Going Local Travel

Inspired by Iceland Invitations from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo. Icelanders are opening their homes to visitors, as part of a new tourism campaign — and leading the way is the country’s president. Watch this video above. It appears to be an invite around to the presidency for pancakes. Who’s up for paying him a [...]

Today is the 10th anniversary of 9/11. With all the commemorations, tie-ins and, in some cases, blatant profiteering (fancy some 9/11 memorial wine priced at $19.11? ), I don’t think many people have failed to pick up on this. As midnight approaches, most of us have reached overload. Nonetheless, the following email sent out by [...]

“Locals don’t always know best” is the headline of a fair post by blogger Candice Walsh. She talks about the downside of local knowledge, ie that hanging out with someone who lives in a place isn’t always a free pass into an all inter-circle of incredible secrets, you can get your fair share of dud [...]

Here it is proof that “going local” is fashionable. I spotted this “I love locals” t-shirt being worn by someone on the streets of a hip* part of Buenos Aires last week.

A few months back I was on the judging panel for two Leap Local competitions: best local guide and best travel writer. Not long after the winners were announced, an email landed in my inbox. “GOOOD NEEEWWWSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” read the subject line. It had been forward from a rather excited tour guide in Kyrgyzstan. His win [...]

Here’s an update stay with the locals schemes that I wrote for yesterday’s Guardian travel section.  The aim of the piece was to look at what was new in the field and how the site’s are developing. It ran alongside a piece about an interesting, new homestay project in India and an account by one [...]

Photo: Picada at La Casona de Carlos Keen. Copyright: Vicky Baker Busy times at the end of 2010 meant my blog posts tailed off a little bit. Usually I like to use this blog to expand on articles I have written elsewhere, or go off at a related tangent, but, for now, here’s a simple [...]

Following on from my recent post about travel buzzwords, I wanted to share a link to an amusing piece about five new types of travel. ‘Bungee climbing’ and ‘cramping’ get a mention, but my favourite has to be the proposed ESL tour. It’s inspired by the success of Eat Pray Love-themed tours. “Based on Lynn [...]

This week marks the 2nd anniversary of Going Local Travel. Back in August 2008, I hesitated before I wrote my first post. Would I keep it up? Two years later, my dashboard here is showing 165 posts + 410 comments. I’m quite shocked it has lasted this long, and I can’t see myself packing it [...]

, Blamed for “casting Australia as a nation of tone-deaf people and drawing on dowdy 50-year-old stereotypes”, the latest Tourism Australia campaign hasn’t gone down well on home shores since launching earlier this week. You can watch ‘There’s Nothing like Australia’ here, but be warned: jabbing yourself in the ears with hot barbecue tongs would [...]