PT Travel Linkfest for 14 July 2008

Update: many of the links are now broken – as of July 2015 – and we couldn’t find them again, so if something looks like it should be linked but isn’t, that is why.

Here’s a roundup of useful travel-related links for your Monday perusal:

Places to Visit

• The UK’s Telegraph on Peru: River cruise into the Amazon Basin (with a nice little embedded video.)
• Alternative Olympic games in Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia.
• New Zealand’s Zorbing craze has reached Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
• Albania has a new UNESCO World Heritage site: the town of Berat . Hard to believe that the whole country was inaccessible until fairly recently.
• How to find English-language news and info in Hong Kong? Globespotters answers.
• Hot enough for you? No? Then travel to the world’s hottest destinations (temperature-wise.)
• While in Japan, indulge your ice cream fetish with some unusual flavors .
• Quilters and crafters will love the new Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska (hat tip Budget Travel.)
• Stalwart travel favorite: cruising the Greek islands . Not for you? How about cruising Panama and Costa Rica ?
• In Savannah, Georgia – two perfect Southern meals .
• In Istanbul – 10 bargain boltholes .
• Last Saturday in July. Tokyo. Awesome fireworks on the Sumida River . Be there.
• A few years ago, we passed on an opportunity to visit the Kasbah du Toubkal in Morocco‘s Atlas Mountains. I can’t tell you how much it pains me to admit that.

Tips and Advice

• Is couch-surfing really just for “ getting laid ?” Those randy Aussies look for answers in the Sydney Morning Herald.
• Domino magazine decorating resources, organized by city (not that shopping for household stuff is at ALL important when one travels….)
• Lifehacker‘s Gina Trapani gives detailed, specific and useful advice on taking your laptop and other electronics to Southeast Asia, specifically Thailand.
• Man in Seat 61 shows you five cool alternatives to five high-end train trips.
• My Mother’s Day gift, an iPod, is about to get a load of National Geographic Traveler‘s country and city specific music playlists from iTunes.