I love travel. I once studied Travel & Tourism because I loved it so much. I also love anything that can be considered geeky. As a result, writing for Geeky Traveller was such a wonderful opportunity and experience for me.

However, lately I have felt that a site such as this would be able to flourish so much more, in the way that it deserves, if another blogger took the helm. As a result, today I bid you a bittersweet goodbye. I have so enjoyed finding great travel-based sites to help you out or gadgets that can make your travel life more fun, more interesting, or just more geek-based.

I’m not completely leaving the Internet though! I write several celebrity blogs (PittWatch, Britney Groupie, Aguilera Buff, and Style Crunch) and also maintain a personal site (Chaos Theory) if you’d like to stay in touch. Please feel free to drop by my other Internet “homes” and say hello!

Thank you so much for being here and do stay tuned for the next chapter of Geeky Traveller!

Photo: Flickr

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I’d like to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my American Geeky Traveller readers. I hope you have a wonderful holiday – and if you’re traveling as many people do during this season, please do so safely!

(image: sxc.hu

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I’d like to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my American Geeky Traveller readers. I hope you have a wonderful holiday – and if you’re traveling as many people do during this season, please do so safely!

Post from: Geeky Traveller

The printer is an all-in-one system which allows you to copy, scan, and print – including ultra hi-def photo printing which is what you want if you’ve taken photos of special places on your trips. The Artisan 700 can print photos as quickly as ten seconds each, which is impressive to say the least – certainly better than the old days when you had to drop your film off and come back two days later for the prints!

There are plenty of bonus features on the Artisan 700 which make it a great printer. If you print directly from your camera card, you can use the large LCD to preview the photos and even do auto-correction basics directly at the printer, giving you the best possible images. And if you’d like to back up your photos to a CD, it allows for professional quality CD and DVD printing, so you can personalize the label.

I think my biggest pet peeve with electronics is all the wires tangling everywhere, so one of my favorite things about the Artisan 700 is the fact that it comes with built-in Wi-Fi. There’s one lone wire to plug it in for power, but that’s it – no annoying cables running from your computer to the printer.

While testing the printer out, I scanned some photos and was able to retouch them, fixing tiny tears and faded areas, and I printed out several new photos, all of which were very professional looking. I also printed some documents (handy if you need to print out an itinerary for everyone in your travel group!) and used the very eco-friendly two-sided printing to cut down on paper use.

It also came with software that allows you to play around with your photos before printing, allowing you to try out special effects to make them stand out. If you’re not familiar with Photoshop or don’t own it, you’ll be thrilled to know that you can still edit and personalize your photos this way.

Overall, I can only give this printer positive reviews. It’s extremely easy to set up and to get it connected to your network via Wi-Fi. It’s also simple to use and very fast. My husband printed several things from his office down the hall and by the time he made the short walk out to the living room where I work and keep the printer, his documents and photos were already waiting for him. As a nice bonus, this is not your ugly, awkward, and clunky printer of years ago – this printer is sleek and attractive and I don’t mind having it set up in my living room where visitors will see it. When we had a group of friends over for a party this past weekend I made sure to show them the Artisan 700 and when one mentioned needing to buy a new printer I immediately recommended this one.

For a suggested retail price of $199, you really can’t go wrong by choosing the Epson Artisan 700. If you’re in the market for a printer so that you can enjoy beautiful prints of your vacation photos as well as the general handiness of a good printer, I definitely recommend that you go check this one out at your local computer/electronics store. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Image: Epson

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I’ve written about the bag before, and I also have one of the LowePro shoulder bags. They’re great quality, so do check it out!

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At the moment the service works with Alaska Airlines, United, Delta, Continental, and U.S. Airways, although more may be added soon as the service grows.

When you search and find the fight and airfare you’re seeking, Yapta then gives you the option to track both the airfare and the award seat availability on specific flights. At any point that a seat is available or the airfare is lowered, Yapta then sends and email to you.

That’s pretty darn handy!

Image: Flickr

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HP has now released their HP Mini 1000 which you can get for $400. First of all, $400 is an excellent price for a laptop!

But better than that, what makes it so perfect for travelers is that the largest size is only 10.2″ diagonally, it has a nice tiny weight of just over two pounds, and it still manages to have a keyboard that is almost full sized.

I wouldn’t want this as my regular laptop because it’s a bit too small, and it might not work for you if you need a larger display for some reason, but for the average person it’s just right for using it on a bus or an airplane and for toting around with you.

Image: HP

(Source: Geeksugar)

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The airline did a survey to see what travelers would pay an extra ten dollars for, including being in the first group to board or get off the plane, faster baggage delivery, shorter security checkpoint waits, premium snacks or meals (I’d totally pay for that!), in-flight web access (yes!), a freshly laundered pillow and blanket set that you get to keep (I reviewed that set here).

Some of the services that you can choose to save yourself ten bucks include not checking baggage, giving up your frequent flier points, being among the last to board, checking in via kiosk instead of an agent, or choosing to sit next to people with babies/small children.

Based on their survey results, Westjet will get ready to offer up what is basically a la carte flying. What do you think? What would you pay or save ten dollars on?

Full story here.

(Photo: Flickr)

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By checking out Trip Kick you can find out which rooms are the worst for noise (like a room over the kitchen, dining area, or on-site club – something you might not realize until you get there), which have a lousy view of the highway, which rooms have the most space (handy if you’re traveling with family), and which rooms are strictly non-smoking.

It’s just one more way to really be sure that you get the best out of your stay and will save you the hassle of trying to argue for a new room when you check in – or worse, being stuck in the loud, smoky, room-with-an-ugly-view in a completely booked hotel with no options to switch.

Thanks to Mark for the tip // Image: SXC

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Anyone who’s been reading this blog for awhile knows that I’m a big digital camera fan. I love photography and the advances in the digital world make it easier than ever.

If your next trip involves snorkeling or even just swimming, check out Hammacher Schlemmer’s Digital Camera Swim Mask , the first and only one of its kind so far.

Not only is it a swim mask it has a fully integrated waterproof camera on board. What makes it so convenient is that you are then free to swim as you normally would without having to carry around a bulky waterproof camera in one hand.

What really impresses me is that this isn’t just a little novelty camera attached to the side of a pair of goggles. The camera is 5 MP which is really nice, and it is waterproof up to a depth of 15 feet. Meanwhile the lenses on the mask contain crosshairs which can be used just like the focus features on a standard camera so that you can line your shot up. You can choose between still photos or video footage and you’ll actually see an LED in the mask telling you what mode you’re in.

The camera can later be hooked up to your computer via USB cable, and it contains 16 MB of internal memory with the ability to allow for microSD cards for more memory. The whole thing runs off 3 AAA batteries and will cost you $99.95 which is a really fantastic price.

(source – TrustyPony // image – Hammacher Schlemmer)

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