The world according to Pinterest

Yes, I admit, I am a little addicted to pinterest and I really couldn’t tell you precisely why…but I saw a very suspect/intriguing/insulting/facinating/fun contest that Pinterest released – in which you may win a new digital SLR camera!

All you have to do is vote on the most beautiful country in the world.

Wow – how do they come up with this?

Apparently you can vote on Twitter or Pinterest for your opinion on this matter.

So – voting. You can’t really use a scientific measures to determine for a fact WHAT the most beautiful country is….so let the opinion of computer literate/social media literate be the law 😛

A few days ago, I checked, and I saw that the UK was in first place for most beautiful country in the world. The next day it was Turkey, then Italy, then India, then Latvia.

Canada, my home and native land, has steadily remained at and around #6. Go Canada!!!

Where would your most beautiful country vote go to?

Related articles

• Make Better Use Of Pinterest With These 5 Pinterest Tools (tyamerdeka.wordpress.com)
• Pinterest Users: What’s the World’s Most Beautiful Country? (factographs.wordpress.com)

Go Go Gadget – Gogobot

I am starting to get addicted to the social media site Gogobot.

“Like Pinterest for travel lovers”

If you are curious about this site, I have a few questions for you:

Do you like to travel?

Do you like to share advice with other travelers?

Do you like displaying all the places you have been?

Do you like to get points (not sure what they go to, but hey – I get bonus points!)

Do you love planning trips?

Do you like to waste time on social media sites?

Look at the raves:

I’m going to try this baby out – or at least click on as many “places I have been to” as I can.

Related articles

• Gogobot: Travel Guide to the 2012 Oscars (intheknowtravel.wordpress.com)
• Gogobot iPhone app taps Facebook timeline (gadling.com)
• Gogobot is Like Pinterest for Your Travels (mashable.com)

By the way, try OnTheWay

I saw this website OnTheWayApp, where you can plug in a road trip start and destination and it will plot “must sees” along the way.

What a great concept, and then I put it into practice.

Last summer, I drove out from Toronto to Yellowstone (Wyoming/Montana) and had probably the greatest tour guide (my boy) directing me to our destination. He has been to Yellowstone every year since he was 10 years old (29 now).

Although he either flew in, or drove in from Vancouver, he still had one of those great childhoods where he and his parents explored as many park as they could when he was growing up.

What I am saying about this new site is – it is great if you have absolutely no clue where to stop and what to eat along your road trip journey.

But when I looked up the route we took last year to Yellowstone, it recommended stopping at a movie theatre in Guelph (been there….it’s a movie theatre), then Limeridge Mall in Hamilton (ummm a mall, with banks, a few clothing stores and a food court), after the mall, it recommended John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario where you could view the OHL hockey team for an evening, if they are playing there that evening…in the fall – spring…then IKEA in Dearborn, Michigan.

It’s a great way to look up malls and arenas as I discovered after looking up alternate road trip destinations.

Really, I despise criticizing anything, but this site is just a google map with a few tagged waypoints.

Great concept, but more people need to ‘write in’ the local must-sees to make this site work.

“The Future”: Predicting what 1950 would be like – in 1925

Congestion has long been a problem. Here’s how, in 1925, Popular Science envisioned the solution to congested roadways:

Source

I love that the aircraft of the future are blimps!

The modern ‘green roof’ or rooftop gardens began in the 1960s – so Popular Science was close on this front.

What is weird is that if we have a series of skyscrapers with a level for restaurants/grocery stores, then your work, then the schools for your children, and finally – your home. Why is there all this traffic?

This looks like a cool concept for sustainable living. People must have been super lazy, or still entertained by the idea of Sunday driving, with all these layers of traffic and no where to go!

PS – The street decorations look like Paris, don’t they? Take me!

Pinterest, follow me!

It’s quite entertaining, being on Pinterest.

Pinterest, is “a two-year-old social bookmarking site that lets users collect and share things they like on the web” – mashable.com

Like a pin board/cork board! Well, I love going on here, “pinning” and viewing others interests.

My site allows me to creatively bookmark my loves, wishes, travels, recipes…you name it.

Just another social media win, I like to think. OR a way to procrastinate/be distracted.

Travel Website – CouchSurfing

Has anyone heard of the site CouchSurfing?

I am not about to sign up yet, but it boasts itself as “The world’s largest travel community”

Sounds interesting, but I am not in the mood to sign up at the moment.

Interesting…interesting…..

Plnnr to plan your trips

Oh my….you must try out the site Plnnr. It is fun, but more importantly useful!

This website gives a list of 20 popular travel destinations around the world,

plans an itinerary around your interests,

including how intense you want your travels to be,

and the star rating of your hotel,

then maps out the route to your attractions, and the location of hotels that match your criteria.

WOW!

I know what I am doing on my Sunday morning….

WWWebsite

I recently heard about this website, airbnb, that allows people to search for or promote their home as vacation rentals all around the world.

This website seems quite dangerous to me….not in the way that I would feel uneasy about letting complete strangers into my personal space, but that I just spent the last 30 minutes browsing through places in Moscow. These places look absolutely gorgeous and cheap!! Can I go right now?!?!

The site might be perfect for me as well, to promote my condo in downtown Toronto. I am usually gone for 2 weeks in March and then again for a few months in the summer traveling my little heart away. Why not make some of the $$$ back that I spend on gas, flights, and lodging/camp sites by lending my nice place out to people wishing to visit Toronto on a budget?

Sounds like this website is becoming very popular, as Ashton Kutcher recently invested some cash into this website!

I dare say I might try it, and I feel better that this site now boasts property protection insurance. Time to travel!!

Wistfully Wandering Wonderful Website – Wanderfly

Check this site out. Very dangerous for myself who is always daydreaming about travelling.

Wanderfly

This site allows you to set your travel budget, select when you want to go, and for how long, and check off whether you are in the mood for adventure, romance, culture, art…the list goes on. It is so addicting! Is it just me?

Here are a few trials resulting from distracting myself from writing report cards.

Choice #1: Eco theme, mid July, budget $2000 for 15 days.

Oakland. Interesting. Love it! And it is $500 below my budget. This site is great, it recommends things to do, such as hmm salsa classes at 580 Grand Ave. #305, Oakland, California. Neat!

Choice #2: Food, mid-July, 8 days, budget $1400

Ahhh! Love love lovvvve it! Can I book this right now? I’m hungry! And I could stay at the Ramada Brasov.

Choice #3: Romance and History, mid-July, 12 days, budget $1600

Hmm…ok, I think I would really love to see this place. This site is getting so entertaining. One more, ok?

Choice #4: Art, Entertainment, and Adventure, mid-July, 14 days, budget $2200

Ok, been here, would do it again in a heartbeat. But check out these other options at the top: Prague, Plymouth, Dever, Puebla, Walla Walla (need to go there NOW!).

So, if you are bored and need some entertainment, OR if you are actually planning a trip and have no idea where your little heart desires where to go…try this site, please. I know you will enjoy it.

Time to get back to report card writing….

Sing me a song

Source

Wherever I travel, I bring my iPod, or before they existed, my mp3 player, and yet before that my walkman (I never had a portable cd player) to help me get through some of those moments when you have to sit around and wait. Most recently, I had a bit of a wait at the airport on my way to and from Quebec (more details on that to come).

Following are some great songs that I listened to while biding my time at the Toronto Island airport.

1. Africa – Toto

2. New York, New York – Frank Sinatra

3. Here I Go Again – Whitesnake

4. Roam – B52’s

5. Mambo Italiano – Frank Sinatra

6. Beautiful Day – U2

7. Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd

8. Born to be Wild – Steppenwolf

9. Cuba Libre – Gloria Estefan

10. Habibi ya Nour el Ain – Ishtar Alabina