Best of the Web – Roaming Tales: Travel links for 3 August

Oh my! When I decided to do the ‘link love‘ posts every week, with travel and food on alternate weeks, I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. I added quite a few blogs and a few of my favourite publications to my RSS feeds, as well as continuing to find great posts via Twitter, Facebook and StumbleUpon. Right now, I’m feeling pleased but almost overwhelmed by how much awesome content is out there.

I’ve set the bar high but this is still a bumper edition of links, ranging from advice on how to get free WiFi in airports to stunning photographs from Western Australia. This week, rather than arrange it by continent, I’ve decided to categorise by content type. Please let me know if that works for you. Enjoy!

Travel advice

Free WiFi. Carey at The Consumerist tells you how to get free WiFi at the airport.

Dealing with lost luggage. When Nancy D. Brown of What a Trip went to TBEX and BlogHer in Chicago, the airline lost her luggage. This inspired her to put together a post with tips on how to handle it if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

Flying with a guitar. What if your luggage is broken rather than lost? Guitar blog Axel’s blog shares some tips for flying with a guitar. (Timely given the publicity for United Breaks Guitars, which I wrote about recently).

Personal safety for women. Beth from Wanderlust & Lipstick on the advice she gave a pretty young woman about to travel the world for the first time.

Tipping etiquette. A guide to tipping in more than 35 countries around the world, on Conde Nast Traveler. (Link via this post on Intelligent Travel).

Parenting techniques for museums. Kayt from TravelSavvyMom shares her secrets for how to get her four-year-old son to behave in a museum and the best places in Europe to let him burn off energy. (Or you could try letting them build it in LEGO first, as Norie on Intelligent Travel describes).

Cheap airfares. The San Francisco Chronicle has advice on how to find a low-cost airfare.

A pub with no beer. The New York Times rates the best pubs in Ireland for non-drinkers.

Debates & Issues

Would you pay for travel content online? Darren at Travel Rants kicks off a debate on whether the future of online travel content is free. I disagree with him in the comments thread. What do you think? (If you comment over at Darren’s blog, do let me know!).

Second class citizen in first class. These passengers were upgraded to first class but the snotty flight attendants made them feel they didn’t belong – until the passengers turned the tables with a fib. Read the New York Times story to find out more. The one strange note for me is the fact that the passenger was surprised that her risotto came with cheese – it’s not quite as integral as rice but cheese is pretty standard in risotto. That said, there is no excuse for treating passengers like this and I think the lie was warranted. What do you think?

Travel photography

Llama in Peru. Wonderful photo of a llama overlooking Machu Picchu in Peru, from Norm on FotoCommunity.

Cathedral in Toledo, Ohio. Tim at Wandering Photographer snaps this impressive monument. I think it looks a lot like the one in Toledo, Spain.

Irish eyes. Angela at The Gypsy’s Guide shares this photo of cute children in Ireland.

Abandoned church. Pam from Nerd’s Eye View brings us a stunning black-and-white image of an abandoned church in Fort Belknap, Montana.

Adventure on ice. Kristin from Camels & Chocolate takes a boat trip to one of my favourite places on the planet. Her pics of Svalbard are beautiful and, for me, nostalgia inducing.

Sunset in Zadar. Alfred Hitchcock once said the sunset in Zadar in Croatia was the most beautiful in the world. Jess at FushMush wants to know if you agree.

Ord River in Western Australia. Don’t answer the sunset question until you see this stunning photo from Karen at Travel with Kids.

Showgirls in San Francisco. Cool photo on the SFist on the scene outside the midnight screening of Showgirls.

Market colour. A girl checks out the puppies on sale in a Guatemalan market – captured by Kymri Wilt of the Mira Terra Travel Blog.

Marrakech perspectives. Jen from Folie a Deux brings us images of Marrakech in Morocco, as seen by herself, her small daughter and her partner. Lots of lovely, bright colour and movement!

North Korea. Cate from the Caffeinated Traveller recently went to a place seen by few Westerners – North Korea. Most of her photos were deleted at the border but she managed to hang on to a few.

Where the wild things are. Great wildlife photos from one of my dream destinations – the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador – by Helly at Melbourne is Home. Plus a majestic lion in the Kalahari Desert in Africa from Rebekah on Iloho.

Edward Scissorhands in Costa Rica. Awesome photos of hedge artwork in the main park of Zarcero, two hours from San Jose, from The Travel Expert(a).

Video

Mural restoration. Deborah Bonello for the Los Angeles Times reports on the restoration of Diego Rivera murals in Mexico City .

Events & Activities

Steinbeck and King Arthur. The Steinbeck Festival in Salinas is focusing on fantasy this year. The San Francisco Chronicle makes sense of this seemingly random decision.

Motown memories. Motown remembers Michael Jackson, reports Dominique from Midwest Guest.

Cookery classes. Freda Moon canvasses cookery classes in Mexico and Northern California on the Intelligent Travel blog.

Segway in the vineyards. Liz from Perceptive Travel rolled her way through the Sonoma Valley wine country.

Destinations & Journeys

Friendly Birmingham. Karen from Europe a la Carte explains why she enjoyed her jaunt to Birmingham in the British Midlands. Karen flew from Edinburgh thanks to a blog sponsorship deal but I would recommend taking the train – it’s only two hours from London and four from Edinburgh.

Secret Colombia. The New York Times has a fantastic article with beautiful accompanying images about El Cocuy National Park in Colombia. It’s only recently become safe to travel there and it looks amazing.

Maghreb Marseilles. North African culture is flourishing in the French city of Marseilles and apparently it’s avoiding the problems of the ghettoised suburbs of Paris. (Another New York Times piece).

Tallinn, Estonia. Tallinn is a great day trip from Helsinki or a great destination in its own right, writes Andy at Europe a la Carte.

Great lakes. It had never occurred to me to go to Michigan to visit the lakes but this post on ‘seven adorable Michigan lake towns‘ from Sarah at Intelligent Travel makes it sound so appealing. Beautiful pictures too!

Fun train journeys. The Q Family Adventures offers five more fun train journeys to take with children. They’re all in the US, from Arizona to Massachusetts.

Hidden Japan. Fabulous long-form article on hidden Japan in Conde Nast Traveler. (Hat tip to Helen of World Foodie Guide for the link on Twitter).

Maltese luxury. Nanette aka Ms Gourmet of Gourmet Worrier on two unique places to stay in Malta – Maison la Vallette and Valletta Nobile.

And finally…

Not every place is so accommodating to visitors. Guide book author Geoff Garvey shares some hairy tales on his research in Andalucia, Spain on The Olive Press. (Link from @ben_coop on Twitter).

Note

The main reason I do this is for the enjoyment of my readers. However, the second key reason is to build community with other travel bloggers. If I link to you, please feel free (though not obliged) return the favour or pay it forward. We travel bloggers always appreciate comments, we lurve inbound links, and tweets and votes and reviews on StumbleUpon and Digg never go astray either.