Because I often stay at hostels I was interested to learn some interesting facts about the differences in booking prices between the two largest hostel booking services on the Internet. A recent study by Reed Business Insight revealed that HostelBookers is, on average, over 8% cheaper than HostelWorld, and HostelBookers is now backing that claim up with a guarantee. If you find the same deal cheaper anywhere else, they will refund double the difference! (Details about their price guarantee here).

Travelex Cash Passport pre-loaded with £1,000

To celebrate this price promise they have launched a competition which will run over the next three weeks. Nine winners will take away some fantastic prizes, with three winners being announced every week between May 26th and June 9th. For the top prize HostelBookers has partnered with Travelex.co.uk to offer three lucky travelers the chance to win a Cash Passport pre-loaded with £1,000 (that’s British PoundsPanasonic camera, which equates to approximately $1434 U.S. dollars at today’s exchange rate).

Three entrants will win the second prize of a Panasonic Lumix TZ8 Camera, and three more will take away the third prize, a 32gb iPod touch. (Full details of the HostelBookers contest can be viewed here). Read the rest of this entry »

Celebrating 20 years

To celebrate their 20th anniversary, Gap Adventures is offering a chance to win $40,000 in travel and travel related gear. The contest invites participants to submit an itinerary for the trip of their dreams, anywhere in the world, for as long as 16 days.

To enter, just log on to www.createyourownadventure.com and click on the “Get Started” button. Choose up to three countries to include in your itinerary, name your tour, and select the duration, highlights and activities. Then tell the judges why your adventure is like no other and deserves to win (Tip: The website says: “We’re looking for trips focused on sustainable adventure travel that provide life-changing experiences”). Once you’ve entered, get all your friends and family to vote for you, since the winning entry will be determined by a combination of user voting and a panel of nine judges, comprised of some of the most influential leaders in the travel industry. Read the rest of this entry »

Since starting Hole In The Donut in late 2006, I’ve received several awards and my site has risen significantly in the ranks of travel blogging. Well, now it’s time to take a crack at the grandaddy of them all, the 2010 Weblog Awards, more commonly known as the “Bloggies.” Each year, the Bloggies ask readers to nominate and then vote for their favorite blogs in categories ranging from best travel blog to best gossip blog.

Unlike other contests and award programs, readers don’t have to register or join ANYTHING to participate in the Bloggies. The only requirement is an email address and a willingness to nominate at least three of your favorite blogs. Upon receipt of your nominations, the Bloggies send a confirmation email; you need only click on the link in the email to complete the nomination submission. You will also have an opportunity to vote for the winners once the finalists are chosen.

If you would like to nominate me (and at least two other bloggers), please visit The Bloggies nomination site. Several categories could be appropriate for my blog, including best travel webblog, best writing for a weblog, best photography for a weblog, or best-kept secret weblog, but please feel free to nominate me in whatever category you deem appropriate. And thank you so much for your support.

San Juan Marriott Resort in Puerto Rico is saying Merry Christmas with a Twitter scavenger hunt that will provide a free three-day stay at the resort for five lucky winners.

Condado Beach, home to the San Juan Marriott

Beginning tomorrow morning and continuing for each of the five days leading up to Christmas, the hotel will tweet a holiday item at 10:00 a.m. EST.  The first Twitter follower who replies to @SanJuanMarriott each day with a picture of the item (via TwitPic, Tweetphoto or otherwise) will receive a complimentary three-day, two-night stay.

Additionally, anyone who tweets all five pictures of the requested scavenger hunt items (one per day) will Read the rest of this entry »

My friend Anil Polat, who also happens to author the fabulous travel blog foXnoMad.com, occasionally puts together fun travel contests for his readers. His latest is the “Cheesiest Travel Photo Contest,” which offers readers the opportunity to vote for their favorite cheesy photo among those sent in by readers. The owner of the photo voted the “cheesiest” will win a nice prize package. I passed on the opportunity to enter the contest the first time around, but when Anil decided to do it all over again I just couldn’t resist.

Despite the fact that I’m now 20 pounds thinner, I no longer have underarm wings , and I’ve let my hair grow out to its natural silver color, I sent him a photo of me (ugh!) at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, taken in 2007. You can check out all the photos right now and vote beginning on December 21st.; I’d sure appreciate your vote if you think my photo is the cheesiest!

Between moving out of Sarasota and traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday, I have been somewhat silent for the past two weeks. But things are settling down now and I can’t think of a better reason to get back into the swing than to tell you about a wonderful charity effort being mounted by my fellow travel writers through Passports With Purpose.

This year, the Passports with Purpose fund raising effort is supporting American Assistance for Cambodia (AAfC), an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving opportunities for the youth and rural poor in Cambodia, with a goal of raising $13,000 to build a school. In order to achieve this goal, travel bloggers have either personally donated prizes or arranged for companies to donate prizes. These items are then raffled off online, with each $10 donation entering the donor into a drawing for the prize of his or her choice.

Smiling children like this little girl hawk merchandise on the streets all day rather than attending school

I know first hand how much this is needed in Cambodia. When I visited the country in 2007, I was particularly struck by droves of children who roamed the streets, carrying baskets heaped with hand-made jewelry or toting hand-woven mats twice their size. Without exception, they interspersed pesky sales pitches and arm tugs with the few words of English they knew:

“Hello, where you from?”

“U.S.A.”

“Oh, U.S.A., A-Number one. President George Bush; capitol Washington, D.C.”

These children, some of them barely old enough to be left alone, much less on the streets all day selling merchandise, seemed desperate to learn. I can think of no better way to celebrate the holidays than to help build a school for these lovely children.

If you wish to join me in supporting this worthy cause, check out the list of prizes being offered at Passports With Purpose. Select the drawings you’d like to enter and indicate how many $10 donations you want to make for each prize. For example, I entered “3″ in the box to the right of the $100 Amazon.com gift card donated by Read the rest of this entry »

EarthTV.com, which broadcasts live video from more than 70 worldwide camera locations on six continents, has announced a contest that offers entrants a chance to win new Vivitar underwater digital cameras. Entrants need only register on earthTV and earn “miles” (i.e. points) by clicking on various worldwide camera shots; every click gets you closer to a prize. The armchair traveler who has collected the most miles by October 16 will be declared the winner. Random winners (regardless of miles) will also be picked to win prizes. Read about the details on the EarthTV.com contest page. Read more about the prizes here.

Win one of these cameras simply by watching travel videos at earthTV.com

From New York to Hong Kong, from Paris to Sydney, earthTV.com broadcasts live video from more than 70 worldwide camera locations on six continents. The launch of earthTV.com in North America followed the worldwide success of earthTV Network, which reaches more than 2 billion television viewers globally by providing live programming to over 50 TV networks in over 200 countries, including The Weather Channel, NHK and Sky TV. earthTV.com is a fascinating site for travelers, technologists, or anyone who wants to see the rest of the world from their computer.

I’ve just been notified that Hole In The Donut has once again been nominated for a “Love This Site” Award in the travel blog category at Divine Caroline. I was nominated last year as well and placed 10th; this year I’d love to be in the top three. To vote for Hole In The Donut as the best travel blog, go to DivineCaroline.com or click on the  Divine Carline badge in the right-hand sidebar. You must be registered to vote, but joining is free. Thanks in advance for your support!

Frequent Flier Program

American Airlines is giving away one million frequent flier miles! The contest celebrates recent changes to Aadvantage, the airline’s frequent flier mileage program. For the first time ever miles can be redeemed for one-way travel. In addition, the online Aadvantage system now allows fliers to mix the class of service on different legs of a trip (for instance, flying out first class and coach on the return) and to book multi-city routes.

To enter, just watch an online 150-second film, Pioneers of Flight: Soaring with One-Way Flex Awards. (If you’re not a member of Aadvantage you’ll have to sign up first – it’s free, by the way). After watching, you’ll be able to register to win one of ten 100,000 American Airlines AAdvantage mile prizes. I’m already making a travel wish list……