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Travel Blogger Show 2012 Shaping Up

Filed under: Festivals and EventsI've been in constant contact with our features editor, Don George, over the last few weeks, brewing up the content that we want to put into his talk on engineering the perfect blog in Los Angeles this September. The talk is part of the Travel Blogger Show, the annual extension from the American Society of Travel Agent's larger convention, and it's scheduled to take place on Saturday, September the 7th.

Between Don and myself we've got lots of insight to put into the talk - Don, with his decades of experience in the travel realm among the San Francisco Chronicle, Lonely Planet and Gadling, and myself, with years of pushing around data and content at AOL.

The point that keeps returning though, is how positive and easy travel and travel blogging can be. With the tools available on the web right now it's easy to set up a blog within a few quick shakes, and finding content to blog about is just a vacation or a thought experiment away. And the community that surrounds travel is encouraging, nurturing and always full of ideas.

If you get the chance and you're in LA next week, be sure to stop by the conference. Don will be there all weekend, and hugs are on the house.

More information can be found here.Travel Blogger Show 2012 Shaping Up originally appeared on Gadling on Sat, 01 Sep 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Mancuso Rocks Whiteface GS for 11th Career Title

.....Lake Placid, NY (Ski Press)-Three-time Olympic medalist Julia Mancuso captured the 11th U.S. title of her career with a victory in the women's giant slalom to close the 2010 Visa U.S. Alpine Championships at Whiteface Mountain Tuesday."I actually haven't skied giant slalom since the Olympics, so it was nice to get back on my GS skis," Mancuso said.Mancuso was also the giant slalom champion in '09, '05, and '03. With 11 titles, she now moves past U.S. great Andrea Mead Lawrence for the most titles of any American male or female, breaking a record that has stood for 55 years.The weekend brought some closure to a season�in�which�Mancuso had long worked hard ."Coming back from a back injury I always had the goal of getting ready for the Olympics. Even going into last season it hurt. I wanted to keep trying. Just being able to see the reward of the plan paying off was really amazing," Mancuso said.Second place for the day went to Laurenne Ross (Klamath Falls, OR) who produced the fastest second run. Ross was also third in the super G and second in the combined at Whiteface.Malin Hemmingson of Sweden was third followed by U.S. downhill champion Leanne Smith (Conway, NH).The top U.S. junior was Julia Ford (Plymouth, NH) out of U.S. Development Team, though the fastest junior was Erin Mielzynski of Canada. J-2 Foreste Peterson (Berkeley, CA) of the Squaw Valley Ski Team was the next fastest U.S. junior followed by Abby Ghent (Edwards, CO) of Ski and Snowboard Club Vail.The USSA Western Region took the 2010Tom Garner Regions Cup with 2,903 points, followed by the East with1,869 and Rocky/Central with 986.Tuesday also marked the final race for Kaylin Richardson (Edina, MN), a two-time Olympian and seven-year member of the U.S. Ski Team. She ran both runs of giant slalom in a puffy red one piece ski suit circa 1980, with her parents making the trip from Minnesota just to see their daughter's last event.Numerous athletes, including Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) now move directly to Cochran's Ski Area in Richmond, VT for the annual charity slalom hosted by two-time Olympian Jimmy Cochran tomorrow.OFFICIAL RESULTS2010 Visa U.S. Alpine ChampionshipsLake Placid, NY - March 22, 2010Women?s Giant Slalom1. Julia Mancuso, Olympic Valley, CA, 2:07.522. Laurenne Ross, Klamath Falls, OR, 2:08.113. Malin Hemmingsson, Sweden, 2:08.254. Leanne Smith, Conway, NH, 2:08.985. Megan McJames, Park City, UT, 2:09.17

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Heavy Medal Tour: Skiers Get Armed Forces Sendoff

..... Steamboat Springs, Colo. (Ski Press)-In support of the U.S. ski team athletes departing this week on the Armed Forces Entertainment?s Heavy Medal Tour to visit troops, the athletes' hometown communities are enacting a Heavy Medal Tour Yellow Ribbon campaign.The Olympic medalists: Bill Demong (Vermontville, N.Y.), Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), Brett Camerota (Park City, Utah) and Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) and their combined seven Olympic gold and silver medals departed Saturday, April 3, to meet with troops in Southwest Asia. The first ribbons in support of the Armed Forces Entertainment Heavy Medal Tour were given out by the athletes to their families during the Hometown Heroes Celebration in Steamboat Springs on Friday, April 2. The Hometown Heroes Celebration in Steamboat Springs honored the achievement of the athletes in Vancouver during the Olympic Winter Games and featured a send off for this special trip overseas including the reading of Orders by USAF Colonel Ed Shock, Chief of Armed Forces Entertainment, statements by government officials, and a special note by the Commander of the Colorado Army National Guard. Similar homecomings were held recently for Demong in New York and for two-dozen Olympians in Park City, Utah. Beginning today, Monday, April 5, yellow ribbons are available in various locations in the athletes? hometowns. Fans in New York's Adirondack Region can get ribbons at the Saranac Lake Chamber of Commerce or at the Lake Placid/Essex County Visitors Bureau. The U.S. ski team's Center of Excellence will have ribbons in Park City. Hometown supporters in Steamboat Springs will find ribbons at the Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation, the Steamboat/Hayden (HDN) Airport, and the Clark Store just outside of Steamboat. One of the biggest stories at the 2010 Olympics was the performance by the U.S. nordic combined ski team. Spillane started the two weeks of historic results off with the USA?s first-ever Olympic nordic combined medal, winning silver in the normal hill combined event. Spillane was then joined by teammates Demong, Camerota and veteran Lodwick for the team competition where they came away with a team silver medal. Demong and Spillane then capped off the historic Olympic fortnight with a gold-silver finish in the large hill combined competition.

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Czech Inn Time: Boutique Hotels Embrace Prague?s Storied Past

One of the few Central European capitals to survive the bombs of World War II, Prague stepped into the 21st century looking, more or less, as if it were stuck in the Middle Ages. ?Tourism thrives in Prague because of its history. Her old towers, bridges, and churches tell a story,? says Karin L�?kov�, manager of Hotel U Zelen�ho Hroznu. ?Visitors want to experience Prague as it was before, in the old times.?

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18 scenic places to teach ESL abroad

Never mind that the name of the town doesn?t exactly sound beautiful in English.

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Food Fridays: Mexico City?s Savory Sisterhood

The only happy offshoot of Mexican machismo, which continues to find the matriarch shooing men away from the larders, may be that Mexico City's culinary scene is dominated by women.

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