Taking Your Camera on the Road

The following is the press release and announcement of my newest book, Blogging Tips.

Returning to the basics, Lorelle VanFossen has put together hundreds of the tips you need to know before you start blogging, and after, in Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

• Learn how to define your blog's purpose.
• Learn how to build your blog's plan.
• Explore the pros and cons of blog design.
• Learn more about writing interesting and attention-getting content.
• Develop your blog writing voice and style.
• Tips on writing with keywords and search terms.
• Learn how to encourage your readers to respond.
• Deal with comment spam and other nasty comments.
• Explore the new PageRank, TrustRank, and SEO techniques.
• Learn how to improve SEO with podcasts, video, and other multimedia.
• Tips to prevent blog burnout.
• Tips on developing a blog plan of action in response to disasters, emergencies or accusations.
• Tips on administrating and maintaining your blog.
• Tips on online social networking and interaction.
• Learn how to respond to copyright violations.
• Learn about your rights as a blogger.

Lorelle VanFossen is a professional writer and the author of Lorelle on WordPress, a popular technical blog on WordPress and blogging and now author of the new book, Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging. She is also the author of Taking Your Camera on the Road, one of the first personal websites on the Internet, featuring over a thousand articles on travel, nature photography, and life on the road, and Lorelle's Family History, a genealogy blog.

Lorelle is a columnist for the Blog Herald and guest blogs and writes for many blogs, ezines, websites, and print publications. She travels extensively, as a web consultant and public speaker, and can often be found in airports, truck stops, outside shops, and prowling your neighborhood looking for an open WIFI connection to send off her next blog post.

Official Announcements

• Announcement: Blogging Tips Book by Lorelle VanFossen
• Update on My Blogging Tips Book: What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging

Sample Chapters

The following are published sample chapters for the book, Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

• Blogging Tips Book: Blog Branding and Identity
• Blogging Tips Book: Blog Syndication and Subscription Tips
• What Do You Do When Someone Steals Your Content
• Blogging Is About Writing (guest post on Problogger)

Reviews and Announcements

• Pelf-sim - Have you ordered your copy yet?
• ifacethoughts - Blogging Tips Book by Lorelle
• JT Freelancer - My adventures so far on the Blogosphere
• Kamigoroshi of Footsteps in the Mirror - The Book Every Blogger Should Read
• Kamigoroshi's Footsteps in the Mirror - This Blog's Content is Being Stolen
• Make Money Site for Beginners - Lorelle's Blogging Tips Book
• Work at Home on the Internet Home Blogging Contest Begins
• Make It Great's Phil Gerbyshak - Super Heroes and Super Powers
• Of Travel and Travails - Lorelle's Book On Blogging Is Out
• Open Source Community - Lorelle VanFossen - Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging Book
• Chris Cree - Success Creeations - Book Review, Blogging Tips What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging
• Angela Betts - Blogging for Income? Be Prepared
• Blog Herald - New Book: Blogging Tips - What bloggers won't tell you about blogging
• All Pumped Up! - Check Out the Latest Book From Lorelle
• Post-Buzz - Lorelle's Blogging Tips Book
• Liz Strauss of Successful and Outstanding Bloggers - The Metaphor Project: What's Your Blogging Metaphor? Competiton
• Tech-Scope - Blogging Tips Book By Lorelle VanFossen

Microsoft Announces HD Photo, touted to be the next file format for digital photographers:

New image formats are long past overdue. We've been living with JPEG, GIF, and the less touted PNG for a long time and in many ways, they have outlived their usefulness. It will be interesting to see how this new image file format works, if it is accepted by society, and what the competition will offer.

Fodors offers "8 Ways Travelers Waste Money on the Road", which offers some good basic tips:

1. Not reading the fine print on the credit card for foreign transaction fees.
2. Avoiding hotel websites - online prices can be cheaper.
3. Travel only during high seasons - off season can save you money.
4. Renting cars - use your feet, trains, buses, and other methods of travel.
5. Not considering alternative to hotels - hostels, tents, renting a house, RVs...
6. Eating in fancy (and expensive) restaurants - check the menu prices before you eat, and look for fun off-the-beaten path spots where the locals hang out.
7. Ignoring budget restraints - be smart about your spending.
8. Not knowing your destination - planning can save you money.

Here are a few more from us, the two world traveling fools.

1. Go where you are told not to go: During the five years of the Intifada in Israel was the time to head to Israel. No tourists, no lines at all the popular places, and red carpet treatment because they were desperate for tourists. You can save money and have a better time avoiding the crowds by going places the media says you shouldn't go to.
2. Eat out in the market: Who said you always have to eat in a restaurant. Our best meals were found scrounging around in farmer's markets buying fresh fruits and vegetables, along with sandwiches, meats, cheeses, and breads. Sit in a park or on a bench and enjoy a lovely outdoor picnic.
3. Drive pre-dawn or late night to the next location: Whether with your own car or renting a car, if you drive early in the morning or late in the night, away from rush hour and heavy traffic times, you will save gas and money with less stop-and-go driving.
4. Buy daily or weekly rate metro tickets: You might only be in a large city for five days, but the week metro ticket pass might save you money instead of paying for each day. Some cities offer a day rate which is cheaper than paying for three trips. Do some quick calculations on where you have to go while there, and you might save some pennies by going with daily or weekly rates.
5. Walk: It's difficult to walk from one side of Madrid to another, but a good 10 or 15 block walk won't hurt you. It will save cab fare and you'll get to see more of the area. Put some walking into your schedule and save money and get more exercise as you travel.
6. Don't bring a big purse: If you are a shopper, don't carry a big purse with you when exploring the shops. This means you have to hand carry whatever you buy through the rest of the day. If you have a big purse or backpack you are more likely to buy things to fill it up. Limit the size and limit the stuff you spend money on.
7. Don't buy a travel wardrobe: I've seen people spend more on travel clothes for a trip than they spent on the trip. Don't. Travel in simple clothes, solid colors with a color theme for mix and match. Simple dress t-shirts, slacks, a skirt, sweatshirt or sweater, and a scarf (for men and women) and one to two pairs of shoes is all you need. The days of making a fashion impression when you travel are gone. Wear comfortable. Wear what you already own, or buy cheap stuff at WalMart, Kmart or Target. Then leave it behind so there is more room in your suitcase for all your tourist shopping goodies.
8. Get lots of cash at once: When hitting the ATM/Cash Machine, get as much as you can at one time. If you are charged foreign transaction or conversion feeds, it is usually a flat fee rather than a percentage, so you save money by taking out what you need for three days instead of only what you need for each day.

Do you have any tips to help travelers save money, or avoid spending money, on the road?

According to the International News Tribune, the health chief of the EU recommends a smoking ban for the European Union countries.

The European Union's health chief urged all countries in the bloc Tuesday to prohibit smoking in public places, following bans in Ireland, Italy and Sweden.

Banning smoking in places like bars, restaurants and the workplace is the preferred option of the EU health commissioner, Markos Kyprianou, according to a discussion paper on smoke-free environments.

Such a ban would be a dream come true for us travelers who suffer from cigarette allergies. A smoke-free Europe. Wow! Makes me want to visit, don't you?

BBC News reports an air tax increase for all flights from the UK.

Laws doubling the amount of passenger duty people pay when taking flights from the UK have come into force.

The increase was announced by Chancellor Gordon Brown last December. He said airlines should pay more for damaging the environment.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been asked to pay the extra, despite buying tickets before the announcement.

Airlines said they were not expecting major problems in collecting the higher rates of air passenger duty.

Those who have not paid so far will have to do so at airports before flying.

I hope there were a lot of complaints, but when you are standing there and told you can't use the ticket you just paid for until you pay more money, you're pretty screwed.

I'm not clear on this, but why should an air tax be levied against passengers? Shouldn't it be hit against the airlines, factories, car owners and manufacturers, and other industries who are polluting the environment? The cost would then trickle down to the consumer, sure, but the money would be an incentive for big business to get on the clean up band wagon.

Where is the tax money collected really going? And what is really going to do be done with that money?

This is a strange one, but you are warned. Flying out of the UK, bring extra cash.

Here's an interesting tidbit few people know about Lorelle. She creates great snow sculptures.

Indeed, I do. I have a long history of creating fun snow sculptures.

When I was young, my mother would travel every November around her birthday to a warmer climate. She'd head for Hawaii, Mexico, Arizona, anywhere but the cold Pacific Northwest. As soon as she would leave, it would snow. The whole town would shut down and layers upon layers of snow would pile up. She'd return and there'd be no snow. Only tales from me about the incredible amount of snow. She didn't believe me. Or at least, pretended to not believe me.

Every year the same thing, so I got tired of her lack of faith and I decided to prove it to her. When it snowed the next November, I created Mary Poppins in snow, standing on a step ladder, giving her a snow apron, high color, and adding an umbrella to shade her precious white skin from the elements.

I took pictures and when the snow was gone and my mother returned, I said, "Here's proof!"

"Oh, you built that last year."

Frustrated with my suntanned mother, the next time I got even more creative. Over the years, I've created some fun and interesting creatures and characters, all in an attempt to prove to my mother it snows when she goes on vacation.

When we were caught in an early snow storm in Denver in 1997, after several days trapped in our trailer surrounded by five or six feet of snow drifts, we finally crawled out and I set about making a huge triceratops in our friend's yard, complete with claws, horn on nose, and cowl around the head. It took hours, but we had a lot of snow to work with.

This year, after too many years without snow, spending winters wearing shorts and sunglasses, I'm back in snow in Oregon.

We've had a few snow days, but this last one was finally enough to do some snow sculpture. I thought about it for a while. What would be the appropriate snow sculpture to create here on this farm on the hill in the backwoods of Oregon?

I could do a horse, but that's a bit of a structural challenge when it could warm up any minute. The snow wasn't that firm. I could do another animal, but that didn't feel right either. Then it hit me. The perfect snow sculpture for a house filled with guitar music.

A guitar!

I made a 6 foot tall acoustic guitar out of snow. I used ties from the bales of hay to create the strings, pine cones for the tuners, and fir needles and seeds for the headstock and rosette. The frets were carved, as well as the sound hole dug deep into the ball of snow.

Brent and his friend, Karla, were besides themselves with joy at this incredible complement to their guitar passions. Both wanted a chance to play, so to speak, vamping it up for the cameras.

It took three hours to create this masterpiece, but it was worth it to see the grins on their faces.

Within a few minutes, pictures of the snow guitar were up on Karla and Brent's guitar forum, showing off the six foot snow sculpture to all their friends around the world.

Later, when we finally got off the hill and out into the town when the roads cleared enough, we found that others had had fun creating their own snow creatures. But Brent declared that we had the only snow guitar.

He's probably right. ;-)

Oh, we had to take pictures really fast, before the dogs got in and christened it.

Your next vacation destination? Why not choose space as your next destination?

Not just "get some space" but really get into space with the space tourism program with Virgin Group:

The Spaceship Company, a joint venture of Richard Branson's Virgin Group of London and Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites of Mojave, Calif., plans to begin test flights of its first suborbital passenger ship this year. The vehicle is based on Rutan's SpaceShipOne, which made three piloted flights to suborbital space in 2004.

...The flights captivated Branson. He hired Rutan to design a fleet of ships for commercial suborbital spaceflights and began taking reservations and deposits through a Virgin Atlantic Airways offshoot, Virgin Galactic.

So far, the company has taken more than $20 million in deposits from customers willing to pay $200,000 to experience a few moments of weightlessness and take in the view from 360,000 feet, or 68 miles...

...Virgin expects its first commercial spaceflights will take place from Mojave, where SpaceShipOne flew, in late 2008 or early 2009. Operations will transfer to New Mexico when spaceport construction is finished. The firm also is looking at sites in other countries.

Why not make space your next vacation destination. After all, Stephen Hawking has space on his vacation schedule. Other competitors are starting to get into the action, so expect the next race to space to be tourist driven - literally.