experiment

I am trying to see if I can make the hyperlinks work.

Lonely Planet ad for authors

If you've ever wondered how Lonely Planet gets their authors then check out this blurb from their site. Of course they are always looking for someone specific for a line they are promoting at the moment. No book proposals please.

Become an author

Guidebooks
Updated September 2010

Each month we receive many applications from people who want to be authors for Lonely Planet. We read them all, then invite those with promise to submit a writing sample. We set the bar high. Last year out of over 500 applications we recruited eight new authors. We have more than 200 skilled and experienced freelance authors working on guidebooks from Sydney to Senegal and currently all our needs are met. If you’re interested in being an author for LP, come back to this part of the site in October for the latest update, and if we’re recruiting for someone with your expertise, please drop us a line.

Naked vacations -- the new way to go?

I received this PR release and thought it was so funny, just had to share it:

Skyscanner USA Reveals the Five Best Naked Vacations
From: "Skyscanner"

During January to April of 2010, the U.S. airline industry raked in over $760 million in baggage fees alone*. Holidaymakers who are fed up with paying excessive baggage charges should consider a “nakation” – the ultimate way to pack light! In fact a recent poll revealed that 2% of holidaymakers took a nakation just to avoid paying baggage charges.

With no bulky clothes, packing for a naked holiday is simple. Just remember ample supplies of sun block! Cheap flights comparison site Skyscanner.com reveals the top five places to strip off.

Naked Sauna – Kotiharju, Helsinki, Finland
Finns have long enjoyed getting hot and naked with their friends and the country boasts an average of one sauna for every household. The Kotiharju Sauna in Helsinki claims to be the only remaining public sauna in the city that is still heated by a wood burning stove and is highly recommended as a place to strip off with up to 30 other strangers and steam yourself silly.

Naked Golf – La Jenny, France
Easily reached with plenty of cheap airfare to Europe, La Jenny naturist resort in South West France offers Europe’s only naked golf course. With six holes spread over 22 acres, as well as an indoor and outdoor driving range, golfers can forgo the sometimes-tacky, plaid pants in favor of of a more natural look!

Naked Village – Costa Natura, Spain
This cosmopolitan village on the Costal Del Sol has nearly 200 apartments and was the first naturist settlement in Spain. Fans of nakedness enjoy the freedom of roaming in their birthday suits in a quiet, secluded place with fellow nude enthusiasts. Holidaymakers can grab flights from New York with a connector to Malaga and get naked with the villagers in no time.

Naked Festival – Japan
Every year in the town of Okayama, 9,000 scantily clad men take to the streets to celebrate Hadaka Matsuri – Naked Festival. An important Shinto tradition, the event has become popular with tourists who also join the locals dressed only in loin cloths. The festival cumulates in a giant naked scrum where participants try to touch a ‘special naked man’ who is believed can absorb all bad luck.

Naked Scuba Diving
If coming close to creatures of the underwater world isn’t exciting enough – why not take skinny dipping to new depths with a naked dive? Buff Divers is a company that offers ‘clothing optional’ scuba at sites all around the world. Cold water dives are obviously out, so expect tropical locations and warm seas. Naked divers should watch out for stinging creatures, spiky sea urchins and stray conger eels.

About Skyscanner:
Skyscanner is a leading travel search site providing instant online comparisons on flight prices for over 670,000 routes on over 600 airlines.

PR Contact:
Scot Carlson

Are Travel Guidebooks obsolete?

It doesn't look like they are according to the following AP article. But this is topic number one among guidebook writers on gather and discuss stuff on various writers lists. One thing is certain...books are being written with more and more apps in mind.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20100513/ap_tr_ge/travel_cybertrips_evolving_guidebooks_1

Travel Writing Prize

This announcement was forwarded to me from another travel writer - so if you have ever been to Heidelberg or plan to go, make a note.

Heidelberg Announces World's Largest Travel Writing Prize

New York City, June 14, 2010---Dr. Eckart Wuerzner, the Lord Mayor of Heidelberg, announced a new prize, the Heidelberg Mark Twain Award, for travel writing about his famed German city. The prize, which will be awarded every three years, includes a prize of Euros 5,000 and an all-expenses paid trip for two to Heidelberg in September 2011. This is the largest single travel-writing award in the English language, to the sponsor's knowledge. The contest is administered by the Heidelberg Club of New York, which is also selecting the judges for the event. The contest invites articles, books, videos and movie submissions, but not still photographs. First submissions due December 15, 2010, second and final submissions are due by April 1, 2011.

Full details and Official Rules on Heidelberg Club International website, www.hcionline.de, click on HCI Awards program. Questions? Email marktwain.heidelberg@gmail.com.


Robert Haru Fisher, Columnist & Contributing Editor
www.frommers.com
email bobharu@aol.com
www.bobharu.com, www.travelwritingworkshop.org, www.madtravelwriter.com

Samuel Adams Beer Tour

Just got back from a short vacation in Boston. Took a few tours -- inside Fenway Park, the Boston Public Gardens, a visit to Concord and the skywalk at Prudential Center. Will get around to writing about them at various article repositories since this blog is not meant for travel articles as much as articles about travel writing.

Anyway, here is my first -- the Samuel Adams beer tour which features free beer!
http://massachusetts-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/free-beer-on-the-samuel-adams-beer-tour

Travel Writing Class

Here's a press release about an online travel writing course. Don't know if it's any good or not but the Gotham Writers' Workshop has been around for quite some time. Of course newspaper and magazine writing gigs are shrinking so I hope they include a list of paying gigs from the online world.

Learn Travel Writing Online with Gotham Writer's Workshop and the New Yok Times Knowledge Network

New York, NY (4/6/10) Gotham Writers' Workshop to present online Travel Writing workshop in collaboration with The New York Times Knowledge Network.

Aspiring travel writers can now learn their craft from any location on the globe - so long as they have an Internet connection - when they enroll in Gotham Writers' Workshop's 11-week travel writing workshop presented in collaboration with The New York Times Knowledge Network.

This comprehensive online class will be taught by Colleen Kinder, author of the guidebook Delaying the Real World (Running Press), and features a week-long online visit with Michelle Higgins, the "Practical Traveler" columnist for The New York Times.

During the first 10 weeks of class, the instructor covers the full spectrum of travel writing from newspaper and magazine articles to guidebooks to travel memoirs and essays. Students learn how to choose destinations and story angles, research ideas, utilize travel resources, craft compelling travel pieces, tailor work for the marketplace, and more. During the final week, the guest columnist answers student questions in a week-long Q&A.

Gotham's online writing classes, selected "Best of the Web" by Forbes, feature everything one would find in the school's popular New York City workshops-lectures on craft, class discussions, writing exercises, and personal feedback from a professional writer. The small class size, only 16 students, facilitates discussion and extensive student-teacher interaction.

Appropriate for the beginning travel writer or an experienced professional, the school's travel writing workshops help participants take their writing to the next level. Busy writers and travelers appreciate the online format that fits any schedule, allowing students to participate in class from home, the office, or an Internet caf? in some distant land.

This Travel Writing workshop begins on May 11, 2010. Early enrollment is recommended as class size is strictly limited.

Interested students can obtain additional information or enroll by visiting NYTKN.WritingClasses.com or calling 1-877-974-8377 toll-free.

Gotham also offers a five-week How to Freelance online seminar and eleven-week Article Writing I, Advanced Article Writing, and Food Writing workshops in collaboration with The New York Times Knowledge Network.

The New York Times Knowledge Network was launched in 2007 to deliver lifelong learning programs on timely subjects, pairing a rich array of Times articles, archives, graphics and multimedia content - and the participation of Times reporters, columnists and editors - with faculty course material at participating colleges and universities. These online programs are a significant expansion of a program that has provided copies of the paper, accompanied by curriculum guides, to faculty at colleges and universities for several years, bringing the resources of The Times into classrooms as part of the learning experience. With this Knowledge Network, Times resources are readily available to students online, whether they are enrolled in an on-campus course or continuing their education through a distance learning program

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For additional information, contact Andre Becker, President, Gotham Writers' Workshop via email andre@write.org or by calling 1-877-974-8377.