All hail the Queen! Her royal highness, Laura Lee, is our host for this week’s Blogging Boomer’s Carnival. From atop her Midlife Crisis throne, she’s surveyed all manner of posts from our diverse group of bloggers. Why not stop by and check it out.
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After years of working 70 hours a week at jobs I detested, I felt like the proverbial "hole in the donut" - solid on the outside, but empty on the inside. Searching for meaning in my life, I abandoned my successful but unsatisfying career and set out on a six-month solo backpacking trip around the world to pursue my true passions of travel, writing, and photography. My blog features stories about the destinations I visit, people I meet, the crazy things...Read more here.... 
All hail the Queen! Her royal highness, Laura Lee, is our host for this week’s Blogging Boomer’s Carnival. From atop her Midlife Crisis throne, she’s surveyed all manner of posts from our diverse group of bloggers. Why not stop by and check it out.
During my travels, some places capture my heart more than others. Zimbabwe was one of those places. I met so many wonderful people who were gracious and smiling despite suffering unbearable economic woes and political suppression. Finally, I am happy to report that my friends in Zimbabwe, who keep me apprised of current events, tell me that things are starting to improve. But before things got better, they got very, very bad.
By the end of 2008, inflation had skyrocketed to 231,000,000%, unemployment reached 80%, and the Zimbabwean dollar was basically worthless. Violence ratcheted up during the 2008 presidential election, with despot Robert Mugabe using every means at his disposal to stay in power. Although the consensus is that Morgan Tsvangirai actually won the election, Mugabe refused to give up the office and mounted a brutal campaign of violence against the opposition that left more than 30 people dead and hundreds wounded. As if life weren’t unbearable enough in Zimbabwe, a cholera epidemic broke out in August 2008, killing at least 565 people and infecting another 12,000. Fortunately, world opinion turned against Mugabe, ultimately forcing him to consent to a power sharing agreement with Tsvangirai.
Just last week, my friend Victor Sibanda, who lives in Victoria Falls in the southern part of the country, emailed an update on the current situation:
Victor "Veneto" Sibanda
“We recently had the COMESA Summit here in Victoria Falls and we had our roads revamped and the pot holes on the roads that had become so big to be called ‘dish holes’ were sealed and that has been the positive thing that our town has benefited since the unity government. We are very grateful for the development. Among other things that are beginning to change face are the foot ware and clothing shops that were restock a few days before the Summit began.
Supermarkets are restocking and the prices are now packed in South African Rand and this makes the items affordable such that we have stopped going to the neighbouring countries for shopping and are now supporting the local shops. Other cities and towns are still cheaper than Victoria Falls as what seems as tradition but strange enough there are still challenges in the money making system. Salaries are ranging from $30-$150 per month from domestic to professional level respectively and this still makes buying bread at $1.00 a challenge. This may Continue reading
With all the time I spend in the Florida Keys, I’ve become somewhat of a travel expert on these tiny islands, so when Addison Schonland of IAGblogPodcasts asked if I would be willing to share some of the least touristy but most worthwhile attractions and beaches in the Keys with his blog audience, I jumped at the chance.
As any reader who has spent time on Hole In The Donut knows, for years I had a love-hate relationship with Key West. I loved the island, but after a couple of days, I hated the drunken tourists, the crowds, and the round-the-clock noisy revelry of DuVal Street. It was only recently that I finally started to discover the Keys – almost as if I had to pay my dues in order to be let into the secret places that no one tells you about. And that’s what Addison wanted me to reveal to his listeners. The podcast is 22 minutes long, but worth a listen:
IAGblogPodcast: Barbara Weibel on the Florida Keys
Posted in Florida travel | 
attractions, beaches, blogsherpa, Florida, hotels, IAG, Key West, Keys, locals secrets, podcast, restaurants, Uptake, USA | 
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There’s a new girl in town – Hazel is her name and postcards are her game. I’m talking about HazelMail.com, the unique new website allows travelers to create postcards from their very own photos and mail them with only a few clicks and an Internet connection. So now if you’re on safari in Africa and you’ve just captured an amazing photo of a pride of lions that you want to be forever immortalized in the form of a postcard, just follow these amazingly simple steps:
Navigate to HazelMail.com and click on the “Picture” tab at the upper right. On the next page, navigate to the location of the photo you want to use on your computer’s hard drive and click on the “Upload” button. When your photo shows in the box at the left, click on the “Format Image” button.
On the next page, choose to either “stretch” or “fit” the image, choose a background color if you “fit” the image, rotate if necessary, and select the border you wish to use: Continue reading
Posted in Travel tips | custom photos, HazelMail, mail, postcards, Technology, tips, Travel, vacation | 16 Comments
The family farm in St. Vincent. Photo courtesy of HelpX.com
“On mountaintop. Great view. On a small Caribbean island. Pineapple and wax apple farm. Building in construction. I live with my 3 kids. 3 German Shepherds 1 Dobermann, in the unfinished building. This is a child friendly environment. St.Vincent is a lovely island, non touristic. I can offer food and lodging for your help. I appreciate your assistance. Please come and help out with farming, construction, creating greenhouse, landscaping, plumbing, carpentry, organic planting, house stay, restoring antiques, handyman, domestic work, kids homework, kids activities, decoration, home reorganization….We speak Flemish, English, French, Dutch, but all nationalities are welcome to apply.”
The family in St. Vincent. Photo courtesy of HelpX.com
The above is just one of hundreds of listings found on HelpX.net (short for HelpExchange), a website that connects host organic farms, non-organic farms, farmstays, homestays, ranches, lodges, B&Bs, backpackers hostels and even sailing boats with volunteers who exchange short-term work for food and accommodations. This particular listing is for a property located on the island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean, and the family has already hosted numerous volunteers, some of whom have posted reviews of their experience. Kurt wrote:
“I loved the saltfish and bread fruit. Accommodation is very nice, your own room and bathroom. There is plenty of work, maintenance of the pineapple fields and landscaping around the house and odd jobs. Trips to town are often and you will get to mingle with the locals. When taking the local bus…hold on 
it is a ride.” Continue reading
Posted in Authentic travel | Australia, B and B, Caribbean, Europe, farm workers, farms, free accommodations, Help Exchange, HelpX.com, hostels, lodges, New Zealand, Organic, ranches, SE Asia, St. Vincent, teaching english, Travel, volunteerism, volunteers | 39 Comments
Almost everyone who travels has had a disappointing hotel experience at one time or another. I can’t count the times I’ve made reservations based on glitzy photos of pure white sand beaches, luxurious spas, or highly rated restaurants, only to discover upon arrival that the sand on the beach is crushed shells, the spa employs novice masseuses, or the restaurant is actually located off-site.
Although the Internet has made booking accommodations much easier, search engines like Hotels.com, Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity are in the business of selling hotel rooms, thus the bulk of the information and images shown on their sites have been provided by the hotels. Trip Advisor, which provides a platform for guest reviews, is a sightly better option, but they make no attempt to verify the truth of these anonymous ratings (I know of one instance where a guest wrote a vindictive, negative review because his credit card was charged for a night’s stay when he didn’t show up or even try to cancel his reservation).
Oyster Hotel Reviews reporters. Photo courtesy of Oyster.com
Recognizing that this was a niche waiting to be filled, three Internet entrepreneurs launched Oyster Hotel Reviews in the spring of 2008. Working quietly in the background they acquired investors and hired full-time reporters, who began staying at hotels around the country. Unlike some well-known travel guide books, hotel management is never told when an Oyster representative is coming to review the property. Reporters use a consistent set of criteria to ensure they apply the same standards to each hotel. Their in-depth evaluation includes guest interviews and taking hundreds of photos of the rooms, common areas, and facilities. Both the good and the bad are depicted and the level of detail is impressive; photos show moldy shower tiles, grunge on bathroom fixtures, and in one case, a cockroach found in a tub. The reporter’s comprehensive written review of the hotel, along with these Continue reading
Posted in Travel industry news | comprehensive, oyster hotels, photos, reviews, Travel, unbiased, website | 11 Comments
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