USA Today and Royal Caribbean Offer the Chance to Become a Cruise Reporter
The new Oasis of the Seas on its sea trial in September 2009 (courtesy, Royal Caribbean International)
This Friday is the last day to enter the "Reporter at Sea" contest, held by USA Today and Royal Caribbean. The grand-prize winner will get three nights for two on the inaugural cruise of Oasis of the Seas (including round-trip airfare to the port of departure) and the esteemed role of Special Field Correspondent, where you'll receive behind-the-scenes access to file reports for USA Today's Cruise Log.
Aspiring reporters can enter by submitting a 45-second video touting their reporting skills and making the case for why they're the ideal reporter. A panel of judges will then choose the top ten finalists, whose videos will be posted online, where users will vote for the winner.
The journalist search is also taking place in Canada, Germany, Mexico, and the UK—with one winner from each country.
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October 03, 2009
Get a Free Day at Disney by Volunteering Your Time
Cinderella's Castle at Walt Disney World, Orlando (courtesy, Walt Disney News)
Disney has just announced a new "Give a Day, Get a Day" program that will reward up to one million people who volunteer a day of service in participating programs with a free one-day admission ticket to a Walt Disney World Resort or Disneyland Resort theme park. The program kicks off next year on January 1, but you can sign up now at www.DisneyParks.com.
Interested in giving back when you travel? Visit Away.com's Volunteer Vacations Guide to learn more.
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September 14, 2009
Share Your Best National Park Photo to Win KEEN Hiking Gear!
Master documentary filmmaker Ken Burns' most recent project, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, premieres on PBS on September 27. We know many of you seasoned travelers out there have visited national parks and have some great photos to share, so in celebration of this new documentary, Away.com is having a contest to spotlight our country's parks. We're looking for your best photo, taken in or of a national or state park, forest, or seashore, that shows off the park's natural wonders, as well as your photography skills. But choose your very best photo, because you're only allowed one entry per person! All you have to do is:
1. Go to the Away.com Facebook Fan Page.
2. Become a fan of Away.com.
3. Type a descriptive caption of no more than 100 words—being sure to include where and in what park the photo was taken—in the text field at the top of the page (where it prompts you to "Write something...").
4. And before you hit the "Share" button, use the Photo icon below the text field to attach your most impressive national park photo.
Your photo and caption will then appear on our Facebook Wall to be shared with fellow travelers.
The grand prize winner will receive more than $230 worth of trail-ready gear from outdoor pros KEEN, to include hiking boots, a backpack, and merino wool hiking socks. The winner, along with several runner-ups, will also have their photos featured on our site. So start looking through your photo albums now, and send us the one that has the greatest "Wow!" factor. We're excited to see what you've got!
Contest ends midnight on October 2. Click here for the Official Contest Rules.
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September 08, 2009
Win a Free Eco-Vacation to The Lodge at Chaa Creek in Belize
PARADISE, FOR FREE: The Lodge at Chaa Creek, Belize (courtesy, The Lodge at Chaa Creek)
We've just nominated The Lodge at Chaa Creek in Belize as one of our all-time favorite family resorts. Now here's your chance to discover for yourself why we put it on our must-visit list of the world's best resorts and lodges.
The Lodge at Chaa Creek is currently running a Nature Adventure Sweepstakes [PDF download] to award five lucky winners to the chance to win a free vacation to its award-winning eco-lodge, which is nestled deep in the rainforest of Belize's interior Cayo District. In 300 words or less, tell them why you want to visit Chaa Creek. The contest ends October 30, 2009. If you win, don't forget to send us a postcard!
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August 12, 2009
Beach Bytes: Free Fun in Atlantic City
Atlantic City, with boardwalk in background (courtesy, Atlantic City CVA)
Can you have fun in Atlantic City without spending money? You bet! Atlantic City beaches are free and have designated sections for surfing, fishing, kayaking, and windsurfing. Grab some sunblock and spend a day on the sand, in the water, or on the city's lively traditional boardwalk.
A premier destination on New Jersey's coast, Atlantic City is a sizzling summer spot for family fun, especially attractive because of all of its low-cost offerings. The city's boardwalk has long been an entertainment center, with varying dynamics over the years as it grew into a gambling city, a convention hub, and an important golf destination. The boardwalk provides a central point for accessing piers, hotels, casinos, shopping, dining, antiquing, and entertainment lining the beach.
The city offers a lot of great, free, and fun events over the summer, including the Atlantic City Air Show, “Thunder Over the Boardwalk,” on August 19. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds headline the show, which begins at 11 a.m. The airshow will include the U.S. Army Parachute Team and dozens more aerobatics, demonstrations, and flybys. If the boardwalk is crowded, the aerial acts will be easy to view from anywhere along the beach.
Continue reading "Beach Bytes: Free Fun in Atlantic City" »
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July 23, 2009
Moon Travel Guides Wants to Know: What's Your Favorite City?
Everyone's trying to cut corners these days, including those who are trading in summer vacations abroad for trips closer to home. But whether you decide to take off on a road trip, discover your backyard mountains, go on a weekend getaway to the local lake, or revisit a big city near you, you'll likely find that there's tons of summer fun to be had—right here in the U.S. of A.
To help inspire these summer adventures, or help you plan the logistics of your trip, Moon Travel Guides is giving away 50 of their U.S. guidebooks in 50 days. They will also be featuring all U.S. destinations on their website for the next two weeks, including guest blogs from guidebook authors about their favorite American cities. To win a book, all you have to do is answer one simple question: What's your favorite U.S. city? Tell them in 100 words or less what you love about your top city, and send your entry to giveaway@moon.com. All submissions must be mailed between now and September 7.
We want to know about your favorite city, too! Is it the nightlife or beaches of Miami? The public art and cafes of Seattle? The free cultural activites in Washington, D.C.? Or the easy access to wildlife and outdoor adventure of Anchorage? Tell us in the comments!
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March 19, 2009
Win a Trip to Curacao—and a Chance at an Island-Wide $500,000 Treasure Hunt
Kenepa Grandi Beach, one of Curacao's literal (and perhaps figurative) treasures (Nathan Borchelt)
In these all-too-real times of economic distress, it’s refreshing when we see a tourism organization introduce a bit of fantasy. Curacao—a small gem of a Caribbean island in the Dutch Antilles, just miles north of South America—launched the Curacao Treasure Hunt contest on March 16, where participants can enter for a chance to win one of 70 free trips to the island, awarded daily through May 23. Sign up, answer a trivia question correctly, and your entry that day is secure. You can try every day, as many times as you want. Win one of those trips, and you could also become one of ten lucky participants in an island-wide treasure hunt this August, with a grand prize of half a million dollars (now that’s what we call “economic stimulus”).
Continue reading "Win a Trip to Curacao—and a Chance at an Island-Wide $500,000 Treasure Hunt" »
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January 08, 2009
D.C. for Free: 57 Activities in the U.S. Capital That Won't Cost You a Penny
View of Washington Monument from the Jefferson Memorial (Adam Jones/Photodisc/Getty)
If the November 2008 election and its after-party was anything to go by, the January 20 inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama is going to be one massive people's party. So, to get in the spirit, we present our list of the top free-for-the-people activities and excursions in the Washington, D.C. area. Visit Away.com's Washington, D.C. guide for more travel-planning information (including top hotels and attractions), plus websites for the places listed below for more specific details and directions. And if you have other tips on places to freeload in D.C., leave your ideas in the comments section below.
Continue reading "D.C. for Free: 57 Activities in the U.S. Capital That Won't Cost You a Penny" »
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December 16, 2008
"Share Your Adventure" Contest: And the Winners Are...
No doubt, you lot are an adventure-loving crew! Over 120 entries came in for our recent "Share Your Adventure" contest, with globe-trotting tales that featured everything from Moab singletrack to Costa Rican surf to a very close encounter with a scorpion on some unnamed tropical isle.
Thank you, everyone, for taking the time to enter. After much deliberation amongst the editors here (and some winnowing down of entries that, although interesting and well-written, went over our limit of 100 words per entry), we have selected the below five entries as the finalists in our "Share Your Adventure" contest. The winners will each receive a copy Riding the Hulahula to the Arctic Ocean from National Geographic Books, plus they'll be contributing a longer post about their adventures to this blog in the week of January 19-23, 2009. (We had originally planned for a week in December, but we decided that the later January date will give everyone time to get through the festive season!)
Continue reading ""Share Your Adventure" Contest: And the Winners Are... " »
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November 10, 2008
Write For Us!: Share Your Adventure Contest and Book Giveaway
For one week in December, Away.com will be turning over the keys to this blog to five adventure-loving readers. Tell us in the comments section, in 100 words or less, about an adventurous travel experience you've had (or an extraordinary destination that you've discovered). The world's your oyster, though bear in mind that the operative word here is "adventure."
We'll select the five best entries and ask each winner to write an expanded post for this blog, to be published next month. Need more incentive to enter? We will also send our five intrepid bloggers a copy of Riding the Hulahula to the Arctic Ocean: A Guide to 50 Extraordinary Adventures for the Seasoned Traveler, the latest world-roving adventure tome from National Geographic Books (check out an exclusive photo preview on Away.com here). What are you waiting for? Start telling your story now!
Entries must be submitted no later than Friday, December 5, 2008. Please be sure to include your email contact details as part of the Typekey submission profile required for submitting your entry in the comments section (this will not be displayed alongside comment, but will allow us to contact winning finalists accordingly). Click here to download the official contest rules.
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