I recently gave a presentation called The Wild West of Travel Blogging: Staking Your Claim in New Media to a group of traditional travel writers visiting my area. It was great to connect with the old school writers again and remember where I came from and how hard it was when I first started in the travel industry.

Many people may not realize this, but I’m not a blogger. I’m a writer. I write for magazines, newspapers, websites, and blogs. I even write books (gasp). To me, blogging is just another medium where my words are published. One point I tried to reiterate throughout my presentation is that it’s crazy for all of us. Travel bloggers don’t consider themselves writers, some writers don’t even know what a blog is, and the poor travel industry professionals just want to do their jobs (get people to write about their destination so that consumers book their destination and everyone is happy).

So why is it we aren’t all working TOGETHER to teach each other? I think that travel writers should be mentors to travel bloggers and travel bloggers should in turn teach the writers how to survive in the new media world. The same goes for the travel industry pros - If a blogger comes to you asking for assistance, don’t just tell them no, explain why you can’t assist them and give them a few tips on what information they can provide YOU so that you can give them the answer they need.

I’ve heard more moaning and griping from everyone than actual ideas for a solution to the problem. We can’t feel threatened because there’s a new kid on the block. Instead, we should be asking them to come over and play on our swing set.

The gate to my yard is open. What questions do you have? Let’s try and find a solution and have fun while on the swing set.

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Cuts for the Coast – Yes, hair really soaks up the oil spill

The other day I was watching my local news (WAFB) when a story aired that looked at first to be a spoof. It seems that human hair can act as an absorbent for the Deep Horizon oil spill in the Gulf Coast. It wasn’t a joke. This method was actually used in 2006 during the Philippines oil [...]

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Why is Social Media Important to the Travel Industry?

In the Beginning
Once upon a time (like medieval times) each grand castle had a bard or storyteller who would regale inhabitants of the castle with stories and legends. Some of the stories were true and were a way to spread current events or tales of faraway lands. The lord of the castle would also receive [...]

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Floor-cleaning robots cut cleaning chores

By Pat Woods
Like other homeowners, husband Rob and I like clean floors but hate vacuuming. Our knee joints rebel at cleaning under beds and heavy sofas. We don’t have to–Roomba Rhonda, our vacuuming robot cheerfully cleans floors for us!
U.S. manufactured Roomba is the greatest invention since email. Our robots are welcome family member. Unlike a [...]

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Family Travel Destination – Kissimmee, Florida

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Kissimmee Tourism. All opinions are 100% mine.
My family is in vacation planning mode with requests from the younger members of the clan coming in daily. I’ve heard “I want to ride a zip line!” to “When is The Wizarding World of Harry Potter going [...]

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