Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Work of Art Contest Winners and July Freelancers
Hello Trazzlers--
What a busy couple of months it has been!
We've been holding back on sending out our newsletter this month, because we have a big announcement to make about our next contest in mid-July... in the meantime, I wanted to announce our contest winners and July freelancers here.
Work of Art Contest Winners:
Kendra Hoover, Julie Hammonds, David Chachere, Kimberly Wadsworth, Anne-Sophie Redisch, Sami, Hrvoje Karalic, Gladys Glover, Yoshi Salaverry, and Beth Green.
Work of Art Contest Entries
This month, we are returning to some of our favorite writers to get another batch of trips, hiring contest contenders who caught our eye, commissioning sponsored trips for specific destinations, and digging back many months to hire writers who have been on our list of potential freelancers for quite a while.
July freelancers:
Nicholas Rowlands | Shara Johnson | Troy Nahumko | Robert Ellsworth | Clair Whitmer | Fayette Fox | Mollie Day | Summer Whitford | Yiannis Ifantides | Irina Vodonos | Galen Leeds | Billy Gonzalez | Rich Carriero | Donald Mammoser | Angela Allan | Christopher Johnston | Annie B Shapero | Daniel Djang | Muon Van | Greg Thomas | Paul Koning | Ashwin Sodhi | Christine Cantera |
Trazzler's user base is growing rapidly and our budget for freelancing will continue to increase in tandem with the site. We know that none of our growth would be possible without the contribution of our community team, freelance writers, and contributors. Trazzler is a lean--and decidedly uncorporate--operation. Although the last year has been a bit of a financial obstacle course, our commitment has always been to dedicate a high percentage of our budget (currently 26% compared to an average of 13% in traditional media) to hiring those writers who embrace the idea of Trazzler and have a one-of-a-kind contribution to make.
Writers: You can help us find the right assignment for you by updating your Trazzler bio (under settings) and adding your area of expertise and the countries, regions, states, or cities that you would like to write about. More and more, we hope to be able to offer contracts to write a block of trips about a specific regional or topical beat. We realize that many of you who submitted excellent samples might slip through the cracks if we don't know all of the places you can write about. We will be offering many more contracts over the coming months and are always going back through all of the writers who submitted trips to find the best ones for each assignment, so please stick with us!
Also coming very soon: writers will be able to see when a trip has been read by an editor. We will also be using this blog to post details about specific writing gigs as they become available, so you can have a chance to let us know that you are interested (Twitter @trazzler is a good way to get our attention). We have really been overwhelmed (in the best of all possible ways) by the quality of the writing that we have received and we are determined to improve our responsiveness and communication.
--Megan
P.S. Check back in on July 14 for our big summer contest announcement.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
May Newsletter: Work of Art
Hello Trazzlers--
Pablo Picasso once said: "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." (A stain remover for the psyche!) And can't the same be said for travel? As the days get longer, steal a moment for yourself for a weekend getaway, a day trip, or even just a walk across town to a different neighborhood... And why not seek out some art while you are out there (and share it with us)?
May Contest--Work of Art
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/work-of-art
End date: June 15, 12pm EST; 5pm GMT
Prize: $250 contract to write 10 trips
We've found that taking on an entire museum in a Trazzler trip doesn't do justice to the works contained within. So this month we are going to narrow the focus a bit and write about a particular work of art that is a microdestination unto itself--be it a favorite painting, or room of paintings, at a museum just down the street... or a masterpiece that you saw on a trip that you can't get out of your mind.
We're leaving the concept of a "work of art" quite open to interpretation. It could be a room of Calder mobiles, a mural that captures a neighborhood's history, a nationalist painting that engulfs you with its symbolism, a series of curvaceous street sculptures, an industrial wasteland transformed into a garden of graffiti, ancient paintings in the Kalahari desert...
For inspiration, have a look at some past Trazzler trips that fit the bill and more recent contest entries: work of art.
See rules and more contest information.
April Contest Recap--Local Institutions
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/local-institution
Prizes awarded: Twelve $250 contracts to write 10 trips
We are happy to report that local institutions are alive and well. The submissions were--to reduce it to one word--eclectic: a polka bar time warp in Minneapolis, an outdoor cinema in the shadow of the Acropolis, a decidedly non-corporate bookstore in Chicago, a classic corner hangout in Buenos Aires, an indie record store in Nashville, a beachside Balinese seafood shack that comes with a friendly cooking lesson... Find a local institution near you.
April Local Institution Contest WinnersAdam Bailey
Peter Dorrien Traisci
Simon Gray
Ifang Hsieh
Brian Lauvray
Marian Liou Black
Doug Mack
Amiee Maxwell
Alicia Miller
Diana Springfield
Jessica Stout
Christina Tse
Why Wishlist?
To move from trip to trip on Trazzler.com, you can hit "skip to next" or "add to wishlist." Over the next month, we will be launching drastic improvements to our recommendations engine. We have thousands and thousands of trips and we would love to help you find the very best places to dream about--and we hope--travel to. The more trips you wishlist, the more accurate our recommendations will be.
Welcome Twitterers!
Thanks for following--today we topped 360,000 followers. You can always contact us with feedback and questions @trazzler. Our editors cherrypick their favorite trips every day. We have some big plans on Twitter this month, so follow along.
Megan Cytron
Executive Editor
P.S. If you have any questions or feedback, you can find us @trazzler on Twitter or on Get Satisfaction.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Paying for Writers - A New Model
The decline of print publications is back in the news. With the advertising market gone sour, budget problems are bad and jobs for professional writers are disappearing faster than ever.
Oddly, print people continue to blame paltry internet revenue on the biggest, most successful internet companies that are only peripherally related to their own problems. In this week's Time Magazine cover story a former Time editor talks about search engines, portals, and aggregators piggybacking on their content. But "Piggybacking" is a gross oversimplification of what search engines, portals, and aggregators do. Yes, search engines treat words as crawable, indexible, representable objects, but what percentage of these words come from the pros? It's a speck.
A better focus of print media's attention would be topic-specific websites (travel, entertainment, health, music...) who are wooing readers away with original, albeit often poorly written copy from their user bases paired with user ratings and algorithms. In travel, readers who used to rely on well-written copy from print media for things like hotel and restaurant reviews have in short order turned to aggregated review and rating sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp.
The question we asked ourselves is this: why can't good writing be part of the equation? Solid editorial content can thrive in the midst of user ratings, algorithms, and the social internet. We wonder whether traditional media feels so threatened because the web has shown that many smart people on the ground can collectively create something much more meaningful than a few people in a (corporate) ivory tower.
We've set out to put this idea to the test... and here are some of rules we've chosen to follow...
1. Start from the premise that the quality of the content matters.
Sounds obvious, but have you read the reviews for a hotel on TripAdvisor lately? Have you read a guidebook and realized that the writer never visited the place in question? Not all writing is equal. No trip becomes a Trazzler trip without the intervention of an editor who read it and liked it enough to publish it. We have worked hard to set up our site so that users are encouraged to only submit trips for places about which they have something substantial to say. We have been blown away by the quality of the submissions.
2. Rely on a combination of free and paid writing.
Create a system to reward the best contributors, not with meaningless contest prizes but with real freelance writing contracts and jobs that pay a professional rate. We could hire more writers for less money--as so many sites do--but we decided early on that we wanted to dedicate a high percentage of our budget to hiring those writers who embrace the idea of Trazzler and have a one-of-a-kind contribution to make (see #1). We will continue to do this. In fact we have a long, long list of Trazzlers that we want to work with in the future. (Are we paying out as much as we'd like? No! We haven't raised as much money or started making as much money as we'd like. But we're getting there, stick with us...)
3. Surface the best writing.
Create tiers that reward good writing and deep-six bad writing. If there are multiple submissions on the same topic, showcase the best writeup first. We believe this is good--not only for readers--but for writers as well. Who wants to write a solid, intelligent piece and have it languish in a literary sludge pit?
Note: An interesting article to follow this with: Clay Shirky's Why Small Payments Won’t Save Publishers.
Oddly, print people continue to blame paltry internet revenue on the biggest, most successful internet companies that are only peripherally related to their own problems. In this week's Time Magazine cover story a former Time editor talks about search engines, portals, and aggregators piggybacking on their content. But "Piggybacking" is a gross oversimplification of what search engines, portals, and aggregators do. Yes, search engines treat words as crawable, indexible, representable objects, but what percentage of these words come from the pros? It's a speck.
A better focus of print media's attention would be topic-specific websites (travel, entertainment, health, music...) who are wooing readers away with original, albeit often poorly written copy from their user bases paired with user ratings and algorithms. In travel, readers who used to rely on well-written copy from print media for things like hotel and restaurant reviews have in short order turned to aggregated review and rating sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp.
The question we asked ourselves is this: why can't good writing be part of the equation? Solid editorial content can thrive in the midst of user ratings, algorithms, and the social internet. We wonder whether traditional media feels so threatened because the web has shown that many smart people on the ground can collectively create something much more meaningful than a few people in a (corporate) ivory tower.
We've set out to put this idea to the test... and here are some of rules we've chosen to follow...
1. Start from the premise that the quality of the content matters.
Sounds obvious, but have you read the reviews for a hotel on TripAdvisor lately? Have you read a guidebook and realized that the writer never visited the place in question? Not all writing is equal. No trip becomes a Trazzler trip without the intervention of an editor who read it and liked it enough to publish it. We have worked hard to set up our site so that users are encouraged to only submit trips for places about which they have something substantial to say. We have been blown away by the quality of the submissions.
2. Rely on a combination of free and paid writing.
Create a system to reward the best contributors, not with meaningless contest prizes but with real freelance writing contracts and jobs that pay a professional rate. We could hire more writers for less money--as so many sites do--but we decided early on that we wanted to dedicate a high percentage of our budget to hiring those writers who embrace the idea of Trazzler and have a one-of-a-kind contribution to make (see #1). We will continue to do this. In fact we have a long, long list of Trazzlers that we want to work with in the future. (Are we paying out as much as we'd like? No! We haven't raised as much money or started making as much money as we'd like. But we're getting there, stick with us...)
3. Surface the best writing.
Create tiers that reward good writing and deep-six bad writing. If there are multiple submissions on the same topic, showcase the best writeup first. We believe this is good--not only for readers--but for writers as well. Who wants to write a solid, intelligent piece and have it languish in a literary sludge pit?
Note: An interesting article to follow this with: Clay Shirky's Why Small Payments Won’t Save Publishers.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Out with the old and in with the new...
As quite a few astute trazzlers have pointed out, we're running woefully behind on sending out our mid-January newsletter, which means we haven't been able to announce the winners of our December contest. Our excuse: we've been working furiously to launch some big improvements to the site. (You can try them now by going to Trazzler.com and clicking the "facebook connect" button. If you have an existing trazzler.com account, be sure to sync it. Let us know what you think.)
So, to keep the contest wheels in motion, we'll announce last month's winners and next month's contest here on the blog. We'd like to make this a monthly blog post, so we get a chance to talk more in depth about our favorites--you can also check in any time @trazzler on Twitter).
New January/February Contest—On the Beaten Path
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/on-the-beaten-path
End date: February 25, 12pm EST; 5pm GMT
Prize: a $250 contract to write 10 trips
This month, we're offering the challenge of writing about places that are in the middle of the proverbial "beaten path." Those attractions or places of touristic pilgrimage that may often be overrun with out-of-towners, but are still entirely worth the visit. We have a hunch that trazzlers will have a smart take on how best to experience these temples of tourism. Whether that means zooming in on a very specific aspect of the place, writing from a purely subjective slant, giving up local secrets, appealing to a particular audience's interests, or delving deeper into the reason(s) why the place draws us to it like moths to the flame.
With just a bit of context and focus (be it historical, cultural, aesthetic, etc.), the meaning of these places can surge to the forefront, while the throngs retreat into the background. I’ll be writing about some of my favorite on-the-beaten-path (and quite misunderstood) attractions in Madrid—the Guernica painting by Picasso, the Retiro park, Goya’s Black Paintings at the Prado, the Palacio Real, BotÃn Restaurant, the Cava Baja tapas street, Plaza de Santa Ana, etc.).
Just put the tag "on the beaten path" in your trips and they will show up here:
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/on-the-beaten-path
December Contest—Cold Recap
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/cold
So how do trazzlers cope with the cold? Steamy baths, hot springs, warm beverages, hard alcohol, plenty of pints, semi-illicit drugs, woolly blankets, winter sports, long walks, copious body heat, physical exertion, migration, hibernation... we are happy to report that there wasn't a snuggie in the bunch. (Viewed from across the Atlantic, I have to say that this slanket/snuggie thing is pretty incomprehensible...)
This month's submissions ranged from laugh-out-loud funny to poetic to tragic (many cold places are melting away before our very eyes). Across the board, the quality of the writing was exceptional, which made choosing a winner quite difficult... So we ended up with four winners. Each of these writers gave us shivers in the physical and literary sense (and two strangely managed to do so on the Equator—no mean feat). The fact that all four happen to be in far-flung places is a coincidence... We love local trips just as much as exotic ones. We just felt that these particular trips best plotted a sensory map of exactly what it feels like to be in these cold, cold places (and still made us want to go).
December's Winners:
Greg Thomas
#3864 Bellyflopping Into the Icy Songhua River in Harbin, China
#14441 Freezing Your Butt Off for Fun in Harbin, China
Sideshows are a tough genre, but Greg did a stellar job of sketching out the humor, humanity, and absurdity of this ice-diving extravaganza. Harbin looks like quite a nexus of interesting cultural phenomena.
Paul Koning
#10255 Bundling Up on the Equator in Kenya
This trip took us to a cold, tropical place in the hours just before sunrise. Paul lived in Kenya and has written a series of excellent trips about the natural and cultural beauty of this country.
Tai Kuncio
#8658 Scaling to the Highest Point From the Center of the Earth in Ecuador
We loved learning about this place, which is not only freezing cold and far above the clouds, but also the farthest point from the center of the earth.
Jeff Jenkins
http://jeffmapped.blogspot.com/
#8274 Wooling Away Cold, Willing Down Tea in Laguna Colorada, Bolivia
We don't often publish trips written in the first person, but this one transported us straight to that barren landscape with its thin air, palette of reds, coca leaves, stinky wool blankets, and stark concrete-block walls.
Here are some of our other favorites:
#6072 Swimming in a Caldera in Deception Bay, Antarctica
#6474 Falling Downhill at Winter Park Ski Resort in Colorado
#10975 Flight-Seeing Around the Alaska Range in Talkeetna, Alaska
#11883 Sipping Hot Chocolate at Perito Moreno in El Calafate, Argentina
#3359 Plucking Cold, Flowing Noodles from a Bamboo Trough in Fukui, Japan
#13778 Shivering at a Magnificent Snow Festival in Hokkaido, Japan
#13675 Exploring Dizzying Heights From a Bird's Eye View in New Zealand
#12200 Eskimo-Kissing at the Coolest Bar Around in Rome, Italy
And have a look at the trips that we commissioned from our previous contest winners:
Gareth Thornton (Urban Enigma Contest Winner)
Dublin, Ireland
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/gazthornton
Amanda Scotese (Urban Enigma Contest Winner)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/ascotese
Tina Jett (Mom and Pop Contest Winner)
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/jett
That's it for now. Look for an announcement very soon on the new features that are launching on the site. In the meantime, you can take a sneak peek and let us know what you think on twitter (@trazzler) or Get Satisfaction.
--Megan
So, to keep the contest wheels in motion, we'll announce last month's winners and next month's contest here on the blog. We'd like to make this a monthly blog post, so we get a chance to talk more in depth about our favorites--you can also check in any time @trazzler on Twitter).
New January/February Contest—On the Beaten Path
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/on-the-beaten-path
End date: February 25, 12pm EST; 5pm GMT
Prize: a $250 contract to write 10 trips
This month, we're offering the challenge of writing about places that are in the middle of the proverbial "beaten path." Those attractions or places of touristic pilgrimage that may often be overrun with out-of-towners, but are still entirely worth the visit. We have a hunch that trazzlers will have a smart take on how best to experience these temples of tourism. Whether that means zooming in on a very specific aspect of the place, writing from a purely subjective slant, giving up local secrets, appealing to a particular audience's interests, or delving deeper into the reason(s) why the place draws us to it like moths to the flame.
With just a bit of context and focus (be it historical, cultural, aesthetic, etc.), the meaning of these places can surge to the forefront, while the throngs retreat into the background. I’ll be writing about some of my favorite on-the-beaten-path (and quite misunderstood) attractions in Madrid—the Guernica painting by Picasso, the Retiro park, Goya’s Black Paintings at the Prado, the Palacio Real, BotÃn Restaurant, the Cava Baja tapas street, Plaza de Santa Ana, etc.).
Just put the tag "on the beaten path" in your trips and they will show up here:
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/on-the-beaten-path
December Contest—Cold Recap
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/cold
So how do trazzlers cope with the cold? Steamy baths, hot springs, warm beverages, hard alcohol, plenty of pints, semi-illicit drugs, woolly blankets, winter sports, long walks, copious body heat, physical exertion, migration, hibernation... we are happy to report that there wasn't a snuggie in the bunch. (Viewed from across the Atlantic, I have to say that this slanket/snuggie thing is pretty incomprehensible...)
This month's submissions ranged from laugh-out-loud funny to poetic to tragic (many cold places are melting away before our very eyes). Across the board, the quality of the writing was exceptional, which made choosing a winner quite difficult... So we ended up with four winners. Each of these writers gave us shivers in the physical and literary sense (and two strangely managed to do so on the Equator—no mean feat). The fact that all four happen to be in far-flung places is a coincidence... We love local trips just as much as exotic ones. We just felt that these particular trips best plotted a sensory map of exactly what it feels like to be in these cold, cold places (and still made us want to go).
December's Winners:
Greg Thomas
#3864 Bellyflopping Into the Icy Songhua River in Harbin, China
#14441 Freezing Your Butt Off for Fun in Harbin, China
Sideshows are a tough genre, but Greg did a stellar job of sketching out the humor, humanity, and absurdity of this ice-diving extravaganza. Harbin looks like quite a nexus of interesting cultural phenomena.
Paul Koning
#10255 Bundling Up on the Equator in Kenya
This trip took us to a cold, tropical place in the hours just before sunrise. Paul lived in Kenya and has written a series of excellent trips about the natural and cultural beauty of this country.
Tai Kuncio
#8658 Scaling to the Highest Point From the Center of the Earth in Ecuador
We loved learning about this place, which is not only freezing cold and far above the clouds, but also the farthest point from the center of the earth.
Jeff Jenkins
http://jeffmapped.blogspot.com/
#8274 Wooling Away Cold, Willing Down Tea in Laguna Colorada, Bolivia
We don't often publish trips written in the first person, but this one transported us straight to that barren landscape with its thin air, palette of reds, coca leaves, stinky wool blankets, and stark concrete-block walls.
Here are some of our other favorites:
#6072 Swimming in a Caldera in Deception Bay, Antarctica
#6474 Falling Downhill at Winter Park Ski Resort in Colorado
#10975 Flight-Seeing Around the Alaska Range in Talkeetna, Alaska
#11883 Sipping Hot Chocolate at Perito Moreno in El Calafate, Argentina
#3359 Plucking Cold, Flowing Noodles from a Bamboo Trough in Fukui, Japan
#13778 Shivering at a Magnificent Snow Festival in Hokkaido, Japan
#13675 Exploring Dizzying Heights From a Bird's Eye View in New Zealand
#12200 Eskimo-Kissing at the Coolest Bar Around in Rome, Italy
And have a look at the trips that we commissioned from our previous contest winners:
Gareth Thornton (Urban Enigma Contest Winner)
Dublin, Ireland
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/gazthornton
Amanda Scotese (Urban Enigma Contest Winner)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/ascotese
Tina Jett (Mom and Pop Contest Winner)
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/jett
That's it for now. Look for an announcement very soon on the new features that are launching on the site. In the meantime, you can take a sneak peek and let us know what you think on twitter (@trazzler) or Get Satisfaction.
--Megan
Sunday, December 21, 2008
December Newsletter: Cold
Hello Trazzlers--
If you're in the northern hemisphere, you must be starting to feel the cold, creeping effects of winter. Here in Madrid, the darkness and chill fail to deter the buoyant mobs from flooding the streets, floating under the lights, and reveling in the communal spirit (and dare I say kitsch) of the holidays. While it's tempting to dream about summer, why not live by the words of the poet Wallace Stevens—"One must have a mind of winter"—and rush headlong into icy endeavors...
December Contest Theme: Cold
Award: A $250 Contract to Write 10 Trips
http://trazzler.com/trips/tags/cold
We're going conceptual here. Feel free to riff off the idea of "cold" however you see fit. Snow, ice, skiing, winter sports...but also ice cream, popsicles, caves, frigid water... To enter, just add the tag "cold" to any new trips that you write. We'll be tweeting about our favorites all month long, so follow us on Twitter and let us know what you think (@trazzler).
To kick things off, we wooed Powder Magazine to contribute a series of ski trips with spectacular photos and plenty of ski-geek insider info.
November Contest Winner(s): Urban Enigmas
Awards: Two $250 Contracts to Write 10 Trips
We were so torn this month that we decided to give out two prizes:
Amanda Scotese
Amanda's two trips were spot-on urban enigmas. They captured the undeniable truth that, despite the valiant efforts of urban planners, we city dwellers tend to interact with the urban landscape in unintended and enigmatic ways... whether it's praying under an interstate underpass to an impressionistic stain or hiking the abandoned railroad tracks in Chicago's inner city.
Gareth Thornton
So many of Gareth's trips had an enigma at their core, whether he was pondering the unlikelihood of meeting Frank Zappa in Vilnius, finding freedom and graffiti on the very spot where David Hasselhoff once sang, coping with the last-man-on-earth, small-town streetscape during a Mediterranean siesta, grooving to the Swedish take on grungy underpasses, or searching for the point of the timeless drive to build phallic spires in our major cities.
Works in Progress
Follow along on Twitter or our blog for details on this month's big plans to expand the social capabilities and the tools for writers on trazzler.com. Learn about how to find an interesting mix of trips (or "How to work the Trazzler system") while we get our new bionic recommendation engine up and running in early 2009. Read the quirky, eclectic work of our new freelancers.
Meet Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Last but not least, we would like to announce our first content partner, the independently owned Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Hotel reviews are a tough genre. We never want to post trips on Trazzler that smack of shilling, bad writing, or propaganda. That's why we were instantly smitten when we discovered these well-written, clever, conscientious, and oh-so-British boutique hotel reviews. We have a new community manager working on getting their trips "trazzlerized", so you can look forward to wishlisting hundreds of swank hotels by end of the year.
Trazzlers, can you spare a dime?
Lest you forget that we're a scrappy mom and pop here, now we're going to put out the hat... Trazzler gets a cut if you use our version of Kayak (by clicking on the Kayak ad on the site or by going to http://kayak.71miles.com/). More funding = more writers...
Happy Trazzling,
Megan Cytron and the Trazzler Team
Monday, December 8, 2008
Meet Mr & Mrs Smith
Trazzler's world of trips has been created by several constituents: freelancers, travelers, bloggers, and tourism bureaus. Today, we're adding "content partner" to the list.
Some popular niche categories of travel — skiing, golf, spas... — are so popular that they call for extensive editorial coverage. But these places can be expensive to visit, making the pool of expert writers relatively small. Luckily, some of these niches are well covered by existing magazines and websites. So on a case-by-case basis, we've decided to explore partnerships with third parties.
Boutique hotels fall into this category. I love learning about unique places to stay, and I'm often inspired to travel based on boutique hotel reviews, even if I end up staying at a less-expensive property nearby. (Last month, I stayed at a run-of-the-mill (cheap) Best Western in Healdsburg, but walked to dinner at Dry Creek Kitchen inside the tony Hotel Healdsburg.)
When I started looking, it didn't take long to find the best possible partner for boutique hotels: London-based Mr & Mrs Smith. Here's how they explain what they do: "The site, and the name, is all about romantic escapes, with a wink to couples everywhere, who fancy checking into a fabulous hotel under this classic dirty-weekend pseudonym (their inception came about long before the film with Angelina and Brad). Mr & Mrs Smith trips on Trazzler take you on a tour around the most stylish and individual hotels in destinations around the world, from Amsterdam to Zambia. Every boutique hotel selected has been visited by a Smith team member before being reviewed anonymously (and thoroughly) by a couple."
There are a few dozen Mr & Mrs Smith trips on Trazzler today. By the end of December, there will be hundreds.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith was selected first on editorial merit, but there are commercial components to the partnership as well. Links to Mr & Mrs Smith booking will be made available from each Trazzler trip page, and we will be sharing revenue from these bookings. At this time, we are not labeling Mr. and Mrs. Smith's trips differently than other Trazzler trips because we feel they are of equal value from an editorial perspective (in other words, they are as good or better as anything we could concoct). However, we're open to your feedback. Do you think we should call out the Smith trips differently? Please let us know.
-- Adam
Some popular niche categories of travel — skiing, golf, spas... — are so popular that they call for extensive editorial coverage. But these places can be expensive to visit, making the pool of expert writers relatively small. Luckily, some of these niches are well covered by existing magazines and websites. So on a case-by-case basis, we've decided to explore partnerships with third parties.
Boutique hotels fall into this category. I love learning about unique places to stay, and I'm often inspired to travel based on boutique hotel reviews, even if I end up staying at a less-expensive property nearby. (Last month, I stayed at a run-of-the-mill (cheap) Best Western in Healdsburg, but walked to dinner at Dry Creek Kitchen inside the tony Hotel Healdsburg.)
When I started looking, it didn't take long to find the best possible partner for boutique hotels: London-based Mr & Mrs Smith. Here's how they explain what they do: "The site, and the name, is all about romantic escapes, with a wink to couples everywhere, who fancy checking into a fabulous hotel under this classic dirty-weekend pseudonym (their inception came about long before the film with Angelina and Brad). Mr & Mrs Smith trips on Trazzler take you on a tour around the most stylish and individual hotels in destinations around the world, from Amsterdam to Zambia. Every boutique hotel selected has been visited by a Smith team member before being reviewed anonymously (and thoroughly) by a couple."
There are a few dozen Mr & Mrs Smith trips on Trazzler today. By the end of December, there will be hundreds.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith was selected first on editorial merit, but there are commercial components to the partnership as well. Links to Mr & Mrs Smith booking will be made available from each Trazzler trip page, and we will be sharing revenue from these bookings. At this time, we are not labeling Mr. and Mrs. Smith's trips differently than other Trazzler trips because we feel they are of equal value from an editorial perspective (in other words, they are as good or better as anything we could concoct). However, we're open to your feedback. Do you think we should call out the Smith trips differently? Please let us know.
-- Adam
Monday, November 24, 2008
How to work the Trazzler system...
We've received a lot of feedback over the past month about the recommendations that Trazzler makes. First off, thank you for all of the suggestions, bug reports, complaints... We're working on improving the IQ of the Travel Personality aspect of Trazzler--and it's taking some time, because we really want to weigh many different variables. When we launch the new version, we'll let you know here.
As it is now, the trip recommendations are very heavily weighted toward weekend trips in your region--but this will change. Version 2.0 will look at the trips in your Wishlist and trips that you "Send to a Friend" and will use the locations and tags to determine where you want to go and what kinds of trips most interest you.
In the meantime, there are thousands and thousands of trips on Trazzler and several different ways to trazzle through a fascinating stream of them.
You can always click on a region or country in the right column ("browsing mode") to jump to another part of the world and start skipping through trips (what we call trazzling) and adding them to you wishlist. Just pick a trip in a given place and you'll start fanning out from that point. You can control the types of places you'll see by choosing a strategic location. For example, somewhere like the island of Cyprus...
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/countries/cyprus
will give you a pretty quirky mix of trips from every side of the Mediterranean... Or for an eclectic mix in the Indian Ocean, Australia, SE Asia, start here...
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/countries/christmas-island
You can do the same by using the tags (romantic, outdoors, beach, culinary, etc.):
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/beach
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/culinary
We also use the tags to mark trips written by our new freelancers and for our monthly contest:
Freelancers:
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/freelancer
November Urban Enigma Contest:
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/urban-enigma
If you are really brave, you can dive straight into the tag cloud.. the bigger the font, the more trips for that tag:
http://www.trazzler.com/tags/cloud
I always try to go crazy with the tags on the trips I publish, so you're sure to find some attention grabbers in there.
You can also see a list of recently published Trazzler trips here:
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/new-to-trazzler
Whatever you add to your Wishlist or send to a friend now is being registered as a preference and will help the site to start making smarter suggestions once we launch the new "algorithm" (this is the incredibly geeky term they use for the math behind choosing trips for a given user).
You can also try changing your location under your account settings if you want to "go" somewhere different for a while.
I hope this will give you plenty of places to explore while we get the bigger, better, faster, stronger (bionic?) algorithm ready.
--Megan
Saturday, November 22, 2008
November Newsletter
Hello Trazzlers--
Today was one of those perfect (though far too fleeting) fall days in Madrid with a deep blue sky, shafts of yellow light, falling leaves, and long afternoon shadows. Where have you been lately? Have you been traveling to any places on your Trazzler Wishlist? Have you added any new weekend trips for this winter?
This week we started sending out our weekly Trip recommendations. How did we do? We're still working on the logic behind how we choose these trips for each user, so we'd love to get some feedback on how we can make it better.
Hiring News
More of our initial funding came through this month so we were finally able to get started hiring another batch of freelancers (writers: we apologize for the delay). Every one of these writers submitted trips that expanded our idea of what Trazzler can be. Over the next month, you'll be able to check out their new trips at: http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/freelancer.
Christine Cantera: Offbeat Expat (missexpatria.wordpress.com/)
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/missexpatria
Tim Chester: London Insider
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/timchester
Katie Hammel: Luxury on the Cheap
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/katiehammel
Cheri Lucas: Driven by Obsessions (cherilucas.com)
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/clucas
Phillip Orchard: Poignant Places (philliporchard.com)
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/phildavid
Barbara Weibel: Seasoned Globetrotter (holeinthedonut.com)
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/barbaraw
Kara Williams: Mountain Mama (karaswilliams.com/)
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/karasw
We remain committed to dedicating 10%-15% of our budget (significantly more than major market newspapers) to freelance and part-time writers and editors. We still have a long list of other writers whose Trazzler trips caught our eye--this is only the beginning. So, please, keep submitting those trips so we can see what you can do. We read them all.
October's Theme: Mom and Pops
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/mom-and-pop
We loved the response that we got to last month's plea to spread the word about our favorite mom-and-pops... So much so that we decided that we want to reward the very best "theme" trips that we receive each month.
October's Winner: Tina Jett (tinajett.com)
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/jett
Tina was already on our radar with her extremely well-loved and popular Carolina RollerGirls trip. But we thought she really embraced the local mom-and-pop genre:
- Going Loco for Locopops in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
- Getting Your Chocolate Fix at Escazu in Raleigh, North Carolina
- Becoming a Beadfreak at Ornamentea in Raleigh, North Carolina
So we awarded her a contract to write 10 more trips this month.
November's Theme: Urban Enigmas
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/urban-enigma
Award: A $250 Contract to Write 10 Trips
This month, we want to dig into those enigmatic, secret corners of our cities and towns. Those hidden (sometimes in plain sight) places or phenomena that are mysterious, weird, unnerving, thought-provoking, inscrutable, evocative of a past long forgotten... Add the tag "urban enigma" to your trips and check out the link above to see the weird and wonderful places that others have submitted.
Happy Trazzling,
Megan Cytron and the Trazzler Team
Today was one of those perfect (though far too fleeting) fall days in Madrid with a deep blue sky, shafts of yellow light, falling leaves, and long afternoon shadows. Where have you been lately? Have you been traveling to any places on your Trazzler Wishlist? Have you added any new weekend trips for this winter?
This week we started sending out our weekly Trip recommendations. How did we do? We're still working on the logic behind how we choose these trips for each user, so we'd love to get some feedback on how we can make it better.
Hiring News
More of our initial funding came through this month so we were finally able to get started hiring another batch of freelancers (writers: we apologize for the delay). Every one of these writers submitted trips that expanded our idea of what Trazzler can be. Over the next month, you'll be able to check out their new trips at: http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/freelancer.
Christine Cantera: Offbeat Expat (missexpatria.wordpress.com/)
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/missexpatria
Tim Chester: London Insider
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/timchester
Katie Hammel: Luxury on the Cheap
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/katiehammel
Cheri Lucas: Driven by Obsessions (cherilucas.com)
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/clucas
Phillip Orchard: Poignant Places (philliporchard.com)
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/phildavid
Barbara Weibel: Seasoned Globetrotter (holeinthedonut.com)
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/barbaraw
Kara Williams: Mountain Mama (karaswilliams.com/)
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/karasw
We remain committed to dedicating 10%-15% of our budget (significantly more than major market newspapers) to freelance and part-time writers and editors. We still have a long list of other writers whose Trazzler trips caught our eye--this is only the beginning. So, please, keep submitting those trips so we can see what you can do. We read them all.
October's Theme: Mom and Pops
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/mom-and-pop
We loved the response that we got to last month's plea to spread the word about our favorite mom-and-pops... So much so that we decided that we want to reward the very best "theme" trips that we receive each month.
October's Winner: Tina Jett (tinajett.com)
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/jett
Tina was already on our radar with her extremely well-loved and popular Carolina RollerGirls trip. But we thought she really embraced the local mom-and-pop genre:
- Going Loco for Locopops in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
- Getting Your Chocolate Fix at Escazu in Raleigh, North Carolina
- Becoming a Beadfreak at Ornamentea in Raleigh, North Carolina
So we awarded her a contract to write 10 more trips this month.
November's Theme: Urban Enigmas
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/urban-enigma
Award: A $250 Contract to Write 10 Trips
This month, we want to dig into those enigmatic, secret corners of our cities and towns. Those hidden (sometimes in plain sight) places or phenomena that are mysterious, weird, unnerving, thought-provoking, inscrutable, evocative of a past long forgotten... Add the tag "urban enigma" to your trips and check out the link above to see the weird and wonderful places that others have submitted.
Happy Trazzling,
Megan Cytron and the Trazzler Team
Monday, November 3, 2008
Trazzler trips and user trips
Hello Trazzlers--
Over the past weeks, we've received quite a few questions about the different types of trips on the site--and even more queries about who writes our trips--so I thought I'd take a minute to explain how it all comes together.
Most of the trips on Trazzler.com were written by freelancers based all around the world. We focused on weekend destinations around big cities and dream trips all over the globe.
Then, in September, we opened up trip publishing to writers who applied and looked to recruit a new crop of freelancers and community managers. (Speaking of which, we are on the verge of announcing another round of freelance writers... thanks for hanging in there--we finally received some of our initial funding, albeit a bit behind schedule.)
To be honest, we weren't quite sure what kind of response we would get and whether users would embrace our (admittedly quirky) style and slant. You most certainly did--we still can't believe how good your submissions are and how many places in the world that never make it into traditional travel publications are popping up on Trazzler every single day.
Back to the trips... When you sign up to write for Trazzler and submit a trip, it is by default published as a "user trip." We then read through these trips and determine--one by one--which trips become Trazzler trips and go into the public tripstream. If necessary, we also find a photo for the trip at this time. Incidentally, when we make a trip a "Trazzler Trip," we automatically have this writer on our radar for future freelance opportunities.
User Trips and Trazzler Trips: a breakdown
User trips appear in the user's "My Trips" area and also at the bottom of the country and tag listings and search results. User trips are preceded by the username and either display the map of the location or the user's photo.
Trazzler trips appear in the tripstream--the procession of trips that you can move through by clicking "add to wishlist" and "skip to next." Trazzler trips display the writer's full name and a photo credit. They are also displayed with a photo thumbnail in the country and tag listings and search results and always rise to the top of these lists.
We're eager to get your feedback on this setup. What do you think?
What is our criteria for choosing Trazzler trips? First off, we believe that when someone takes the time to write about his favorite spot or a place that she can't get out of her mind, it is meaningful and valuable--whether we choose it as a Trazzler trip or not. We've read countless user trips that we sincerely hope that people will find and read, but that for one reason or another (see below) we couldn't make Trazzler trips.
Reasons a trip might not get published as a Trazzler Trip:
The place/activity:
--too similar to another Trazzler trip
--too broad or generic
--too conventional
--an event or place that might not stand the test of time
The style or writing:
--too long (over 120-140 words)
--too many exclamation points or superlatives
--too many hyperbolic adjectives: amazing, incredible, breathtaking, awesome
--rampant misspellings or questionable grammar
--chronically mixed metaphors
--run on sentences
The focus:
--smacks of shilling
--reads like a tourist brochure—no special angle, no hook
--includes extraneous info that is not related to the trip
--too many reasons not to go there/too negative
--too much first person (some is fine, too much biography make it harder to place the reader in the moment)
--offensive, exploitative, destructive, violent, or mean-spirited
See our writing guide and FAQ for more information and guidelines. And feel free to ignore the above guidelines if you prefer to just do your own thing and share your trips with friends, family, and fellow trazzlers.
More soon. In the meantime, why not check out some writing that will inspire you to dive into the falling autumn leaves (and add the tag "fall" to any of your own autumnal ruminations):
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/fall
I, for one, plan to get outside this weekend (to the Sierra de Guadarrama--I promise to write a trip), change out my city air for pine-scented mountain air, play in the snow, and enjoy my first election-free moments in a long, long time.
--Megan
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Trazzler Updates and News, September/October 2008
Hello Trazzlers—
Welcome to our first monthly Trazzler newsletter.
The past month has been a whirlwind for us. We opened up publishing to users and writers; recruited writers and community managers; published hundreds of outstanding user-submitted trips; worked with more pilot bloggers; and launched Trazzler on the Facebook Platform.
The response from writers has surpassed our wildest dreams with hundreds and hundreds of trips pouring in from every corner of the globe. We've loved every minute of reading your beautiful, wonderful, weird, creative, poetic, and poignant trips. Every day we get more, so keep checking back, sending us feedback, and--please--keep writing.
A Little About Who We Are
Trazzler is not a front for a big evil corporation--we're a mom and pop turned global. Our small team is comprised of people from San Francisco, Florida, Madrid, Paris, Slovakia, Bangalore, Australia...
Moms, brothers, cousins, significant others, former coworkers, former significant others, and friends from kindergarten have all been tapped to pitch in. What you see on Trazzler.com is the culmination of many years of experience and countless hours of dreaming, scheming, planning, and hard work. And this is just the beginning.
Why Trazzler is Different
So many other travel sites are essentially reference books with logistical information, tourist bureau propaganda, or an unedited, overwhelming morass of useful and useless information. Guidebooks rely on just a handful of undercompensated writers to do it all. At Trazzler, you'll find what slips through the cracks everywhere else--those secret places that you might only tell your friends about... those defining travel moments that reside in your memory long after you have returned home.
Our Commitment to Writers
The vast majority of Trazzler Trips were written by a crack group of freelancers from all over the world. We will continue to commit a significant percentage of our budget to writing and editing, because we firmly believe that the success of Trazzler hinges on quality and creativity. In the next few weeks, we'll be hiring more writers (freelancers and community managers). We are also hatching plans to reward the best user trips. Sign up to write trips: http://trazzler.com/about/write-for-trazzler
To Trazzle: I Trazzle, You Trazzle, He/She Trazzles…
Each Trazzler Trip transports you to a very specific place and moment. Real human beings are behind each and every trip, carefully choosing the photo, writing the copy, and editing it. As you trazzle--clicking "skip to next" or "add to wishlist"--you decide what appeals to you and what doesn't. Trazzler is a savvy friend who will get to know your Travel Personality over time.* Use it as "virtual teleportation" (as Biz Stone imagined when the idea was hatched), travel therapy, a game, an escapist fantasy, or--we also hope--as a tool to learn about new ways to travel to one-of-a-kind spots and an outlet for your travel ruminations.
Trazzler on Facebook
In July, Trazzler was awarded a fbFund grant to take what we are doing on Trazzler.com to the Facebook platform. Last week we launched our Facebook application and would love for you to check it out and send us your thoughts. Send trips to Facebook friends, see where your friends want to go, tell your friends where you want to go, plan trips together:
http://apps.facebook.com/trazzler/
For the time being, your Trazzler.com Wishlist and Facebook Wishlist are separate. This will change soon as we bring your Facebook friends to Trazzler.com and sync accounts via Facebook Connect.
This Month's Trip Challenge: Mom and Pop
This is a tough time for the scrappy family-owned businesses that we know and love. So this month, we would like to pay homage to our favorite mom-and-pop places by writing about them. Why not submit a few trips about your favorite local joints and let others know about them by adding the tag "mom and pop"?
Mom and pop trips: http://trazzler.com/trips/tags/mom-and-pop
September/October: Best New Trips
It's agonizing to pick just a handful. We have received hundreds and hundreds of really top-notch trips. But here are just a few that caught our eye this month:
#9672 Jellyfishing (Without the Sting) at Jellyfish Lake in Palau http://www.trazzler.com/trips/jellyfish-lake-in-palau
Writer: Christopher Yurkanin
#211 Trekking to the Foot of the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand http://www.trazzler.com/trips/franz-josef-glacier-in-new-zealand
Writer: Barbara Weibel
#4265 Sitting Trackside for Roller Derby in Raleigh, North Carolina http://www.trazzler.com/trips/roller-derby-in-raleigh-north-carolina
Writer: Tina Jett
#1006 Eating a Highwayman's Feast at an Historic Pub in Hampstead, London http://www.trazzler.com/trips/spaniards-inn-hampstead-london
Writer: Tim Chester
September/October: Favorite Sentence/Metaphor
"If Sanibel is the prom queen of Gulf Coast islands, think of Pine
Island as her mangrove-encrusted tomboy little sister."
#419 Feasting on a Fresh Crab Omelet in Matlacha, Florida
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/perfect-cup-in-matlacha-florida
Writer: Cathy Salustri
September/October: Favorite Photo from a Flickr Photographer
#9865 Watching the Sunrise from the Charles Bridge in Prague
http://trazzler.com/trips/charles-bridge-prague
Photographer: David Smith, http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithdm3/
Writer: Amanda
September/October: Favorite User-Submitted Photo
#6228 Living Like the Garifuna in Cayos Cochinos, Honduras
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/garfuna-villiage-honduras
Writer and Photographer: Kirsten Hubbard
September/October: Featured Blogger
Jim Early at the North Carolina Barbecue Society travels in his own
backyard, spending countless hours researching the best old-school
barbecue in his state. He's a fascinating guy who is passionate
about his "obsession" and is working hard to preserve this North
Carolina tradition. I'll be blogging about him and our other
bloggers in a few days. In the meantime, check out his trips (more
coming soon) and sites.
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/ncbbqsociety
http://www.ncbbqsociety.com and http://www.jimearly.com
Where Do We Go From Here?
* Make the website social with Facebook Connect.
* We want to get better at personalizing your tripstream. With
thousands of trips to choose from, we want to show you those that
most closely match your preferences. This month, we had vegans
getting repeatedly visually bludgeoned by a photo of salamis and
outdoorsy types getting a pretty sleazy Vegas trip. That's not what
we want… The solution: make that algorithm geekier.
* Do something clever with the places you've been.
That's it for now. Throughout the month we'll be blogging here about
trips, news, and Trazzler ephemera.
Keep Trazzling!
Megan Cytron and the Trazzler Team
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/megancytron
Welcome to our first monthly Trazzler newsletter.
The past month has been a whirlwind for us. We opened up publishing to users and writers; recruited writers and community managers; published hundreds of outstanding user-submitted trips; worked with more pilot bloggers; and launched Trazzler on the Facebook Platform.
The response from writers has surpassed our wildest dreams with hundreds and hundreds of trips pouring in from every corner of the globe. We've loved every minute of reading your beautiful, wonderful, weird, creative, poetic, and poignant trips. Every day we get more, so keep checking back, sending us feedback, and--please--keep writing.
A Little About Who We Are
Trazzler is not a front for a big evil corporation--we're a mom and pop turned global. Our small team is comprised of people from San Francisco, Florida, Madrid, Paris, Slovakia, Bangalore, Australia...
Moms, brothers, cousins, significant others, former coworkers, former significant others, and friends from kindergarten have all been tapped to pitch in. What you see on Trazzler.com is the culmination of many years of experience and countless hours of dreaming, scheming, planning, and hard work. And this is just the beginning.
Why Trazzler is Different
So many other travel sites are essentially reference books with logistical information, tourist bureau propaganda, or an unedited, overwhelming morass of useful and useless information. Guidebooks rely on just a handful of undercompensated writers to do it all. At Trazzler, you'll find what slips through the cracks everywhere else--those secret places that you might only tell your friends about... those defining travel moments that reside in your memory long after you have returned home.
Our Commitment to Writers
The vast majority of Trazzler Trips were written by a crack group of freelancers from all over the world. We will continue to commit a significant percentage of our budget to writing and editing, because we firmly believe that the success of Trazzler hinges on quality and creativity. In the next few weeks, we'll be hiring more writers (freelancers and community managers). We are also hatching plans to reward the best user trips. Sign up to write trips: http://trazzler.com/about/write-for-trazzler
To Trazzle: I Trazzle, You Trazzle, He/She Trazzles…
Each Trazzler Trip transports you to a very specific place and moment. Real human beings are behind each and every trip, carefully choosing the photo, writing the copy, and editing it. As you trazzle--clicking "skip to next" or "add to wishlist"--you decide what appeals to you and what doesn't. Trazzler is a savvy friend who will get to know your Travel Personality over time.* Use it as "virtual teleportation" (as Biz Stone imagined when the idea was hatched), travel therapy, a game, an escapist fantasy, or--we also hope--as a tool to learn about new ways to travel to one-of-a-kind spots and an outlet for your travel ruminations.
Trazzler on Facebook
In July, Trazzler was awarded a fbFund grant to take what we are doing on Trazzler.com to the Facebook platform. Last week we launched our Facebook application and would love for you to check it out and send us your thoughts. Send trips to Facebook friends, see where your friends want to go, tell your friends where you want to go, plan trips together:
http://apps.facebook.com/trazzler/
For the time being, your Trazzler.com Wishlist and Facebook Wishlist are separate. This will change soon as we bring your Facebook friends to Trazzler.com and sync accounts via Facebook Connect.
This Month's Trip Challenge: Mom and Pop
This is a tough time for the scrappy family-owned businesses that we know and love. So this month, we would like to pay homage to our favorite mom-and-pop places by writing about them. Why not submit a few trips about your favorite local joints and let others know about them by adding the tag "mom and pop"?
Mom and pop trips: http://trazzler.com/trips/tags/mom-and-pop
September/October: Best New Trips
It's agonizing to pick just a handful. We have received hundreds and hundreds of really top-notch trips. But here are just a few that caught our eye this month:
#9672 Jellyfishing (Without the Sting) at Jellyfish Lake in Palau http://www.trazzler.com/trips/jellyfish-lake-in-palau
Writer: Christopher Yurkanin
#211 Trekking to the Foot of the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand http://www.trazzler.com/trips/franz-josef-glacier-in-new-zealand
Writer: Barbara Weibel
#4265 Sitting Trackside for Roller Derby in Raleigh, North Carolina http://www.trazzler.com/trips/roller-derby-in-raleigh-north-carolina
Writer: Tina Jett
#1006 Eating a Highwayman's Feast at an Historic Pub in Hampstead, London http://www.trazzler.com/trips/spaniards-inn-hampstead-london
Writer: Tim Chester
September/October: Favorite Sentence/Metaphor
"If Sanibel is the prom queen of Gulf Coast islands, think of Pine
Island as her mangrove-encrusted tomboy little sister."
#419 Feasting on a Fresh Crab Omelet in Matlacha, Florida
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/perfect-cup-in-matlacha-florida
Writer: Cathy Salustri
September/October: Favorite Photo from a Flickr Photographer
#9865 Watching the Sunrise from the Charles Bridge in Prague
http://trazzler.com/trips/charles-bridge-prague
Photographer: David Smith, http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithdm3/
Writer: Amanda
September/October: Favorite User-Submitted Photo
#6228 Living Like the Garifuna in Cayos Cochinos, Honduras
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/garfuna-villiage-honduras
Writer and Photographer: Kirsten Hubbard
September/October: Featured Blogger
Jim Early at the North Carolina Barbecue Society travels in his own
backyard, spending countless hours researching the best old-school
barbecue in his state. He's a fascinating guy who is passionate
about his "obsession" and is working hard to preserve this North
Carolina tradition. I'll be blogging about him and our other
bloggers in a few days. In the meantime, check out his trips (more
coming soon) and sites.
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/ncbbqsociety
http://www.ncbbqsociety.com and http://www.jimearly.com
Where Do We Go From Here?
* Make the website social with Facebook Connect.
* We want to get better at personalizing your tripstream. With
thousands of trips to choose from, we want to show you those that
most closely match your preferences. This month, we had vegans
getting repeatedly visually bludgeoned by a photo of salamis and
outdoorsy types getting a pretty sleazy Vegas trip. That's not what
we want… The solution: make that algorithm geekier.
* Do something clever with the places you've been.
That's it for now. Throughout the month we'll be blogging here about
trips, news, and Trazzler ephemera.
Keep Trazzling!
Megan Cytron and the Trazzler Team
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/megancytron
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