Well, I’m Darren Cronian, the editor of the Travel Rants Blog. I live in Leeds, England, and my love in life is …. Travel. I love travelling, seeing new places, meeting new people and that’s one of the reasons why I started this blog. Welcome! Enjoy!

Hi Darren, love your blog as I am a keen traveller like yourself. Keep up the great work

Michelle x

hi darren , i enjoy travel too, keep up the good work.

Thanks Paul - how did you find Travel Rants?

Great blog entries about Prague, I’m going there next month.

Thanks Peter! I enjoyed writing the articles because I enjoyed Prague so much - if you need any advice drop me an email. I’m writing part 3 and that should be published sometime this week.

Hi
I know, I’m kinda late leaving this message, but am new to the blog world. Hope you’ll still look at it. Okay, my intro…I’m a mom and I enjoy traveling. My attempt is to write about the places we visit, while discussing this with regards to traveling with kids. I hope you will find time to give it a look-see and tell me what you think.

Oh, totally forgot to mention I found travel-rants while browsing for other travel blogs.

Thanks,
Travel plaza.

Hi, thanks for dropping by Nice blog you have.. and I’m always looking for travel blogs to feature on the website!

Thanks for checking out my blog. Hope you’ll visit again. I’ll be posting more in a couple of days, with more pics.

Thanks again.

Hello all. Hello Darren. Nice to meet you on travel-rants. I found your link in google -from directory critic. I suppose you already think about your future travel to Russia. Ask me how? : -) I like to travel too. In few days I will go to one russian lake not very far from our city, about 300-350km. What kind of travel do you like? hiking, rucksack and tent or civilized travel and staying in the hotel?
regards, Alex

Hi Alex, thanks for dropping by I’ve never been to Russia, or have any thoughts about going, I’ve heard Moscow is a superb city to visit, but can be very dangerous if your travelling alone - is this right?

Hey Darren, I’m Chad way over in Canada. I found you through a friend at work who suggested this blog was a good read. I’m just making my way in the giant world that is blogging, so I’m taking it all in page by page. Very nice site! Check out my site if you have a chance, I could use some good tips.

Hi Darren!

I found your blog in the Goggle directory while looking for ideas for making my blog better ( http://bart-cat-travel.blogspot.com/)

I’m Bart de Graaf, I was born in The Netherlands some 35 years ago. I’m married to Karin and father of Edie, our beautiful 1.5 year-old baby girl. I studied International Tourism Management and Consultancy at the Superior Institute for Tourism Studies in Breda, The Netherlands, but my constant urge to get away into the wide open spaces of traveling freedom made me a nightmare for my professors and fellow students.

I dreamt up the idea of setting up a tour operating company on my way to Ecuador’s inner jungle in 1994, on one of several trips through the area. I’ve been an active South America explorer for over 12 years now and have seen and experienced many of the surprises one can encounter living, working and traveling in this wild continent. After barely graduating in 1996 I almost immediately made my way to Peru to make my two dreams reality: turn my hobby into a professional way of living and try to help building the cultural bridge between South America and the rest of the world.

After 10 hard working years in Peru we now own and run a tour operating company, managing not only Peru, but also Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, with proper offices in the first three countries and growing! You’re welcomed to visit us at http://www.cat-travel.com.

Well, guess that’s pretty much my life so far. In the words of Jan Myrdal: “Traveling is not just seeing the new; it is also leaving behind. Not just opening doors; also closing them behind you, never to return. But the place you have left forever is always there for you to see whenever you shut your eyes.”

See you!

Hiya Darren. Why do u think that in Russia can be very dangerous if your travelling alone ? Not so. Practically dangerous like in other country. Maybe u heard many bad stories ? I saw many people from Engl, USA, Europe, Japan whos travelling and in Sibiria in my city. Dunno what can happen exactly in our country ?)

Hi Darren
We have a blog called Destination Essentials
http://www.selectworldtravel.blogspot.com

We’d like to think that not all Travel agencies are tarred with the same brush.
Select World Travel is one of the UK’s leading Independent Award Winning Travel Agencies. We Aim to bring you news, Views and information from the exciting world of Travel. We hope to bring you lots of information based on our Personal knowledge of visiting many Countries from around the world.

I’m hoping that as a fairly new bolg that we can have our blog reveiewed and some hints and tips on getting it out to a wider audience, let us know on if flickr is a better way of people seeing our Photos from around the World or wether there could be something better out there. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Lee

Nice looking blog - have you thought about aquiring your own domain, and installing Wordpress blog software - this is what I use on Travel Rants, and to be honest it’s much more flexible than Blogger. They are loads of plugins which can make the blog really attractive, and userfriendly. Visit http://www.wordpress.org for more information. Flickr is the best application for photographs in my opinion, and you can see I’m using the same on my blog.

With regard to promoting the blog - it’s probably going to be more difficult to promote a commercial blog promoting a business, that is why I have made my blog non commercial other than Google Adsense.

In a short time the blog has been around Its been featured in the Metro newspaper and Web User magazine. The travel media love blogs, and if your providing useful content they will pick up on it.

Hope this helps

Darren

Chad, I love the design of your blog. Very interesting blog entries too. If your interested in swopping blog links let me know.

Hi Darren,

Just a note to say hello to a fellow BlogBurster, and tell you that I’m enjoying your posts through your RSS feed.

I write a family travel blog hosted on BootsnAll, with plenty of info, links and original content based on travels with my own two kids. Lots of it can be useful to singles/adults as well.

Hope you and your readers enjoy it. Thanks and best wishes, Sheila

Hi there,

I am Jeff. I am 30 with a wife and small child. I just started a sorta-Travel blog called OutwiththeKids.com. It exists to discuss travel and a whole lot more as it relates to kids and families. I am enjoying your site. New to blogging and reading blogs. Thanks!

Jeff

Hi Jeff, glad you stopped by my travel blog. I love blogging, and I am sure you’ll enjoy it too. I’ve bookmarked your blog and look forward to reading it and learning some experience of travelling with children.

If you want me to plug your blog - or should I say promote your blog then drop me an email with your blog address, and a little bit of information about the blog. I’ll then plug the blog.

- travel blogs only
- not in top 100 of technorati blogs
- reguarly updated

Darren

Hi,

I have a Michigan Travel and Lodging website (www.rentalbug.com) and came across your blog when I was researching the idea of including a blog or forum on my website.
Thanks for the valuable information.

Melissa

Hi Melissa,

Thanks for dropping by all the way in Michigan

Nice website you have - my main business is Worldwide Holiday Homes so we have similar business interestest. Good luck with the blogging - let me know when the blog is live and I’ll pop by.

Darren

Hi Darren –

Per your question, I located your blog through a Google search of “travel blog” — it was listed in the top ten.

Trying to start one myself: http://www.travelmusings.net. Cynical, self-deprecating reports of my solo international travels (misadventures?).

Would gladly swap links with you.

Regards,
Mitzyli

Hi Mitzyli, very nice blog! Love the photographs! Thanks for dropping by - it’s good that people are eventually finding the blog on Google and other search engines.

Hi Darren,

Liking your travel blog. I am in the process of starting one myself. Will check back for the link soon

Thea

Hi Thea - thanks for your comments.

When your blog is live let me know and I’ll pop by and have a look.

Darren,

Thanks for the bookmark. I just posted today on taking kids to a music festival - relaying my experience at the Newport Folk Festival with a 5 month and 17 month old child.
Outwiththekids.com is going to be discussing events such as this, not simply long distance travel - although we will feature articles on vacations to the Gulf Coast of Florida, France, High Country in North Carolina, among others over the coming weeks. OWTK is updated 4-5 times a week.

Thanks again,

Jeff

Great stuff Jeff.

You and all of the other travel bloggers who read Travel Rants might be interested to know about ‘The Travel Weblog Network’ that I have created. Basically, I will place a link to your travel blog in return you’ll link to one of my travel websites from your travel blog.

If your interested in joining up then complete the contact me form and I’ll add your link.

Darren

Hi Darren, I just love your travel blog, but I am disappointed that you took your photograph down Keep you the awesome work.

Hi Darren,
Thanks so much for linking me in your Travel Weblog Network. Much appreciated. Also can you please give me some ideas on how I can expand my blog? I want to post more information along with my travel adventures. Right now it’s pretty basic.

Thanks so much once again…

Lisa, haha thanks for the comments *blushes!*

Travel Plaza, what’s your name, I can’t keep calling you Travel Plaza haha. I’m going to write an article soon about promoting your blog, so when it’s finished I’ll send you over a copy for you to read.

Hi!

I’m from Quebec city, Canada.

I work for Radar - Internet Strategy for Tourism.

I wish you the best of luck Darren!

Keep writing! ; )

Mathieu

hi sir:

I have a website about the travel tips, could you add my site into your blog, or just exchange, your blog is great, i really want to link with you

Welcome Mathieu - thanks for stopping by

Johnny, drop me an email via the contact form with your link information. I’ll then add you to http://www.travel-rants.com/travel-resources

Wow it’s been sometime since I blogged! I’m trying not to write just for the sake of it but more when theres something interesting to blog about. If you have a travel blog, get in touch with me!

Great blog got here via V7n, I get the feeling we share a fair bit in common. I run several websites devoted to Australia and I will have some blogs up soon about Australia, Search Marketing, Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and a few others.

It’s suprising more of the travel industry aren’t into blogs yet, especially considering how SEO savvy most online operators are out there. It should become a fairly hot space over the coming years.

Congrats on your blog, it’s great.

- Ben

Do you know Ben, I am really surprised how many travel companies and agents don’t have a blog up and running. It’s amazing, how difficult it is to get people into the travel blog network - if you want to join and get more information let me know.

Darren

Hi Darren,
Congrats on a professional and eyecatching website. I was attracted by the cartoon header (being a cartoonist myself) and the interesting content on your pages. My own travelblog - http://www.drivingnz.blogspot.com features my own original cartoons and text. It describes my travels around New Zealand in a campervan. I’d be pleased to submit an article for your site if you like the look of it.
Regards Al

Thanks for the comments!

Al I love your cartoons! Very interesting blog aswell! Maybe I could link to your blog in return for a link back to Travel Rants.com? Let me know what you think.

I would love to one day visit New Zealand and your very lucky to live in such a superb country in Australia. I was there in 2004, and can honestly, say I enjoyed being around the nicest people I have come across on my travels.

This is my first blogging experience, but this site looks like so much fun, I just wanted to be a part. Besides, educated travelers are my best customers. Let’s face it, if you’re not traveling WHOLESALE

Wow! This has become my new favourite travel blog.

Hey good site, i originally found your site from a comment you left on my site. Its good to see another decent travel blog out there.

My travel blog is mainly on my travels in china, i just feel i had more time to blog more!

Keep up the good work on your Travel blog.

Alex

Hey Darren,

Your right about the travel industry it’s crazy, so much wasted time and effort. My parents have been in online travel since 1994 so we have seen our fair share of stupidity (and support).

I’d be keen to know more about this travel blog network, just email me.

I should really be blogging with my skillset and online knowhow but I have been lazy. I also don’t want to commit to something I won’t stick with.

I HAVE been collecting Au content for a while now, considering the money some of my sites are making I should be doing it f/t, but my SEO/IM (real job) get’s in the way. I should be totally independant by years end tho.

Hi, Darren,

Thanks for the great blog and articles! I recently finished school for the 2nd time around, and really miss the globo-centric worldview my business professors brought to us. Reading blogs like yours help me realize that more lies beyond my horizon than I might believe.

I’ve recently started putting together a site that allows folks to share their favorite places on earth, and would love some feedback. The number 1 thing on my to-do list is add the ability for people to add more countries, so please forgive my narrow US-ness at the moment. Any comments and suggestions would be welcomed….
CityTracs.com.

Cheers! and happy travels to all,
Byron

Hi Darren,
just an encouragement to your work with this forum. It is useful at least for me with some travel information and experience i read in the forum. If you travel to Vietnam then do no hestitate to mail me , i will make you post some new and interesting things about Vietnam.

Cheers up !!!!
Bang

Ben, I’ll drop you an email.

Byron, nice looking website - I’ll have a better look at it tomorrow.

Minh, welcome, I’d love to visit Vietnam one day, it looks a beautiful place.

Hidarren,

Noticed your blog as it had the words ‘Langdale’ in there so it caught my eye as I grew up there and don’t live too far from the valley now.

Have a good trip and I’m looking forward to your postings when you get back.

Hi Darren,
I found your blog through A luxury travel blog.
I write a trilingual blog about the trendiest ‘hood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. By the way, you should add Argentina to your list of countries to visit. It has just been voted top destiny in Latin America and 7th best touristic city in the world by Travel & Leisure’s readers.

Your blog is very nice. I’d love to exchange links with you. Please let me know if it is OK for you. My blog is http://trendypalermoviejo.blogspot.com

Regards,
Dalila

Amanda, nice blog - some great photographs!

Dalila, interesting blog you have, and your right I should add Argentina to my blog, especially Buenos Aires. I’d love to watch a football game, the atmosphere sounds superb!

Sorry Im a little slow welcoming people

Feel free to post any comments on my blog or ask any questions about travel blogging.

Hi, nice day and nice discussion.
Argentina, a paradise for a football fan.
As a Chinese, I would like to recommend another paradise in China.
Guilin, in Guangxi Prvince in China. This May Day I visit there. It is such a worthy journey. Godd things should share with friends.
Feel free to visit http://www.chinawanderings.com. You can know some wnderful place in China.

Hi Kitty,

I’d love to visit China, and walk over part of the Great Wall. It looks a great country, and even better is that I love Chinese food

Hi, Darren,
I am glad to know you appreciation to China. Well, Great Wall, as its name shows, is really a wonder. You can visit http://www.chinawanderings.com/En/Scenery/show.aspx?id=818 to get more information and I also want to tell you more stories and history about China. Hope one day you will have a nice tirp in Beijing and I would very much like to recommend other wonderful places for you.
As for the Chinese food, I would say Chinese are all belly-god. For me, I love the Chuan food cuisine, one of the eight cusines in China. They are always spicy tasty. Because in my hometown we cook such food.
You can also visit http://www.chinawanderings.com/En/News/Show.aspx?id=1273 to find your favorite.

I have to say my variety of food in China was most definatly different! If you ever pass Chengdu make sure you try the local Chengdu Hotpot , take a look at the following

http://www.alexasigno.co.uk/archives/chengdu-hotpot-china/

Ewwwww Alex that’s disgusting!! Sorry, I’m an adventureous eater, but that is just not going anywhere near my mouth!

Hi Darren — just found your blog searching on Google. Looks great. Personally, I think it’s the name that does it; makes it very catchy sounding.

Good luck to you, and happy trails!

Hi,

Spent 20+ years living out of a suitcase before I retired to the Costa Blanca, Spain. Still love to travel - India, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia and Scandinavia in the past 12 months

I have linked this blog to my Spain for expats site.

Keep up the great work, Darren

Steve

Ben, thanks, yes I like the blog name, it all started after a visit to the travel agents, never realised it would become so popular!

Steve, Id love to move to Spain one day, any tips? Great site.

The first tip I give everybody - LEARN THE LANGUAGE. Mind you that can be said for wheerever you are thinking of liiving!

Thanks for your kind words - four years work on http://www.thisisspain.info I am getting there - any articles etc always welcomed.

Hi Darren: I found your site via Alexa. I wrote a travel article and was looking for some websites to send it to, and there you are! Enjoyed looking around your blog.

We just started our own travel related website. Seems to be the same reason that everyone else mentions… passion for travel. I have been living in Europe for about 15 years now on and off, lived in about 5 different countries and have traveled all over Europe. My wife is from Eastern Europe, so our travels include both East and West Europe. The website started out as a way to document the different destinations and slowly developed into a resource. We are now including videos, photos and recommendations. Just started it, so it has a ways to go. But we are having fun.

I’ll be back!
Gene

Gene, well if I can be of any help let me know, I’m doing some freelance travel writing at the moment, so if you need some unique content give me a shout.

Steve, I listened to some of your podcasts last night, re. wine interview, and the market experience. Really quality sound, what do you use to record the podcasts?

Oh, just to confirm - the guy in the header graphic ranting at the top does not look like me! You won’t believe how many people ask me that in emails!!

Dont’ forget to add your home town or city on to the Travel Guest Map a new addition to the travel rants blog!

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for the great blog! I just started reading it about a week ago, and I definitely plan to stick around. I love to travel and stay in unique hotels. I don’t get to travel as often as I would like, but hopefully that will change soon!

See you all around…

Hi Darren,

I’m enjoying your travel rants. I travel extensively myself, so love to read what someone else (with a real opinion) has to say…

I don’t have a travel website, but I do a lot of portrait paintings for people who want to do something special with their travel photos.

I’m off to India in December - i’d be happy to contribute a story to your blog if you like.

Regards,
John

John, I’d be interested to learn more about your travels to India - Goa especially looks superb.

I’m a UK based travel agent, working only via the web.

Love travelling a think your blog is a great resource. Been trawling through the archives, adding a comment here and there and still have a hell of a lot left to read.

As a reasonably new blogger I will be really pleased if my blog ever reaches the levels that you have with the content on this site.

Please keep up the good work.

Colin
http://www.virtualtravelcast.com

Welcome Colin! Thanks for your nice comments. I’ve only been blogging since April 2005, and enjoy it a lot! The blog is going to be a bit of a construction site soon, because I am going to be having a redesign.

Thanks Darren,

I think the current design is pretty good, to be honest although as you are so used to it I can imagine that you have a lot of design ideas in mind that you want to include.

Look forward to seeing what it will look like.

Colin
http://www.virtualtravelcast.com

Hi, Colin,

Glad to know you here. Because we work in the same field. I am a China based travel agent. I used to wandering in the website and know many counterpartners.

So I think it’s a good chance to know you and exchange some ideas or establish our cooperative relationships.
Looking forward to know your ideas.

Kitty

Hi Kitty and thanks for the welcome. It’s a small world, eh? You in Nanning, China and me in “sunny” (not!) Liverpool, UK. All because of the web.

Your site looks good and I can see that you do a lot of business with “incoming” tourists.

China remains one of those “must-visit” destinations for me so maybe, when the time comes, I can pick your brains on the best places to go and see.

In the meantime, please let me know if there is anything you would like to know about travel in and from the UK or anything else about the UK for that matter.

I would be grateful if you could leave a comment on our blog, http://www.virtualtravelcast.com as it would impress my staff to see a post from China!!

Thanks and take care.

Colin

Love the look of the blog Colin!

I’m going to be launching my 2nd blog soon, which will help bloggers promote their blog. At the moment, my experience of blogs is on Blogspot and Wordpress, but I have plans to create a blog on Live Journal and TypePad in the very near future.

Sorry, blog for bloggers forgot to mention it!

Thanks Darren. I value your opinion, especially after what you have achieved to date with Travel Rants.

Just visited your new site and already picked up some tips that I am going to implement today. So a sincere BIG THANKS!

I have used Blogspot in the past but just didnt’ find it easy or appealing to use but having used Typepad for the http://www.virtualtravelcast.com I am really pleased with what they offer. It’s really very easy to use, very intuitive and they seem to go out of their way to establish a real community feel for their users. If anyone hasnt’ used Typepad before I would highly recommend it.

I’m just subscribing to the Blog for Bloggers RSS feed and really look forward to seeing what your going to be doing with the new blog.

Appreciate it.

No problem Colin.

Unless you “hang” around on webmaster forums like I do from time to time, you don’t know the full potential of what a blog can bring to your business. Travel companies are starting to realise how powerful a blog is, and with the new blog, the aim is to help those companies or individuals who are new or just want a little help promoting their blog.

Darren

Hi Darren: Gene here from TravelsWise.com . We just recently started our blog and are enjoying putting it together. We are using Blogger. We chose it mostly because it is owned by Google.

Can you go into more detail about how to build travel related traffic using your blog? What do you think makes the most difference? If you have already discussed this somewhere, please send a link.

If you have any comments or advice about our blog, would be pleased to hear it.

Thanks
Gene

Hi Gene, thanks for dropping by

Now, blog promotion is a massive topic at the moment, simply because businesses are starting to realise the power of the blog. One of the first things you need to do is get an RSS feed created, and if you drop by the link I posted above to my new blog, you’ll see a post about how to do that.

They are so many different ways to increase traffic, but whats more important, is that your content is useful enough for people to stay and come back day, after day. By writing unique content, you’ll find that people will just link to you without wanting a link back, and this will jump you quickly up the search engines.

You only have see this in action by going to http://www.google.co.uk and typing in Travel Blog - and you’ll see my blog sat in either 4th or 5th depending which way Google swings.

Are you familiar with the importance of links? I’d need to know your level of knowledge to go into it in any great detail.

Darren

http://www.blogged-out.com/2006/08/25/free-promotion-report-for-your-blog/

Click the link quick

Any questions please ask.

Hi Darren:

Damn! I was too slow.

Yes, I do know about links and SEO optimization. What I do not know is specific to blogs. Also RSS is a bit fuzzy, though I know that the Blogger website has Atom built into it “Atom is a unified publishing standard we use for syndication. When you choose to activate Atom syndication, Blogger will automatically generate a machine-readable representation of your blog that can be picked up and displayed on other web sites, software, and gadgets”

Does this mean that I am set or do I still need to set up a feed? Do I need to submit it to sites like technorati? What kind of Blog specific things do I need to do?

Gene, bloggers atom does come as standard, but most readers prefer RSS feed - if you read my new blog there is a section on RSS feed. Re. Technorati, something else that I intend to blog about - the best thing to do is add the new blog to your rss reader or favourites and visit regularly.

Sorry folks - this blog entry was blocked off due a divulge of spam attempts, but its now back open

Hi Darren! I have been quite busy with adding more city guides and came back for another visit. I have to say that I absolutely love your website. I was also very pleased to see the Deep Vein Thrombosis article!! One who found out about a blood clot after a trip, I realized how important it is for those of us who LOVE to travel to know the risks and what to do while we are traveling. So thank you for offering such a variety of topics. Keep up with the great work. I can tell your passion is paying off Wishing you the best! Suzanne

Hi Suzanne, thank you for the nice comments! It’s certainly becoming a popular and useful resource is Travel Rants, with more comments I’ve seen on any other travel blog!

Suzanne, I hope you don’t mind me making this comment - I have noticed that on your connectinguscities, when you look at the list of cities, you click on the link and it takes you to another website, i.e. http://www.connectingallen.com

Are all of these websites on different internet protocol addresses (ip address) because if not you could end up in the same position as ebookers.com who have had problems with Google - well they have had a lot of pages dumped out of Google and some banned.

Might be worth looking into that.

Darren

Hi. I guess I’m sort of like the editor in that travel is more or less what I live for - and the fun things that go along with it, of course. I’ve done a good bit of it - mainly in Europe but also in South America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Looking forward to hearing everyone’s stories.

Hi there,

Just come across Travelrants by chance - great to see people being as passionate about travel as I am!

Thanks Sarah, you’ve an interesting website there. Feel free to participate, or suggest any improvements for the blog.

Hi Sarah

I was very impressed with your website. Very interesting indeed. It is fun to be doing something that you love and helping other people at the same time. We do something similar in a small way. We have a travel website, a Travel Blog and we are also invoived in the disability industry. On our disability website we have a collection of wheelchair sports videos, and do interviews with Wheelchair Athletes. You can see the disability website here: http://www.newdisability.com

Usually our blog is about life as an expat in Zurich. But sometimes we touch on travel for disabled people.

We are real beginnings so, if anyone has comments or suggestions for improvement, I would be pleased to hear it. I am notified when comments are made here, or you can leave a comment on our blog.

Thanks for that!

Like you say it’s nice to be able to combine an interest with doing something that matters - it seems more and more people are getting fed up with ‘traditional’ travel and looking for something more worthwhile (without going all deep and meaningful on you!).

If anyone has any ideas about destinations they’d like to visit or projects they’d like to do with i-to-i, please let me know - always looking for new ideas!

All the best

Sarah

I agree Sarah, traditional marketing is getting very expensive. The ROI just isn’t there at all, it will be interesting to see the amount of content that makes it into the search engines and blog search as people slowly wake up. This especially applies to larger brands. Reputation management 101.

— Ben

Indeed!

Welcome Ben

I think that Sarah was referring to holidaymakers that are fed up of traditional holidays, rather than travel agents fed up of traditional marketing. I could be wrong though.

Got it in one Darren - that’s what I meant! Thanks for the clarification.

Sarah, are http://www.i-to-i.com partners of the ‘Know before You Go’ campaign by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office? If so, I’d Iike to email you – if you don’t mind. I’m interested in your comments (off or on the record) on the campaign, and it’s effectiveness to advise holidaymakers – thanks.

Hi Darren - yes we are. Feel free to email me.

Best

Sarah

I emailed Darren today to ask him some questions about using the Oasis Airlines website, and even though he doesn’t work for Oasis Airlines, he was extremely helpful. It is a shame that they are not more people like Darren working in travel agencies.

Thank you Darren so much.

Thanks Sarah, I’ll drop you an email tomorrow.

Pauline & Steve, thanks for the kind comments - they are some very helpful travel agents though, especially at the smaller independent travel agencies, which work harder to please you.

Let me know if you need anymore help - that’s what I’m here for!

Hi Darren, found your blog doing a search on Google for travel articles. Something I wanted to have a look at for myself. I saw the comments above on Prague so will have to take a closer look at that. I was there this summer taking panoramic images to go onto http://www.PanoramicEarth.com

Hopefull I will be starting to add that tour data to the site soon. Working on updating the pages and format at the moment.

Welcome Peter - interesting website you have there. I will pay it a closer look when I am more awake tomorrow. Funny you should mention about finding the blog on Google for travel articles, because I’ve noticed quite a lot of traffic coming from that search term today, and notice the blog is #7.

Darren

Thanks Darren, be interesting to know your comments when you have had a closer look - the good, bad and ugly!

HI Darren,

Happened come across your blog while browsing and it was a nice blog indeed.. I am a tour operator based in Kerala, India servicing inbound tourists and I will be very happy to welcome all kinds of visitors to Kerala (Gods Own Country) at very reasonable rates..do contact me or check out my website http://www.ubiquetours.com for more details..

Welcome Viswanath - maybe we can help each other out - I am in the process about writing a blog entry about the Indian travel industry, and maybe you could provide me with some stats and information in return for a link to your website in the article?

Drop me an email if interested

Darren

Viswanath, I’m planning to go to Kerala next year. See you on the site for some info maybe! Hunter Cashdollar

Hi Darren,

Thanks for you comment and also many thanks for the interest shown in my organization..I would be happy to provide you with any details you need regarding tourism in Kerala and please feel free to contact me my email or telephone (00919249423010) any time you wish.

I would also like to let you know that there was an event showcasing tourism in Kerala which is going on for the last two days..I was not able to take part in that event but would like defenitely be able to let you know any statistics you might require..

Thanking you we remain

Viswanath

Hi Darren,

I forgot to mention about my blog…www.ubiqueholidays.blogspot.com..You may not find much text in that since I am not very good with words..but there are some pictures which you are free to use if you so desire..

thanks

viswanath

Hi Darren,
I’m always on the lookout for interesting travel sites. My wife and I are avid travelers and try to get to Europe every chance we get. We try to get over every summer, but unfortunately that doesn’t always happen.

This last summer we spent July in the Rhine and Mosel river valleys before heading up to Bruges (great city) onto Amsterdam and Copenhagen with many smaller places in between.

Next summer, 2007, we plan to be in your backyard. England, Scotland and Wales.

We are so into it that we have built two travel sites, Jacobsen Travels and Easy European Travels to share our experiences.

All the best in your travels,
Arnie

Hi Arnie,

Welcome to Travel Rants!

The Jacobsen site server seems to be down. Easy European Travels, is this a blog or article type site? From first glance, it looked like a made for adsense site, which you seen popping up from time to time.

Look forward to hearing more about your travels.

Hi Darren,
The site Jacobsen Travels didn’t come up because of errant fingers on my part. It’s the one we did this summer as we traveled. On the Easy European Travels site I am trying to monetize to help pay for our trips. As teachers, it always helps to scrape a bit more together.

Best regards,
Arnie

Arnie, love the photos! Nice website. Have you thought about uploading them to http://www.flickr.com? It’s a photograph type community where people can leave comments about your photos.

Darren

Morning Darren,
I do have a few of them up on Flickr. Just haven’t taken time to sort through them all to make a choice. Our trip this summer has 700 plus photos, so that’s a lot of sorting and editing.

Thanks for the compliment on the photos and site.
Arnie

Hi Darren,

I found your site while looking for travel articles in Google- looks very interesting. I would like to introduce you to my website, http://www.travelhiker.com, a new travel community website. I noticed from your site that you are in Leeds- I am from Harrogate. Still early days for Travelhiker- would be very grateful for some tips on generating more traffic to the site!

Thanks,

James

Hi James

I had a look at your website and I think it looks great. Plus I notice that you already have PR 5 from Google, so you are doing something right. We are in a similar stage as you are. We have launched a travel website relatively recently too. Our focus is on travel information for Eastern And Western Europe. What makes us different is that we are very international and have been all over Europe and particularly some places where it is difficult to get information, such as Belarus. I have lived in several European countries (UK, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Switzerland) and my wife is from Eastern Europe. So we can offer tips and info from an insiders point of view.

But like you, we have the same issue of getting traffic. As we are both “newbies” it might be interesting to stay in touch and exchange ideas. What do you think? At the bottom of our “contact us” page, there is a comment box. Feel free to leave your contact info, and I will get in touch.
Gene

Hi Gene,

Thanks for your comments. Would be good to stay in touch- what is your website address? I will then leave my contact info.

Thanks,

James

If you click on my name on this blog, you will go to our website. Our website is http://www.TravelsWise.com . Go to our ” about us” page and find the comment box. I would be pleased to hear from other newbies who have cool travel websties too. Maybe we can start the travel website newbie club?

Gene

Arnie, no problem

James, nice site! Feel free to make comments on the blog.

Gene, the site is looking nice!

Hey there!! i wanna say hello to everybody.
i live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. iam a bachelor in tourism and hotel administration and also travel agent in Buenos aires.
I have travelled almost all argentina, so i can help everyone with tips and recomendarions.

best regards!!
pato.

A big hello to all who see this!!
I am the manager of a high street agent, things are starting to pick up again now (gives me something to do he he)
Looking forward to making lots of money and booking lots of happy people their holiday……..(YEAH RIGHT)

Regards,

Chris.

Hoorah!

Welcome Pato, I’d be interested to hear more about Argentina

Chrisoff, tell us more about your travel agent, do you use technology to promote your business

Sarah, Hoorah to you too

Hello, i am trully amazed with http://www.travel-rants.com I have recently opened a website http://www.travellersmind.com which publishes travel articles and tips. I am still working on trying to increase my PR. From Googles, I noticed that your PR is high.
Any advice for the novice would be appreciated

thumbs up !!!

Hisham, nice website.

Have you thought about submitting any articles you have written to Travel Rants? You can include an author tag at the bottom of the articles, and link through to your website - this will help with the PR.

It’s worth bearing in mind that PR is not important - what is important is where your website ranks in the search engines. I learnt that lesson myself by concentrating on PR on my first website.

Hey Darrian, thanks for writing me,
well i´ve been working in turisim industry since 1998, but recently last march i started my own business with PARALELO 54.
me and my 2 partners are very experienced with information and trips along our country and also America and some countries in Europe.
Thats why we are specialized in Argentina and border countries: Chile, Bolivia, Peru.
Argentina is very big and we have the forth climates and all geographical types along our country: Deserts, mountains, lakes, beaches, glaciers, rivers, etc.
2 months ago we have starded promoting our bussinees by internet, visiting hotels in buenos Aires and seeing if with invest on publicity,
do you have any recomendation for us ??

our objetive is to get the ABC1 client!! =)

Hi,

I’m Bart de Graaf, I was born in The Netherlands some 35 years ago. I’m married to Karin and father of Edie, our beautiful 16 month-old baby girl. I studied International Tourism Management and Consultancy at the Superior Institute for Tourism Studies in Breda, The Netherlands.

I have been living and traveling around Latin America for the past 15 years and would love to share some advice on the best things to do and see in a continent that continually attracts and inspires me.

My wife karin and I own and run what we like to think of as one of the most efficient tour operating companies in the region, managing not only Peru, but also Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, with proper offices in the first three countries and growing! You’re welcomed to visit us at http://www.cat-travel.com.

I love the look of this website - its great.

Bart

Thanks Darren for the tips. I actually considering that i do have a small article writen by a friend (10 tips for —–), i do have full copyright for it, am thinking to posting it to travel-rants will travel rent allow me allow me.

Hisham, Sure send me the article and I’ll have a read of it.

Nice website Bart Welcome to Travel Rants.com

Hi Christoff,

I am a travel agent based in Kerala, India servicing inbounds tourists to Kerala..I would like to know whether you would be interested in a mutual business alliance with my organization..check out http://www.ubiquetours.com for more details..

Regards

Hi to all,

Any one had a bad experience during their trip to India (specially Kerala) please do let me know.. I am trying to put together all this bad experiences and bring it to the notice of KTDC (Kerala Toursim Development Corporation)..

Enjoy

Viswanath

Hi Darren,
As you have heard from many of your readers…I love to travel…
Having spent pretty much all of my twenties travelling I have decided to spend some of my thirties staying in one place more often. The feet don’t stop itching but the heart holds me home nowdays. To keep the balance I’ve decided to blog about local trips here in Australia and help other travellers by incorporating independent travel booking sites into my blog. I found you while looking for other travel blogs to keep the memories vivid. Look forward to reading more from you, would love you to promote my new blog about Gold Coast and Australia travel as I would love to talk with others more.
Cheers, say G’Day to old blighty for me
Lucy

Nice Blog Lucy

A tip Add some images in your posts, it makes them more interesting to read if you also have something to view. I have tons of pictures of Australia if youd like to use any of them just let me know.

Good luck with the blog and when I return from my holidays I will review your blog - drop me an email with your details just so I don’t forget since I’m in holiday mode at the moment!

Hi Darren, Funny enough we have a lot in common. Im from UK too born and bread in Leeds only now im married and living in New Zealand I didnt know anything about New Zealand when i came but this site “no1guide.co.nz” really helped me a lot. For anyone planning to come to New Zealand for a visit you might want to check it out yourself. http://www.no1guide.co.nz/

Hi, I have taken an interest in travel like you and enjoy travelling to places all over the world. I have a few websites based on travel including Australia and UK. To check out my websites go to http://www.uktravelaccommodation.com/

I love your site its great!

Kiwi, thanks for the link, I will check it out - I’m determined that I’ll see a little more of Asia and visit New Zealand in 2007.

ukcitizen, nice accommodation site, and welcome.

I am a Travel service provider in Kerala in India. I am promoting Bakwater Tourism / Ecotours etc. in our area. Visit my web site http://www.ecotourskerala.com for details. Travellers to South India are welcome to contact with me. Mail : mail@ecotourskerala.com

Hi Darren,

Good blog mate. The travel world is vast how about including some middle east and african destinations into your travel plans?

Thanks,

John

Hi John, thanks for your comments. I’m at the World Travel Market right now, so drop by and read my ramblings. I’m surprised UAE and South Africa aren’t on my list - will have to add them!

Hey guys, i thought i would leave a message for you guys to look at. Ii have seen website called hotelplanet.mobi. This is a mobile website which allows you to find a hotel room anywhere in the uk, scotland and wales. Its handy to have if your stuck for a room at the last minute. Its got me out of a couple of scrapes with my work. B

Hi Darren,

I’m a regular reader based down on the South coast

I work in design and digital marketing for the travel and tourism sector.

Look forward to reading more!

Cheers

Dominic

Welcome Andy, interesting concept for a site, I’ll check it out soon.

Dominic, love the blog. Interesting B2B travel blog.

Thanks for dropping by, and I’ll add you on to my RSS reader.

Hi folks,
I am new here. Nice to meet you people. Just to introduce a bit about myself. My name is Kim. A girl who loves traveling around the world, meeting different people and understanding different culture.

I have just created my own travel blog to share my travel experience so far. Do feel free to drop by to understand more about me. *_*

http://saunf-kim.blogspot.com

Many thanks for your attention.

Cheers,
Kim

Kim, it looks like your visiting one of my favourite countries, Malaysia. I love that country, the people are so friendly. I like the blog, and its great to see photographs, because it makes it much easier to view.

Have you thought about creating a http://www.flickr.com account and you can display a section of your photographs on the sidebar of your blog.

Hi,

I am Ian and working in Phuket at Katamanda, Phuket’s premier villa estate & resort, though I can’t't afford to buy a villa here myself unfortunately….

Hi want a short or longer break in Norther Ireland

We have a great cottage in the Mournes close to the beach,harbour etc….

See for yourself on http://www.shortbreakni.co.uk

Looking forward to hearing from you

Regards

Alan

Hello Darren,

My name is David Lowry and i was a travel agent for about 20 years in south Florida. I am developing a website completetraveldirectory.com which is a directory of travel related websites listed alphabetically by category. There are about 44,000 links at the moment and it is becoming very useful in locating travel websites. Please let me know what you think of it.

Best Wishes,

David

Ian, welcome, maybe one day you’ll own a villa there one day!

Alan, Northern Ireland has some of the best coastline in Europe - Giants causeway etc. Lovely place.

David, interesting site. 44,000 links, wow alot of sites. You might want to add some content, i.e. more information, on the sites. You wouldn’t want the search engines to think that it’s a link farm.

Hey Darren,

good job, nice work. you really have set up a remarkable little online commune!

I come from Perth Western Australia, and like yourself love travel as well as taking pics of all the beautiful places I go. There are many months of the year I remain in Perth and these are filled with me snapping away around my local beach etc.

My friends all really enjoy travel and photography, so I’ve established a little website that we all upload photos onto so we can keep track of where we all are and what we are doing.
Each week, the latest shots published are sent out to a mailing list that includes people that may seem nostalgic about a) travel or b) home. In which I can hopefully satisfy there needs by providing shots of wherever my friends or myself are.

The next stop for me is Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia…. at the moment? Cairns Eastern Australia.

I want to keep expanding and was wandering if you had any tips.

I found your site on the google directory…all the way up the top!!!
well done

Welcome Daniel, nice site, and I love looking at travel photographs - they really give me an incentive and inspire me to visit new countries. I was in Cairns and Port Douglas in 2004, love it there, and didn’t want to come back home.

The best advice I can give you is be unique - provide unique content, and people will find it on the search engines and visit in their droves. I’ve been gobsmacked on the stats for Travel Rants.

Just out of interest - you said Google Directory. Did you mean Google search engine results? Rather than the directory? I’ve tried to get the blog on the directory, but you have to be listed on http://www.dmoz.org which takes years and years and years to get listed!

just the search engine results Darren.

Kewl, i’ll keep working at the site, Amateur photgraphy can sometimes be more beautiful than well crafted Pro shots. It tells a different story.

Thanks Daniel. Yes, the site is doing well in the search engines. There’s no hidden secret to get top 5 rankings, other than people are linking to the blog because of the content.

Good morning Darren, it’s 7.33 am here in Normandy and I’m waiting for daylight to go out and play golf. Guess Normandy is old hat to a hardened traveller like you but we call it home. I found your blog rather a circuitous route of reciprocal link exchange hunting for a new website that I helped put together. It’s a start-up holiday lettings agency in a very nice part of southern Spain - the Mar Menor / Los Alcazares area where the Polaris golf resort is being built. The site in question is http://www.spainholidaylettings.com and is built in Plone, a Zope application that is very powerful. Regarding DMOZ as mentioned above, I’m an editor for DMOZ and it doesn’t necessarily take years. It depends upon the category and the editor. A busy category can get loads of suggestions every week and we are volunteers working through them in our spare time. That’s why it takes a long time.

Welcome Terry.
Nice website - I’ve two sites, and neither of them have been added to DMOZ for one reason or another. I’ve given up now though, but its a shame that sites which I don’t think are useful to the searcher are added, but sites that are resourceful like this aren’t.

Note to everyone:

I’m getting an increased number of comments on this blog post, that are obviously advertising, and not useful comments introducing yourself. I have deleted a number in the past week, and if it increases I’ll have no alternative but to close this post.

This will be a shame because many travellers, and travel companies have come on here to introduce themself, and not promote their site.

Fair comment Darren. Just to come back to you on DMOZ - they’ve had trouble with the server since late October and editing has only just got back to normal. I’ve done some editing today and all the golf maintenance sites that I do are up to date now! Which sites are accepted is down to the editor of each section. For my section, I go on relevance to the category I edit. If it’s about golf course maintenance I put it in. But since DMOZ is run by volunteers, it’s bound to be a bit quirky. In fact, like you, I couldn’t get my sites in so I joined as an editor to understand how it works better and also because I love golf course maintenance! I’ve managed to get one site in in the French section but I can’t get the English version of it into the English section - note I’m not mentioning the site concerned!

Hi Darren,
I’m a semi regular reader of your blog and thought I should say hi. Thanks for the great read. I recently went to Thailand with my wife on our honeymoon and it is a fantastic destination. Great value, great shopping, great food and probably the friendliest people anywhere in the world.

Some friends and I have created a travel guide website http://www.swiftcity.com and I’d be keen to hear your comments. We’re planning to officially launch it later this week so I’ll send you a copy of the press release then. I know you get some spam on this page so feel free to delete this paragraph. Thanks again.

Hi Darren, lovely site you have got here plenty to read and keeps me coming back for more.

I am a co-founder of Holidaywatchdog.com.

Cheers

well, im Raf. I like to surf through the internet and reading things. Now im starting to write my own blog on my country for people who wants to travel here. why travel? come here and lets see i can assist u in anyway, about Malaysia

http://www.malaysia-hot.blogspot.com

Michael, love the site. Great and unique way of working with Google Maps. Let me know when it official launches and I’ll blog about it.

Welcome Chris, great site you have at holidaywatchdog.com - tons of content, please do keep coming back as new content is added daily.

Raf, I love Malaysia, beautiful country, and great blog, I’ve added it to my RSS feeds.

Hi Darren and friends,
I am back!! Have been receiving new messages from your blog and reading all the interesting topics that have been highlighted by members in the group. I like the way you manage the blog. Can really feel the joy and fun by sharing ideas among people who are having the same interests!!

I have posted some new sharings in my blog(http://saunf-kim.blogspot.com). The most recent one is my hiking trip to Mt.Kinabalu. My next posts will be my honeymoon trip to America.

Please feel free to drop by. Your precious idea is important for my blog improvement!!

Ciao,
Kim
Sharing Makes Life Happening!!
http://saunf-kim.blogspot.com

Welcome back Kim - great blog, and I love Kuala Lumpur, such a nice city, with friendly people! All the best on your honeymoon, I am sure you will have a great time in America.

Whereabouts in America are you visiting?

Darren

Backwaters & Houseboat Cruise in Kerala.. Its amazing experience for every Traveller…. Georgey

I’m Arnold and we moved to France because I figured it would feel like I was always on holiday… and it does usually. However, we have our little rants about France and French bureaucracy & customs on a site that we started when lost interest in banging our heads against the wall

Arnold
http://www.foreignperspectives.com

i’ve beed on a friend narrow boat foe a long weekend fueld on lots of alcohol…
oh what fun.

Great site! I noticed that you have a broken link in your Travel Blog section titled “UK Accommodation Blog”. It appears that their server is down. I’d like to place a link of my own on your site if you are interested. Please email me. Thanks!

Matthew, sorry you have to pay £££s to be listed on the sidebar. The only blogs Iist are the ones that I read regularly.

Hi webmaster
I want to exchange link to you, but I don’t know how can I contact to you.
Can you tell me, many thanks.

Rong,

Hi, click here
http://www.travel-rants.com/?page_id=15

This is my contact page

Darren

I am a freelance travel writer for a UK national paper and I wanted to congratulate you on producing an excellent resource for consumers.

Thanks Michael and apologies for the delay welcoming you!

I am a member of the trivago travel community and found your informative blog whilst browsing for reviews. (Our community combines various travel related resources. Besides the English version, there are German, Spanish and French platforms too). Keep up the good!!

Welcome Pierre, nice looking site. What stands you out thought from the hundreds of other social networking websites out there?

Hi Darren,

Linked to your site after reading the latest entry on Vagablogging. I’m impressed with your site and the clear and concise dialogue you have set up.

I hope to head in the same direction. I am a novice blogger but a journalist/writer with special interest in South East Asia and Northern Australia. I have a new blogsite which is currently promotes my new book “Running Amok”. I hope it will soon develop into much more than this.. so your tips and feedback are gratefully accepted.

I am promoting my cultural tourism business in Morocco.
I have been traveling everywhere: USA, Canada, Africa, Europe…
I really enjoy cultural travel and to experience different cultures and to descover countries, to know other people and to share experiences.
I am starting my business by offering these luxury apartments in the seaside of Morocco, just 40 miles from Spain, 2h30 from Uk and europe. Its really nice place for many activities as fishing, surfing, walking in the long sandy beaches, mountains….and also a very relaxing town resort.
Check my website. Its just the start: http://www.myasilah.com
Welcome everyone.

Hi Mark,

What is the subject of your book? My tip for all bloggers is write unique content, and try and keep the blog fresh, i.e. blog reguarly. I try and blog daily, but its not always possible.

Hi Abe,

The apartments look nice and I’ve heard Morocco is a nice destination.

Both of you please feel free to join in the discussions on the blog.

[…] Obtain as many comments as possible simply by writing about subjects that interes others. In the Travel and Hotel community Darran Cronian has an interesting variant: »Introduce Yourself at Travel Rants […]

Hi Darren. Found your blog somewhere in wild web :), but Happy Hotelier`s post made me check this post. Despite it`s old, I`ll leave a message so you know that there is one more person reading your blog time to time. I have a blog about hotels, as I`m working for hospitality industry. I like to travel as well.

Hi Darren,
Thank you very much for your nice feedback and kindness.
Yes Morocco is becoming a very popular destination. It should be long time ago because its a wonderful country rich of history, culture, landscapes(seas, mountains, desert, oasis…), food, people, the weather is also nice. A peaceful country and not really expensive. And the best thing is to do a cultural tour to meet people, families, to eat nice food, to experience life with warm and friendly people that you cannot find…you can be invited in a nice dish of couscous or delicious tajine of meet or veg, or fish…you need just to be happy and smile you dont pay if you are invited by someone at his house. People make the difference between business and culture of hospitality especially in the culture everywhere in Morocco people respect someone who came from farway because they know he is a traveler he has to keep a good image and impression of a village. You can meet a guide in the Atlas mountains who does his job and more than that he does not charge for lot of things. Its not bed and breakfast in the big cities…its different ..it keeps you thinking and returning back.

If you want to know more about Morocco i am happy to help.
http://www.myasilah.com

Hi there - I came across your site through the Happy Hotelier (which I’d like to be one day.) For now I’m writing my own travel blog based on luxury travel with children, http://www.childofleisure.com, since I have one daughter (and a son on the way) and insist on taking them everywhere my spoiled tastes allow me to go. God knows people may rant about kids, but I think luxury travel and children should not be exclusive - IF the parents are diligent about teaching their children how to behave properly.

Anyhow, keep up the good work. I think it’s always cool to see when threads like this go on for a long time - it’s like we’re all connected through time.

Leian Welch
http://www.childofleisure.com

Thanks for dropping by Leian.

You’ve chosen to write in a unique niche, i.e. luxury travel with children, so I have added your blog to my rss reader. Your right about this blog post, it has now 177 comments, and is a great way to find out who is reading my blog.

Darren

Hi Darren. I happened across your site via the wonderful (ahem) world of Google.
I’ve now got my reading matter sorted for the next eon! Thanks!
I live in the Canaries, and our heart and soul are currently being poured into http://www.canarynightlife.net with a hope of raising the profile of bars and restaurants in the Canary Islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Tenerife & Gran Canaria.
It’s still very new (just a 6 week old baby), but is already filling up in Lanzarote with bars and restaurants that want the world to know about them, before they get to the Island. The other islands will follow… but there’s only so many hours in a day We’re sticking to the “nightlife” niche… and are very excited as more and more people come on board.
Keep up the good work… and I shall enjoy reading your blogs.
Much love and respect
Elle
PS: Glorious weather here at the moment… are you jealous?

Well Darren,

After the trackback and several attempts from another computer which were ditched I am trying again.

It’s about time to introduce myself after you nice introduction eons ago…on the site eons did a great IPO last week

The short version of who I am is now a simple link:

http://www.happyhotelier.com/about/

Regards

Hi Darren

I really like the site, seems many others do as well. Will definitly be adding this to my bookmarks!

My name is Ian Pollard and I am from South Africa. I own and manage an Eco-tourism and Travel Company, Strider Expeditions, specializing in tours throughout southern Africa. I obviously love travel, people and wildlife, and I am fortunate to do all three through my business. Check it out at http://www.striderexpeditions.co.za

Thanks for all the great advice…

Cheers
Ian

Elle, nice website. I am jealous, I would much prefer to be sat on my balcony, drinking a cold beer working and writing this blog post. Maybe one day, that dream will come true.

gje, welcome back again There’s been a few comments left here, I wonder what the longest number of comments is for a blog post mmmmm hehe

Ian, nice website, and I have to admit I know next to nothing about eco-tourism, but its something that I’d like to find more information about. Are they any good books you suggest I read on the subject?

Hi and thanks Darren.
My name is Don Lipp from Aberdeen, South Dakota, USA and I am the
owner/manager of 605 Touring Co and the website is http://www.tourSDbackroads.com.

We try to offer a unique learning experience of South Dakota but are also
developing tours to Wyoming and Montana as well. South Dakota has Mt
Rushmore and Crazy Horse for sure, but we try to offer a ‘back-roads’ feel
to the tours; small groups only, and relaxed.
Our guides are available for Wounded Knee and the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation, Black Hills and live in the areas that they tour. We also have
the Vinegar Man, dairy and ranch, horse training; I think we could develop
anything that one has an interest in.
Appreciate your having this website. Was not sure if I should add this to
the comments page, so thought I better start with contacting you directly.
Thanks Much, Don Lipp

Hi Darren

I do not know of any Eco-toursim related books, most of them are more student textbook types.

A basic description of Eco-tourism would be the sustainable use of natural resources, wildife etc., through travel and tourism related activities. It is also associated with the development of local communities through employement and development of basic infrastructure. It is definitly not a new concept, as Game Reserves and National Parks have been around for years but personally I believe that it is becoming more and more important (at least in Africa) to assist locals through community development programs and employement, so that they may gain from tourism, both directly and indirectly, and be able associate these benefits with conservation and natural heritage areas within the vicinity of their communities and therefore promote sustainable tourism and assist conservation authorities.

This is a simple but very effective manor of conservation. During my years as Ranger in the Kruger National Park, you found that communities on the border of the Park that benefitted from our community projects, were less inclined to poach animals and were keen to educate themselves about the importance of conservation and the protection of our environment…

I hope that explanation helps a bit…

Sorry, if it sounded more like a short lecture…

Kind Regards
Ian Pollard
Strider Expeditions

Thank you for the excellent post Ian.

I have to admit its something I’d like to get involved in. Visiting a new country and helping them through worthwhile projects is a great idea. I can feel another blog post coming on!

I know its very difficult to say, probably impossible, but what prices would a consumer have to pay for an eco-tourism holiday? Does a % of the holiday go back into these projects, say in Africa?

Welcome Don, nice website you have there. Please feel free to join in the discussions.