Saturday, March 27, 2010

Trying to Tame the Travel Passion Beast

There must be a hole in the bucket I keep my bucket list in. It seems that I cannot reduce the number of places I want to visit and things I want to do. Every time I cross something off the list, I find new adventures I want to take on.
I will be going on the Global Scavenger Hunt again. My partner this time is Christine, from Barbados. She competed in the Scavenger Hunt last year. I am thrilled to have the chance again to go on this unusual adventure.
(My hidden agenda in writing this is to see if I can figure out how to use a blog post app on my iPhone).

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Tantalizing Press Release: 2010 Competition

The press release says it all...

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Travelwriters.com -- Press Release Distribution 11/19/2009
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--- [ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ] ---

Wanted: The World's Greatest Travelers(TM) To Compete in Around-the-World Travel Adventure Competition

SANTA MONICA, CA - 19 November 2009 - So who are The World's Greatest Travelers? Travel writers, tour guides, travel agents, travel bloggers, former reality TV contestants?

Ever sit on the couch watching The Amazing Race, and say: "I could do that!". Well, now anyone can participate in what Outside magazine calls, "...one of the most amazing trips in the world!"

But could you win this real life around the world travel adventure competition?

Many travel pros, and regular Indiana Jones-types too, have participated in the international travel adventure challenge known as The Global Scavenger
Hunt(TM) over the years, but so far, the winners of the annual competition have just been wonderfully resourceful and instinctive travelers--not travel professionals!

The 6th annual three-week international travel adventure competition that will visit at least 10 nations while circumnavigating the globe will begin April 9th, 2010, and the field of 25 two-person teams is filling up fast with several international Teams from the US, Canada, Britain, Dubai, and the Caribbean, already signed up.

"We had some good chuckles at the World Travel Market in London last week,"
says Event Director William D. Chalmers, "The challenge has been made that's for sure. Travel agents always claim that they are the best travelers, but someone in London observed that they were more a kin to high school guidance counselors-that they are good at telling you where to go, but have never personally been there themselves! We've had some wonderful travel writers compete in previous events thinking they were the great travelers--but this is no fam trip, no press junket-The Global Scavenger Hunt is a serious competition, and they all seemed to wilt under the marathon-like pressure of actually having to do competition scavenges themselves."

"And then there are the professional tour operators," Chalmers continues, "Who think they are the best travelers because of their 'experience'. Well, their narrow 'experience' doesn't seem to prepare them for this worldwide event," laughs, Chalmers, a previous winner of an around the world race on public transportation, philanthropist and travel book author.

And so, The Global Scavenger Hunt (www.GlobalScavengerHunt.com) is now looking to fill the final few open slots with highly-motivated globetrotting adventurers who think they have what it takes to go on A Blind Date With The
World(TM) and compete against other travel savvy competitors trying to overcome the event's numerous challenges and ultimately win the title of The World's Greatest Travelers(TM).

Travelers will go from Los Angeles to New York-the long way!

One former participant said the travel competition was, "...like Survivor, The Amazing Race and the Eco-Challenge all rolled into one except with MUCH more cultural interaction!"

Another said, "It's like Christmas and looking forward to opening another present each day and not knowing what it will be.each location unwrapped is a new surprise..."

One previous winner said of the event, "Sheer genius. People often say that a trip was life changing--but The Global Scavenger Hunt really is. You will never see the world again the same way...an amazing itinerary."

And one of the world's most famous and well traveled travelers said, "Nothing needs improving upon.the hardest competition I have ever partaken.thank you for opening the world to me in a manner somewhat different than normal for me."

The Global Scavenger Hunt, created in 2000 long before the hugely popular reality show Amazing Race aired, is all about allowing real travelers to compete in a real travel adventure competition, for all the right reasons-the love of travel, trusting strangers in strange lands and giving something back to the planet. Continues William Chalmers, "Some have called our annual event the Olympics of Travel, some refer to it as A Blind Date with the World because our travelers won't have any foreknowledge as to what countries they're going to until they're onboard a 747 bound for parts unknown, and some have even called it a Magical Mystery Tour. I like that one!"

A cultural immersion at its best, the travel competition event is designed to reignite the magic of travel and be more of a rally, rather than a flat out race. The object is to test each Team's ability to combat the challenges of travel in the 21st Century; not only the inevitable jetlag, language difficulties, cultural differences, strange foods, logistical snafus, along with Team dynamics in the atmosphere of a well-organized competition.

Truly the 'Olympics of Travel,' couch potatoes and armchair travelers need not apply. This real world travel adventure competition is only for the hardiest and most curious travel savvy Type-A globetrotters. The 6th annual Global Scavenger Hunt is for those who crave authentic adventure, genuine exotic travel, real competition, and world-class fun, all the while being a roaming travel ambassador.

But there is much more to this event than riding elephants, swimming with sharks, visiting ancient bazaars, and witnessing Sahara sunrises and Himalayan sunsets--there are lives to change! The event is at its heart a global travel-a-thon that has participants traveling a million kilometers for the $1 million goal to raise money for life-changing organizations. Last year's event helped scores of families with micro-loans and helped construct and fund the building of co-ed elementary schools in places like: Niger, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Kenya and Sierra Leone, in conjunction with great international humanitarian organizations like: Kiva, The Nomad Foundation, and Free the Children. Funds have also been raised for the likes of: Doctors without Borders, Partners in Health and CARE, among others.