Contest Winner: Featured Photo for May
In March, we had a contest to select photos to feature in the next 12 issues of Slow Tidings. Last month's featured winner was Laidback. This month we are featuring Dgassa's photo, entitled, The Wave - Frozen in Time. Taken in Southern Utah.
Great San Diego Get Together
The Second Gathering of SlowTravel folk is on for March 12 - 14, 2010, in beautiful San Diego, California. Get-togethers are a long-standing tradition with SlowTravelers, and provide members with the chance to meet friends from the forums, and make a few new friends, too. The First SlowTravel Gathering was held in Savannah last April 4 - 6, 2008. ST community members from all over the US, Canada, and other parts of the world were in attendance. It was such an over-the-top success that we're going to do it again, this time in southern California. Details of the big event can be found here. From the Friday night kickoff party, to the Saturday fiesta at Ocean Beach, to the Sunday farewell brunch, there will be a multitude of activities, foods and beverages to keep everyone happy. We hope that you will join us!
Show Us Your Trunks Contest
How does your rental car and its trunk measure up for your vacation needs? This is the focus of this contest, which we are running now and is officially extended until the end of 2009! Take a photo of the trunk of your rental car loaded with your travel luggage and post it in our forum. We are compiling a photo gallery of rental cars and their various luggage capacities. Not only will this be a great help to fellow travelers, but the lucky winner (to be announced in the beginning of 2010) will receive a great prize. So get your bags packed, your trunks loaded, and those cameras clicking. Details of the contest can be found here.
And Another Contest... Caption That Photo!
This really cute photo is just beggin' for a caption. The photo is from Slow Photos, submitted by Pauline (the founder of SlowTravel), of the cat that lives at Gallos Bar in Panicale, Italy. So, mosey on by, look over Pauline's photo, and add your caption to this thread. Deadline for entries will be June 2, 2009, and the lucky winner (selected by the mods) will receive a one year premium membership (or have their current membership extended).
Premium Memberships
The Slow Travel forums are supported by its members. Anyone can read and search the travel forums, but you must register (free) to post messages. Gold Star Members have a Gold Star to the right of their member name on their posts and they have access to these extra features:
- private messaging (private conversation between members)
- email digests (have the latest posts emailed to you each day)
- Gold Star forums (forums for non-travel talk, food/recipes/drink, for sale/home exchange/items wanted)
- Gold Star chat rooms (weekly and book club chats)
- photo albums (hosted on www.slowphotos.com)
- run your blog on SlowTrav.
Presently, our Gold Star members are very busy in the kitchen, making homemade cheeses, and Sunday Salad Samplers. For more information about how to become a Gold Star member, click here.
Street Art by Bugalu
PhotoHunting!
Come see the photos that have been posted in this month's PhotoHunts, where Slow Travelers hunt through their photo files and post photos that interpret the various themes. (insert a photo from the PhotoHunt)
- Artisan on the Everything About Travel forum.
- Texture on the Italy forum.
- Cemetery on the France forum.
- Unexpected in the North American forum.
- Spring on the UK & Ireland forum.
Slow Travelers Talk!
Here are some of the most interesting discussions taking place on the Slow Talk forum this month. Please feel free to join in the conversations.
General Travel Topics
–interesting, fun, sometimes provocative travel discussions- There was much discussion about the pros and cons of having Internet accessibility at your travel accommodations.
- Speaking of computers, member Footnotes needed a little help trying to figure out European keyboards.
- Stolafoles' fears of being a stupid tourist while traveling to Italy were quelled by an outpouring of support and great advice.
- Is Rome a safe city? Marian just returned from 10 days in the Eternal City, and found it lovely.
- Roz and her husband are spending the month of May in France - they're checking in with us throughout their trip.
Trip Planning
– requests for ideas, input or help on upcoming trips- Cyndy received loads of great advice on what to do for a day in London with her kids.
- Planning an itinerary in Andalucia became a whole lot easier for Mike C with all the helpful suggestions he received.
- Shannon is planning a day trip from Girona, Spain into France and asked for suggestions - see what cities in France were suggested.
- Members continue to weigh in on their most memorable Val d'Orcia experience - Sheena's request for information about this Tuscan region is still a hot topic.
- Andy D needed some help finding information about a mobility scooter in Rome.
- When Dorit needed help deciding upon a one night's destination before a week's stay in Sant'Antonio, she received an abundance of good advice.
Sharing Resources
– posting links, articles and information of interest to others- Using a phone abroad is always a challenge. Roz has filled us in how she recharged a French Orange Mobicarte SIM; Marian confirmed that you can only top a TIM Italian mobile online if you have a credit card with an Italian address; and Tessmar asked about the best way to make daily phone calls from Italy.
- RomeAddict has shared information about visiting the Vatican during early morning hours.
Unanswered questions
- these members haven't received much response ... perhaps you can help!- Allanc still waits for some information on the Boccaccesca Food & Wine festival in Certaldo.
- Loulou is looking for help deciding if Château de Versailles is worth a day trip.
Elsewhere on Slow Travel
(reviews, trip reports, photos and blogs)Here is a sampling of some of the new publications on the Slow Travel website:
Travel Notes
Living Slow: The End is Nigh by Valerie
"All through the piazza echoed an old-fashioned preaching-to, with words ebbing and flowing that were mostly incomprehensible to me, except for the repeated refrain of the Italian equivalent of "The end is nigh." I couldn't help thinking, don't I know it. Not the end of the world but the end of our Italian adventure..."
Northumberland - God's Own Country by Eleanor
"One of England's hidden secrets- full of rich history, empty beaches, beautiful walking paths, castles, churchs, and quaint villages."
Trip Reports
Rialto Bridge and Gondola
A First Peek at Amsterdam and a Repeat Visit to Paris by Amy
"This was a rather last-minute trip. My older son was meeting up with a group to bike from Amsterdam to Paris. When we were looking at frequent flyer seats for him, we were shocked to find plenty of availability. So, we booked three tickets, hurried to throw together some apartment rentals, and had a serendipitous vacation. Larry and I planned to drop him in Amsterdam, and then spend a week in Paris alone afterward."
Spring in Venice 2008 by Boleskine
"We spend a month in Venice each spring (and another each winter). This chronicles our days and nights during our May-June 2008 trip."
Reviews
Lots of people are getting ready to travel, so please remember to take a few notes and submit your reviews when you return! Here is a small sampling of reviews from the past month:
Vacation Rentals
Here are some rental reviews from France: Kellyc777 tells us about La Maison de Village, in Bonnieux; Maison Juliette, in Carcassonne, as reviewed by amurray0101; and abbygirlsouth reviews Chateau de la Noue in the Loire Valley.
Restaurants
Ostaria al Garangelo, in San Polo, Venice, reviewed by Gen and Les Carmes, in Le Thor, Provence, reviewed by Mary Polatajko.
Blogs
Marta recently returned from a trip to exotic Borneo - check out her blog entries, and beautiful photos and Candi's off to Thailand, blogging along the way at Candi's Corner.
Photos
Kim takes us on a tour of the New Yankee Stadium and Dragonpat has been busy updating her Capri albums from a 2008 trip.
See our past newsletters: Newsletter Archive.
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Happy Travels!
The Slow Travel Team
www.slowtrav.com - Slow Travel
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