There are a lot of writing contests out there, many of which I send serially rejected stories and essays to. But here’s one that might interest some of you aspiring travel writers. Fast on the heels of Sheila’s recent post about establishment publication Transitions Abroad going online, a friend sent me a reminder of that magazine’s 2009 Narrative Travel Writing Contest.

It’s the sort of thing tailor made for intrepid travelers — and for imaginative writers. I love their description: they’re looking not for a travelogue, but for “a well-crafted and inspirational story which should appeal to those who have traveled independently overseas with open minds, sensitive souls, and empathetic imaginations.” I’d just like to meet some people like that.

The theme for this year’s contest is “Travel in a Dangerous World,” but the field is wider than that description seems to indicate. “We are looking for stories written by authors who have taken a risk — or been told that they were taking a risk — when traveling overseas,” say the editors, which leaves room for a lot of interpretation. In addition, “editors of TransitionsAbroad.com will judge entries based upon the following criteria: sensitivity to the people and culture being described, ability to engage the reader, and literary quality.” What would you consider a risk? And how well can you write about it?

The contest deadline is October 31, 2008, and the word limit is 1000 to 3000 words. The first-place winner will receive $500 (USD), the second-place entry $150, and the third-place winner $100. Any other articles selected as runner-ups will receive a $50 payment.

Full guidelines and links to last year’s winning essays here. Get your pens out!

Iraq and Afghanistan are countries rich in ancient history and the home to some amazing archaeological sites.

But for the past couple of decades, neither Iraq nor Afghanistan have been on most traveler’s list of places to visit. In fact, most countries warn their citizens against visiting either country. And travel guides do likewise…

“Large areas of Afghanistan remain extremely dangerous, particularly during fighting season.” (Lonely Planet)

“Iraq isn’t the world’s most popular holiday destination at the moment. It’s turbulent and extreme domestic situation makes Iraq one of the least desirable places in the world to be.” (Lonely Planet)

Iraq and Afghanistan are making moves to change this.

The Iraq Tourism Ministry recently held a Tourism Fair to promote Iraq. But it was held in the heavily guarded Mansour Melia Hotel, the same hotel, where, just last year, a suicide bomber blew up himself and a dozen other people. Not exactly the best image for a country looking to entice visitors.

And then there’s the Baghdad Museum, which remains closed because of fears that a suicide bomber might pay a visit, something guaranteed to not only destroy the museum’s collections of historic relics, but also kill and maim tourists, the very people the Iraq Tourism Ministry is trying to attract.

Add in the fact that many of Iraq’s ancient sites - such as Babylon, the Arabian city of Hatra, and the Great Mosque of Samarra - have been looted and damaged in the years of fighting, and it’s clear that the Iraq Tourism Ministry has a lot of work to do before a flourishing Iraq tourism industry becomes a reality.

Still, there are some that see Iraq’s tourism potential. Take, for example, American businessman Robert Kelly who is planning to build a luxury $100 million hotel at the edge of Baghdad’s Green Zone.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, the Aga Khan Foundation, a non-governmental organization, is working on establishing the Bamiyan Valley in central Afghanistan as a tourist mecca. Bamiyan is the the place, where, in 2001, the Taliban destroyed two sixth century Buddha statues that had been carved into the side of the cliff.

The Aga Khan Foundation has created the Bamiyan Ecotourism Project to re-develop the areas tourist infrastructure, with the hope of raising awareness of Bamiyan Valley’s cultural, historical, and natural resources. There’s even talk that one of the Buddha statues will be rebuilt.

But simply building hotels and re-opening museums and archaeological sites is no guarantee that tourists will be willing to travel to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Some day maybe, but prehaps, not yet.

Can one guy get his stuff into one carry-on suitcase for one week away at a conference?

You betcha.

My Sainted Husband’s travel to a teacher’s conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan gave me a golden opportunity to use my packing skills for his benefit, and I’m going to pass those lessons on to you.

(Never mind that he and I had to go to the mat a couple of times about the number of pairs of socks he wanted to take….)

When he arrived at the airport, he was the only one of nine teachers who had packed everything into a carry-on….and he was the only one who wasn’t whacked with the American Airlines $15 fee for the first checked bag (it’s $25 for the second.) What’s interesting is that some of his fellow travelers did not know that they’d be charged for checking luggage.

Remember, folks, it’s an air travel war zone out there in the not-so-friendly skies, so gird your travel loins and do some research before you fly anywhere.

Here’s the one-week packing list for a male attending a casual conference in western Michigan in July (your mileage may vary:)

• One pair running shoes (worn on the plane) and one pair Ecco business-y shoes. Yes, I know laces are a hassle going through security - take a tip from triathletes and use lace locks for a quick off-and-on.
• One pair shorts (worn on the plane)
• 4 pair business socks (2 pr rolled & stuffed into each biz shoe)
• 2 pair Dockers trousers, one belt
• 4 collared/polo shirts (2 light, 2 dark, wear the dark ones twice and hang them in the hotel room closet to air. Sainted Hubs said, “What if I spill something on one?” I said, “They have Gap stores in Grand Rapids, right? Go buy another shirt if you have to.”)
• 6 undershirts, 6 underwear
• 1 pr nylon running shorts, knee brace and 3 “grubby” T-shirts for working out & sleeping. Wash/rinse the running shorts in room sink on workout “off” days.
• 3 pair running socks - tuck in corners
• Swim trunks. Can double as running shorts in a pinch, easier to have a suit than decide that you DO want to hit the hotel pool and not have the suit.
• Foldable, hang-able toiletry kit, with 3 oz liquid containers in separate quart-sized Ziplock bag and set on top for easy access during security checks.  Try multiple-use products, but don’t feel bad if it’s a step too far to use body wash as toothpaste.
• (Optional) Ballcap, Grundig radio (not needed if you know there’s a hotel room clock radio,)  mini-Maglite flashlight (if sharing a room - to find things at night without bumbling and turning on lights.)

That’s it, and it all fit in a TravelPro Rollaboard.

Additionally, in his standard canvas black messenger bag, which fits under the seat in front of him:

• Laptop and power cord in a slim padded polypro sleeve
• Loaded iPod plus charger, and cell phone charger
• Sunglasses and reading glasses
• A couple of magazines and energy bars - never expect anyone to entertain or feed you nowadays.
• Nalgene water bottle. Leave it empty until you’re through security, then fill it at any airport terminal water fountain.

Also loaded onto his laptop with a backup on his thumb/USB flash drive - a PDF guide to Grand Rapids from a new guidebook site now in beta testing, Offbeat Guides.  I’m participating in their beta process, so I ordered up a customized guidebook that included area history, maps, restaurants and local events scheduled to coincide with my husband’s stay.

Caveats to this packing list….

Winter travel:  Coats/jackets, gloves, scarves, etc. make it tougher to be a cold-weather packing Swami, but it is still possible. Be brutally efficient.

Women: I recommend 3 pairs of pants (one black, one brown, one khaki,) one skirt (if you have to - they’re a pain) and four tops.  Shoes: one pair black loafers/flats, one pair brown loafers/flats, one pair running shoes if you work out.  Take a cue from the guys - no one notices that you’re wearing the same pair of black pants for more than one day. Vary your tops, maybe add a scarf and change earrings, and that’s it.  It’s not cute to lug a bunch of girly junk anymore, unless you like self-inflicted pain.

Kids:  They each rate a carry-on but their clothes are small, so you can mix adult and kid items and spread them across the available space. They can each carry a little backpack as well, so make them schlep their toys, crayons, etc., not you.

To recap - pack more tops than bottoms, pick walkable shoes that go with multiple outfits, and plan on doing a little laundry in the hotel room.

Folks, it’s a travel jungle out there, and you don’t need to pay “gotcha” fees or watch your luggage get lost during a plane change.  Be a wise Swami.

Could you do it? One week - one bag?

There’s a movement afoot.

Travel bloggers are trying to create a ‘travel blogger community’.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

The recent BlogHer conference, held in San Francisco last week, was the catayst for this movement. That’s when a number of travel bloggers got together and started talking. And one of the things they talked about, no doubt, was ‘why there wasn’t a travel blogging panel at the conference.’

Now this is a question that was raised long before this conference. But for some reason, it’s one that blogging conferences seem to be ignoring. Pam tried to get BlogHer interested a travel blogger panel this year. The panel was rejected. And remember how Sheila tried to get a travel panel up and running at SXSW last year. It didn’t happen!

But travel bloggers are starting to say no more.

Instead, we are saying…

We count.

We matter.

And we want to be heard.

So the question becomes ‘How can we be heard?’

The answer, by joining together and creating a strong and united travel blogging community.

Pam writes about this over at Nerd’s Eye View and BlogHer.

Debbie at Delicious Baby has been busy creating a list of Travel Bloggers from the contacts she made at BlogHer.

Elizabeth at Go Green Travel Green is asking the question about What do you want in an online travel blogging community?

Liz (aka me) at Write to Travel highlights the steps that are being taken to build a travel blogging community.

And best of all, Pam from Nerd’s Eye View has set up a Travelblogger forum.

So, finally, there is a place for us to go and ‘talk travel blogging’.

 A place to mix and mingle with other like minded bloggers.

A place to ask all those blogging questions that you have.

And a place to talk with others who love writing about travel as much as you do.

I’ll be there.

What about you?

Wednesday’s post of my highly prejudiced take on the top-5 issues when traveling with a baby brought a number of responses, for which I thank everyone.

What came home to me when following the links to a lot of your sites was that a) there’s not a lot of useful information in the travel writing world about real people traveling with real kids (with the exception of our awesome Sheila at Family Travel!), and b) there are a lot of people, mothers and fathers alike, who are working like beavers to change that.

Have Baby Will Travel wrote in, and on her site I found a mountain of information for preparing for travel with little ones. Unlike the article I mentioned in Wednesday’s post, Have Baby Will Travel’s lists of tips and resources is nothing if not comprehensive, and she addresses issues I forgot to even think of: a stroller can make a useful high chair in a pinch; if you’re still exclusively breastfeeding, watch the extreme hiking — exercise lowers milk supply (albeit temporarily); if restaurants or hotels mix rice cereal for you back in the kitchen, triple-check to make sure they haven’t added sugar or salt (this is something I never would have thought of and have subsequently forgotten, but it was a surprisingly frequent issue during our 3-week trip to Europe). This is only a tiny smidge of the great tips on Have Baby Will Travel.

Debbie at Delicious Baby wrote in, too. I was thrilled to find a recent post on her site bemoaning the fact (it’s not just my imagination) that most travel blogs seem to be written by single young men and lack useful information for traveling parents. Hey, just because we have kids doesn’t mean we’re only interested in package vacations, and it certainly doesn’t mean we want to leave the tots behind with Granny! But Debbie only bemoans for a moment — in the same post she’s got a round-up of some of the best women travel bloggers around, including several who write about family travel.

I also wanted to thank Debbie for her comment about babies sleeping on a plane. She points out that you do not have to worry about the air pressure changes for a sleeping baby. Now that’s some information I could have used a couple months ago! My husband the clear-headed physicist would also like to thank Debbie for affirming that he was right all along.

(Aside: The sleeping baby issue was the one that made me realize I needed to indulge in a Zen approach to traveling. Because if you’re lucky enough to get a bulkhead seat where you can put your baby in one of the cots on the fold-out platform (make sure to ask for one of the cots as soon as you get on board, by the way — supply is limited, as we discovered), and even luckier to see your kid drift off, you will be clutching your forehead in despair when the flight attendants tell you how very, very sorry they are, but when the plane hits turbulence and the seat belt sign goes on, you’ve got to pick your baby right back up. And like hell you’re going to get them back to sleep after that.)

And our own editor, Tim Leffel, pointed to his recent review on the Perceptive Travel magazine of the Rough Guide to Travel with Babies and Young Children, which is something I think all we parents are looking for: in his words, a book “for those who want to move about as real travelers instead of coddled vacationers staying in a walled resort or RVers carrying half their possessions along.”

What really makes all these resources stand out is that they include real experiences and stories from real parents. That makes them priceless, and rare, and I am truly grateful for all you who are pioneering the hard work for us.