• Darlene Berkel presents Air Travel Tips For The First Time Flyer posted at Every One Loves To Travel. Good tips for all flyers, really. And reserve your seat ahead of time if you can!
• Deb presents Hutong Tour Part 1 posted at ten-forty. (with pics)
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• Eldon Sarte presents Mobile Writers: Do You Really Need a Laptop? posted at Wordpreneur.com. Maybe not, but don’t make me give up my MacBook!
• Jeannette Kimmel presents Buggin’ IT with Butterflies posted at Intelligent Travel. So butterflies like to travel, too…
• Veteran Military Wife presents Best Seats and Best Airfare All Around posted at Life Lessons of a Military Wife. Good tips for smart flight booking.
• Tara Skipp presents Melbourne, Australia – getting some culture isn’t as expensive as you think! posted at Champagne Travel on a Beer Budget. Good tips. I used to live in Melbourne. If going, spend time on Chapel Street and also hop on the trams and head to St Kilda Beach.
• Madeleine Begun Kane presents A Traveler’s Net Woes posted at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog. Not easy traveling with the husband on a business trip, then.
• OnAJunket.com presents Welcome to Guatemala City posted at OnAJunket. Well-written piece but warning: contains vomit!
• Nancy Hayssen presents Winemaking Secrets from Napa & Sonoma, California posted at Sonoma County. Great wine info! I’m learning about wine at the moment so it’s my topic du jour.
• Nancy Hayssen presents 6 Totally FREE Sonoma Wine Country California Vacation Adventures posted at Sonoma County. These nice ideas make me a little sad because I was near Sonoma just two months ago and now I’m about 30,000km away. Can the vacations come to me?

Click here if you missed the first carnival, or read more about the carnival and how to submit your travel articles. All linkbacks appreciated.

There are enough entries to merit making this a two-week affair from now on, so the next one will be mid-August.

** = my personal favorites

Travel Planning/Philosophy

• Amanda prepares for a big trip and posts her thoughts on Planning at She Has Moxie.
• Yehuda Berlinger ponders The Reasons Why We Travel – Read Before You Go posted at Yehuda. **
• Mike explains Why I Travel: Television Made Me Do It! posted at Vagabondish. **
• Jason Antic announces Our Big, Big Roadtrip Across America is Coming Soon! and provides an introduction to couch surfing posted at We Go to Cool Places.
• Roger Carr writes about volunteer tourism in Make Your Vacation Memorable This Year posted at Everyday Giving Blog.
• Host Bee shares her pre-departure checklist in Preparing for Vacation posted at Busy Bee Lifestyle. **
• Edith Yeung asks What is your Dream? and recounts a trip to Machu Picchu posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act.
• Eric Daams presents Why Getting Ripped Off is Alright when traveling posted at From the swivellin’ chair….

Flying

• Steve Madsen reviews British Airways – World Traveller Plus (yep, long-haul flights are a bummer) posted at Exit Row Seat.
• Mary Jo Manzanares asks So You Want to be a Flight Attendant? posted at Fly Away Cafe. **
• Stingy Student presents Costliest mistake about the cost of missing a flight posted at Stingy Students.

Travel Savings

• Millionaire Mommy Next Door offers 10 Ways to Save on Travel Expenses posted at Millionaire Mommy Next Door.
• Jimson Lee presents Traveling Overseas and Saving Money on International Calls posted at Speedendurance.com. **

Asia/Pacific Articles

• Lubna Kably writes about Little Tibet in South India posted at The Writer’s Cyberslate.
• John Hill presents Koh Samui on a Shoestring posted at Universe Of Success.
• Fellow Kiwi Kara-Leah Masina reveals Why I love New Zealand/Aotearoa, Land of the long white cloud posted at Be Conscious Now.
• John Hill has an Adventure in Cambodia posted at Universe Of Success.

Europe/UK Articles

• Paul Dwerryhouse offers advice for anyone traveling to Amsterdam on a budget posted at Last Carriage. **
• Michelle Brown helps with a London Layover: What to do with 8 Hours in London posted at Inspired Diversions.
• Kate Baggott reviews a Frankfurt eatery at A Child-Friendly Restaurant for Grown Ups posted at Babylune.
• Travelrat visits Exbury Garden Railway posted at Travelrat’s Travels.

US Articles

• Jon takes a segway tour in Tour DC in Style…Segway Style! posted at The DC Traveler.
• Sheila explains 3 Ways to Have a Luxurious Hawaii Vacation on the Cheap and See An Unforgettable Sunrise at the Peak of a Volcano posted at GoVisitHawaii.com. **
• Mike takes The Niagara Wine Trail posted at Days That End in Y.
• Veteran Military Wife reviews Kennedy Space Center and the NEW Shuttle Launch Experience posted at Life Lessons of a Military Wife. **
• Seafarer presents Big Country: The Kansas Flint Hills posted at Family Travel.
• Cade Krueger presents A Trip To Leavenworth posted at Small Business Opportunity.

Other

• Daniel checks out apps in the handy Facebook for Travelers posted at TheLostGlobe. **
• And… Michael presents A Letter In Your Back Pocket: Your Key To The Developing World posted at Traveling Stories Magazine.

1. TripAdvisor.com – reviews, pics, tips, everything you need when planning a trip
   
2. LonelyPlanet.com – needs some work but its Thorn Tree forum is still great for travelers’ Q&As.
   
3. Expedia.com – still one of the best sites for booking and package deals
   
4. TimeOut.com – if you’re heading to a city, find out what’s on
   
5. SeatGuru.com – flying somewhere? Find the best seats on the plane
   
6. Wikitravel.org – open-source country info and must-sees
7. Craigslist.org – covers many cities in the world with cheap tickets, freebies and more
8. NY Times Travel – some of the best and most inspiring travel writing online
   
9. TravelSense.org – interesting tips, articles and a large community there to help
   
10. Single-Serving.com – forget the heavy guidebook and use these handy print-out pages with tips and phrases

What sites do you recommend?

Tips below via Forbes.com, MSN.com and my friends.

Do:

• Ask. It’s worth a shot. Ask for each flight you take, but don’t be demanding about it. If they say no, move on.
• Dress nicely. Showing up with a backpack and dressed in rags won’t help you assimilate with the business elite.
• Travel alone. You’ve got a way better chance.
• Be a nice person. Your good nature just may get you a reward.
• Join the airline’s frequent flyer club. Especially if it’s a smaller airline with fewer members. This is the way I’ve done it in the past, but be warned: they only accept upgrades via points on a few flights so it’s not flexible.
• Getting there early or very late can help, apparently, though I would never recommend risking missing your flight.
• Research your plane on Seatguru.com. An essential site for travelers.
• Be flexible. If you don’t mind where you sit, or being bumped to the next flight if the first one is full, you may get a seat in Business.

Don’t

• Have a heart attack or fake an illness to get put up-front. Not worth it.
• Whine. It’s lame and it won’t work.