Gadlinks for Monday 11.23.09

by Brenda Yun on

Welcome to Thanksgiving week here at Gadling! I’m sure you’re all dying to read about pilgrimages and turkeys. I think I’ll spare you those topics for when it gets to crunch time — on Wednesday. In the meantime, here are the latest and greatest travel stories from around the web. Hope you all have a great start to the week!

‘Til tomorrow, have a great evening!

More Gadlinks HERE.

Two Floridians win Tasmania leg of travel contest

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Two American girls from Florida are about to find themselves pretty far from home. Dara Simkin and Catherine Fleming won the Tasmania leg of the WorldNomads.com Van-Tastic Adventure. This is the first time an American team has won the Australia contest. On December 19, 2009, they’ll fire up the engine and start to drive through Tasmania for six weeks. On January 30, 2010, they’ll arrive in Melbourne, having completed the fourth of seven legs. The seven-part journey begins in Queensland and consists of 10,000 miles of driving in a van named Geoff.

During their journey, Dara and Catherine will report on their experiences kayaking on the Freycinet Peninsula, mountain biking Mt. Wellington and walking through Cradle Moutain. You can keep track of their progress on YouTube or on the Van-Tastic Adventures website.

But, watching might not be enough for some people … there are still three legs open, so you may want to put your application video together.

Enter to win jetBlue’s Jet and Drive Giveaway

by Katie Hammel on

I love a good travel contest, especially one that requires little effort to enter. So I’m excited about the jetBlue and Hertz Jet & Drive Giveaway, which runs now through through January 31, 2010. To enter, all you need to do is surf on over to the website, complete your free registration and then enter your email address. Easy, peasy.

For that minimal effort, you could win some pretty cool prizes, depending on the number of entries for the day. Yes, that’s right – the prizes will vary according to how many people have entered for the day, and you can enter every single day of the contest. If 2,500 people or less enter on a given day, the winner gets a $100 Hertz rental card. With 2,500 or more entries, the card’s value goes up to $250. But if 5,000 people enter, the lucky winner gets a $500 jetBlue gift card!

There will also be up to five grand prizes given away, one each time the total number of contest entries reaches another 50,000 milestone. The grand prize includes airfare to one of five destinations, Hertz rental car, and accommodations at a designated Starwood or Marriott hotel for two people. Destinations include New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando and Aruba.

Win a trip to Hawaii with 52 Perfect Days

by Katie Hammel on

Have a great sustainable travel story? Travel website 52 Perfect Days is looking for submissions for their 2009 travel writing contest, which has a theme of sustainable tourism, ecotourism, agrotourism and voluntoursim.

The first place prize is a three-day vacation in Kauai, Hawaii, including accommodations, tours and activities (but not airfare). The second place winner will receive a custom-designed website and third place gets a Kelty Day Pack.

Submissions should be less than 1000 words of original, unpublished work. The contest is open to residents of North America who are 18 years of age and older and there’s no fee to enter. Entrants will be judged on how well they convey a sense of place and engage the reader while telling a story that relates to the theme.

Entries are due by Saturday, October 31 and winners will be announced by December 31.

Become an official ski bum!

by Kraig Becker on

A few days back we mentioned that Colorado was looking to claim your snow virginity, and was tempting said virgins with a free three month stay in the state, complete with accommodations, ski passes, spending cash and more. But what about us poor schlubs that popped that cherry a long time ago? Are we to be left out in the cold, both literally and figuratively? Fear not fellow snow lovers, because our friends to the north are coming to the rescue. Sun Peaks Resort, located in British Columbia, Canada, is running a contest of their own, as they search for their official Ski Bum for the 2009-2010 season.

As the Sun Peaks Ski Bum, you’ll receive all kinds of special privileges and treatment for three months, starting on January 4th, and running through March 31st of next year. The lucky winner will receive flights to and from Kamloops, British Columbia from the the closest major airport to their city of residence. They’ll also get accommodations at a variety of resorts during that period, as well as a season pass for some of the best ski slopes in North America. And if that wasn’t enough, the lucky bum will also get outfitted with ski gear, including clothes and their choice of skis or a snowboard, amongst other stuff.

The resort does expect you to earn your keep a bit however, as you are asked to blog, tweet, and Facebook your experience, posting new content on a daily basis. The use of social media is to be a mix of video, audio, and written content, but the winner will be provided with a computer, camera, and mobile phone to make the process as painless as possible

And what do you have to do to win the opportunity to become the first ever Snow Bum of Sun Peaks? You simply have to click here to fill out the Official Entry Form and submit a 60 second video clip explaining why you should be chosen for this three month stint of nothing but shredding and partying. All entries are due by November 15, so get working on your entry. Then be prepared for three months of fun in the mountains of British Columbia, and leave Colorado to the virgins.