Group Messaging: SXSW’s Hot Topic, And Good News For Travel



It’s not easy  to wrap your mind (or your body) around this year’s South by South West (SXSW)  music festival and industry conference just completed in Austin, Texas.



There seemed to be, as Allison Fenterstock writes in…

Newfoundland: Sea, Solitude And Song





There’s something about Newfoundland, Canada, that gets under your skin.



I think it comes from the disarmingly warm and open people.



And it comes from the aching loneliness of the surrounding sea where Lilliputian…

Three Great Non-Travel, Travel Books



Often a non-travel novel creates the vividness and depth of a town or village or city better than  travel book might.



But recommending a book is always tricky, so here are three recent reads and likes:



In Travels with a Tangerine, Tim Mackintosh-Smith  sets out to follow the footsteps of…

The Mexican Cultural Institute  in an Antonio, Texas, or Instituto Cultural de Mexico  has one of the worst web sites I've seen, yet one of the most stunning collection of art I have ever seen.















Virtually unknown even to those who live in San Antonio, this…

Travel Trends 2011: Truth, Myth and Pith



The bright researchers at PhoCusWright  consistently deliver quality insights and information about travel industry trends, but  translating their lofty “market-speak”  into language  travelers can use, can be  daunting.



The…

What  Can A Grocery Store Teach Travel?



So why isn’t the travel industry using Foursquare to increase business and build a loyal travel base the way Vons is?

Contrary to what the puerile think, Foursquare is not about badges and mayors.



The location based service giant is…

JetBlue’s Manager of Corporate Communications, Morgan Johnston, says “The mission of JetBlue is to ‘bring humanity back to air travel.’



If that isn’t Mission: Impossible, what is?



So when I read that NY Times best-selling author and  online community expert,…

Yosemite And the Unexpected Visitor



Please listen to this Yosemite Audio PostCard, a story about this national treasure and an unexpected park visitor .…

World’s Best Hotels: TripAdvisor’s  2011 Travelers Choice Awards



When TripAdvisor came out with its highly-publicized list of the world’s dirtiest hotels, many thought it was a shameless grab by the review giant for publicity.



But others, including MSNBC, reported that the traveling public appreciated the list and used it in planning their travels.



Now TripAdvisor gives us their…

Night Travel

What is that I grasp, I miss

When half awake or half asleep I feel such deep, deep longing

Knowing only the rich sadness

The ache

I glimpse a red checkered skirt

A fragment of fabric at the corner of my…

When Will We See The Pyramids Again?



The questions as to when travel to Egypt will resume, and Egyptian itineraries re-established are big ones among the decision makers in the US travel and tourism industry, and are being discussed daily.

The United States Tour Operators Association…

Fertility Tourism: Selling Women’s Eggs for Big Bucks and Travel



“Female Eggs For Sale” may not be a sign you’ll see any time soon, but for all intents and purposes that’s what the global market for harvesting and selling women’s eggs is all about.



The in vitro fertilization market is a billion dollar industry that touches almost every country in the world. It touches the wealthy neighborhoods of London and reaches  into the Americas, Asia and the…