When I signed up, I set a profile for myself saying that I tend to look more for budget travel than luxury (that’s an understatement!), I like to be a little off the beaten track, I love multi-lingual more than just English-speaking, and that I seek out both relaxed/fun travel over sporty/adventure and that I require family-friendly trips.

Then I added all the places I could think of, off the top of my head, that I have visited and rated them.

Now, I can go ahead and find recommendations on future travel based on my needs and what I have liked in the past. It could still be a bit of a crap-shoot for me, seeing as how most of the travels I did were prior to having kids when kid-friendly wasn’t a factor for me, but interesting nonetheless.

Once you complete everything, it gives you a map with a bunch of suggested destinations. It’s curious to me, because there are a lot of places that I would actually love to see, and they’re not listed – for instance, there’s nothing in Africa at all, and surely there’s got to be something somewhere in an entire continent that would work for a family. On the other hand, I did set my dream destination as Prague, and it recommended the Charles Bridge in Prague, a place I would definitely love to see.

I think it’s the kind of site that will require some playing and poking around. It’s definitely not an immediate travel site, but if you’re just daydreaming about your next vacation and want some ideas, TripSay is a good place to start!

(photo: Tripsay.com)

Post from: Geeky Traveller

Dinner in the Sky is an organization that will use a crane to hoist you and over 20 of your friends or colleagues way up above the ground so you can eat your meal with an incredible view. You can book yourself for any kind of meal, whether you want to start your morning off with breakfast and heart palpitations, cocktails, or a nerve-wracking full dinner. Each session can also be booked for up to eight hours.

For your session you’ll get a meal for up to 22 people, a chef, waiter, and entertainer, and views you’d never see otherwise. You can also choose from a variety of locations, including castles, vineyards, and more. If trying to keep panic from rising up in your throat is not entertainment enough, you can also book a second crane to lift up some live music or other entertainment.

I can’t even imagine. I have a fear of heights so it would be really bad for someone to spring this kind of surprise on me. Also, what about bathrooms? How annoying would that be to have to have the crane going up and down because people need to pee?

I think I’ll pass. However, although it’s currently only in some European locations and South Africa, there’s talk of it coming to Las Vegas. Maybe Heather over at The Las Vegas Adventurer can check it out and report back to us (haha).

(Source // Photo from Dinner in the Sky

Post from: Geeky Traveller

VibeAgent is another great personalized human-touch website that will give you access to personal stories. You can read a travel guide to try to figure out which hotel you should stay in when you reach your chosen destination, but with VibeAgent you can read the opinions of people who actually stayed in that very hotel. Maybe the book makes it sound classy and it looks good in pictures, but if 75% of the people on the site mention that the service was slow or unfriendly, you can use that information to find youself a better option.

Not only can you search a location for a good hotel, you can further specify what type of place you need. If you’re traveling with a light wallet, you can choose to only see hotels that keep a small budget in mind. If you’re going on your honeymoon, search for romantic hotels that will go that extra mile to make sure you have a very swoon-worthy stay. Want to make sure you’re in a hotel that is smack dab in the middle of Mardi Gras or Spring Break festivities? Choose to search for a lively hotel.

The site may be fairly new but the information available is quite extensive and may keep you busy for quite some time as you sit and poke around to find your dream hotel.

Post from: Geeky Traveller

Over at About.com, there’s a great listing of the top haunted hotels in the United States. From a haunted cruise ship-turned-hotel to the haunted hotel that inspired Stephen King to write the scary The Shining, you’re sure to find somewhere to lay your head down while you keep an eye out for ghostly presences.

Meanwhile, if you’d prefer to get a good night’s sleep in between being scared silly, MoonSlipper.com is a good resource of the most haunted locations in general. Not just US-centric, this site offers spooky spots from the British Isles to New Zealand. Plan an entire creepy getaway.

For Americans who want to stay close to home (or non-Americans coming to visit the U.S.), you can find a haunted city courtesy of Haunted American Tours which lists the top ten most haunted cities in the country.

As for me, I have no immediate travel plans, so I’ll have to make do with choosing from one of three ghost walks listed in the Montreal area.

I’ve never done a ghostly trip, have you?

Post from: Geeky Traveller

I just came across an awesome way to keep your kids – at least pre-schoolers and up, infants may be less enchanted! – from getting too bored and whiny on long road trips. Since some families take their vacation in August, this could come in handy now for the rest of the summer, but it could even help during holidays when you’re driving all over the earth to visit all your family.

This parent shared how he hooked up his GPS service with his kid’s DVD player. He uses TomTom Navigator and a Nokia N95. However, I’m pretty sure any cell phone compatible GPS service would work just as well, and any cell phone with a video out will work too.

Then the smart dad connected the phone to his son’s portable DVD player. They have a constantly changing screen with vivid colors and a navigation voice talking to them through the DVD player’s speakers.

The full details are on his site.

I imagine this wouldn’t work well with kids who are prone to motion sickness, but otherwise it’s a nice break from movies. I know my oldest daughter loves maps and would probably get a kick out of something like this. And we all know that if a little gadget wizardry keeps the kids happy and quiet in the back seat, it makes traveling a LOT more enjoyable for mom and dad too!

(Photo courtesy eirilso.com)

Technorati Tags: gps, travel, gps hack, traveling with kids

Post from: Geeky Traveller

Tank driving would be most people's idea of fun, but imagine the thrill of actually taking part in a tank battle – not with live ammunition, but with paint!! Take it in turns as part of a three-man crew to negotiate a tricky tank course set in a world war II bombing range. Your tank of choice will be a unique 17 tonne FV432 armoured personnel carrier, with specially modified cannons capable of firing 40mm paint rounds.

Okay, more of an APC than a tank, but it still looks like a ton o' fun. Plus, no welts the next day.

Post from: Geeky Traveller

How do you track down pickpockets?
I stuff my wallet with paper and keep it in my pants pocket. Then I linger in prime tourist spots in foreign cities. Sooner or later, someone steals the wallet, and I try to steal it back.

 His advice to travellers: "Stash most of your money in a security pouch that you wear over your shoulder, around your neck or around your waist."

I bought my Wallet 2.0 about a decade ago, on my way to Costa Rica. It fits snugly in my front pocket, and is thus much more difficult to steal. I've gone through at least three of them, and so far I'm batting a thousand on that one.

Post from: Geeky Traveller

Irwin was killed by a stingray barb to the heart on Batt Reef, off the remote resort town of Port Douglas in northeastern Queensland state, his wildlife park Australia Zoo said in a statement.

I've always enjoyed his programs, and he'll be missed. It's much too soon, but I think it's a fitting end for a man who spent his life around deadly animals.

I don't want to dwell on the subject, but what's the deal with stingrays? I didn't know they could actually kill people. Wikipedia to the rescue:

Contact with the stinger causes local trauma (from the cut itself), pain and swelling from the venom, and possible infection from parts of the stinger left in the wound. Injuries to humans include, but are not limited to: poisoning, punctures, severed arteries and possible death.

Fatal stings, such as that which killed Australian naturalist and television personality Steve Irwin, are extremely rare (as of 1996, worldwide known deaths from stingray barb injuries numbered 17), but can occur if a sting punctures the heart or chest, causing complications due to both the sting's location and the poison in the barbs.

Raise a glass of Fosters, everybody, to the passing of this great environmentalist. 

Post from: Geeky Traveller

We rented a little cabin, which looked dodgy on the outside but was newly renovated and quite modern on the inside. Not surprisingly, there was no Internet access (or television or telephone).

There was electricity, but puzzlingly the outlets had these little brackets screwed over them. If I hadn't had my extension cord for my PowerBook, I probably wouldn't have gotten the big blocky Apple power cord into the outlet.

Does anybody have a theory as to why the Lodge would do this?

Post from: Geeky Traveller

They're both talented photographers, and they're taking a ton of photographs from the far east. You can check out both Kris's and Robert's.

Post from: Geeky Traveller