A chance to win a Travel Writing Scholarship

Have you ever wanted to try your hand at travel writing? Do any of you who know me ever get jealous when you hear about the latest trip I've gotten to take? If you answered yes to these questions and you think you've got it in you to be a travel writer, then pay attention to this contest I came across.

WorldNomads.com, in conjunction with Rough Guides, Intrepid Travel and Hotels.com, is offering aspiring travel writers the chance to win a travel writing scholarship and write their way around Tokyo, all-expenses paid.

To apply entrants must write a travel-focused essay of no more than 500 words based on a personal experience and written around one of the following themes: A Journey that Changed Lives, Responsible Travel, Adventure in an Unknown Culture or A Memorable Experience Involving Food in a Foreign Country.

Candidates can be students, emerging and non-professional writers and lovers of travel looking for a career change. The prize is the chance to travel, all-expenses paid, to Tokyo where you will first learn some tricks of the trade from Rough Guides travel writer Simon Richmond, then travel around on your own for seven days researching, reviewing and updating essential travel info (accommodations, bars, restaurants, shopping, tours, transport, etc) for the Tokyo section of The Rough Guide to Japan. After you've completed your research and writing, the winner will get the chance to relax and enjoy a four-day Flavors of Tokyo independent tour with Intrepid travel offering a cuisine-focused insight into Japanese culture.

The application deadline is Dec. 21, 2009. Applicants must be available between Feb. 15-26,2010 to participate in the Rough Guide to Japan writing assignment and Flavors of Tokyo independent tour.

Other requirements: excellent writing skills with a high degree of proficiency in written English, comfortable traveling on your own, 18 years or older, a current passport, and a lust for adventure travel, plus a strong desire to be a travel writer.

The winner, along with the best entries received will be published on the WorldNomads.com Website on Jan. 8, 2010.

For full details and the online entry, visit http://worldnomads.com.

Lucky kids!

My husband is European and so a big soccer fan, so of course over the course of our relationship I have also become a soccer fan and would love to attend the World Cup someday. I'd especially love to go to the 2010 World Cup, which will be in South Africa, because then I could see soccer and wild animals and what could be better!

But alas, I can not afford to go and though I keep looking for World Cup contests to enter I have yet to find one. But I did recently find a World Cup related contest that will bring the winner to South Africa before the World Cup for some World Cup-inspired activities. But of course, I don't qualify as its only for kids! How unfair is that?

But since I can't enter, I figured there's no harm in spreading the word about this contest, especially since it is a pretty cool one. It's called the "Diski Dance Video Contest" and to win a youth soccer team will have to demonstrate its Diski soccer skills.

What are Diski soccer skills, I know everyone is asking. South African soccer has developed in a unique way combining traditional soccer skills with a little rhythm and dance. It's called Diski. In the spirit of this style of playing and as part of the World Cup marketing, a special dance was created called teh Diski Dance. It's a lot of fun to watch, and even more fun trying to watch other people trying to learn it.

With this in mind, South Africa Tourism has partnered with World Cup sponsor Coca-Cola, as well as U.S. Youth Soccer, to launch a Web video contest. The contest is a nationwide "dance call" to youth soccer teams to get them to feel the rhythm of South Africa by performing the soccer-inspired Diski Dance.

The competing teams must submit their creative video interpretation of the dance for a chance to win the grand prize of a trip to South Africa for the entire team. South Africa Tourism will transport all 12 players, plus the coach AND one parent for each player, to South Africa during the months leading up to the World Cup. While there the team will get to play an exhibition game against a group of South African youths of similar age -- like I said, pretty cool!

To learn how to do the Diski Dance, and this is for anyone not just the soccer kids, go to www.southafrica.net/dance where you can find tutorials of the five moves that make up the dance. You'll also find the official World Cup 2010 commerical featuring people in all walks of South African life doing the Diski Dance. I LOVE this commerical. The music and the dance never fail to give me a chill of pure happiness when I see it.

Another cool travel contest

Tomorrow, Travel Leaders, one of the country's largest travel agency franchise organizations, will launch the Bizarre World sweepstakes in honor of tomorrow's premier of Andrew Zimmern's latest travel TV series, Bizarre World. Travel Leaders is a sponsor of the show, and the new sweepstakes will feature a grand prize 7-day trip to Munich and Berlin.

The sweepstakes begins Sept. 1 and runs through Oct. 15, 2009. To enter, visit http://bizarregetaway.travelchannel.com from Sept. 1 to Oct. 15. Additionally, you can enter every day for the chance to win daily instant prizes.

Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World will air on the Travel Channel at 10 p.m. (EDT) and will follow Zimmern as he explores the strangest "worlds" from underground cultures to outrageous ceremonies and rituals.

Through the duration of the sweepstakes, Travel Leaders agents will share their own unique, off-the-beaten-path travel experiences and recommendations on the franchise's new Facebook page. Consumers are invited to post their own "bizarre" experiences on the site. Travel Leaders is especially encouraging travelers to post videos capturing "bizarre" travel experiences. The best videos will be featured on Travel Leaders' YouTube channel.

For more information about the sweepstakes, the new show or to book your own bizarre (or not so bizarre) vacation with a Travel Leaders agent, you can visit www.TravelLeaders.com/bizarre.

Win a free MSC Cruise

I love contests, raffles, sweepstakes, the lottery, anything where I have a chance to win something. And of course I love it even more when it’s free to enter!

So of course I love MSC Cruises new "Poetry in Motion" sweepstakes – become a fan of MSC Cruises on Facebook and you could win a balcony stateroom for two aboard a 7-night MSC Poesia inaugural Caribbean season cruise.

The sweepstakes runs through November 10 and entering is free. First become a fan of MSC Cruises, then click on the "Win a Cruise" tab and "Enter Now" button to complete the sweepstakes registration form. The Grand Prize winner will be randomly selected on or about November 20.

For those who don’t know how to use Facebook or don’t want to become a fan, sweepstakes registration is also available online on MSC Cruises Web site.

Of course I probably shouldn’t be sharing this, as the more of you who enter the more competition there is for me!

Carnival offers kids the chance to become Dream Godchild, donates to St. Jude

I am not a big fan of Carnival Cruise Lines for many reasons, but what they are doing with their new contest is something I thought was important enough to share with others.

On September 21, Carnival Cruise Lines will introduce its new ship, the Carnival Dream. In honor of the launch, the cruise line is inviting children, ages 7 to 12, to participate in the Virtual Book of Dreams contest. By entering and sharing their own dreams, kids will earn the chance to become the world's first-ever Godchild of a cruise ship waterslide. The winning kid will will travel with her or his family to New York City to christen the WaterWorks aqua park on the ship, and will receive a free two-night cruise on the Carnival Dream when the ship makes its North American debut in November.

While the contest is all nice and good, its not really what I care about. What I think is newsworthy is the fact that for every entry in the Virtual Book of Dreams contest, Carnival Cruise Lines will make a $2 donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Furthermore, the line will donate $1 for each vote on the Virtual Book of Dreams Web site, with a maximum contribution of $25,000.

For such a huge company, I think that's a pretty paltry amount of money but it will still do a lot of good for the hospital. And I suppose considering how bad the cruise industry has it right now, with millions of dollars in losses, $25,000 might actually be a lot of money (right now).

So if any of you have kids or know a kid between 7 and 12 tell them to enter and do their part to help out other kids in need. To enter the Virtual Book of Dreams contest, children must complete the thought "I'm always dreaming up fun stuff. Wouldn't it be awesome if..." in 250 words or less, along with a corresponding hand-drawn picture. The entries must be submitted on the contest Website by the parents or legal guardians of the children who wish to enter. Entries must be received before Sept. 18, 2009. Four finalists will be chosen by a panel of judges, and one Wild Card finalist will be selected via public online voting (remember $1 for every online vote!). The public will then vote for the winner.