Blog-beg for a free vacation

Do you like free stuff? Well, if you’re not a newlywed, there are still plenty of ways to score a trip on someone else’s dime. They guys over at HomeAway have set aside $5,000 in prizes at some top-shelf vacation rental destinations. If that doesn’t sound like a lot of cash, consider how much blogging I’d have to do to hit that (hint: a lot). And, the worst part is that all you have to do is what I do!

Just slam out a blog post; you can do it by photo, video or the old fashioned written word. It should explain why you are so deserving of a week of absolute bliss while the rest of us have to suffer. Tie your sentiment to one of HomeAway’s properties. Use the site for inspiration if you must.

There’s a catch. There’s always a catch. The contest ends today at 11:59 PM CST. That’s when the voting begins. You thought rational people would determine your fate? How foolish …

Remember: losing this contest gets you nothing except really cool trip ideas.

Buy a Sicilian villa… for only 1 euro!

Vacation homes abroad don’t scream cheap, so when I saw that the mayor of the hilltop town Salemi in Sicily was selling old stone villas for a mere euro (that’s about $1.42 at today’s exchange rate) I knew there had to be a catch. There is.

The picturesque villas were damaged in the 1968 earthquake and since then have remained unoccupied and left to deteriorate. Then again an old fixer-upper in a charming Sicilian village sort of sounds appealing. That’s Mayor Vittorio Sgarbi’s idea; he wants to get residents to restore the villas to their original character. Once you buy a villa, you have two years to restore it, complying with local architectural standards and hiring local builders, architects, decorators, etc. in order to stimulate the local economy.

Granted you’re probably going to have to factor in 100,000€ ($142,000) for the restoration process, but hey, if you have a hundred grand to spend, isn’t a fabulous vacation villa in Italy worth it?

Still tempted? Go the the mayor’s website and find out more.

[Via Intelligent Traveler]

What You Should Know Before Renting a Vacation Home

Why bother with a hotel when you could rent a house or a condo? It’s become a popular choice for those looking to avoid hotels and find a different vacation experience. If you’re thinking about joining the trend, there’s a few things you should know before signing the lease.

First, make sure you know what you’re getting. These days, most rental agents will post a number of photos of the house or condo on their website — some even offer virtual tours. Make sure you’ve seen at least one photo of every room, so there’s no surprises.

Second, avoid places with lots of stuff. This happened to my family and I when we first moved to the UK. We didn’t know how long we’d be living there, so we rented a furnished house. Often this is fine, but after a couple months we discovered that, to us, their “nice things” were really more like “annoying pieces of crap that clutter up the house.”

Third, try to chat with locals — especially if you haven’t yet visited your faraway destination. Visit local websites, post questions in chat rooms, on notice boards — wherever you might get a response. When I hadn’t yet moved to Texas, and was only visiting, I had luck doing this with the local theater companies. While they didn’t know me, and my reasons for being in town had little to do with live performance, their email address were posted online, and — because I come from a theater background — I figured we’d have similar interest. Generally you’ll find most people are happy to share information about their community when asked.

Above all else, trust your gut. You want to find both a destination and a rental property that suits your needs, and your budget. You’ll know when you find the right one.

An Explosive Vacation Home

One can’t be sure what would possess someone to live on the side of an active volcano, but perhaps even more surprising would be buying a vacation home on the side of an active volcano. Who would find that relaxing?

However, new construction has been rising 20% in the past decade on the world’s most active volcano, the island of Stromboli, Italy. It’s a mystery why there are new multi-million-euro villas springing up on the slopes of this volcano near Sicily, but an article in Newsweek theorizes that it might be Italy’s shrinking coastline (due to predicted increased sea levels) and currently-increasing temperatures. Building on the volcano gives you some cooling elevation, and property values are somewhat less than, say, Tuscany.

If volcanic eruptions–and the stuffed pizza roll–aren’t exciting enough for you, the island also faces a constant threat of tsunami. A 10-meter (almost 33 feet) tidal wave hit the island in 2002.

Lately, the real estate market hasn’t been the only thing active on the island. There have been recent eruptions that are sending lava pouring into the sea and have created a new peninsula. Get your vacation home, while it’s hot!

Photo: Protezione Civile Italiana-AP