In order to kick start our debut in the world of Facebook, HotelClub would like to announce its very first Facebook photo competition. We are looking to find the most creative travel photographers so check it out and post your photo today.

The theme is “The Weird, Wacky and Wonderful World of Travel”. We are looking for the best photos featuring anything weird, wacky or wonderful encountered on your travels.

The winner will be selected by the number of unique positive comments on their photo. So all you need to do is post your photo and tell your friends to start voting.

The winner takes out a massive $500USD CASH. That’s sure to get you a reservation in a very fine hotel for a romantic weekend or still a very nice hotel for a weeks getaway.

At the end of the competition the top 10 photos will also be published in a special feature article on the HotelClub Blog.

Entries open December 04, 2008 and close 31st December 2008– so get your photos in and your friends voting today!

To vote you simply need to select the photo you think should win from the HotelClub Facebook group photos section and make a comment, starting with either a + for a positive comment or a – for a negative comment.

Here are the rules.

1. By entering a photograph you are acknowledging that the photograph was taken by yourself, and is not from copyrighted sources.

2. You can only submit one photo per person

3. Only “unique” votes count. Unique means only the first vote per voter will be counted on each photo. So for eg. If Jo Bloggs votes 3 times on John Smiths photo only the first vote will count. Voting ends on December 31st 2008.

4. No purchase is necessary and will not increase your chances of winning

5. No HotelClub employees is eligible to win.

6. You grant us permission to use your photo on the HotelClub Blog

7. If its a draw between several photos, Administrators will decide the winner.

8. Prize money will be paid by PayPal.

Image Credits: 1, 2

For the next thirty days every booking made through HotelClub’s 2008 Christmas Specials page will receive thirty member dollars* (equivalent to $30 US dollars) to use towards their next hotel booking.

HotelClub proudly offer fast secure access to over 48,000 hotels across 126 countries worldwide. So no matter what kind of Christmas break you have in mind this year you are sure to find a great choice of hotels to enjoy a fantastic Christmas getaway in 2008!

*30 Member Dollars is equivalent to $USD 30. As this is a special offer, there is a maximum 30 Member Dollars per person that will expire on 10 December 2008 and is not to be used in conjunction with any other HotelClub promotion running. Otherwise all standard terms and conditions apply.

Florin wrote about some of the creepiest places on Earth in Five of the Spookiest Places on Earth, check out the smoking cracks in the roads of Centralia, thats freaky.

Dave blogged about a Natural Cave on an Island off the coast of Scotland that produces eerie musical sounds from within in his post Musical Cave is a Natural Cathedral.

We visited Bolivia’s magical paradise, a photographers dream, one of the biggest salt flats on the planet in Alex’s post Salar de Uyuni: Delightful Retreat in Natures Salt-filled Paradise.

Alex also took us on a journey to the ancient Mogao Caves of China, a prosperous oasis on the famous Silk Road back in its day, now its home to giant fresco’s and sculptures.

Dave took us to visit the kayan long neck tribe, Buddhist Monks and elephants of Thailand’s Chang Rai, a truly unique region with many hidden surprises.

That’s our highlights for October ‘08 but stay tuned for Novembers posts are shaping up to be equally as interesting.

India can be a challenging country in which to travel for anyone. Foreign women, more so than men, tend to garner more attention from Indians so it can be even more overwhelming. The Indian women will want to touch your skin, make polite conversation to understand more about your culture and tell you all about their country. Many Indian men may not be so altruistic and may be more interested in a sexual liaison. In either case, keeping the following tips in mind will help create a safer and far more enriching experience for women travelers.

Traveling Colorful India

1) Dress conservatively. Despite the fact that Bollywood stars wear skimpy, skin-bearing, shimmering clothes, India is a socially conservative country. Local women, who usually dress in saris or salwar kameez outfits, generally don’t bare their shoulders or knees. And neither should a foreign woman unless it’s in a very touristy area where the locals are used to seeing more Westernized clothes. Even a woman in a tank top in a rural area can be considered a prostitute simply for baring her shoulders.

2) Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself. It’s not uncommon for a woman to be groped, rubbed, followed or have a man come on to her. It’s usually not in any forceful manner. However, it’s so important to make yourself clear in telling him that his behavior is not OK. We often feel like we have to be nice, particularly when we are traveling abroad. But all bets are off when someone violates your space. Just say NO!

3) Carry a cable lock and small locks for your bags’ zippers. These come in really handy, particularly on overnight train rides. Simply locking your backpack or luggage to your berth will thwart any would-be thief. And keeping the zippers locked together will prevent someone from opening your bag in order to quickly snatch its contents.

4) Stay healthy. I know. I’m making it sound simple. But one of the keys to staying safe and having the time of your life in India is to simply stay as healthy as possible during your journey. Eat well-cooked food, drink purified/bottled/boiled water, and keep your immunizations updated.

5) Make friends with local women. Join a homestay program such as Servas, Couchsurfing or Globalfreeloaders and connect with Indian women before you leave. Having a safety net of contacts before you even arrive will put you at ease and give some depth to your experiences. And, if you find yourself in need of help or a place to stay, you’ll have someone to connect with.

6) Take time outs when needed. India is everything all at once and sometimes it can be overwhelming to be exposed to so many people and so much poverty. When you’re feeling like your senses are on overload, find a place in which to retreat. This could be: poolside at your hotel; watching a movie in your hotel room; indulging in a one hour massage; or spending the afternoon at the restaurant of an upscale hotel. Treating yourself to some downtime will allow you to feel refreshed and ready to face the frantic yet fascinating street life of India.

Beth Whitman has logged hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe as a contemporary Wanderer: combining her love for travel with volunteer work, adventure trips, travel writing and business. Beth’s fantastic blog Wanderlust and Lipstick focuses on creating travel guides for women.

If you are in the travel blogging industry and would like to submit a guest post to us for review, please send an email to kristy dot foss at hotelclub dot com.

Photo Credits: 1, 2, 3,

It’s 5 in the afternoon and we’re hungry. We don’t want tamales or gorditas. We want something different…something… exotic.

We walk to the San Juan Market, a couple miles away from our apartment in Mexico City. A few months back, we heard they sell tiger meat here, that the city’s top chefs prefer this market over all others (and there are lots here) because the vendors sell items you can’t find anywhere else in the country. Surely we’ll find something to satisfy our craving.

Langostinos

The market will be closing soon, but there’s still plenty to tempt the eyes and the stomach. Each kiosk is piled high with mountains of tomatoes, giant garlic, artisanal cheeses from every corner of Mexico, pyramids of vegetables, fruits, and monuments and statues of handmade sausages. There are shrimp and langostines, in miniature and super size. Toasted worms’ eggs, mixed with salt and used to rim tequila glasses. Fresh fish from Baja that look like tiny sharks. And there are roasted “chapulines”– crickets– spiked with lime and chile. Yum!

A vendor spies us eyeing her wares. “The crickets are the perfect snack,” she says with seriousness. “Low in fat, very nutritious, and very delicious. They’re even supposed to be good for… well, you know,” she says, giggling and ducking her head. We buy a bag and give them a try. Airy, crunchy. Tasty.

Chapulines (Crickets)

Another vendor, Luis Antonio Gonzalez Ruiz–who’s been working here since he was a child helping his father manage their family’s butcher stand–offers to take us on a tour. Tiger was never sold here, he tells us, but lion was. And regular fare on offer includes ostrich, deer, iguana, buffalo, wild hog, among other meats. When exotic animal collectors want to rid themselves of some of their menagerie, they call Luis.

We are satisfied with our discovery, and above all, with our snack of roasted crickets. In fact, our find is so interesting to friends in the US that we have to send a small package by air mail to satisfy their immense curiosity; we wait with anxiety to see if they’ll pass USDA inspection desk.
A week later, we read that an elephant escaped from the circus and caused a bus accident in the nearby town of Ecatepec, resulting in the death of the bus driver and the elephant. Is it possible the elephant might find its way to the market? We visit Luis again to satisfy our new curiosity. Luckily, there’s no elephant meat for sale. “Well, then,” we say, curiosity satisfied, “give us a bag of crickets to go, please.”

Julie Schwietert Collazo and Francisco Collazo are writers, photographers, and multimedia producers. Francisco is also a private chef. They blog about their travels and work at http://www.collazoprojects.com.

If you are an established travel blogger and would like to contribute a guest post to our Travel Community News please send an email to kristy dot foss at hotelclub dot com for review.
Photo Credits: 1, 2

If you’re Australian and you have been into diving for a while you will have heard of Fish Rock Cave. Located off New South Wales’ Mid-North Coast its a pilgrimage you will have already taken or will at least have at the top of your diving to-do list. At 125m long and with a depth of between 14 to 24 metres Fish Rock Cave is one of the largest ocean caverns in the southern hemisphere. Not only that, this beautiful little spot is a mecca for marine life and is home to an amazing array of grey nurse sharks, turtles, moray eels, cuttlefish, giant Queensland gropers, bullseyes, wobbegongs and much more. This stunning video captures it all and really makes me want to pack and my things and head off to South West Rocks. Lucky for me I’m going next month!

If you have been to Fish Rock Cave please share your experience with us, or send us a link to your YouTube video.

Finding travel news and ideas around the world has become a lot easier, and a lot more fun, through a series of new features that have been released as part of the facelift here at HotelClub Travel Blog. Four great new features are now available to visitors.

The travel stories, guides, and reports from weird and zany events around the world, which have always been a popular element of HotelClub Travel Blog, have now been enhanced with a Featured Posts section. Now when you visit the blog you can immediately see the most popular posts right at the top of the site. These featured posts detail the most exciting and interesting travel ideas from around the world. If you find yourself in need of unusual vacation ideas, this is definitely a great place to begin your search.

Hotelclub Featured Posts

One of the elements that have made HotelClub Travel Blog so popular and so helpful to readers, are the writers that contribute to the site on a regular basis. It is through the willingness of these writers to share their travel experiences in an honest, and often humorous manner, that the rest of us can learn about some of the oddest, most unusual and interesting travel destinations and experiences around the globe. Now, you can learn even more about these writers through the Most Wanted section. With an amusing and inside look at the writers who contribute to the site, the Most Wanted section offers writer biographies and puts a face to the name of these popular writers.

Most Wanted

The Travel Community News section ensures you stay updated on what’s happening in the world of travel. There will also be guest posts featured from other travelers anxious to share their experiences and photos from their adventures around the world. And, for the first time ever, HotelClub will be hosting Blog Carnivals as well, so if you have a post you’d like to share, submit it here and join the community!

If you’re looking for more in-depth travel information, look no further than the Video Picks section, another new feature. It covers a wide array of travel topics through travel videos that have been submitted from around the world. You just never know what you will find in this section. From unbelievable travel destinations to the downright bizarre, this feature gives you the ability to tap into some of the most interesting things to see and do throughout your travels.

Video Picks

Be sure to stop by often and check out these exciting new features. You may just be surprised at what you find!

Can anyone guess what it is? Or where you might find one?

Enter today for your chance to WINS $50 Cash

Here are some clues to help you pick the city.

1. – It is the second most populous city in its country

2. – It is well known for its extensive tram network.

3. – It was the host of the 1956 Summer Olympics

TIP: The name of the hotel can also be found somewhere on the HotelClub website.

Please post your answer in the comments field and of course don’t forget to fill in the name and email address fields, all comments will be closed (private) until competition ends on Friday 4th July. The winner will be selected at random from the list of correct entries and announced on the blog on July 7th.

Enter now for your chance to win $50USD! which will be paid by PayPal. We will be running these competitions on a regular basis, so make sure you sign up to our RSS feed to get in quick for our next competition!

***This competition is now closed. Congratulations to Chris who was selected at random from the list correct entries and who has won himself an easy $50 cash! Don’t forget to sign up to our RSS feed so you won’t miss out on the next Travel Quiz to be launched very soon ***