BEST DESTINATION OR TRIP NARRATIVE BLOG

This award celebrates the best travel blog focusing on particular destinations, either through local expertise on cities, countries, etc., or through a compelling trip narrative that documents the ins-and-outs of the author’s voyage. Quality writing and/or photography about that location that make you want to book a flight (or train, or ship) as soon as you can.

You may nominate UP TO THREE BLOGS by leaving a comment in this post. (Click here to do so.) If your favorite has been nominated already, feel free to show your love and nominate it again, though a blog only needs to be nominated once to be in contention.

Note: The comment form automatically asks for name, e-mail address, website (optional), and a text field. E-mail addresses will never be shared or visible publicly, in keeping with our privacy policy. Enter all nominations in the text field. Use the “website” field only if you are linking back to your own site.

Jump to other nominations here:

• Best Travel Blog
• Best Single-Author Travel Blog
• Best Group-Written Travel Blog
• Best Destination or Trip Narrative Blog
• Best Informative/Practical Travel Blog
• Best Photography on a Travel Blog
• Best Big Media Blog
• Best Podcast or Video Blog

BEST PHOTOGRAPHY ON A TRAVEL BLOG

Some blogs focus as much — or more — on the visuals as on the writing. This award celebrates the best in visual media on a travel blog.

You may nominate UP TO THREE BLOGS by leaving a comment in this post. (Click here to do so.) If your favorite has been nominated already, feel free to show your love and nominate it again, though a blog only needs to be nominated once to be in contention.

Note: The comment form automatically asks for name, e-mail address, website (optional), and a text field. E-mail addresses will never be shared or visible publicly, in keeping with our privacy policy. Enter all nominations in the text field. Use the “website” field only if you are linking back to your own blog.

Jump to other nominations here:

• Best Travel Blog
• Best Single-Author Travel Blog
• Best Group-Written Travel Blog
• Best Destination or Trip Narrative Blog
• Best Informative/Practical Travel Blog
• Best Photography on a Travel Blog
• Best Big Media Blog
• Best Podcast or Video Blog

BEST BIG MEDIA TRAVEL BLOG

Last year’s Travvies voters asked for this change more than any other.

More and more media companies are launching blogs of their own, and journalists are becoming bloggers themselves. This award recognizes the leaders in the “professional” category. (Freelancers whose sites aren’t hosted on a company blog site are excluded here.)

You may nominate UP TO THREE BLOGS by leaving a comment in this post. (Click here to do so.) If your favorite has been nominated already, feel free to show your love and nominate it again, though a blog only needs to be nominated once to be in contention.

Note: The comment form automatically asks for name, e-mail address, website (optional), and a text field. E-mail addresses will never be shared or visible publicly, in keeping with our privacy policy. Enter all nominations in the text field. Use the “website” field only if you are linking back to your own site.

Jump to other nominations here:

• Best Travel Blog
• Best Single-Author Travel Blog
• Best Group-Written Travel Blog
• Best Destination or Trip Narrative Blog
• Best Informative/Practical Travel Blog
• Best Photography on a Travel Blog
• Best Big Media Blog
• Best Podcast or Video Blog

BEST PODCAST OR VIDEO BLOG

Who says blogging is limited to words and pictures? This multimedia award will go to the blogger with the best podcasts or video blogging (or vlogging).

You may nominate UP TO THREE BLOGS by leaving a comment in this post. (Click here to do so.) If your favorite has been nominated already, feel free to show your love and nominate it again, though a blog only needs to be nominated once to be in contention.

Note: The comment form automatically asks for name, e-mail address, website (optional), and a text field. E-mail addresses will never be shared or visible publicly, in keeping with our privacy policy. Enter all nominations in the text field. Use the “website” field only if you are linking back to your own site.

Jump to other nominations here:

• Best Travel Blog
• Best Single-Author Travel Blog
• Best Group-Written Travel Blog
• Best Destination or Trip Narrative Blog
• Best Informative/Practical Travel Blog
• Best Photography on a Travel Blog
• Best Big Media Blog
• Best Podcast or Video Blog

Hold onto your hats. The 2008 Travvies are almost here.

Next Monday, the nomination phase will begin, in all its glory. You’ll be invited to nominate your favorite travel blogs in several categories. Thereafter, judges will whittle down the lists to a group of finalists, at which point the voting public will have its say.

And no, as the organizer of the event, I’m not eligible for any of the awards, so rest assured that I won’t be stuffing the ballot box in my favor. Or anyone else’s for that matter.

Don’t forget to review last year’s winners, and for a broader range of noteworthy blogs, review the nominees.

Watch this space, as they say, for updates. Nominations kick off on Monday.

Upgraded: Your luggage in 25 minutes or less or your pizza is free
United’s revised customer commitment (the “promise” which airlines keep revising to try to head off a passenger’s bill of rights) has been changed, with the airline pledging to get customers their checked bags within 25 minutes of arriving at the gate. Of course, there are no consequences for missing that deadline, but still, glad to hear that they’re setting a benchmark. Beats American Airlines’ technique of simply tacking 7 minutes onto every scheduled flight time, to make flights look more “on-time.” Classy!

Separately: One thing I’m happy to see survive the revision at United: the 24-hour penalty-free cancellation policy.

Upgraded: Passengers’ bravado
Speaking of luggage, a Tacoma, Washington, couple has sued British Airways for losing its luggage. And that suit could gain class action status, representing “American British Air [sic] travelers who flew internationally between Sept. 5, 2005, and Wednesday [September 5, 2007].” (via Consumerist)

Upgraded: Helicopter fares to the airport
Downgraded: Helicopter business plans
U.S. Helicopter isn’t making the fat bank that they were hoping for. Their SEC filings include the warning that they may not be able to continue as a “going concern.” So what do they do? Fare sale! New Yorkers rejoice: $99 to JFK or Newark. Faster than a cab, for (nearly) the same price.

Upgraded: Memories of Hooters Air
Remember Hooters Air, the airline that featured flight attendants AND Hooters Girls onboard? If you think I’m kidding, you’re wrong. It existed. Seriously. 23-year old student and Hooters waitress Kyla Ebbert got kicked off a Southwest plane for wearing a skirt that was too short for the flight attendant. A bit overzealous? And now she’s milking the notoriety: She was on the freakin’ Today Show. Slow news day. So she showed a bit of leg (and maybe a little more). Note that Southwest flight attendants often wear shorts, and that’s usually more leg than I want to see from my front-line airline staff. (Thanks to reader J!)

Downgraded: The letter V
CondeNast writer Sarah Kerr offers her “awards” for the best travel related movies. And she calls her awards the “Travies.” Not to be confused with the “Travvies,” the travel blog awards. One letter V makes all the difference. I hereby insist that the film awards be pronounced “TRAY-vees.” See you in court, Sarah! (I kid, I kid.)

Upgraded (or Downgraded?): Silverjet wants to fly to Heathrow
Silverjet, the all-business class airline (a la Maxjet or L’Avion) already flies Newark to London-Luton. Now they want to fly to Heathrow. But to do that, they’ll need to merge or partner with another airline. This could be interesting: It would be the first of the all-business class airlines to merge with another party — presumably a legacy airline. Might be a way for a down-on-their-luck American carrier to pick up some sassy trans-Atlantic action?

Upgraded: FlightStats
FlightStats.com, which offers the most comprehensive suite of real-time flight information on the web, has added live-updating Google maps. Now, I still think that FlightAware’s maps are a little sexier for those looking to track a flight graphically. But FlightStats’ gate-arrival information is more relevant to travelers. I’ll still keep both sites in the toolkit.

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