Carnival of Blogs #7
New Books. New Contests. New Me. This weeks best of the travel world on the web:
Ron at RTD13 has released a great book on Bolivia. There’s lots of good juicy photos and it chronicles his two month adventure through the country. Ron is an excellent photographer and writer and I encourage you all to check out his book.
Lonely Planet is doing a few things: First- buy one travel book, get one free. Not a bad deal if you are covering a lot of destinations. Second, win a trip from them by writing a 500 word essay about your favorite destination. (MUST BE A FACEBOOK USER FOR THIS CONTEST!!!)
Christine at Almost Fearless is giving away AA miles that are worth a free flight because, like the rest of the world, she hates American Airlines.
Check out two amazing blogs by two amazing writers- Julie at Collazo Projects and Lola at Geo Traveler. I’ve known them for months and follow their work a lot. You’ll notice they guest blog quite often on this site too. My apologies to both of them for not highlighting them sooner. They both write great articles and post great photos.
Ever wonder what life was like in Japan? Look no further. Neil Duckett runs an excellent blog about what it’s life for a Gaijin in Japan.
Looking for advice on travel for women? Check out Beth’s site Wanderlust and Lipstick. She’s a professional travel writer sharing her tips on how to travel safe.
Finally, looking for a luxurious trip to africa? Comcast (a US cable provider) is giving away an 11 day all inclusive trip. Check here for your chance to win.
Over here, I’ve made some changes. I’ve posted two new travel tips: “How to find cheap accommodation” and “Tips for choosing the right tour group.” I have a new comment form that will make things easier when trying to reach me. You’ll notice my lovely new banner.
Most importantl though, I have a new blog. Nomadic Matt was originally intended has 1/2 travelzine and 1/2 personal blog. However, over the last few months, it has migrated to 100% travelzine. It’s no longer a “hey mom, I’m in paris” blog but a website dedicated to providing travelers with tips and advice as well as destination help. Sure, I’ll be writing about where I go and things to do there but I won’t be writing about my life. For those interested in the going ons of my life, you can find me at my other blog: http://mattkepnes.wordpress.com
Thanks, Matt- not only for the shout out, but for introducing me to so many other great sites!
Julie
Congratulations on the new you! And good luck with that two separate blogs thing (shudder).
Thanks Matt, this is a great collection of quality links
And hey, congrats for the new home!
Congrats on the new identity …and some great links and ideas…I am going to check them out and maybe give the Lonely planet contest a shot..
Good luck with the new blog - your a brave man!
Hey, Matt. Thanks for the shout-out. Looking forward to more from you
Some useful links there.. thanks
Dude, I love your site even more…
I added more photos on my post about Ushuaia, so check them out!
Bold move, Matt… looking forward to seeing where you lead us. You have the readers, you have the platform, and you’re not an armchair traveller like some of your competition (is that the right word?)
Are we due a relaunched site in terms of design etc as this new Travelzine still has your name everywhere! Matt, Matt, Matt…!!
Thanks for the links. I have already been following some of them.
@julie: you are welcome
@Jamie: Ohh the other one is easy. Just blurbs about my life.
@ lakshmi/priyank/ant/quickroute: I think you got the wrong idea. Nothing is changing except that I will be talking less about me. In fact, previous blog posts dealing with my first RTW and little updates are being removed from public view. HOWEVER, it is still me, providing experience and advice. So it is a slight shift in content but nothing earth shattering. It’s still me and my guest bloggers helping the world travel better.
That being said I do now own the domain name mybackpackingtrip.com so maybe one day I’ll move the URL but that’s a lot of redirection work lol.
Matt,
I love how supportive you are of other bloggers. You consistently put loads of time and energy into this little community of travel bloggers and we all benefit from it. Thanks, man!
Oh. This question is not intended as blunt as it will sound, but, why’d you do that then? Was it a result of some feedback, or a hunch? I liked the all encompassing mixture of business and pleasure you’ve got going here, it’s a one-stop-blog - Forrest’s proverbial box of chocs. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll probably end up at both sites (ah, two sites, two sets of traffic, twice the revenue…?!)
Some great tips here! Thanks, it’s very generous of you to share it with us. I’ve checked them up