and submit the location, you’ll be entered in a weekly drawing to win round trips to that destination. And I have a feeling that once the clues come out you’ll be able to Google the answers you need to partake. Lets hope the fantasy destinations aren’t Haiti and Ohio.

Travel Writing Contest: What Is Your Worst Travel Fear?

by Willy Volk on

If you’re sick of reading travel stories that detail where to camp in luxury or get a cheap massage in Bali, maybe it’s time to put fingers to keyboard and show the world how travel writing should be done.

Road Junky is sponsoring a travel writing contest, and they “want to hear about travel stories where you were confronted with your worst fears and how you dealt with them – maybe you were almost killed in a bus accident in India, maybe you were attacked by bandits on the Kenyan border or maybe you just came home to find a credit card bill in 5 figures. It’s up to you.” Off the top of my head, a few other story ideas could be:

  • That time the power went out in the capital and the hotel guests all started speaking in tongues.
  • That time you were kayaking and a hippo appeared about 50 feet from you — right between you and shore.
  • That time you flipped in the crocodile-infested waters of the Class V rapids and you lost the raft.

Oh, wait. Those things all happened to me. Maybe I need to get writing. The deadline is June 31, 2007.

Contest Time: Win a Trip to Dominica

by Adrienne Wilson on


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.

Spa-Addicts Frolic in France Sweepstakes

by Adrienne Wilson on

Here I was minding my own business, looking for cheap hotel rates on sidestep.com when I was distracted by an advertisement. Loud, hot pink, bright yellow text all grabbed my attention and next thing I knew I was being directed away from the travel search engine. Oh joy! But wait, it gets better… So I’m taken to this Spa-Addicts website, which I’ve never been to and here they are having a sweepstakes inspired by the newly released Sofia Coppola film, Marie Antoinette starring Kirsten Dunst. Now let me just say three things: One, I’m not a big fan of Kirsten Dunst; two, I do like Sofia Coppola; and three, I’m a complete addict when it comes to sweepstakes. Who cares about the taxes you might have to pay if you win, it’s still a whole heck of a lot cheaper than paying for their package deal in full. And now, surely, you must be curious to know what these Spa-Addicts are offering in their sweepstakes?

The so-called world’s premiere spa guide is giving you the chance to win roundtrip economy class airfare to Paris, France for two, four nights accommodation for two in a furnished luxury apartment, two Le Grand Classique Treatments at the Yon-Ka Spa in Paris and Two Soin Velours Treatments at the Yon-Ka Spa. Sound dazzling enough to enter? Head over to Spa-Addicts now. Who knows you may very well win a trip to Paris, but if my voluntarily spreading the word and good karma works in my favor, then I could be landing in France soon. (Be sure you read the official rules as always.)

Good luck!