December 15, 2008
We’re Having a Party and You’re Invited to Attend!
Whether you’re planning a trip, have recently returned, or just like to share travel stories and photos with friends, you’ll always find plenty to talk about and plenty of people to talk with on the Slow Travel Talk forum.
In This Issue
- Welcome our new moderators
- Be our guest this month in the Food Forum and in Gold Star Chats
- Check out the Slow Soupers
- Slow Travel photohunts
- Slow Travelers talk (some recent discussions of interest)
- Elsewhere on Slow Travel: reviews, trip reports, photos and blogs
Slow Travel Welcomes Two New Moderators!
We recently appointed two new moderators: TourMama (Judy) and Teaberry (Terry). Judy has been a Slow Travel member since March 2005 and is moderating the UK and Everything About Travel forums. Terry has been with Slow Travel since November 2005 and is moderating our Rest of Europe and North America forums.
Learn more about Judy, Terry and our other moderators here.
Be our guest this month in the Food Forum and at Gold Star Chats
Our popular Food Forum is normally available only to Gold Star members, but to spread a little holiday cheer we’ve opened up this forum to all members from now until the end of the year. You’ll definitely want to see what's cooking! This time of year there are always some great holiday recipes.
We’ve also opened our weekly Gold Star Chats for the rest of the year. Check out the schedule of upcoming chats and join us in the Gold Star chat room.
Speaking of food… check out the Slow Soupers!
An enthusiastic group of Slow Travelers have been enjoying several cook-a-longs this past year. They began as the Sunday Slow Bakers, cooking Italian desserts, and then started another series with homemade ice cream (the Slow Scoopers). Recently with the cooler weather, they turned to soups (the Slow Soupers). Each week features a different soup recipe selected by one of the group. Participants prepare the soup and then post about their results. Many of them also post details on their blogs.
Slow Travel PhotoHunts
If you haven’t checked in over the last couple of weeks, you’ve been missing the fun with the latest Slow Travel activity: PhotoHunts! Every week or so moderators post different themes on various forums, and Slow Travelers are invited to post a photo that interprets the theme. Whether you’re sharing photos or just enjoying them, you’ll find our PhotoHunts addictive.
Check out these recent PhotoHunts:
- Animals on the Everything About Travel forum
- Slow on the Italy forum
- Sparkling on the France forum
- Royalty on the United Kingdom and Ireland forum
- Celebrations on the North America forum
Slow Travelers talk!
There are always interesting discussions on the Slow Travel Talk forums. Some Slow Travelers are talking about trips they’ve just completed. Others are planning trips. And others just like talking about travel! Here are a few recent discussions we think you’ll enjoy:
- Luciam asked Do you leave a tip at the public bathrooms?
- There are wonderful memories on this thread where Madonna di Pietto invited Slow Travelers to Share your great Italian food and family stories
- Pat Kauf asked Is it worth bringing back wine, limoncello or liqueurs?
Several people are planning trips:
- JMarie asked for help planning a trip to Positano and Amalfi Coast
- Teaberry is planning her first trip to Tuscany and Umbria and asked for advice from fellow Slow Travelers: Tuscany and Umbria 2009 plans
- Marian will visit Rome with her granddaughter while Dmae is also going to Rome, with her son.
- Woodstock is taking her father to France on his first trip.
- Norma in Texas wanted input on Winter in the Loire Valley
- Dorit is heading to Sevilla soon, Spain during Holy Week, and so is Arnolda, Sevilla in March.
- More Slow Travelers are interested in Eastern Europe as Nilda asked for help Planning Venice and Croatia while others are going north as Deborah began planning a summer trip to Helsinki, St. Petersburg, & Tallinn
- Some Slow Travelers are staying closer to home - Jeannew wanted input on Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal or Seattle? and others are going further afield - Robert Rainey asked for input about a potential trip next year: New idea 2009, Peru?
- And even the details get talked about; TravelB was getting ready to leave for France and asked: GPS system? Help please!
And when they're not planning travels, Slow Travelers enjoy sharing travel memories:
- What's the first thing you do in Paris?
- Trekcapri returned from a trip to share her experiences: Back from 3 weeks in Spain: Thank you Slow Travel
- After one Slow Traveler suggested there was too much focus on the Cotswolds, we asked for other Recommended countryside locations in the UK
Elsewhere on Slow Travel: reviews, trip reports, photos and blogs
We continue to post new reviews, trip reports, travel notes, and articles on the Slow Travel website every week.
Reviews
We now have over 2700 vacation rental reviews on Slow Travel. Check out the latest vacation rental reviews here. You’ll also want to check out Slow Travelers’ reviews of hotels and restaurants when planning your next trip. Please remember to share your own reviews when you return!
Trip Reports
See our ten most recent trip reports here.
Blogs
Slow Travel bloggers continue to stay busy, when traveling and at home. See our list of active bloggers here.
Photos
We have over 36,000 photos on our Slow Photos site. Some recently-posted albums include:
- Dragonpat’s Trastevere 2008
- BGE’s London with the Missy
- Marian’s Le Marche and Umbria, October 2008
Happy Holidays! And always—Happy Travels!
The Slow Travel Team
www.slowtrav.com - Slow Travel
www.slowtalk.com – Slow Travel Forums
www.slowphotos.com – Slow Travel Photo Gallery