1. Keep the travel industry on its toes.
Did you know that the airlines, hoteliers and other business that make up the travel industry check blogs to see what you think of their services? It’s true, and recently some businesses are changing their practices in response to negative reviews that appear online. So, next time you travel, be sure to let people know if you have a great experience… or a horrible one.
Check out this CNN article for more information.
2. Keep ANYONE on their toes… or just make them angry.
In addition to blogging your opinions about your most recent vacation, you can also rate and review pretty much any business in your local community via websites like yelp.com. While some businesses become quite upset when they receive negative reviews from yelp users, Pizzaria Delfina in San Francisco has ‘taken back’ the insults and hurled them right back at their customers in a comedic use of irony.
More on Yelp and sites like it here.
3. Too broke to take a fancy vacation? Try camping.
Can you guess a new recent trend in vacation and traveling? With the
economy in the toilet, many people are turning back to nature for their
vacation fix. The reason for this: camping, backpacking and most other
forms of outdoor activities are inexpensive and fun. Never mind that
John Sutter, writing for CNN, described camping as an activity
previously reserved for “nerdy families, nature geeks and Boy Scouts.”
4. Went camping and got lost? Maybe Twitter can help.
Earlier this month, a snowboarding expedition gone awry was documented-
– and possibly aided–by Twitter users from around the world. When the
unfortunate adventurers found themselves in a horrible situation, they
turned to the web via their cell phones in a frantic bid for survival.
Phone numbers, GPS and Google maps information was ‘tweeted’ from user
to user, and in the end, may have aided in the rescue of at least one
of the snowboarders. Police, however, refuse to acknowledge the
potential contributions of the latest social networking fad.
5. If all else fails, just turn off your dang lights.
March 28, 2009, 8:30 pm local time
World Wildlife Fund and a whole host of partners are asking
individuals, businesses, governments and organizations around the world
to turn off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour – to make a global
statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment
to finding solutions.
Cameron for My Wonderful World