Travelingking

Imagine . Create . Experience

Bitten by Wanderlust? We have an app for that!

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Wander

Quick Pitch: Wander is a free app that connects penpals and Instagram.

Genius Idea: Gives users the opportunity to immerse themselves in new cultural experiences through their iPhones.

Do you dream about traveling or backpacking through the world and meeting people from different walks of life? Well now you can get closer to that experience with Wander, a free iPhone app that connects penpals with Instagram.

Through photo-based conversation threads, Wander allows users to view and participate in the lives of foreign peers in different parts of the world while also sharing their own lives and surroundings. The one-to-one media-sharing makes the world smaller by connecting strangers on opposite sides of the world through cultural exchanges.

“We realized most social apps are only about saying hello” says Darien Brown, CEO of Wander. “What Wander does is create impossible connections with people who you would never meet, allowing users to explore life in other countries in an interactive, meaningful way.”

To get started with Wander, users have to download the free app to their iPhone and then create a simple profile that includes their age, gender, interests and a profile image. Users can also sign in with their Facebook accounts.

Each day, Wander shows you a new available “guide” or someone in the world who you can connect with. For example, a woman from Japan named Miho may show up on your screen and you can choose whether to connect with her or not.

via mashable.com

I travel a lot, a whole lot! I've made so many new friends around the world and there are so many friends yet to meet! What's a person to do?
(Drum roll would be appropriate here...)
I just found a new app that combines penpals and Instagram allowing me to make friends from my iPhone! How cool is that? Check out this app in Mashable's Spark of Genius Series!

Gratitude is a verb...

Gratitude

I used to live in a world of "Yes, but...", of the half-empty glass, and all the sayings that scream "Barbara, you have a negative attitude!" Why I changed or how it occurred is not nearly as important as the fact that I have had a profound change of attitude. "And why," you ask, "is this relevant here on your blog?"

I travel a lot, a whole lot. I am constantly learning about new destinations, new properties, experiencing places so I can create a magical vacation for you as well as fulfill my passion to explore our planet (and Space, too!). I have visited places of enormous material abundance and those of enormous emotional abundance. Sometimes they are one and the same, often they are not. And, for all of those experiences, I am grateful.

In the past several years of my life, gratitude has switched from a noun to a verb. Daily I review my actions to see whether I demonstrated gratitude or if I indulged in entitlement. Was I "giving" or only interested in "getting"?

Even here, while writing this blog, what is my motive behind my motive? Of course, I want you to remember Great Getaways Travel and call on us to help you plan your next vacation. Yet, there is more than profit motive at work. As we begin to celebrate our 20th year in business, I find my passion for travel has not ebbed; rather, it has increased. There is always a new place to experience, a new food to try, a new friend to make and I want to share my joy of discovery with you. My wish for you is that your life is filled with what we, at Great Getaways Travel, call the "luxury" of experience.

I invite you to celebrate our 20th year of business with us. We are truly grateful to those of you who have experienced our vacations, to those who have helped us created memorable moments for our clients,  to those who are reading this blog, and to the many souls, known and unknown, who have made this journey so satisfying. 

The video below by Louie Schwartzberg, award-winning cinematographer, from a TED Conference in San Francisco,   is our gift to you:

Are you getting yours?

We send our clients a wonderful magazine 6 times a year, VIRTUOSO LIFE. Having already garnered the SATW Lowell Thomas Bronze Award, it now adds the 2009 Gold Eddie FOLIO award! Read on:
 
Virtuoso is pleased to announce that VIRTUOSO LIFE continues its award-winning streak with a 2009 Gold Eddie FOLIO  award for “Best Consumer Travel Magazine,” emerging ahead of fellow competitors in the category, National Geographic Traveler (Silver) and Travel + Leisure (Bronze). This honor comes on the heels of another big win for the publication, the SATW Lowell Thomas award for “Best Travel Magazine.”

View the winning issue here

The FOLIO awards competition is the largest of its kind, this year drawing more than 2,000 entries from a who’s-who of well-known consumer magazines. Other gold winners included Time, Newsweek, Food & Wine, Field & Stream, Harper’s Bazaar, Golf Digest, and Entertainment Weekly. See the complete list of winners here,

 
So, we give our clients a complementary subscription and, if you aren't receiving VIRTUOSO LIFE, we offer you a 1 year subscription free!* Just email barbara@greatgetaway.com no later than 11:59 PM, December 13, 2009, with your name, complete address, and phone number (in case we have any questions). Oh, by the way, you are over 18, aren't you?


*quantities are limited.

Remember when?

On Web pro News I watched a video about StumbleUpon.com.  I’ve used the SU when I want to find new and fresh sites and sometimes just because I was bored. Now I just learned how SU can increase “hits” to websites! The interviewee proclaimed that StumbleUpon “always been around “----for a couple of years or so.” In today’s world of rapid change (that sometimes translates into positive results and sometimes not), two years is a very long time.

In truth, 2 years can be a long time in the world of travel, too. How do we stay current on the world? Does the delightful couple we met in Ravello still own that delicious trattoria---and is it still delicious? Is Andrei still conducting walking tours in Florence? Truth be told, I cannot and choose not to even try to stay current on every change, opening or closing that occurs in the world. I have a few areas of interest and each of us at Great Getaways focuses on his/her passion. I firmly believe in Jack of all trades, master of none. AND---even for my areas of expertise (Africa, Antarctica, Galapagos, and Space---with a splash of China and India), I don’t rely on my knowledge alone!

Because of our membership in Virtuoso, a dynamic group of the top travel advisors in the world, I have representatives in over 70 countries. So, looking for the best vegetarian restaurant in Katmandu? No problem, my friend, Pawan, can not only tell me which is the best, he can tell me the chef’s name!