Got Travel? Travel Blogs and Travel Bloggers, Unite!

For some time (100,000 years in internet dog years), I’ve wanted to collect *all* the travel blogs in one spot and organize them by destination. That’s not happening … yet … but I’m very happy to see so many great folks online blogging travel now as well as many lists of bloggers popping up.

An interesting issue in finding the holy grail of travel information is whether people would rather hear from *travelers* or from *locals*. I used to lean to the former – ie I wanted to hear from other folks who had visited a place to get the best information, but it’s become clear to me now that the best source for travel information are well informed local folks – ideally those who are in the travel industry and therefore familiar with a lot of attractions, hotels, restaurants, history, customs, etc. An example for Oregon is … me.

I worked in the travel industry for many years and I know a *lot* about Oregon, especially Southern Oregon. Unfortunately there are not very many people blogging “local travel” from a local perspective. Ironically pretty much all the travel writing blog folks (including me) are so busy talking about their own trips out and about, they are not writing much about their local places – the kind of information that would be simply wonderful if you were to visit a place.

So … my challenge to travel bloggers is to write a few posts about things to see and do in your own neck of the woods. Let me know if you do and I’ll be happy to feature it prominently at our heavy traffic site ”Travel and History”. Please include a bit of history in the travelogue if you can.

Here are some from some cool traveling folks:

Blogs/ Travelers list from Traveling Teri:

Blogroll from Travel Answer Man John Van Kirk:

From Elliot.org

Alaska TravelGram
Almost Fearless
Anders Meanders
Arthur Frommer
Brave New Traveler
Consumerist
Evan Sparks
Everett Potter
ExpertCruiser
Flight Wisdom
Gadling
Hidden Travel Gems
Hotel Blogs by Guillaume Thevenot
HotelChatter
Intelligent Travel
Jaunted
Jeanne Leblanc
LLWorldTour
Marriott on the Move
MaxaBlog
Online Travel Review
Peter Greenberg
PlaneBuzz
Rick Seaney
Roads Less Traveled
Safe Cruise
Ship Critic blog
Southwest Airlines
T2Impact
The BOOT
The Cruise Log
The Daily Traveler
The Practical Nomad
This Just In…..
Tim Leffel’s Cheapest Destinations
Towers and Tarmacs
Travel Babel
Travel Gear Blog
Travel Log
Travel Maven blog
Travel Post
Travel Rants
Traveler 2.0
Traveler’s Check
Tripinator – Travel 2.0
Tripso
Upgrade: travel better
USA Today’s Hotel Hotsheet
World Hum
WSJ.com: The Middle Seat Terminal

July 26, 2010 - Posted by JoeDuck | blogging, blogs, tourism, travel | travel blogs, travel bloggers, travel and history

19 Comments »

Hey Joe,

Thanks for the shout out. I did write about home, just recently
http://www.sharingtravelexperiences.com/four-types-edinburgh-trips/

But agree, most folks only write about stuff far away from home. But everyone loves a good travel story, regardless of the location.

Andy

Comment by Andy Hayes | Sharing Travel Experiences | July 26, 2010 | Reply
- Thanks Andy – good work!
  
  Comment by JoeDuck | July 28, 2010 | Reply
Thanks for the inclusion here, Joe. Actually, I’ve got a whole section of my blog dedicated to my hometown.

http://solofriendly.com/solofriendly-burlington-vt/

I also blog about specific Vermont events, restaurants, etc. as I experience them. Since I only get to travel three or four times a year, I figure why not fill in the blanks with Vermont info for people visiting my home state?

Comment by Gray | July 26, 2010 | Reply
- Gray I think it’s great you are featuring your local stuff as well as your trips, and agree that all of us should be doing that.
  
  I’m fond of Burlington because I grew up across the lake in Plattsburgh, NY – we used to ride bikes over on the ferry.
  
  Comment by JoeDuck | July 28, 2010 | Reply
  - No way! Really? What a small world.
    
    Comment by Gray | July 29, 2010
Couldn’t agree more. Many of my posts have been dedicated to “Weekend Getaways” for travelers wanting to get out of Dodge without breaking the bank. I also write about why women should get out there! Lots of great posts on here. Thanks for sharing!

Comment by WanderWoman | July 26, 2010 | Reply
- Thanks for checking in WW and keep up the travel blogging!
  
  Comment by JoeDuck | July 28, 2010 | Reply
Thanks for calling me cool Joe! I try to incorporate some stories by my hometown, NYC, but when you work 10 hours a day, blogging becomes a little harder.

Comment by Monica | July 27, 2010 | Reply
- Thanks Monica. Hey, why don’t you QUIT work and just blog all the time? Oh, right….
  
  Comment by JoeDuck | July 28, 2010 | Reply
Thanks for including My Itchy Travel Feet, Joe. I often write about my home territory of Tucson and the southwest. There’s plenty of active travel for baby boomers (my specialty) here. I like to mix up blog content between the southwest, domestic and international travels that I’ve experienced. Don’t want my readers to get bored

Comment by Donna Hull | July 27, 2010 | Reply
- Donna good stuff and I’m glad you are a local voice as well as a travel blogger.
  
  Comment by JoeDuck | July 28, 2010 | Reply
What a nice surprise. Thanks for including the Got Passport family in your list! We’re in Chiang Mai, Thailand now and will definitely be writing all about this great town and more! cheers!

Comment by Aye Got Passport | August 1, 2010 | Reply
Joe,
Thank you and Traveling Teri so VERY much for including me on your list of cool travel folks! What a nice surprise to come home to. I have been in Huatulco the past week with my grandchildren.

Stephanie

Comment by Travel Designed | August 1, 2010 | Reply
lovely! thanks for the link:) have linked you back!

Comment by agentcikay | August 3, 2010 | Reply
Hi Joe,

Thanks for the massive lists; good work.

It’s a bit hard to write about “home” as we’re almost never there! We did a photo essay on our home city of Auckland while we were there … Not sure if it counts.

Cheers,
Craig

Comment by Craig | August 6, 2010 | Reply
- Thanks for the note Craig – I think your Auckland piece is exactly the right idea – “visit” your home city through the eyes of a traveler, but with all the experience and cultural wisdom only a local can possess in great measure. Blog on!
  
  Comment by JoeDuck | August 6, 2010 | Reply
Thanks for putting us on this most excellent round up!

As full time nomads without a homebase, it would impossible to write about what is local to us. In a way, all of our posts about places are about our home for the moment

Comment by Cherie @Technomadia | August 8, 2010 | Reply
- That’s cool too Cherie – I’d sure like to a very rough number of what I’d call “real Travel bloggers” which would be everybody who blogs a travel item at least one a week in any venue. I used to think it was extremely high but I no longer am convinced of that – a lot of folks stop blogging after a few months or years, and most don’t talk travel.
  
  Comment by JoeDuck | August 8, 2010 | Reply
Thanks for the great list. it really helpful to us. We used to our work very easily.

Comment by Ramesh Dahal | August 9, 2010 | Reply