Enter to win a trip to New Zealand’s Rhythm & Vines Music Festival

STA Travel is hosting their Ultimate Break Sweepstakes which gives travelers the chance to win a trip for two to New Zealand to ring in the new year at the three-day Rhythm & Vines Music Festival. The winner will receive round-trip airfare, luxury campervan rental, grounds pass, and tickets to the festival.

To enter, click here to enter your information. Want to learn more about the music festival? Check out this 2011 line-up announcement video:


STA takes $200 off of ANY FLIGHT until 11AM on Friday

It took us a bit of time to suss out the details, but we’ve now verified it. STA Travel has is having an epic sale on airfares. Basically, they’re offering $200 off of any airplane ticket you can find, provided you book it through an STA agent over the phone or in person.

Here’s how it works: From 11AM on Thursday, July 1 to 11AM on Friday, July 2nd, STA has been offering the rebate on international fares by region. From 11AM to 5PM it was from the US to Europe. From 5 – 11PM it is (was) to South and Central America. From 11PM – 5AM it’s to Africa and the Middle East and from 5AM – 11AM Asia and the Pacific will be on sale.

All you need to do is find your ideal itinerary, take it to an agent (or call them@ 800.781.4040) and then ask them to book the ticket with the discount.

Dubious? We were too, so this afternoon we took a $323 fare from Chicago to Bogota, Colombia to the STA Travel near Gadling Labs in Evanston, IL and asked to book the flight. After ten minutes of typing the travel agent was NOT able to find the same fare that Kayak found — however, she found a similar, $392 fare that was bookable. Subtracting the $200 promo and adding a $30 booking fee, we were thus presented with a bill for $222.

For a ticket from Chicago to Colombia, that’s not bad.

The caveat? There appear to be only a certain number of rebates available for each block of time. Right now the Latin America fares are already sold out, and with more people in the know, Africa/Middle East and Asia fares may go quick. Our advice is to do your research early and pick out ideal flights. When the time comes, call the STA desk and ask for specific flights — if you get the right agent he or she will make magic happen.

Enter STA Travel contest to win trip for two

Would you turn down a trip that would take you and a friend anywhere in the world?

That’s what STA Travel is offering up, in a sweepstakes with Pier 1 Imports.

The grand prize winner gets the trip, plus two $1000 gift cards from Pier 1. Three runners-up get a $500 Pier 1 gift card and a $500 STA Travel gift card.

The great thing about this is it’s open to anyone 18 years and older. Usually STA contests are limited to 18-25 year-olds.

Enter online by midnight (CST) on Sunday, August 30th. Winners will be announced Tuesday, September 15th.

30th anniversary for STA, 30 chances for you to win a trip in April

Trips have officially replaced goody bags as the party-favor-of-choice (and not a moment too soon). STA Travel celebrates its 30th anniversary by giving away a trip every day in April.

Most of the trips slated to be given away are to Europe, but they’re also to United Arab Emirates, Australia, and South Africa, as well as Canada and within the US. It all depends on what day you enter and win. The destination for the first day of the giveaway, April 1st, is United Arab Emirates.

To enter, go to STA’s “30 Days of Free Travel” website after it launches on April 1st. There, you’ll want to provide your name, email, status (student, youth under 26, teacher, or parent), zip code, and where you want to travel this summer. Yes, in sticking with the ’30’ theme, you must be 30-years-old or younger to win.

Africa is calling: students can win trip in video competition

Students, listen up! Want to win a volunteer service trip to Africa?

Alicia Keys’ charity “Keep a Child Alive” and STA Travel are sending two people in January 2010. If you’re interested, you’ll want to apply by submitting a 60-second video that encourages people to text “ALIVE” to 90999. With every text, $5 gets donated to AIDS treatment for children and families in Africa.

Apply by May 1, 2009. First upload your video to YouTube, then finish the application by uploading it to www.statravelers.com/kca_psa_entries. What types of videos are they they looking for? “Creative, imaginative, innovative, and upbeat.”

To enter, you must be a full- or part-time student of an accredited college or high school, and be registered at KCACollege.com and belong to your local chapter. You must also be 18 years-old by 1/1/10.

The two Grand Prize winners will each get a free round-trip air ticket to work with Keep a Child Alive for one week in January 2010. The winning videos will also be aired on KCA TV (YouTube), on www.KCACollege.com, and at KCA events throughout the next year.

Keep a Child Alive is a charity dedicated to providing life-saving anti-retroviral treatment, care, and support services to children and their families with HIV/AIDS in Africa and the developing world by directly engaging the global public in the fight against AIDS.

The winners of last year’s competition just traveled to South Africa this past January. You can follow photos and videos that previous winners (journeywithtinamarie, SaddlerB, Eila401am) took from the trip, and you’ll soon be able to follow their blogs on STATravelers.com.