I usually get contacted rather often with promoting emails of all kind of services, sites or apps. Not every one makes it through to my writing, but Pablo Grandinetti’s (co-founder of Urbita/Travel Videos) email did. Read why below…

Being the first search engine for travel videos organized using Urbita’s database of around 180,000 cities/towns, it sure did catch my attention fast. On top of that they also categorize the videos by location and add other information of interest like available tours, music festivals or sports events.

This approach is of course very useful for us travelers, gathering much of the info we want for our research for any city we plan to visit. Not only that, but the info we get is like insider-info, local knowledge of a place which is essential for any traveler that wish to plan the best holiday at that particular place.

I like the fact that I can get a search result with better videos than just searching for videos generally in different common video sites. Travideos.com is after all, specialized in travel videos, making it more suitable as a travel planning tool. Try it out!

©Lifecruiser Love Travel Videos
 

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To help mitigate this problem, The Economist developed the Big Mac Index, which measures whether currencies are at their “correct” level by comparing the cost of a Big Mac all around the world.

For example, a Big Mac might cost $4.50 in the U.S. and 90 INR in India; but, when you convert the Indian price from rupees to dollars, the Indian Big Mac actually costs about $1.50, which makes the Indian rupee undervalued by about 67 percent (because the Big Mac is about $3 cheaper).

When a currency is undervalued, you’ll actually get more for your money when you travel there. And, of course, when a currency is overvalued, you’ll get less for your money when you travel there.

The world of currency exchange can be pretty confusing, so to learn more about the Big Mac Index, watch the video below:

This guest post was provided by Jessica Edmondson who has traveled abroad to Mexico as well as England. Her latest adventure has taken her to move from Florida to Washington. You can follow her on Twitter @jsedmond.

MochaMeet
MochaMeet (www.mochameet.com) is a social planning service for travel that focuses on this exact problem. To get started, you can login with Facebook and see all your friends on an interactive map.

It is fascinating to see how truly global your network is.

Turns out, I have 25 friends in New York, 18 friends in London and 10 friends in Singapore. I’ve barely even lived in any of theses places. Huh.. who knew?

How does it get the data?
To get started, when you login with Facebook, it pulls in all your friends’ current cities (hometowns if current cities are not populated) and displays them on the map. So, initially, it has Facebook data – which is not always accurate, but it is a start.

Now, within MochaMeet, you can upload your trips. So, as more of your friends start joining MochaMeet, it starts relying more on MochaMeet data instead, which is a lot more accurate.

Coordinating Meetings

So, you have 25 friends in New York. Now what? I have no intention of sitting and calling each and every one to see if they are free.

To close this loop, you can create groups for a city that you are traveling to. This group is “location-aware” – meaning that only those members who are in the cities you are traveling to will see and respond to the chat.

Now, the most notable feature is the coordination tool within the group chat. There are 3 circles – who, when, and where? You can see members in the “who” circle, while the other 2 circles allow you to vote on times and places that work for you. The most popular times and places are when and where you will meet. This makes coordination a whole lot easier.

Want to gather your former classmates or office pals for a one-time reunion or a monthly networking sesh? Going to New York, London or Taipei? Why eat dinner alone? Now MochaMeet can easily coordinate a table for two – or 20.

Happy Travels! And now make them Social too!

Guest Author: Anish Godha is the CEO of MochaMeet. He holds a MS from Stanford University and a BS from Northwestern University.
 

When you’re headed for a scenic drive, it’s important to have adventure motorcycle accessories with you to really make your experience worthwhile. Having these with you will definitely improve the time you’re having and make everything much easier and safer.

If you’re the exploring type, be sure to invest in a good GPS navigation system for your bike. There are quite a good number on the market now that they’ve peaked from luxury device to mobile necessity but make sure you’ve got one that is specifically made for motorcycles. These types of GPS devices will be able to better stand the elements and they have certain features that normal automobile GPS’s don’t have, such as more intricate points of interest.

Unless you’ve got a bike where the GPS has already been installed for you, you’re going to need some kind of mounting fixture in order to keep it on the front. Mounts are available for pretty much every device you could think of from radar detectors to cell phones and they’re easy to install and are quite affordable.

Some people seem to think you can’t take a ride on your bike if the weather isn’t exactly perfect but that doesn’t have to be the case if you accessorize properly. Not only can you purchase heated vests and gloves to wear during your trip, but you also have the option of getting warm seats and handgrips. With the heating elements protecting you from the cold, you’ll be able to travel more and for longer periods of time, giving you extra time to explore before you’re forced to turn back.

A windshield is still considered an accessory although it’s probably one of the most significant pieces of equipment you can install on your bike. Windshields go without saying as they’re going to do a lot of good when it comes to keeping the wind and rain out of your face as you zip down the highway.

Likewise, make sure that you’ve got a helmet with a visor attached. While they might not be necessary in the nicer months of the year, it’s still important to have one available in case you end up in a patch of rain or snow. It will help keep the elements from burning or chapping your skin and it will keep things out of your eyes.

If you plan on traveling with someone else, you might benefit from some type of Bluetooth system on your bike or inside your helmet. These help you communicate with one another more effectively and it will be a literal life saver if you find yourself in need of emergency assistance. A lot of them are voice activated so you needn’t even take your hands off the handles in order to speak to the person on the other end of the line.

Nothing beats the feel of being on a motorcycle and the smell of fresh air as you drive on the open road, but if you really want to make it more enjoyable, make sure you’re outfitted with the best accessories you can buy. They’ll keep you safe and they’ll let you have more fun.

Lifecruiser Love Roadtrips
 

The number two birthday present for this Champagne lover was of course the Moet Chandon Grand Vintage 2004 Champagne. Makes memories pop up from our trip to the Champagne district in August, when we visited their unbelievable huge wine cellars in France and their beautiful vineyards!

©Lifecruiser Love Travel Goodies
 

There are over 500 homes to choose from, and each home comes with its own iPhone loaded with information gathered from the host about the best things to do in the local area. Each home unique, but here are a few that have that extra little something:

The Boat House

Life doesn’t get much more luxurious than this. This stunning home with its lavish decoration is certainly a sight to behold and sleeps up to 12 people. Original Georgian features are complimented by elegant and sophisticated décor making this the perfect riverside house to drift away and dream the days away. Beyond the garden, which boasts a hot tub, barbeque and adventure playground, is the River Thames, perfect for an afternoon stroll to explore some of London’s finest waterside cafes.

Albert Terrace

This home is steeped in history having been built for a doctor of Queen Victoria. A wonderful mix of original period features in the sitting room, carefully blended with modern style in the kitchen, this house is as grandiose as it is comfortable. Stay here for your own slice of history in Primrose Hill.

Russell Garden Mews

For the more modern minded, this four bedroom family home is the residence of a DJ turned architect, and it shows. Clean lines and sleek style characterise this house, and if you head downstairs to the basement you even have your own dance floor! Located in west London it is perfect for visiting the famous Portobello Road market.

Lifecruiser Love Unusual Stays
 

Main rule: Always, always keep several backup copies of your photos on different places. Never ever only have them in one place!

Places or ways to store backup copies:

• On several memory cards for your camera
• Flickr account/similar internet photo storage option
• Extern harddrive (Even small ones store much)
• Different harddrives on your laptop/computer
• Different fresh USB Memory Sticks
• Burn backup CD’s or DVD’s copies

The advantage of a Flickr account is that you often can upload your mobile photos directly from within your mobile camera apps during your trip. I’ve done that a lot during our trips and it’s very appreciated by our followers since they felt like they were with us on the trip.

Warning! Only upload pictures if you’re on Wifi or the hotels internet, do NOT upload if using data roaming since it could cost you BIG!

It’s easy to download your photos from Flickr and other online storage solutions, whenever you need them again. I don’t even keep them on my working computer any more – I get them from Flickr or the extern harddrive when or if I need them.

I even consider NOT burning any backup DVD’s any longer, at least not of all our photos. Maybe just the exceptional good ones.

….and if worst comes to worst and you discover that your traveling laptop has crashed, your holiday photos are still not completely gone until you have tried to rescue them with a Data Recovery Service.
(I’ve only needed to do that once time earlier at work, a recovery for exchange server data).

There are so many different reasons for why your photos (or other files) can be destroyed, not only a hard drive failure, but also because of program failures, virus, theft, Champagne spraying (yes, happened once!) – or simply by you being clumsy and deleting them by mistake…

So our final advice is: always be prepared for the worst – with proper life jacket’s on and the lifeboat located – and within reach!

©Lifecruiser Love Photo Recovery
 

Photo taken with my iPhone, not very good but you get the picture – how small it is (2.4 x 1.6 x 1.2 inches ), when you look at that suction cap in the front which is HUGE comparing to the mini video camera! The size is why we were interested in the first place.

As they say themselves at their website:

Wearable and gear mountable, waterproof to 197? (60m), capable of capturing professional full 170º wide angle 1080p video and 11 megapixel photos at a rate of 10 photos per second, the HD HERO2 is the world’s most versatile camera.

It can even handle under water filming though there seem to be a loss of sharpness with underwater images according what I’ve read on the internet about it. There is also another con: it’s difficult to aim without a LCD…

We’re not exactly sports-persons in the true meaning of that word, but we will nevertheless try on the Head Strap in some situations.

©Lifecruiser Love Europe Trip Preparations

Earlier post about Lifecruiser Europe Trip 2012:

Europe Trip Preparations: Double Trip Packing
Europe Trip Preparations: Camera Gears
Europe Trip Preparations: New Notebook PC
Another meetup for the Europe road trip
Europe Trip Preparations: Champagne Coolbox Snacks
New car for the Europe trip
Europe Trip 2012 Summery
Europe Trip Accommodations
Mapped Europe Roadtrip Route 2012 by Lifecruiser
Routes and stays booked for our Europe trip 2012
Planning our Europe trip 2012
 

Photo of my camera above taken with my iPhone, it is a Canon DSLR. A Canon EOS 600D with a Sigma AF 70-300/4-5.6 DG OS lens, a new UV-filter (to protect), new lens cap with a holder (I lost the original almost at once *sigh*) plus a new extra battery too.

I almost always end up buying my camera gears at cyberphoto.se. No, I’m not paid to say that, it’s just how it is. They always have everything I’m searching for plus that I love their honest test reviews and ratings.

My camera equipment fits in a smaller Golla Generation Mobile camera bag. As little as possible to carry is my photo philosophy, because I get severe neck pain otherwise.

No extra memory card? No, because we will have our Canon Powershot S5 IS plus Canon Ixus 80 IS with several memory cards with us too – and we also have our mobile cameras, an iPhone 4S (which camera I’m very pleased with!) and a HTC Incredible S.

On top of that we plan to backup our photos to both Flickr and Lifecruiser’s new Travel Notebook PC.

If we lose any photos anyway: then we have to do this trip all over again, won’t we? Ha ha…

©Lifecruiser Love Europe Trip Preparations

Earlier post about Lifecruiser Europe Trip 2012:

Europe Trip Preparations: New Notebook PC
Another meetup for the Europe road trip
Europe Trip Preparations: Champagne Coolbox Snacks
New car for the Europe trip
Europe Trip 2012 Summery
Europe Trip Accommodations
Mapped Europe Roadtrip Route 2012 by Lifecruiser
Routes and stays booked for our Europe trip 2012
Planning our Europe trip 2012
 

We went with a Samsung NP305U1A-A02 at the reasonable cost of 3990 SEK (approx $570 or €444), mainly because it’s slim (1" thick), light-weighted (1.21 kg) and still has 500 GB harddrive to store all our travel photos along the way. I’m planning to both save the photos on the hard drive and upload them to Flickr as a backup along the way too.

The graphic is not for a serious game player, but we won’t be playing, we will be out sightseeing…

Not the fastest processor; AMD Dual Core E-450 1.65GHz, but fast enough for checking email, blogging, editing a few photos. 4 GB Memory, with the possibility to exchange it for an 8 MB instead. LCD – 11.6″ HD LED Display (1366 x 768), which we find fully satisfying for our use of it.

High speed Bluetooth, Wireless LAN – 802.11bg/n, Wired Ethernet LAN – 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN, 3 USB-ports, 1.3 megapixel HD Webcam to use together with Skype to keep in contact with family and friends.

We also got a slim case for it and an extern small mouse (see the photo). Yes, we like to have a mouse and not use the touchpad. We both get tensions in our shoulders and neck if not using a mouse. Old fashioned perhaps, but that’s the truth.

©Lifecruiser Love Europe Trip Preparations

Earlier post about Lifecruiser Europe Trip 2012:

Another meetup for the Europe road trip
Europe Trip Preparations: Champagne Coolbox Snacks
New car for the Europe trip
Europe Trip 2012 Summery
Europe Trip Accommodations
Mapped Europe Roadtrip Route 2012 by Lifecruiser
Routes and stays booked for our Europe trip 2012
Planning our Europe trip 2012