Make your early bird reservation for Travel Blog Exchange before January 1!

by Grant Martin on

Time is running out to pick up an early bird registration for the 2010 TBEX, slated for June 26th and June 27th in New York City.

Last year’s event in Chicago was a wild success (at which our own Heather Poole spoke!) and you can expect more of the same for next year. The event should be great for travel bloggers from all corners of the community, with panels, workshops and plenty of hobknobbing to satiate your time. Heck, you might even run into another Gadling blogger or two.

Early bird registration costs $40 for bloggers and $80 for PR and industry folk. After January 1, that price will rise up to $80 and $125 respectively. Book early and get your blogging mittens ready — it’ll be a blast.

Passports with Purpose raises $13,000 to build school in Cambodia

by Katie Hammel on

One of the most difficult parts of travel is visiting a less-developed country, seeing a need, and wishing there was something you can do to help fill it. So four travel bloggers from the Seattle area got together and decided to raise some money and put it to use on a particular project. This year, that project is building a school in Cambodia, and they’ve been joined by over 50 additional travel writers, bloggers and travel websites in raising the funds.

The effort, dubbed “Passports with Purpose” started with a goal to raise $13,000 by December 21. But they weren’t just asking for donations out of the goodness of your heart – those who contribute will be entered to win in drawings for some pretty cool prizes like Flip cameras, Shutterfly gift cards, travel gear, and even free stays at hotels around the world. Each entry costs $10 and you can enter to win the drawing for the prize of your choice. Each prize will be valued at $75 or more.

As of yesterday, the group met their $13,000 goal, but rather than stop there they’ve decided to go even bigger. Now they’ll try to raise an additional $13,000 to staff the school with a nurse, install a water filer, and plant a vegetable garden.

The deadline to donate and win a prize closes December 21 and winners will be announced on January 5. All proceeds from the entries will go directly to American Assistance for Cambodia, an independent nonprofit organization formed in 1993, which works with the Cambodian government to build school in rural villages.

Enter to win Sosauce’s “Decorate Our New Digs” postcard contest!

by Brenda Yun on


Sosauce, a self-proclaimed “travel geek blog,” is looking for the most unique, engaging, and breathtaking postcards that celebrate the saucy side of travel. If you have a favorite travel photo, turn it into a postcard and help them decorate their boring white walls and turn the office into a travel haven. The contest involves mailing a postcard that features your favorite photo. Sosauce will show it off – not only in the office – but all over the web too. Special prizes are waiting for the most unique, engaging, and breathtaking photos of people, architecture,and landscapes.

Anyone can enter! You can submit a postcard for any, or all, of the following categories:

  • People such as locals, workers, natives, portraits
  • Architecture such as historic buildings, monuments, museums
  • Landscapes such as scenery, mountains, nature, the outdoors

The winning prizes for each postcard category include all of this:

  • $50 gift certificate to a restaurant of YOUR CHOICE
  • $20 gift certificate to the Sosauce Store or a FREE Premium Account
  • Editorial bio-pic in the New Faces of Sosauce blog series
  • Online promotional campaign c/o Sosauce
  • YOU as the Featured Photographer of the Day on Sosauce

Each photo will be judged by the Sosauce team in New York City according to best combination of photo composition and creative sense of place. All you have to do is hop on over to Sosauce for to enter. The steps are a little involved, but you get a few cool freebies for going the extra mile.

Instructions after the break.

1. Join Sosauce if you haven’t already
2. Choose a photo from your Sosauce albums to submit for any, or all, of the postcard categories (people, architecture, landscapes)
3. Turn your travel photo into a postcard using the Sosauce Store (Be sure to read the Sosauce User Guide for additional help and instructions with this)
4. Have the Sosauce Store send your postcard to YOU first, then fill out the following on the back of your postcard:

  • Location the photo was taken (destination, city, country)
  • Date the photo was taken (guesstimates allowed)
  • Category you’re submitting for (people, archicture, landscapes)
  • An interesting fact about the photo (i.e. something that is unknown to most tourists regarding that destination)

5. Mail your completed postcard with your full name to the Sosauce office: 151 Lafayette St. Suite 4R New York, NY 10013
6. Enter up to 3 postcards, limit 1 per category.

After going through all that trouble, Sosauce will mail you some saucy stuff as a thank you for entering the contest:

  • 25 FREE hi-res photo prints from the Sosauce Store
  • A Sosauce bottle opener
  • A Sosauce Chili sticker

How to Monetize Your Travel Blog

by Grant Martin on

Chances are, if you’re reading Gadling.com right now then you’ve probably once thought about abandoning your current office job, hitting the road and never returning home. Maybe you’ve even set up your own personal travel blog that has earned a few hits and gotten rave reviews from a few dedicated readers (thanks mom!).

Could you actually make the jump into a profitable, commercial blog though? Could you generate enough creative, interesting content to get enough people to return, browse around and click on some ads? Maybe. But where to start?

Nomadic Matt, the serial traveler/entrepreneur/twitterer has put together an e-book on the topic. As the owner of the (profitable) nomadicamatt.com, he’s got all sorts of experience in e-marketing, optimizing his site for hits and revenue and working the system to make money off of his blog — so he’s compiled all of the information into this book.

If you’re new to the industry and technology it’s probably worth a read. You can buy a digital copy of the book at Nomadicmatt.com, the site from which he claims to earn $3,000 a month with these tactics