Photo of cacao by Antoine Hubert

Rain Forest Aerial Trams in Costa Rica has recently announced the launch of their Caribbean Cacao Experience. This excursion, designed for Carnival Cruises passengers, will give visitors a taste of local culture and history with a lesson in chocolate making.

Your day will begin with a 40 minute ride to Cahuita National Park. You will be accompanied by a bilingual guide who is also an expert in biology and natural history. Then you begin your journey of learning about all things Costa Rican. There will be orchid gardens, tee-pees of the indigenous people, and historic art.

Then it all starts to get a bit sweeter. Chocolate lovers and foodies alike will be all ears as you learn the history of cacao. Next you will get up close and personal with traditional ways of making chocolate. Top that off with a presentation of an organic banana and sugarcane plantation. Yeah, bananas and chocolate do go pretty well together.

Prices for this experience have not yet been released, but other excursions offered by the company range from 10 to 125 USD.  You can find out more by checking out the website. Reservations can be made through the site or by phone.

Rain Forest Aerial Trams was established in Costa Rica in 1994. Now with several locations throughout the Caribbean which serve as wildlife reserves, ecotourism attractions and research parks, the group offers eager travelers a combination of adventure and education.

Lori Rice is a freelance health and travel writer, and Galavanting travel news and reviews correspondent. You can follow her adventures at 3 Star Traveler or explore her thoughts as a nutritionist, wellness advocate and foodie traveler at Fake Food Free

Photos provided by Adventure Travel Media Source

The tour will be escorted by the founder of Terra Incognita Ecotours, Gerard Caddick. It will include a visit to Baia das Pedras and to the Jaguar Research Center.  Accommodations, meals, an English speaking guide, entrance fees and a donation to conservation activities will all be included.

Not included? You’ll have to pay for the international flight to and from Brazil, travel document fees such as Visas and necessary vaccinations, and personal expenses such as laundry and phone calls.

If selected for this trip you will not lack for things to write about or photograph. According to the Terra Incognita Ecotours website, Brazil’s Pantanal boasts:

an estimated 3,500 species of plants, 124 species of mammals, 177 species of reptiles, 41 species of amphibians and at least 423 species of birds.

Eligible journalists will be judged based on three things - criteria of national exposure, circulation of publication, and Letter of Assignment. Writers with an assignment focusing on adventure travel, ecotourism, or the outdoors will be given priority during selection. In addition, if you write for a publication with a circulation of 100,000 or more you may be eligible. You’ll need to provide clips of or links to your current work when applying. Nancy(at)atmstravelnews(dot)com is the appropriate contact for more information on this exciting opportunity for travel writers.

Lori Rice is a freelance health and travel writer, and Galavanting travel news and reviews correspondent. You can follow her adventures at 3 Star Traveler or explore her thoughts as a nutritionist, wellness advocate and foodie traveler at Fake Food Free.

Photo by Alan Vernon.

The best part about this trip is that if your better half doesn’t share your enthusiasm for birding he or she will have everything needed for a vacation that is equally enjoyable.  Leisurely walks on the beach or a day reading in the hammock can appeal to those wanting some rest and relaxation. For the more adventurous, multiple hiking trails can be used throughout the area or you might consider a visit to a Blue Mountain Coffee Plantation.

The hotel is located on 6.5 acres of bio-dynamic gardens and surrounded by the beautiful scenery of the Caribbean Sea and the Blue Mountains. There are 10 luxurious and tranquil rooms, and guests can feel good about supporting an eco-friendly accommodation which uses solar power and natural air-conditioning. Organic gourmet dining is available featuring fusion cuisine with influences from Europe, Asia, the U.S. and rural Jamaica.

To enter simply test your knowledge of the birds of Jamaica by completing the short quiz provided on the hotel’s website by March 29^th, 2010. The winners will be notified by email that day. The prize is valid for a year with blackout dates around the Christmas holiday.  

If the rest of the birds in Jamaica are anything like the Doctor Bird I caught a quick glimpse of on my most recent trip to the island then, trust me, this is one prize you want to win. Head over and take the quiz to enter!

Lori Rice is a freelance health and travel writer, and Galavanting travel news and reviews correspondent. You can follow her adventures at 3 Star Traveler or explore her thoughts as a nutritionist, wellness advocate and foodie traveler at Fake Food Free.

Photo by Thunder Thumbs

Small, women-only adventure trips can be planned which allow for rest and relaxation, but also challenge you to push past your comfort zone. You will be left with a sense of accomplishment and pride while building bonds with those female friends and family members who helped you through.

Domestic and international women’s travel adventures are on the calendar throughout 2010. You can get your hands dirty working at a dude ranch in Montana, show your strength river rafting through Utah, explore England through historic walking tours or embark on a humanitarian adventure in Vietnam. Each tour is rated from easy to high energy, which can be helpful when matching the intensity of a tour with your personal fitness level.

Most adventures last from one to two weeks and costs range from $2,595 to $7,895. Package details and amenities included vary. Some tour package costs do include a portion of airfares during the trip.

Adventure Women, Inc. has been offering women’s adventure travel since 1982 and is celebrating their 28^th year of business in 2010. They specialize in life-changing, travel adventures for women over 30 who wish to travel alone or with loved ones in small, non-smoking groups that provide a safe and accepting environment for explorations around the world.  

Lori Rice is a freelance health and travel writer, and Galavanting travel news and reviews correspondent. You can follow her adventures at 3 Star Traveler or explore her thoughts as a nutritionist, wellness advocate and foodie traveler at Fake Food Free.

Photo by garryknight

This could quite possibly be the easiest contest to enter. All you need is a Twitter account and a willingness to spread the word. First follow @Vagabondish and then retweet a short note according to the contest rules. That’s all! A random winner will be selected and contacted by Twitter’s direct message system on March 31, 2010.

The prize pack is worth over $2,000!  The winner gets a customized website design for a WordPress travel blog from Clash Studios. It will be from scratch making it original and all yours. You’ll get the HTML for the final design, a custom WordPress theme based on the design, and uploading of the theme to your webhost. All that just for retweeting and a bit of random luck.

Clash Studios is the same design firm that recently revamped the site for Vagabondish.com so check it out to see the potential for custom design. Then get following, tweeting and start thinking about your dream design. If luck is on your side you will have the chance to bring that dream design to reality on your travel blog!

Lori Rice is a freelance health and travel writer, and Galavanting travel news and reviews correspondent. You can follow her adventures at 3 Star Traveler or explore her thoughts as a nutritionist, wellness advocate and foodie traveler at Fake Food Free.

The collection is ideal for business travelers who want to maintain a sense of style despite their hectic schedule. All bags in the collection are designed to be durable and protect your valuable electronics and travel necessities without sacrificing fashion. Beautiful bags covered in geometric shapes and bold colors allow you to be professional and classic, yet trendy and fun.

Pieces include laptop briefs, a tote, a mini backpack, a 20 inch carry-on, and a shoulder satchel complete with all the pockets and compartments necessary for organized travel. Travel cases start at $24.99 and can be purchased directly from the Nuo online store, or Chloe Dao’s Lot 8 boutique in Houston, Texas. The Dao Chloe Dao collection can also be found at related retailers such as Dell, eBags and Kohls.

Carry these bags paired with your business suit and no one will accuse you of being out of fashion. In fact, it may be difficult for them to hide their envy. Even better, if you do have to check that carry-on you will have no trouble identifying your stylish bag on the luggage belt.

Lori Rice is a freelance health and travel writer, and Galavanting travel news and reviews correspondent. You can follow her adventures at 3 Star Traveler or explore her thoughts as a nutritionist, wellness advocate and foodie traveler at Fake Food Free.

photo by Chuck Babbitt / istockphoto

(UPDATES BELOW)

At about six o’clock his morning residents of Hawaii awoke to the sound of sirens. The reason for alarm was unlikely, since an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 actually struck in the country of Chile. That earthquake caused devastation, a collapsed highway, and killed at least 82 people.

But now Hawaii, Australia, and certain parts of Asia await more aftermath in the form of a tsunami. Sirens have been warning residents to move inland from coastal areas in anticipation of large tsunami waves. They are expected to hit Hawaiian islands around 11:00 am local time, and an entire Hawaii Tsunami Information website sprang up almost instantly to monitor the situation in real-time.

Hawaiian CBS Station KGMB reported that a six-foot wave hit French Polynesia at 10:45 am Pacific Time and that experts have warned of multiple waves in all affected areas. 

Twitter users have been disseminating information about the tsunami’s arrival in Hawaii under the hashtag #hitsunami

View a live feed of local Hawaii CBS Station KGMB news below:

Live video by Ustream

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

Become a Galavanting Facebook Fan & Be Entered to Win Two Free Roundtrip Tickets on Southwest Air

So we’re having a contest. To be entered to win, all you have to do is join our Facebook fan page before March 31st, 2010 — we’ll be randomly drawing one of the fans to win two vouchers for airline travel on Southwest Air (full contest rules below). Pretty easy, right?! And: If you’d like to be entered more than once, we’ve cleverly devised ways for you to do that too! You can gain up to five more entries by doing any of the following:

EXTRA CONTEST ENTRIES Tweet any of the following messages for up to 3 additional contest entries. Feel free to customize your tweet a bit, just be sure to tag it #GTV:

• Hey @TravelChannel: add the http://Galavanting.tv gals to your lineup! #GTV
• Hey @NatGeoAdventure: add http://Galavanting.tv to your lineup! #GTV
• Hey @Discovery: add the http://Galavanting.tv gals to your lineup! #GTV

For TWO extra contest-entries:
Embed the Galavanting in the Colorado Rockies episode in your blog (below).

episode embed code: <object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q6d6Mjcvn0Q&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q6d6Mjcvn0Q&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object>

If you blog about this Colorado Adventure episode, hosted by Kim Mance and Maren Hogan, and would like to copy and paste travel info about any of our Colorado adventure activities in your own blog, you are perfectly welcome to do so when it accompanies the embedded video. We also have press & blogger resources here.

ADD WOMEN TO TRAVEL BROADCAST MEDIA
By making extra contest entries, you’ll not only improve your chances, you’ll help us on our way to showing our favorite television networks that women are underrepresented in travel media — especially female hosts who are just as adventurous as they are curious about other cultures.

FULL CONTEST RULES

• Contest ends at midnight, Central US Time on March 31st, 2010.
• Winner will be drawn randomly, using Random.org
• Winner will receive two roundtrip ticket vouchers for airline travel on Southwest Air, winner will book travel and Galavanting.tv, GoGalavanting.com nor any of its affiliates will be responsible for booking any travel, change fees, baggage fees, upgrade fees, or any other fees associated with winner’s travel itinerary.
• Prize cannot be substituted for cash.
• No purchase necessary.
• Void where prohibited.
• Winner will be notified by facebook private message. If winner does not respond within 72-hours, a new drawing will be held.
• While we welcome additional contest entries, the winner must also be a facebook fan at the time of random drawing to be eligible.
• Maximum six contest entries per person, regardless of number of tweets or blog postings.

Are you looking for a true Olympic experience? You might want to be careful what you wish for, unless, of course, you are ready to be one of the brave souls to speed down a bobsled track at 80-mph!

Adventure travelers and thrill seekers need to look no further than the “Comet” Bobsled Rides at the Olympic Park Utah. Those willing to pay $200 can take a ride down the 2002 Olympic bobsled track which is advertised as “the most-intense minute of your life.”

This experience is definitely not for the weary. The track is less than one mile long, includes a 40-story drop and 15 turns, and you will feel five times the pull of gravity during the intense ride. It is considered one of the fastest runs in the world. If you are one of the 3,000 people who take advantage of this ride each year, you’ll get the closest thing to what a winter Olympic athlete experiences going for the gold.

Passengers must be 16 years of age and in good health. Those under 18 must be accompanied by a guardian. Three tourists are matched up with a professional driver for each ride. Reservations are required so plan ahead.

This year the attraction is open until Saturday, March 20, 2010 so there is still plenty of time to take part in the action. Opening dates and times vary, but rides typically operate Tuesday through Saturday with check-in beginning about 4:00 p.m.

Not sure if this thrilling adventure is worth your $200? Take a look at the video and then check out how ABC News Travel Producer, Scott Mayerowitz, fared in his recent attempt.

Lori Rice is a freelance health and travel writer, and Galavanting travel news and reviews correspondent. You can follow her adventures at 3 Star Traveler or explore her thoughts as a nutritionist, wellness advocate and foodie traveler at Fake Food Free.

Photo by Drew_

The Hotel Hell Vacation contest is going on right now. You can upload your hotel horror stories along with photos and videos for a chance to win one of four $10,000 vacations. Entries are due by March 2, 2010 and a public vote to determine finalists will take place through March 9, 2010. The winners will be selected by the stars of the HomeAway commercial shown during the Super Bowl earlier this month, Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo!

There are four hotel horror categories and one winner will be selected from each of the following:

• Outrageous Bills
• Cramped Quarters
• I Wish I Had a Kitchen
• Other Hotel Woes

When you enter you’ll need to select your category and the HomeAway.com vacation rental where you’d like to stay if you win, so dream big! All uploaded material must be your original content, of course. Keep it clean too. Well, unless you are talking about dirty floors and bed bugs. Once you’ve uploaded your shocking story, start spreading the word and invite friends, family and strangers to vote for you. Winners will be announced on or about March 16, 2010.

Don’t you just love it when a horrible vacation moment can be redeemed by the chance to win a fabulous vacation? Get over to HomeAway.com and enter your story today!

Lori Rice is a freelance health and travel writer, and Galavanting travel news and reviews correspondent. You can follow her adventures at 3 Star Traveler or explore her thoughts as a nutritionist, wellness advocate and foodie traveler at Fake Food Free.