My Experience in One of the World’s Most Dangerous Places from Hole in the Donut really struck a chord with me. As was the case in Tony Wheeler’s Bad Lands (and he’s contemplating a sequel!) the experience that the traveler gets, especially an open minded traveler, is often far removed from the dire warnings and classifications on lists such as the one Forbes published. While I’m not sure I have any interest in Zimbabwe, the photos are beautiful. The author hits the nail on the head when she speaks of the “real Zimbabwe” — the country you see with your eyes, not one you hear on a list.

So you’ve decided you’re going to Zimbabwe, or another country that strikes your fancy. How do you figure out how much this is all going to cost? How to Create a Simple Vacation Budget from foXnoMad provides some great information. It’s not impossible. Using some of the tools provided, it’s not even particularly hard. I’ve never been particularly good at setting budgets, or sticking to them when I have a rough idea, but it is a good idea. This site is also valuable if you’re one of those people forever trying to convince your friends that travel is possible and that it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg.

So now you’ve set your budget, but you’ve realized you’re really not up for a visit to a place that’s been identified as Dangerous. Something more along the lines of a fairy tale is what you’re interested in. Then the Top 25 Most Beautiful Castles in the World from International Listings is a good place to start. It includes some very well known Castles: Windsor, Château de Versailles, Arg-é Bam Castle and Angkor Wat (although I never knew the latter was considered a castle) as well as some I was completely unfamiliar with. I was surprised not to see the Taj Mahal or Neuschwanstein Castle included. Either way, it’s got me itching for another trip!

It was a plesaure to host this week’s carnival and a real challenge to include just three. I encourage travel bloggers to read the rules for submission and participate in future weeks. It’s a great way to find new blogs you’re unfamiliar with and learn about new places, tips, etc.

As for this blog, I hope to get it back on track soon. I’ve been exceptionally busy with work, school and another project in the last few weeks but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The safety demonstration!

This isn’t exactly the one I saw, but it’s pretty close. I love that their planes have done away with the obsolete no smoking sign and replaced it with something useful and I adore the seatbelt comment. Good way to make people pay attention.

ETA: The Travel Blog Carnival has launched and it’s already garnering some attention. I look forward to my turn to host it.

I’m one of the 23 “founding bloggers” of the Carnival and I look forward to supporting it. There’s such a wide range of travel blogs – both generalized and targeted to niche markets, that it’s hard to know where to start at times. Sometimes you get a point in the right direction, such as when Christopher Elliott lists what he considers the top 7 influential travel bloggers but other times, it’s too much. So I’m hoping the Carnival will get the support it needs and deserves in order to grow and thrive.

Want to help… ?

Have you recently written an inspiring, interesting or informational blog post relating to travel that you think the World should know about? If the answer is yes, then the Travel Blog Carnival group want to hear from you.

Instructions

Email a link to this post to travelblog.carnival [at] gmail.com – the content must be your own writing and unique so articles from splogs [spam blogs] will not be permitted. The purpose is to generate interest via new and timely posts, so the post must have been published on your blog within the last seven days

Each week, one of the bloggers will choose his/her favorite posts and write a short summary on their own blog. Darren will create an archive of the posts on Travel Rants to serve as a Carnival Index.

More on blog carnivals – wiki simply because the Blog Carnival site makes my eyes bleed!

Happy Friday!