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May 11, 2008

Virtual Backpacking: 100 Things to do with Google Maps Mashups

February 27th, 2008 by Pia Taylor

Ever played around with Google Map ‘Mashups’? If you haven’t, hoo boy have you been missing out!

With these cool online adaptations of Google Maps, you can do all sorts of nifty mappy things like:

Locate your nearest coffee shop/public toilet/fast-food joint
Get a weather overview for wherever you’re headed.
Check out the latest global incidents happening right now around the world (and make sure you don’t stumble into one)
Take the mystery out of wondering where you’d end up if you dug a very (very) deep hole.
Find out what countries you’d pass through, if you walked in a straight line, all the way around the world.

The possibilities are endless, really, given enough bandwidth and web-surfing time, and Google Maps Mania, an ‘unofficial Google Maps blog tracking the websites, mashups and tools being influenced by Google Maps’ has put together a list of 100 Things to do with Google Maps Mashups.

Some of them of particular appeal to backpackers might include:

Finding a nearby brewery
Browsing through photos of the world
Finding the perfect mid-point meet-up
Locating a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Pinpointing a world airport, airline or connection (or make your own map)
Find a popular map in any area
Find out what the time is, anywhere in the world
Watch a travel video (or find a local webcam)
Avoid disease outbreaks
Calculate a New York cab fare
See where UFO’s have been spotted (I kid you not)

And that’s just a drop in the proverbial ocean – Google Maps Mania has many, many more (some of them conveniently organised into a travel-related mashups section). Be prepared to set aside some serious surfing hours, folks – this can get addictive.

Posted in Backpackers Bookmarks, Destinations, General Travel, Travel Guides, Travel Tips & Planning, Travel Tools | 1 Comment »

Schmap Guides: Free Online Travel Advice For Backpackers

February 19th, 2008 by Pia Taylor

Schmap Guides produce regularly updated online travel guides, perfect for backpackers looking for advice, tips and news.The guides are easy to access, free to all, and contain invaluable information about an impressive number of destinations in Europe, North America and Australasia. They cover just about everything: a neighbourhood guide to Amsterdam, events and festivals in Munich, top attractions in New York and loads more, all accompanied by interactive maps to help you get your bearings.

If you’re not yet travelling, or have access to a fast internet connection (and unlimited bandwidth), you can also download it all at once with their Schmap MegaPacks for the world (199 guides), Europe (95 guides) and America (94 guides).

We like, we like a lot.

Posted in Backpackers Bookmarks, Destinations, General Travel, Travel Guides, Travel Tips & Planning, Travel Tools | No Comments »

Backpackers Bookmarks: CoolCapitals.com

January 8th, 2008 by The Backpackers Team

Backpackers considering heading to any or all of European ‘cool’ capitals, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Vienna or Zurich will find today’s featured travel website a good place to gather intel and plan a trip.

CoolCapitals.com is a funky site boasting a wealth of travel and tourism information for the cities, including useful city guides in handy pdf format, as well as links to brochures and other forms of travel information.

Whilst CoolCapitals is not specifically dedicated to the budget traveller, there are some travel deals to be had, and a useful trip-planner for the first-time visitor.

Posted in Backpackers Bookmarks, Destinations | No Comments »

The Times Online’s 50 Best Travel Websites of 2007

November 23rd, 2007 by The Backpackers Team

The Times Online has published a list of what they consider are the top 50 travel websites of the year 2007.

Divided into categories such as ‘networking’, ‘sleep and shop’, ‘fun’ and ‘multimedia’, the list has some great travel sites to share, and is definitely worth looking through for travel ideas and inspiration.

Not all are geared to backpackers (being more about fancy hotels or luxury places to visit), but there quite a few that budget travellers might enjoy:

Travelistic – free video site for travellers.
Ze-Bus.com – ‘A shocking pink website with a good dose of Gallic humour, which will appeal to backpackers and surfers in France’ (we don’t see any pink on the website, but perhaps they’ve changed their look? Either that or we need glasses.)
Travel Turtle – ‘A new travel health website that covers jabs, bugs and drugs’
PassportStamp – site for tracking your overseas visits
Gridskipper.com – absolutely positively one of our favourite urban travel blogs. Ever.

Posted in Backpackers Bookmarks, General Travel | No Comments »

Going Off The Beaten Backpacking Track In Australia

November 16th, 2007 by Pia Taylor

Backpackers travelling around Australia will probably have a must-see list that includes places like the great Uluru (Ayers Rock), Sydney’s Bondi Beach, diving off the Great Barrier Reef, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

But backpackers are adventurous by nature (aren’t we?) so how about heading off the beaten track to paths far less trodden? TheAge recently suggested a few spots you’re less likely to find in your guidebook.

For instance, why not try climbing 75m up a spiral ladder to the top of the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree in Warren National Park, near Pemberton, South Australia. Or have an ‘art-attack‘ in Melbourne.

Well worth reading the whole article – there’s bound to be something there that appeals to your adventurous spirit.

(Photo: Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree by Olly Hodgson)

Posted in Backpackers Bookmarks, Destinations | 1 Comment »

Backpackers Bookmarks: Jamble Magazine - Green Without The Extreme

November 1st, 2007 by Pia Taylor

Here’s a new online travel mag that’ll appeal to all you greenie backpackers out there: Jamble Magazine.

It’s a nicely put together website with an eco-friendly focus (but not to an extreme). Browse through their series of green city guides, read their regularly updated green travel blog, and check out their environment section for info on eco-friendly travel gadgets and trends.

Posted in Backpackers Bookmarks, Cool Travel Blogs, General Travel, Travel Guides | No Comments »

Scandinavia On A Shoestring Budget: Can It Be Done?

June 19th, 2007 by Pia Taylor

After writing earlier about the special deals on Sterling Air flights to Scandinavia, we got to thinking about what would motivate cash-strapped backpackers to visit what are known to be some of the most expensive cities in Europe.

It’s not easy to visit Scandinavia on a budget, but it can be done, with a little help from some of these great resources we dug up.

For overall tips on visiting Scandinavia on a shoestring, it’s worth taking a look at these tips from Terri Mapes, and read through this article, written by travel-guide-meister, Rick Steves.

As far as individual cities go, here are a few useful sites and articles we think are worth checking out:

Oslo, Norway

Streetwise Guide – brilliant online guide dedicated to providing budget tips for backpackers and other independent travellers.
Rick Steves – a few budgeting tips from Rick Steves.
Oslo on a budget – brief article about ways to stretch the budget.
ivebeenthere.co.uk – a few useful tips from people who’ve been to Oslo, including hostel recommendations and places to eat without breaking the bank.
‘How to have a good time in the world’s most expensive city’ – great article from The Guardian. Basically explains the ‘Streetwise Guide’ (mentioned above) and puts it to the test.

Copenhagen, Denmark

ivebeenthere.co.uk – budget tips from travellers who’ve spent time in Copenhagen. Cafes, sights and hostel recommendations.
Visit Copenhagen – tips on the cheapest transport options, free attractions, the Copenhagen card and where to shop more cheaply.
useit.dk – Copenhagen on a ‘low budget’. Tips for free events, cheap sleeps, transport, and an overall city guide.

Stockholm, Sweden

Visit-Stockholm – Stockholm on a shoestring. Tips on where to eat, shop, stay, and even which bathrooms you can use (for free).
home and away – blog about life, language, culture and food in Sweden. Specific tips from a short visit to Stockholm.
i’vebeenthere.co.uk – tips from those folks who’ve been there.

So, there you go – Scandinavia isn’t so scary after all. Just don’t stay too long – severe budget constraints can be taxing on one’s enthusiasm!

Travel resources backpackers might find useful:
SkyScanner – compares prices of low-cost airlines in Europe.
Low Cost Airline Guide – Low cost airline guide, primarily European airlines.
Cheap Hostels – find and book your hostels online, choose from over 12,000 worldwide!

Travel Insurance – instant, cheap travel insurance for backpackers
Travel newsletter – sign up for our free monthly travel newsletter ‘From The Road’

(Copenhagen photo by Trent Maynard/Flickr)

Posted in Backpackers Bookmarks, Destinations, General Travel, Travel Tips & Planning, Travel Tools | 3 Comments »

Backpackers Bookmarks: TravelDodo - Sharing Your Travel Do’s And Don’ts

June 11th, 2007 by Pia Taylor

We just found a new travel website that we think is worth adding to our list of backpackers bookmarks.

It has the catchy (we know not exactly why catchy but we embrace it all the same) name of TravelDodo and it’s your guide to travel ‘do’s and don’ts’ for a growing number of destinations.

Driven by participation from the travel community (or people who happen to live in the places they’re reviewing), it can, of course, be very subjective.

Take this guy’s unusual opinion about visiting the Colosseum in Rome, for example:

To me it is a half broken down old Stadium,where animals and innocent people used to get killed on a daily basis a long time ago. Luckily these times are over (in most parts of the world), so now we should break it down and move on.

Interesting view… And the joy is that if you disagree (we certainly do), you can have your say by creating a ‘do’ to balance the ‘don’t’ (you have to create an account first, though).

The fact that there wasn’t a ‘do’ for the Colosseum at the time of writing this shows the content is a little on the light side at the moment, but hopefully that’ll soon change. If they manage to get the momentum going, this could turn into quite a useful resource for backpackers seeking the inside track on places they’re visiting.

A handy feature on TravelDodo is the use of Google Maps, making it easier to locate the the landmark/destination/hotel being reviewed.

Oh, if you’re going to sign up, a word of warning: be sure to include at least one digit in your password (not specified on the sign up page) or you’ll be pulling your hair out wondering what on earth you’re doing wrong.

Found via Travel Rants – thanks, Darren!

Travel resources backpackers might find useful:
Cheap Hostels – find and book your hostels online, choose from over 12,000 worldwide!

Travel Insurance – instant, cheap travel insurance for backpackers
Travel newsletter – sign up for our free monthly travel newsletter ‘From The Road’

Posted in Backpackers Bookmarks, Destinations, Travel Community, Travel Tools | No Comments »

Young In Europe: Travel Guides For Backpackers, By Backpackers

June 4th, 2007 by Pia Taylor

We’re always searching for new and interesting non-traditional guides to destinations. Part of the reason we changed to what is primarily a blog format a year ago is that it is, by nature, current and relevant – essential for the on-the-road traveller.

Anyone who’s ever travelled using a traditional guide book will know that, no matter how good it may be (or claim to be), there will always be information that is out of date.

Hostels that were supposed to be there, now closed down, which you of course find out at the very last most inconvenient moment (leading to much cussing on your behalf).

The time that it takes to research for, compile and ultimately print a new edition of a guidebook (never mind getting it to the shelves) often can’t keep pace with the world’s swift pace.

But the internet can. It has the ability to be current and entirely relevant. It has the potential to allow for immediate feedback and comment from the travel community, thus giving the information more credibility (or not, as the case may be).

This is why we’re so keen on downloadable travel guides like those provided by ArrivalGuides and the fantastic South-East-Asian focused Travelfish.org

These guides are written by locals, and updated by locals, in close to real-time (certainly closer than a printed edition would be). Spot a mistake, if there is one, and you can immediately alert the publishers and the file can be updated, just like that.

You can print them out, if you want to, or just download them to your ipod, if you have one. Simple, accessible, generally free (hallelujah!) and fast.

Well, we’ve now discovered another internet guide that we think has quite a bit of potential, an interactive destination guide called: Young In Europe.

The idea here is that this is an online travel guide to Europe for young people, students and backpackers…written by the people it is for – that’s you.

It’s quirky and fun, and the activities for each location are broken into the rather unconventional categories of ‘Spare Time’, ‘Dinner Time’, ‘Party Time’ ‘Bed Time’ and, wait for it, ‘Hammer Time’ (uh huh, you read that right).

We think it’s a great idea, and potentially a fantastic travel resource. It depends on the contributions of all of you travellers out there, though, so we hope that y’all will head over and sign up forthwith!

Travel resources backpackers might find useful:
SkyScanner – compares prices of low-cost airlines in Europe.
Cheap Hostels – find and book your hostels online, choose from over 12,000 worldwide!

Travel Insurance – instant, cheap travel insurance for backpackers
Travel newsletter – sign up for our free monthly travel newsletter ‘From The Road’

Posted in Backpackers Bookmarks, Destinations, General Travel, Travel Guides, Travel Tools | No Comments »

Backpackers Bookmarks: Arrival Guides - Free City, Beach And Ski Guides

May 24th, 2007 by The Backpackers Team

We’ve just discovered Arrival Guides, a website offering an impressive series of free destination guides for a very respectable selection of locations around the world.

Available online in downloadable pdf format, these guides, written and updated by local journalists, provide useful tips on where to stay, places to eat, what to see and do, and include detailed maps of the cities and their surrounds (with a handy key to help you find specific landmarks easily).

Cities featured include everything from medieval Carcassonne in France, to Buddhist-temple adorned Yangon in Myanmar (Burma) to idyllic Antalya, ‘pearl of the Turkish Riviera’.

Not only that, though, Arrival Guides also has a growing series of beach and ski guides that are well worth checking out.

Posted in Backpackers Bookmarks, Destinations, Travel Tips & Planning, Travel Tools | No Comments »

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