June 10th, 2008
The dollar may not get you as much as it used to, but if you know how to stretch it as far as possible, and are passionate about sleuthing out ways to get maximum return on your travel expenditure, then Europe String wants to hear from you.
We’re hiring a blogger to take over duties here. If the thought of sharing your tips makes you really excited, and you have a passion for budget European travel, you should apply for a blogger position here at Europe String.
Convince me that you’re the right person for the job by emailing me a letter of interest, along with links to any relevant writing. Knowledge of Word Press and photo editing is preferred. Blogging experience is nice, but is not as important as passion for the topic. Pay is a monthly base plus traffic bonus.
What are you waiting for?
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By Mary Jo -- 1 comment
May 30th, 2008
I’ve decided to take a break from the world of problogging, so I’m leaving Europe String. You can look forward to seeing a new blogger here in June. Thank you to all who have read and commented here!
I’ll still be keeping up my personal blog, This non-American Life, where I talk about my life as an expat in Munich, my travels, and whatever else is on my mind. Stop by sometime!
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By jul -- 10 comments
May 27th, 2008
Back when I was recommending this cool little airplane headphone adapter, I wanted to recommend some noise-canceling headphones as well. Given that this is a budget-conscious travel blog, I stopped short of singing the praises of my husband’s fabulous but pricey Bose headphones
. But then I came across these iceTECH noise-canceling headphones that go for a mere $30. That seems like a small price to pay for some deliciously silent time on a long flight. I love being able to escape from the plane’s engine noise!
Tags: electronics, headphones, travelShare This
By jul -- 2 comments
May 26th, 2008
Just when you thought fast food couldn’t get any more efficient: the Dutch chain Febo offers burgers, croquettes, chicken wings and more… all out of vending machines. There are over 20 Febo locations in Amsterdam, and over 50 in the Netherlands.
Photo source: personal collection
Tags: amsterdam, Europe, fast food, food, Holland, travelShare This
By jul -- 7 comments
May 23rd, 2008
There’s another Theme Day coming up here at b5’s Travel & Culture Channel, and the theme is the letter ‘T’. In that spirit, here are my favorite European destinations which begin with T:
Ticino - this southern, Italian-speaking region of Switzerland is the best of both worlds: clean and well-organized like Switzerland, passionate and full of delicious food like Italy. And it’s absolutely gorgeous, to boot. Ticino includes the lake cities of Lugano and Locarno, as well as castle-filled Bellinzona.
Taormina - this gorgeous Sicilian town is home to one of the most breathtaking ruins I’ve ever seen: a Greek amphitheater which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.
Tampere - I haven’t been there yet, but this Finnish city is on our Scandinavian itinerary for the summer.
Tuscany - it’s hard not to fall in love with this region of Italy, with its rolling green landscape, hilltop towns, and insanely delicious dining.
Thessaloniki - Greece’s second city is supposedly a joy to visit, with a much less touristy feeling than Athens. At least that’s what my friend from Thessaloniki tells me…
Turin (Torino) - this northern Italian city doesn’t make it onto many travelers’ itineraries, but it does have a certain charm worth exploring.
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By jul -- 3 comments
May 22nd, 2008
Last weekend a friend and I headed to the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich. This tourist attraction is easy to reach - take tram 17 north from the main train station for about a 15 minute ride.
The weather has been ridiculously warm and sunny here in Munich this month, and the grounds of the palace were full of folks out for a Sunday stroll in the sun. The grounds are open to the public and free of charge.
There are also various parts of the palace and its surrounding buildings that one can pay to enter. There are various combination tickets available, so I’d suggest checking out the list of offerings and deciding what really interests you before making your ticket purchase. On our trip, we opted just to see the main palace, with extremely informative audioguides. I love it when a good audioguide brings a place to life.
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By jul -- 0 comments
May 21st, 2008
Thumbing through Zagat 2008 Europe’s Top Restaurants
, I became nostalgic for the Zagat books I know from the US - guides which include great recommendations for restaurants at a whole range of price points. Not so for the European guide, in which the prices seem to range from expensive to very very expensive.
Not only that, but the recommended restaurants seem mostly tired and predictable - locales you can find in any upscale guidebook. There’s no insider’s feel to it (despite the fact that I myself have submitted a couple recommendations from the various European cities I’ve lived in :). You’d probably be better off leaving this extra volume at home.
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By jul -- 1 comment
May 20th, 2008
It seems like at least once a week a new travel community website is popping up, expecting to revolutionize the online travel world with their fabulous/unique/outrageous idea. They then contact me as a travel blogger hoping I’ll help them out. Their emails attempt to flatter and charm with expressions like ‘premiere travel blog writer’ and ‘exclusive invitation’, followed by a request to come to their site and submit content, lots of content, full of my travel knowledge.
Dude, most travel bloggers are not looking for places to give away their writing for free. If you want your website to be full of fabulous content, you should either be prepared to provide it yourself or to pay someone to provide it for you. Businesses have start-up costs. It’s a fact of life.
Now there are exceptions to my no-free-content policy, of course. I happily submit reviews on TripAdvisor, for example, because I have received a lot of value from using the site. But there are 10s if not 100s of sites out there hoping to become the next TripAdvisor, and I have no interest in helping your site become the one that succeeds if you think you can buy my content for nothing but ‘exposure’ and ‘bragging rights’.
How do other travel bloggers out there feel about this?
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By jul -- 5 comments
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