Archive for August, 2009

Link sharing on TravelofftheCuff.com with Mark Wolinski

August 25, 2009

If you’ve ever heard of the site Digg.com, you’ll be quite comfortable with TravelofftheCuff.com too.

It’s a link sharing and social bookmarking site completely devoted to travel. Readers can submit links to articles and blog posts, and then vote for their favourite stories.

Clicking the “thumbs up” symbol lets people know you like the story. The links with the most “thumbs” get pushed to the top of the list.

Mark Wolinski of TravelofftheCuff.com

Mark Wolinski of TravelofftheCuff.com (and me!)

“Travel Off The Cuff is the only travel news aggregation site out there,” Mark says. And it’s the only site that allows stories to be sorted geographically. Links are assigned a map pin and they are easily found through an integrated mapping system.

Right now, there aren’t a lot of votes, but things are just getting started. The more votes received on the site, the more top-quality content bubbles to the top. It’s easy to register and get started posting links and voting for your favourites.

Education travel experts: Jessie Voigts and Ed Forteau

August 18, 2009

Exploring the world through teaching. This is what Jessie Voigts and Ed Forteau attempt to help you do with their online community dedicated to teachers who have caught the travel bug.

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Ed Forteau, one half of WanderingEducators.com

WanderingEducators.com boasts the largest repository of teaching jobs, internships and conferences in the world.

Teachers can find job opportunities, a welcoming community and practical advice, but there’s also a lot for the non-working travelers.

WanderingEducators.com is a delicious melange of a whole bunch of interesting travel stuff. They’ve got reviews of travel gear and lots of beautiful photos from all over the world, as well as travel guide reviews.

I enjoyed the review of the “Masai Barefoot Technology” shoes and this great list of 100 things to do to make your travel experience better.

Family travel expert: Debbie Dubrow

August 11, 2009

Debbie Dubrow is an ambitious young woman, traveling the world with two children in tow. Instead of leaving her kids at home with the grandparents, Debbie and her husband bring them along wherever they go.

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Debbie Dubrow in Barcelona

She’s got a really informative blog full of advice for parents traveling with children.

Some of her best tips centre around issues like how to keep kids busy on a plane, surviving jet-lag, and flying with carseats.

Currently, the featured article is all about traveling with breastmilk or formula. It’s a tricky situation when getting on a plane! There’s also instructions on how to keep your baby safe when traveling through turbulence on the plane.

Ireland travel experts: Liam and Corey

August 5, 2009

I spent an evening in Chicago with Liam Hughes and Corey Taratuta of www.Irishfireside.com. While waiting for our Italian food to come, (it took more than an hour and then I got sick from it… but I digress…), I learned all about the interesting stuff that they’re doing on their website.

At first, they seem to be all over the map, but when you start talking to them about their business plan, it all makes sense.

Liam makes beautiful jewelery out of shards of antique plates he buys in Ireland and Corey runs the website, which includes a blog on Ireland and an informative podcast.

Corey Taratuta and Liam Hughes in Chicago

Corey Taratuta and Liam Hughes in Chicago

In the summer, they travel around the midwest, selling jewelry to Irish fanatics at art shows.

Traveling back and forth to Ireland all the time means that they know just about everything about that country. So they also guide people (undoubtedly people they’ve met at art shows) around the Irish country side. They’ve compiled all the stuff that they know, along with some Irish news and helpful travel tips onto their blog and it’s become quite popular.

One of my favourite parts of their site is the Ireland packing list. I’m a list fanatic so this is a good one to keep on hand, even if you’re not going to Ireland.

Corey and Liam have taken their Irish obsession even further than the Emerald Isle. They have also traveled extensively throughout America. You can watch videos from their U.S. roadtrip, visiting readers of their blog and getting introduced to all kinds of Irish traditions in America.

If you head to their blog right now, they’re giving away tons of free Guinness stuff for participating in their discussions on Ireland.

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