Welcome to the Vagobond Travel Museum!
The web is full of great travel blogs, travel stories, travel photos and travel videos – the hard part is finding them amidst all the garbage.I curate the best travel stories I find and bring you the highlights.
One of my favorite blogs is Barbara Weibel’s Hole in the Donut – this week she is exploring Peru and the cultures that once (and still do in some cases) exist there. One of the great things about Barbara is the way she delves into the cultures she visits. As an amateur anthropologist – this is a blog of goodies for me.
Fox Nomad explores the complexities and realities of getting a Schengen Visa. Don’t know what the Schengen Zone is? Read on. Obviously, you have a passport from a country that lets you go anywhere you want.. “The Schengen Area currently consists of 26 countries in Europe including Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, and Greece. You can see the full list of current members here. Some notable exceptions are England and Ireland (both EU but not Schengen). Several countries you might not expect also part of the Schengen Area include Estonia, Latvia, and Malta. Bulgaria and Romania are likely to join the Schengen club later this year.”
Lonely Planet published this piece on the Hawaii of Japan this week – for me it just points out how wonderful the real Hawaii is, since whenever an island paradise wants to sound perfect they tout themselves as the “Hawaii of…” Still, Kagoshima sounds like maybe Oahu could be the Kagoshima of Hawaii..
Travelocafe took a visually delightful wine tasting tour of the Croft Winery in Porto, Portugal this week – “Just after we finished our boat trip up and down the Douro River, our ever surprising and resourceful guide, Luis from EcoTours Portugal asked us if we wanted to go for a wine tasting before saying goodbye to him. Hell yeah!” – one of my favorite cities and wineries ever.
In terms of video – this week let’s shout out to flight attendants – they’re not all bad.
Here is something completely awesome in a different way. Blogville! Bloggers will now have their own home, a perfect place from where they can start to discover Italy and the Emilia Romagna region. I’m going to be there in April and then in June – are you? Come join me!
Gadling let us all know that we can finally breathe easier this week as In honor of its upcoming 100-year anniversary, the Château Laurier Hotel in Ottawa is offering an amnesty for anyone who has pilfered something from the hotel over the last century. The historic, castle-like hotel in the Canadian capital put out the call for the items on February 23, 100 days before the 100-year anniversary, and has already received more than 60 items from people all over North America. Whew!
Finally, here is another way to see the world without burning through your pocketbook. Trustedhousesitters.com was founded by Andy Peck after realising need for a comprehensive house sitting website where homeowners could search for ideal house and pet sitters, view references, photos, relevant house and pet care experience, police check information, and even video profiles.