Today’s stop on the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van is: TheBrooklynNomad.com. Visit the blog and com­ment on today’s post for a chance to win Imag­ine: A Vagabond Story by Grant Lin­gel and a $50 Magellan’s Travel Sup­plies gift certificate.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Today’s stop on the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van is: DreamofItaly.com. Visit the blog and com­ment on today’s post for a chance to win a one-year online sub­scrip­tion to the Dream of Italy newslet­ter and a DVD.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

This Decem­ber, 15 top travel blog­gers are band­ing together to spread hol­i­day cheer to their read­ers. Just visit the Lux­ury Cruise Bible blog each morn­ing from Decem­ber 1–15 to learn about the travel expert of the day. From there, link to that expert’s blog and then enter to win the prize (or prizes) of the day.

Prizes range from hotel gift cer­tifi­cates and overnight stays to dig­i­tal cam­eras and noise-cancelling head­phones to cam­era bags and lug­gage to travel guide­books and DVDs.

Want to know more about the travel blog­gers right now? Let me introduce…

Ellen Barone
EllenBarone.com
Travel expert Ellen Barone did what many of us only dream of doing: at the age of 35, she traded a suc­cess­ful aca­d­e­mic career for the wild blue yon­der and set out to explore the world and her­self. In the decade since that intre­pid deci­sion, she has turned pas­sion into pro­fes­sion, jour­ney­ing to more than 60 coun­tries in search of evoca­tive images and life-enriching adven­tures. Founder of the travel web­site EllenBarone.com—a pop­u­lar online por­tal “keep­ing trav­el­ers in the know and on the go”—hundreds of thou­sands of vis­i­tors turn to Ellen hop­ing to bet­ter inform their trav­els and their lives. Cater­ing to indi­vid­u­als who enjoy a traveler’s lifestyle, the site is one-stop shop­ping for expert advice, vaca­tion tips, prod­uct reviews, photo gal­leries and travel arti­cles to help read­ers travel bet­ter, smarter, and more inspired. With an eye for the best, the authen­tic, the inno­v­a­tive and the irre­sistible Ellen loves lit­tle more than shar­ing infor­ma­tion that will inspire read­ers travel now, travel smarter and travel often.

Prize: Visit EllenBarone.com on Decem­ber 12, 2009 and enter to win a day pack from First Ascent, a new extreme adven­ture line of gear and cloth­ing by Eddie Bauer and part­ners (a $79 value).

Jea­nine Barone
JTheTravelAuthority.com
Jea­nine Barone is a New York City-based travel writer who’s writ­ten for just about every major travel mag­a­zine, from National Geo­graphic Trav­eler to Travel + Leisure, as well as the Boston Globe, and other news­pa­pers. She also blogs and is fre­quently asked to guest blog about her jour­neys. Her adven­tures can also be heard on var­i­ous radio pro­grams, such as KPAM in Port­land, Ore­gon. When she’s roam­ing the world, she’s seek­ing out what she calls “hid­den trea­sures,” in other words authen­tic expe­ri­ences that pro­vide insights into the heart of the land and its peo­ple. Aside from travel, she also pens arti­cles on food, wine, design, and archi­tec­ture. Whether she’s hik­ing through the vol­canic land­scape and vine­yards on remote Pico Island in the Azores or moun­tain bik­ing in Israel’s Negev Desert, Jea­nine pro­vides her read­ers with vivid, inti­mate expe­ri­ences. So much so, that many have com­mented that read­ing one of her arti­cles or blog posts makes them want to pack their bags and head straight for the air­port. Known as an ultra savvy trav­eler, Jea­nine is fre­quently asked to write about her travel tips (includ­ing how to stay healthy on the road) and her pack­ing strate­gies, con­sid­er­ing she prides her­self in never check­ing lug­gage, even on a 7+ week journey.

Prize: Visit JTheTravelAuthority.com on Decem­ber 10, 2009 and enter to win a Moun­tain­smith Tour FX Cam­era Bag (a $99 value).

Joshua Berman
The Tran­quilo Trav­eler
Joshua Berman is an award-winning Span­ish teacher and trip leader who has spent most of the last decade liv­ing, trav­el­ing, and work­ing through­out Cen­tral Amer­ica. He is the author of Moon Belize, and the coau­thor of Moon Nicaragua and Moon Liv­ing Abroad in Nicaragua. His arti­cles have appeared in a range of print and online pub­li­ca­tions, includ­ing National Geo­graphic Trav­eler, The Boston Globe, Yoga Jour­nal, and Tran­si­tions Abroad. His web­site is joshuaberman.net.

Prize: Visit The Tran­quilo Trav­eler on Decem­ber 6, 2009 and enter to win a copy of Moon Belize, accom­pa­nied with per­sonal travel advice from the author about your trip.

Nancy D. Brown
What a Trip
Nancy D. Brown is the Uptake.com Travel Edi­tor, writes the What a Trip blog and is a Con­tra Costa Times Lam­or­inda Sun colum­nist. She is the online travel edi­tor for Dia­blo mag­a­zine and writes the “Trav­eler Mak­ing a Dif­fer­ence” col­umn for Escapes mag­a­zine. An avid eques­trian, Nancy reviews horse prop­er­ties at www.writinghorseback.com.  She enjoys speak­ing on pan­els and spe­cial­izes in adven­ture and lux­ury travel. Recent trips include hik­ing Switzer­land, snor­kel­ing Mexico’s Par­adise Reef, and pad­dling with the Hawai­ian Sail­ing Canoes. Next stop: horse­back rid­ing in Ger­many and Norway.

Prize: Visit What a Trip on Decem­ber 9, 2009 and enter to win one of two Otter­box cell phone cases and a Briggs and Riley Base­line 20-inch carry-on expand­able wide-body upright suitcase.

Linda Coff­man
CruiseDiva.com
Linda Coff­man is an award-winning free­lance travel writer who has been dish­ing out cruise travel infor­ma­tion and advice in print and on the Inter­net for more than a dozen years. An avid cruise pas­sen­ger who enjoys sail­ing on ships of every size to any port world­wide, Linda spends most of her time cruis­ing the Caribbean and writ­ing for Fodor’s Travel Pub­li­ca­tions. She is the author of Fodor’s The Com­plete Guide to Caribbean Cruises, The Com­plete Guide to Euro­pean Cruises, and con­tributes to six other Fodor’s guide­books. In addi­tion, Linda cre­ated CruiseDiva.com in Feb­ru­ary 2001 to pro­vide unbi­ased and prac­ti­cal cruis­ing infor­ma­tion to the thou­sands of Inter­net users who research their travel choices online. CruiseDiva.com was named a “Best of the Web” Leisure Travel web site by USA Today. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says, “The Cruise Diva’s site has good infor­ma­tion, lots of prac­ti­cal tips and lots of atti­tude.” When not at sea, Linda makes her home in Georgia.

Prize: Visit CruiseDiva.com on Decem­ber 11 and win a copy of Fodor’s The Com­plete Guide to Caribbean Cruises and a World Ground­ing Adap­tor Set from Magellan’s Travel Supplies.

John DiS­cala
JohnnyJet.com
John E. DiS­cala (a.k.a. Johnny Jet) trav­els around 150,000 miles and vis­its over 20 coun­tries each year. He and his web­site JohnnyJet.com have been fea­tured over 1,800 times in major pub­li­ca­tions, includ­ing USA Today, Time, For­tune, and The New York Times, and he has appeared on ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, FOX News Chan­nel, and PBS.  JohnnyJet.com has been named “one of the top best money-saving web sites for travel” by Bud­get Travel Mag­a­zine, while  the L.A. Times calls it “one of the top 10 essen­tial travel resources on the inter­net.” Out­side Mag­a­zine touted Johnny for hav­ing one of the world’s best “dream jobs”. Every week, Johnny hosts a “travel web­site of the week” for sev­eral radio sta­tions around the coun­try, he writes weekly for Frommers.com and he has writ­ten for USA Today, The Boston Her­ald, LAX Mag­a­zine, and Coast Mag­a­zine.  Sign up today for Johnny Jet’s free weekly travel newslet­ter at JohnnyJet.com.

Prize: Visit JohnnyJet.com on Decem­ber 8, 2009 and win Alaska and Seat­tle Tour­saver books plus a $50 gift cer­tifi­cate from Magellan’s Travel Supplies.

Terri Fog­a­rty
EuropeUpClose.com
I fell in love with Europe on my first trip to Paris more than 20 years ago. Since then, my hus­band Bill and I have trav­eled all over Europe, tak­ing trips on the aver­age of twice a year. Dur­ing this time I have also run my own Europe-focused travel agency, plan­ning hun­dreds of trips to Europe for my clients, friends, and fam­ily. Europe has won me over because Euro­peans seem to under­stand what life is all about: fam­ily, friends, and food. They have a deep appre­ci­a­tion for his­tory and cul­ture and in my opin­ion have per­fected the art of liv­ing. At EuropeUpClose.com we have more than a dozen writ­ers who are experts on Euro­pean travel, and our arti­cles are designed to share our years of first-hand travel expe­ri­ence… what we learned and what we love. We know the ins and outs of suc­cess­ful travel; where to find the best deals, how to save money, and how to find those hid­den gems that many guide­books often seem to miss. EuropeUpClose.com is an evolv­ing and con­stantly updated travel guide, offer­ing daily tips and travel sug­ges­tions. So, if you just want to dream of Europe, or plan your Euro­pean vaca­tion with con­fi­dence that you are “in the know”, EuropeUpClose.com is your insider guide.

Prize: Visit EuropeUpClose.com on Decem­ber 14, 2009 and enter to win a Fuji­film FinePix J28 10MP dig­i­tal cam­era with 3x opti­cal zoom.

Andrew Hickey
TheBrooklynNomad.com
Andrew Hickey is the “Brook­lyn Nomad” and he is always on the look­out for a great deal to…well any­where. In addi­tion to his blog­ging duties, Andrew is the social media man­ager for CheapOair.com’s all-new travel blog and con­trib­u­tor to Oys­ter Hotel Reviews “Locals” blog. Check him out at TheBrooklynNomad.com.

Prize: Visit TheBrooklynNomad.com on Decem­ber 5, 2009 and enter to win Imag­ine: A Vagabond Story by Grant Lin­gel, plus a $50 gift cer­tifi­cate from Magellan’s Travel Supplies.

Donna L. Hull
MyItchyTravelFeet.com
Donna L. Hull is so obsessed with travel that it makes her feet itchy when she’s not out explor­ing the world. At her blog, My Itchy Travel Feet, The Baby Boomer’s Guide to Travel, she writes about active travel for baby boomers, cov­er­ing domes­tic and inter­na­tional des­ti­na­tions. Using her per­sonal expe­ri­ences and ref­er­ences as a travel writer, she advises boomers on where to go, what to do, where to stay, and how to pre­pare for an active trip. Donna recently com­pleted an 8-part series based on a 52-day Pacific cruise for LuxuryCruiseBible.com. The Tucson-based free­lance writer and pho­tog­ra­pher also writes for Uptake.com, iExplore.com, and is an “Out­sider” at AdventureUs.com. Some of her print pub­li­ca­tion cred­its include AZ3Sixty Mag­a­zine, Oro Valley/Marana Mag­a­zine, Lovin Life After 50, Fifty Plus and Her Sports Magazine.

Prize: Visit MyItchyTravelFeet.com on Decem­ber 13, 2009 and enter to win the “Library Edi­tion” of the most recent sea­son of “Rudy Maxa’s World”, includ­ing six DVDs con­tain­ing 13 shows on des­ti­na­tions in India, Turkey, Japan, Thai­land, St. Peters­burg, Esto­nia, and Argentina.

Kristi Mar­celle and Amie O’Shaughnessy
CiaoBambino.com
Ciao Bam­bino is a fam­ily travel resource. Writ­ten by and for par­ents, we pub­lish des­ti­na­tion travel tips, advice, and com­pre­hen­sive reviews of the best accom­mo­da­tions for fam­i­lies with kids of all ages.

Prize: Visit CiaoBambino.com on Decem­ber 7, 2009 and enter to win a one-night stay at the Westin Verasa in Napa, Cal­i­for­nia, plus gourmet lunch for two on the Napa Val­ley Wine Train.

Kathy McCabe
DreamofItaly.com
Kathy McCabe is the founder, edi­tor and pub­lisher of the award-winning sub­scrip­tion travel newslet­ter Dream of Italy. The seven-year old newslet­ter has been lauded by USA Today, National Geo­graphic Trav­eler, and oth­ers for its insider travel advice that can’t be found else­where. Ear­lier this year, McCabe was named a top travel “tweeter” on Twit­ter by sev­eral pub­li­ca­tions includ­ing The Tele­graph (U.K.)

Prize: Visit DreamofItaly.com on Decem­ber 3, 2009 and enter to win a one-year online sub­scrip­tion to Dream of Italy plus a bonus DVD.

Shan­non McKenna Schmidt and Joni Ren­don
NovelDestinations.com
Joni Ren­don and Shan­non McKenna Schmidt are the co-authors of Novel Des­ti­na­tions: Lit­er­ary Land­marks from Jane Austen’s Bath to Ernest Hemingway’s Key West (National Geo­graphic Books). They blog about lit­er­ary travel at www.noveldestinations.com. Joni’s work has appeared in National Geo­graphic Trav­eler, Travel + Leisure, Con­ti­nen­tal, and other pub­li­ca­tions. She cur­rently resides in Lon­don, Eng­land and works at the Charles Dick­ens Museum. Shannon’s writ­ing has appeared in National Geo­graphic Trav­eler, The Miami Her­ald, and other pub­li­ca­tions. In April 2010, she will be leav­ing Hobo­ken, NJ, to set out in an RV and travel the U.S. and Canada for sev­eral years.

Prize: Visit NovelDestinations.com on Decem­ber 4 and enter to win a Lit­er­ary Travel Prize pack includ­ing a tote bag, books, note cards, tea, book­marks, and a keychain.

Andrea M. Rotondo
LuxuryCruiseBible.com
Ship ahoy! LuxuryCruiseBible.com is devoted to help­ing trav­el­ers plan unique jour­neys aboard lux­ury cruise ships, river boats, and yachts through­out the world. Sail the Mal­dives on a cata­ma­ran, explore Burma’s Irrawaddy River on a sleek purpose-built ves­sel, or cruise the South Pacific on an inti­mate yacht. Every voy­age is an adventure!

Car­a­van Kick­off Prize: Visit the Lux­ury Cruise Bible blog on Decem­ber 1, 2009 and enter to win a Lingo 16-Language Trans­la­tor cour­tesy of Magellan’s Travel Supplies.

Prize: Visit the Lux­ury Cruise Bible blog on Decem­ber 2, 2009 and enter to win a $100 Mar­riott gift card.

&

LuxurySafariExperts.com
Mys­te­ri­ous, beau­ti­ful, majes­tic, frag­ile… the con­ti­nent of Africa beck­ons! From the tombs of ancient kings and queen in Egypt to sil­ver­back goril­las in the moun­tains of Uganda to the Kala­hari Desert blan­ket­ing much of Botswana, Africa offers a range of once-in-a-lifetime expe­ri­ences. LuxurySafariExperts.com dis­tills the options for vis­i­tors inter­ested in see­ing the sites and wildlife of Africa with­out sac­ri­fic­ing exquis­ite accom­mo­da­tions and excel­lent service.

Prize: Visit LuxurySafariExperts.com on Decem­ber 15, 2009 and enter to win noise-cancelling head­phones cour­tesy of Magellan’s Travel Supplies.

Learn more about the 2009 Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van & Give­away.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

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Don’t miss the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van & Giveaway!

Visit the Lux­ury Cruise Bible blog each day between Decem­ber 1 and 15. Link to the Caravan’s “blog of the day”, post a com­ment on that web­site, and you’ll be entered to win. Prizes range from hotel gift cards and overnight stays to dig­i­tal cam­eras and noise-cancelling head­phones to cam­era bags and lug­gage to guide­books and DVDs.

Today’s stop on the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van is: LuxuryCruiseBible.com. Visit the blog and com­ment on today’s post for a chance to win a $100 Mar­riott gift card.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com