TripSay blog

You can plan a quiet family getaway to a cottage on a lake or plan a trip to El Salvador to throw fireballs at the annual balls of fire festival. Such is the beauty of travel, you can always discover a new experience. Checking out weird and wild festivals is one way to guarantee you have stories to tell when you get home. Here are a few festivals that have a couple of things in common; they are very popular and they lack common sense.

Visit Gloucestershire, England for the Cheese Rolling Festival on May 25^th. This annual event kicks off the wacky festival season. Contestants run down a very steep slope chasing a wheel-shaped Double Gloucester cheese. Most lose there footing at the top and roll down the hill head over heels risking injury for the first prize of a big roll of cheese.

July 1-14^th celebrate the 4^th of July (maybe for the last time) at the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. You might want to be a spectator at this event, 15 people have died and hundreds have been injured running with the bulls since it started in 1924.

In July Berlin is home to the Wasserschlacht Battle. Locals hurl eggs, food and water bombs at each other. The festival has been running for 11 years. It can get dangerous as people get carried away and rioting often ensues.

At the Balls of Fire Festival on August 31^st in Nejapa, El Salvador the locals honor a 1917 volcanic eruption by throwing fireballs (balls of cloth soaked in fuel) at each other in mini battles.

Sept 4^th and 5^th head to Prairie Du Sac, Wisconsin, for the 39^th annual Cow Chip Throw. Cow chip (AKA dried cow dung) throwing has grown to become the most anticipated event in town.

When Moms think about Mothers Day they look forward to the old standbys – flowers, chocolates and brunch or dinner with their kids. While these are all special and heartfelt let’s face it Moms deserve even more. So we thought we would plant the seed and list some of the favorite dream travel destinations for Moms, just a subtle hint for Mothers Day gift ideas for next year.

Here are some of the top travel destination and activity ideas for Moms who deserve nothing but the best, courtesy of Shermans Travel:

• Art Viewing in Florence, Italy
• Shopping in New York
• Spa and Spirituality in Sedona, Arizona
• Theatre in London
• Wine sipping in Sonoma, California
• Yoga in Costa Rica
• And of course we can’t forget a girls getaway to Las Vegas!

Remember not to ask Mom what happened on the getaway when she returns… what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

How would you like to have six weeks of vacation each year? Well unless you get hit with six weeks of unpaid furlough days the chances of getting more than a few weeks off in the U.S. are slim to none.

The Danes are the lucky ones who lead the pack of generous paid vacation recipients. According to a ‘Hewitt Associates’ study Denmark workers average 31 days vacation, followed closely by Austria and Finland at 30 days. Americans, Canadians and Japanese average 10 vacation days a year. Mexicans are at the bottom of the list with only 6 days a year to enjoy the beautiful beaches in their country.

Remarkably 20 percent of Americans don’t use all of their vacation days, so either Americans love their jobs or they just aren’t as well versed at relaxing and enjoying long stretches away from the office as Europeans.

This leads us to the big European May 1st holiday or “May Day” that many Americans know little about. While the Americans head to work on May 1st the party has been going all night in many European countries. One tradition surrounding May Day is Walpurgis Night (Walpurgisnacht) is a holiday celebrated on April 30th or May 1st across Central and Northern Europe.

Historically Walpurgisnacht comes from various pagan spring customs. Bonfires were built to keep away bad spirits. This is followed by the return of light and the sun as celebrated during May Day. May 1st is also a big day for the European labor movement in many countries and it’s a great excuse for a party.

The bottom line is the May 1st holiday is “just another day AWAY from the office”. For Americans the expression is “just another day AT the office”. Fair, huh?

“Happy 1st of May!” or “Hauskaa Wappua, Glada Vappen!“, as we say in Finland.

The grass is slowly getting greener now that the snow has finally melted and more people are enjoying the nicer weather outside just in time for “Earth Day”. TripSay wanted to pass along a few “Green” EcoTravel ideas to commemorate this day.

One of our favorite destinations is Vancouver, B.C. and their Provincial, regional and municipal parks. All you’ll need is your hiking boots for the countless walking and hiking trails near the city. The best time of the year to hike on these trails is in the summer, when all snow and mud is completely gone. Of course, if you’re not planning on traveling to Vancouver this year there are plenty of other options for hikers.

Earth Day is a great excuse for a golfer to get out to the course…as long as you leave the carts parked at the Pro Shop. Those looking to book Golf trips have endless possibilities around the world. The Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland, Augusta National in Georgia, New Jersey’s Pine Valley and Cypress Point in Pebble Peach, California are just a few of the top courses to see. You can play some of these courses by booking many months in advance, the others you’ll need to know someone to get on the grounds. Join our Golf Group to discuss the best golf destinations.

If you’re looking to travel to the U.S. for your green theme, look no further than the “Greenest City in America,” Portland, Oregon. A main attraction in Portland is the Oregon Convention Center, which you won’t need a car to visit with its eco-friendly light rail connection. The OCC was specifically designed with large windows to reduce the need for electricity and also features a water-friendly system to protect the Pacific salmon habitat.

Leave your car in the garage, turn off all your lights and electronics and celebrate Earth Day by walking, biking, hiking, and enjoying the great outdoors, not only on April 22nd, but throughout the year. If you have any suggestions on EcoTravel, lets us know and share your thoughts here.

As we head into Easter weekend TripSay wanted to pass along a few suggestions if you’re looking at taking a religious themed vacation in the near future. Those celebrating Easter this weekend have many options for spiritual getaways in all parts of the world.

The most popular destination for Catholics is the Vatican City in Rome. Each year 18 million people visit the Holy See to pay a visit to the Pope’s residence, and if they’re lucky, see ‘his Holiness’ in person during his weekly blessing in St. Peter’s Square.

The Vatican City also offers many attractions for tourist such as St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museum and guided tours of the Sistine Chapel.

If you’re headed to Paris, France this year, you might want to stop and take a look at the beautiful Notre-Dame Cathedral. 13 million people visit this historical landmark each year, which was built in 1250.

Jerusalem, Israel is another popular destination not only for Christians, but those of Jewish and Muslim faiths as well. Because it is visited by so many faiths, it is considered by many as the holiest city in the world.

If Israel is a little far for some travelers, Orlando, Florida is the home of a new religious based theme park called Holy Land. This unique park brings visitors back in time 2000 years to the land of the Bible with interactive shows and exact replicas of landmarks such as the Garden Tomb where the body of Jesus Christ was buried.

These are just a few examples of the many religious destinations around the world. Happy Easter everyone!

Furlough is the latest catchphrase to make headlines as the global economy countinues to fade. Companies everywhere are telling employees to take Furlough days, AKA “unpaid vacation days“, if they want to keep their jobs.

Being told you won’t get paid can be pretty depressing if you focus on the “unpaid” part, but more people are learning to enjoy the good part of the furlough definition – “Vacation Days”.

Every cloud has a silver lining… empty sayings aside: this is a real usage tip we got from one of TripSay members. When you want to enjoy a trip on the cheap you can get advice from the frugal travel experts in the TripSay budget travel group Student-budget Lodging. Choose travel on your furlough days instead of fretting about lost wages.

TripSay helps likeminded people share travel advice including tips on great value and budget travel. Some other quick tips from TripSay.com on economic travel so you can enjoy a vacation (or Furcation) during your furlough days:

• Take a vacation close to home and check out sites within driving distance. You can find amazing places nearby, as the members of Breathtaking Places group do. Type in your hometown or a nearby city in the search box of TripSay.com and discover great tips on hidden gems in your own backyard.
• Plan to visit a place you have always wanted to see, but never had the time. Furlough days offer a rare opportunity to get away. Check out that destination on TripSay and read tips from likeminded travelers. Many of the comments include the best and worst of each location so you will be sure to spend your hard earned money on only the best attractions!
• Offer your home as a barter accommodation to a fellow furlougher in a city you would like to visit. Trade your house with someone for a week and stay for free.

Just a few ideas to help shift the focus of your furlough days from “unpaid” to “vacation”.

TripSay.com has a lot more Canadian members this month thanks to a TV segment that aired across the country. While visiting Canada to check out the mountains, hotels and restaurants at the site of next year’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler (you can see my post on the trip here: High Expectations for Vancouver 2010), I stopped in at CTV (Canadian Television) national headquarters for a quick interview on the syndicated tech show CTV Webmania.

Webmania is the longest running technology segment in Canada. The tech segment is aired in all of Canada’s top media markets including Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal so this was a great opportunity for us to spread the word and encourage Canadians to join and contribute to TripSay. The Canadian people were very fun and they share the same passion for travel that we do. In fact many of the travel industry people I met in Vancouver were on their way to Berlin for the big ITB event that TripSay also attended.

In addition to Webmania, I met also Jee Yun Lee who is the host of another interesting tech show, Homepage on City Pulse 24. The live interview is embedded below.

To my new Canadian friends; Good luck hosting the Winter Olympics next year and I’ll see you on TripSay.

Last week I visited ITB in Berlin, the world’s biggest travel expo. Some other expos we’ve been to like Fitur in Madrid have been a bit slow as many companies had cancelled their participation just before the event due to the recession but ITB was very much alive and kicking. All the halls were full of companies and people.

Is travel in Europe a recession-proof industry?

Some said it was like previous years and some felt that there were a bit less visitors. I’m not sure which way it actually was but to me it at least looked pretty much like last year. It was good to see that the recession hadn’t hit ITB that hard.

It was impossible, as usual, to find a hotel room in Berlin with both decent quality and price, so I ended up traveling the startup way and living in a well located but otherwise terrible hotel. It was a big upgrade compared to last year though as then also the hotel location was terrible – the taxi driver taking me there was afraid for my safety when he dropped me off. The Casino restaurant at the expo grounds still offered bad food with even worse service but bratwurst was as good as ever. It’s good to know that some things never change, makes you feel safe when going to ITB. 

I had some very interesting meetings during the expo. Hopefully some of those end up as interesting partnerships later! I also spent a very interesting day at the PhoCusWright seminar. There were many very interesting topics covered like socially generated travel guides, semantic web and mobile applications to name a few, all of which naturally interest us at TripSay very much. The seminar content was good although I was missing the discussion on relevance of information – rather than having too much UGC or other content I’d like to see the relevant content for me. I don’t care if there’s a million reviews, photos or other content on a city, sight, activity, hotel or whatever. I just want the ones that I should care about based on what I like. Even the semantic web discussion was more about scanning the online discussions for your brand image rather than using semantic technology to actually help the consumer to find relevant information which to us is of course the more interesting application. Also even though mobile was talked about a lot still it was mostly about iPhone/Blackberry and business travelers. They are the heavy users, yes, but they don’t represent any true volume. We still haven’t seen any major breakthroughs in consumer mobile applications for travel and it might still be a long way to go before that happens. A lot needs to happen in terms of devices, roaming and other things before consumers will adopt mobile apps  in any significant amount.

All in all it was great to see that people were still thinking about the future and innovative solutions. ITB is a must expo for anyone interested in seeing the latest and greatest developments in the industry.

It is always fun to get acknowledged. We are happy to see that TripSay was featured on New York Times. In the paper’s travel section reporter Hilary Howard writes about two new web tools that help in trip planning. She suggests two user-friendly travel sites: TripSay and Fly.com The article goes on:

Tripsay.com, a free social travel network, lets users share their likes and dislikes on destinations and link up with other travelers according to mutual interests. Members are asked to describe their vacation preferences, mention previous trips, and list dream destinations. A recommendation engine will then match them with travelers who have similar tastes and preferences.

Read the full article here.

This media interest further strengthens the trend we wrote about in a previous post. The time is getting right for the next generation of online travel services!

There are three sports events above all: Football World Cup; Summer Olympic Games; and Winter Olympic Games. These are the events that draw the whole world’s attention. Many athletes train for years in order to be at their very best during these events. And there’s fierce competition between cities (and nations) to become the host for the next games.

Each of the events is held only every fourth year. Next up will be the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. I took a journey to Canada to find out about the games. Is there any truth in the legendary Canadian hospitality? Are the venues ready? Would I get to try the tracks myself?

Remembering the previous Winter Games in Turin, Italy, where the organizing committee almost went bankrupt, I didn’t know what to expect!

Vancouver, British Columbia, sets the bar high.

No worries about the stadiums: the sports venues are already finished almost a year before the games. Actually, as a good omen, the first newspaper I read after arriving in Vancouver ran a story about completion of the Olympic Centre.

Sea-to-Sky Highway leads from Vancouver to Whistler, where the alpine skiing and nordic events will take place. Whistler is an alpine-style village with an easy access to both Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. The resort is nowadays better than ever: the mountains are connected with a brand new record-breaking Peak-to-Peak gondola. The gondola runs for 4.4km (2.73miles) in about 11 minutes and provides great views over the creek far below. The lift queues in the resort were reasonable, snow was excellent and the slopes are suitable for the games. I took my chance on the Dave Murray Downhill slope and I can say it takes stamina to get down in one piece. The slope is long and steep! Definitely a world class course!

The nordic events competitions are held in Whistler Olympic Park, some 20 mins by car from Whistler Village. The Olympic Park is ready for the games. And, even better, you have a chance to try out the venue yourself! I tried shooting at the biathlon stadium. My result: five out of five! I also rented cross-country skis to try out the olympic ski tracks. The tracks are technical and a lot of fun. After 16km on the go it was time head back with a smile on my face. Excellent tracks, I recommend you take a day off from the mountains and go cross-country skiing!

All in all, the olympic venues are in great shape. My only worry is transportation. It seemed like a lot of athletics accommodation is still under construction. And there were a lot of roadworks on the Sea-to-Sky Highway. The venues are great but are the sports fans able to get there?

My experiences in both Vancouver and Whistler confirm Canadian hospitality and friendliness. I’m expecting a lot from the games! Good luck for the athletes!