Travel recommendations are important

How important are recommendations whenever you travel? Would you rather hear one from a travel expert or from someone you know? Or are you interested in hearing a recommendation from someone with your same profile? Is there a compatibility index that you can actually rely on? Ever since I started traveling I have always been interested in hearing an opinion or suggestion about a dish, hotel or restaurant... I am one of those people that will almost always ask for the specials and let the waiter "sell" me something I was not thinking of eating. When I am traveling, I also like to hear what local people find to be a good choice to do.

I will never forget my first trip to Colorado where on the way from Denver Airport to Vail we stopped at a restaurant, and we asked for "typical" food and they served us nachos with cheese and guacamole. I guess that since we where a group of people talking in Spanish that is what they considered "typical" and I would like! My point is that a recommendation is always subjective to the person giving it, and to their perception of what they believe you will like. So when www.facebook.com and www.amazon.com recently started to incorporate an application that lets me see what books my friends like, what they bought or read I was quite happy, because there I saw a potential opportunity for travel information. If I could see or choose from a smaller set of options, that a simple sorting based on the characteristics of my "small world" would offer, I could probably avoid going to places my friends already considered "not interesting".

Clearly if you tell me NOT TO GO TO, or PLEASE AVOID THAT PLACE, I will surely consider it, but if you positively recommend, I might decide to go or NOT. So this situation leaves a great deal of pressure on the delivery side, as if more than 5 people "trash" your restaurant you will probably loose business, and guess what most companies are hiring freelancers to write positive reviews at sites such as tripadvisor.com , so that the negative ones, which sometimes are written by the competition loose weight.... So is this the end of the web 2.0 ? I like to see the positive side of things, so for me this is the beginning of the social web. If I see pictures of my friend enjoying himself in a hotel in Barcelona on facebook, I somehow want to join him, I don´t care about his reviews, I AM SEEING HIS REVIEW!!

At www.mondoexplorer.com we are working on this and many other interesting things because we like to travel and we like to have great experiences. So here comes my personal recommendation: Cas Gasi, in Ibiza this summer, a great small Bed and Breakfast or "Agroturismo", it is run by Margaret and I guarantee you will enjoy this part of Ibiza in August; you will be close to the action of summer madness and far away enough so you can actually relax and enjoy the last Grisham novel. Enjoy your summer!
Nicolás Visiers Würth, Editor.

Social Travel is here to stay

SOCIAL TRAVEL

All this hype about social media has got most companies super excited. It is funny because just about 3 years ago, people started to go crazy about new sites such as "A small world" , where some even offered to pay to become an invitation... It was the beginning of Social Media, and now nearly every person I know is on Facebook, even my mother, because she loves to look at pictures. I believe we all have a little "voyeur" in ourselves, we actually like to see what other people are doing. Travel is different. When you travel, you get a sense of accomplishment if you actually discover something cool and you can let your friends know so they can experience it too; you somehow feel as an explorer, since you discovered a place in the world that will stay on your memory forever, but most importantly now you know that the people you love deserve that experience too! This is SOCIAL TRAVEL, the most important reason for Mondoexplorer to be. Take some time and help us with your experiences and register so that you can share those locations and experiences that you loved in one of the cities we have available, and you will be making people happy, people you don't even know!!!

We love to travel, and we love to explore, and if you feel like that it might be a good idea to contact us if you are interested in starting a new business: social travel.

by Nicolás Visiers Wurth

Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Kala Christouyenna! Buon Natale! Joyeux Noel! Froehliche Weihnachten! Gledelig Jul! Nollaig Shona! Vrolijk Kerstfeest!

Happy Holidays from Mondo Explorer! Since this is the time of year to have fun with friends and family, take a little time to reflect on things past, and, in general, just enjoy life, here are some things that we hope will make you smile, maybe make you think a little too, and definitely get you into the holiday spirit!

Did you know that . . .
. . . it takes the average Christmas tree about 15 years to grow before it’s ready to be sold.
. . . Christmas was actually outlawed by the Puritans in Boston, Mass for a few years during the late 1600s.
. . . the legend of Santa Claus most likely originated in what we know now as modern-day Turkey some time in 280 A.D. with a monk named St. Nicholas who is said to have traveled the country helping the poor and sick. He later became known as the protector of children and sailors, and by the late 1500s, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe.
. . . the popular Christmas Poinsettia plant was first imported to the U.S. from Mexico.
. . . the first Christmas trees appeared in Strasbourg, Germany in the early 1600s and were not imported to places like the United States until the early 1800s, where it took about twenty five years to become the widespread custom that we know today.
. . . the Hanukkah dreidel, a four-sided spinning top associated with the Jewish holiday, was used by the Jews to escape persecution. When Jews gathered to study the Torah, they would bring along a dreidel to pull out in case dissenting soldiers passed by. They would quickly hide the scripture and begin spinning the top when soldiers approached, which many oftentimes spared them their lives.
. . . in some Celtic traditions, mistletoe is believed to posses magical powers, including the power to heal and to increase fertility.

Enjoy one of our holiday recipes, on the house!
Eggnog Martini (makes one):
1 oz of eggnog
1 oz of Frangelico
1 oz of vodka
2 tbsp. crushed ice
nutmeg or cinnamon for topping
Mix all ingredients and shake well in cocktail shaker. Pour through a strainer and sprinkle with your choice of nutmeg or cinnamon. If Celtic, go stand under mistletoe and wait for magical powers to begin.
Enjoy!

You can also visit our Miami site for more information www.mondoexplorer.com/miami

Or Visit our Main site

www.mondoexplorer.com

This Fall in Music

Summer might be widely-known the best time of year for music festivals, but we beg to argue that the next few months (Sept.-Nov.) offer some pretty sweet music to be heard from around the world. And, as most of the fall festivals are three- or four-day events, it’s the perfect plan for a three-day weekend getaway, which is usually the only kind of vacationing you do during the fall months anyway. Here are our top five picks for the best fall music festivals -- if you love music, you have to make it to at least one of these outstanding events:

1. Austin City Limits (Austin, Texas USA) Oct. 2-4, www.aclfestival.com: Big names like Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Walkmen, John Legend, and Pearl Jam share the weekend with tons of other up-and-coming bands or indie groups. Perhaps the most treasured music festival in the U.S., Austin City Limits is almost like a religious pilgrimage for music lovers who find their mecca in the middle of Texas’ state capitol.

2. Festival de Jazz de Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain) Oct. 18-Dec. 6, www.barcelonajazzfestival.com: You’ll find a broad spectrum of jazz musicians in various locations across Barcelona over more than a month this coming fall. This year will mark the festival’s 41st year in a city that has a long-established reputation for jazz appreciation and will open with world-famous American jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who played with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and even Carlos Santana.

3. Voodoo Festival (New Orleans, Louisiana USA) Oct. 30-Nov.1, www.thevoodooexperience.com: Eminem, Lenny Kravitz, Kiss, Widespread Panic . . these are just a few names out of well over fifty bands of all kinds that will converge for three days over Halloween at New Orleans’ City Park. It’s wicked fun . . .

4. Woodstock (Johannesburg, South Africa) Nov. 27-30, www.woodstock.co.za: South Africa’s largest music festival, Woodstock will celebrate 10 years in just a few months as musicians, BMX riders, paintballers, and campers converge at Riversand Farms along a river for four days of music at all hours of the day and night, shopping, playing, swimming, eating, and camping. This particular festival is most popular among young people, and this year one of the newest highlights on one of the many stages will be the Hip Hop tent.

5. 53rd International Festival of Contemporary Music (Venice, Italy) Sept. 25-Oct.3, www.labiennale.org/en/music: Dozens upon dozens of composers, musicians, music students, and fans from around the world come together for over a week in Venice of musical synthesis, this year’s festival titled “The Body of Sound.” From Flamenco to American Blues to classical even to electronic music, the festival will take place at Teatro Piccolo Arsenale and Teatro alle Tese and will feature a wide variety of performances, workshops, conferences, among other events.

Want more travel info? visit www.mondoexplorer.com

Good News For Flyers: U.S. Air Fares See Largest Drop on Record

About a month ago, the Department of Transportation reported the largest quarter-to-quarter drop in U.S. domestic air fares ever recorded. From the last quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009, average prices for domestic tickets dropped a whopping 9.1 percent, with the average ticket price falling to $315. While this may not seem like much of a break, compare that with the record high prices for fares reported last year at $360, and travelers are seeing a substantial break this year in most ticket prices in the U.S. Of course, these statistics don’t include any other fees paid at the airport or on the aircraft, so don’t figure in all of those annoying baggage charges here. Also interesting to note in the DOT’s first quarter report: Huntsville, AL saw the highest average air fares, while the lowest are to be found in Long Beach, CA, Oakland, CA, Burbank, CA, Dallas Love Field, and Las Vegas. So, looking for one last mini-vacation to round out the summer? Fly on the cheap to places like Dallas or Vegas -- www.mondoexplorer.com will tell you everything you need to know about exploring these dynamic cities like a local.

Wifi on Planes: The Next Big Travel Trend?

Welcome to the new trend in air travel. In the last few months alone, Aircell, a flight technology company, either has already installed or is in the process of installing its WiFi internet system called GoGo on nearly 500 airplanes including American, Virgin America, Air Tran, Delta, and United. JetBlue and Southwest are also reportedly testing WiFi equipment and considering adding it to some flights. Of course, this new in-flight service that may revolutionize air travel for the average passenger does come at a price to the customer. Gogo’s flight plans range from $5.95 for single flights up to 1.5 hours to $12.95 for a singe day pass on one airline to their most expensive plan at $49.95 for 30-day WiFi access on one single airline. For the travel industry and government officials, in-flight WiFi has opened a veritable Pandora’s Box of issues having to do with on-board technology and communication devices, namely, cell phones, which has added fuel to the fire of an already heated debate. Personally, surfing the net while flying does sound like a mighty convenient perk, but if it opens the door to cell phones, I'm not so sure that I like the idea of spending a few hours stuck in a what might sound like a noisy call center. Besides, isn't there something deliciously relaxing about being forced to turn off the blackberry and the computer for a few hours? What excuse will we have now?

Visit our websites for more travel info at www.mondoexplorer.com