Today’s post is a quick trip planning update and travel tip. After accumulating 280,000 Delta Airlines Frequent Flyer Miles, I’ve cashed them all in for 2 round-trip tickets from Orlando to Sydney in just over 200 days! Now that the dates have been selected comes the monumental task of planning the itinerary.

Sure there are lots of online trip planning websites, but sometimes a book is the preferred medium. Books tend to be more comprehensive, can be written on, are compact and can be taken anywhere. My #1 brand is Lonely Planet, followed by Frommer’s.  The downside to travel books – they can be quite expensive – for a book.

Enter your public library.

Back in high school and college the library was a common place to study and retrieve information. But with the growth of the internet and the disappearance of 20-page term papers, people’s needs to visit the library dwindle. Each time I tell people I get books at the library they look at me like I have 10 heads.

Why I Love the Library

The Orange County Library is magic. Here’s why I love going there.

1. They mail books to my house. – Yes I can be lazy and don’t even have to make a trip to the brick and mortar building. I just have to put pants on and open my front door – and sometimes I don’t even do that!
2. I can preview books before I purchase them. - Try before you buy. Why buy a $30 city guide when I can check it out, review it and decide them if I want to purchase the real thing.
3. Great Selection - Even if some of the books are out of date, I can get a good sense for what attractions and itineraries are out there. But surprisingly, the Orange County Public Library System has current titles.
4. It’s Free! - Yes, that’s the purpose of the library, to have free books. But when you consider that most people pay for what you’re getting for nothing, you can’t stop but wonder why people pay for you got for nothing. Make sense? It’s one of the many ways I save money in order to travel.

So…do you have a Library Card? When was the last time you used it?

Today’s Lesson: Your local public library is an excellent source of free travel information! Get yourself a library card and start planning your next adventure!

I’ll see you out there…! In section 910.

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On a long car ride from Orlando to Miami, we got the idea to try pronouncing some funny Thai phrases we read in our phrasebook. Meant purely as a comedy piece, it became quite popular.

Enjoy.

If you liked today’s post, there’s lots more on Facebook. Become a fan of adventureswithben.com here.

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Hey Explorers,

As promised from yesterday’s post we are ready to debut our adventures in learning to speak Thai. But before we show you the video, we should share a few caveats.

To date, our world travels together have taken us to Europe and Africa. Our studies in school helped prepare us for speaking in France and South Africans speak English. We’ve been lucky so far. We are confident that we’ll be able to communicate just fine in Thailand, but whenever you travel, where ever you go, it’s polite and respectful to learn a few words in the local tongue.

Therefore, we purchased a Thai Phrasebook not too long ago and found the opportunity to practice on our road trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. As we discovered (and as you will soon too), this book of ours has some pretty bizarre expressions translated. Many of the phrases in the book we would probably never need to know. We thought they were funny enough that we had to capture them on video and share them with you.

Our pronounciation is horrible. Please forgive us. We have never heard Thai spoken before. We don’t know what the accents sound like. We can’t read your letters. We don’t know how to interpret the changes in the tone of our voice. The book was on sale. It looked cute, with it being small enough to fit in a shirt pocket. We will learn, but we need your patience. You’ll see what we mean in this YouTube Video.

What can we say at this point? It was our first attempt at speaking Thai. We have one more week to learn. If we haven’t mastered it by then, we’ll follow the best advice offered in this little book of ours…point to the phrase and show it to the person we’re speaking to AND laugh at your mistakes.

We hope you enjoyed laughing along with us. When we touchdown in Pattaya feel free to teach us a few of your favorite expressions. You can also share them here by adding a comment to this blog post.

Before you go, there is only one more day left to choose which optional activities we should see in Pattaya. Participate in the poll by clicking here.

You can also play our guessing game. What will our itinerary in Pattaya be? Watch our YouTube video here to find out.

We’ll see you out there! (dee-o pop gan mai)

In late January I wrote a post sharing my goals for 2010 for adventureswithben.com. Progress takes time, especially when you’re working a full-time job, but I’m quite pleased with where I’m at to date. One of my goals has been completed (and in the process of being refined), and another is slowly emerging. Let’s start with the latter – networking with other bloggers.

It’s a big travel world out there and ya can’t go at it alone. I’ve spent the last week trying to gain exposure by partnering and learning from other travel bloggers. Had a quick, but positive conversation with Jeff Noel from midlifecelebration.com about putting our blogging brains together to build our sites. And earlier today, you saw some reciprocal support on twitter with Alan Rider from eXtraordinary eXperiences. But a big surprise came later…

Today, adventureswithben.com was listed on TravelBlogSites.com. TravelBlogSites.com is a great resource for us independent, travel-minded folk. There are a lot of travel sites on the web. If you google “travel sites”, all the big corporate names come up, Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc. Us little guys have to fight for visibility. That’s where TravelBlogSites.com comes to the rescue.

Each day they profile an adventurous spirit on their site; Exposing readers to adventurers they wouldn’t have discovered on their own. In addition to meeting a new travel blogger each day, every week they rank the top 100 travel sites out there. I’m not on that list yet, but perhaps next year! Louise, whom I connected with from the site, also provided me with a website badge you’ll proudly see on the top-left corner of the site! It’s a pretty smart model. She helps me out, I help her out. And that’s what the world of social media is all about!

I’d like to thank TravelBlogSites.com for supporting adventureswithben.com. Web traffic to the site has already increased by a few hits!

As for another one of my goals, to create a facebook fan page, it can get crossed off my list! A few weeks back I created the site on facebook. I’m slowly trying to understand how to best use that network in conjunction with the content I have here. If you have any ideas, I’d love to know. Add your comment to this post with what you’d like to see. For now, I’ll continue to experiment. I currently have 22 fans and hoping to reach 50 by the end of the month. So click here to join and “suggest to your friends” too!

Travel season is gearing up. Are you ready? I already have a suitcase packed!

Have a great weekend.

I’ll see you out there!

What is an adventure list you may be asking? It’s a compilation of all the places I want to go, and where I’ve been. I’ve found that if you write things down, you can check back on a regular basis and assess your progress. You can plan where you want to go next, and more importantly, save for that trip-of-a-lifetime. It’s a motivator.

You’ll notice as you read that I don’t want to just see something, but actually do something while I’m visiting the chosen destination. That makes adventures so much more fun! This is a living list. As more experiences are thought of, they’ll be added. Check back to see how I’m doing by clicking the link at the top of the page.

North America

• Catch some beads at Mardi Gras New Orleans – Louisiana
• Witness the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) – Canada
• Stand atop a glacier – Alaska
• Celebrate Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney – Pennsylvania
• Surf the Pacific – Hawaii
• Hike a volcano – Costa Rica
• Camp at Yellowstone National Park – Wyoming
• Hike the Grand Canyon – Arizona

South America

• Trek the mountains of Machu Picchu – Peru
• Stand aside the monoliths of Easter Island – Chile

Europe

• Tour the ruins of Athens – Greece
• Relax on the French Riviera – France
• Become a Gladiator at the coliseum in Rome – Italy
• View the picturesque landscapes of Santorini – Greece
• Cruise through the canals of Venice – Italy
• Search for the Loch Ness Monster – Scotland
• Figure out the mystery of Stonehenge – Scotland

Africa

• Dive with Great White Sharks in Cape Town – South Africa
• Marvel at Victoria Falls – Zimbabwe/Zambia
• Go on Safari in Kenya
• Enter the sacred tombs of Pharaohs – Egypt

Asia

• Eat sushi in Tokyo – Japan
• Walk the Great Wall of China – China
• Have a Thai Massage in Thailand – Thailand [12/09]
• Take a photo of me “pinching” the Taj Mahal – India
• Step foot into the Burj-Al-Arab Hotel – Dubai

Australia

• Scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef – Australia
• Off-Road at Ayers Rock – Australia
• Sleep in one of those huts over the water – Fiji

Antarctica

• Just get there!

Florida

• Visit “Old Florida” attractions like Gatorland
• Spend the afternoon at the Orlando Science Museum
• Tour historic planes at Fantasy of Flight
• Swim with Mermaids at Weeki Wachee Springs
• Pretend it’s the 1950′s and watch a movie at the Lakeland Drive In
• Collect seashells on the coast of Sanibel Island
• Stay in a hotel along Ocean Drive in Miami
• Kick back and relax in Key West
• Encounter untamed gators at the Florida Everglades
• Enjoy the tastiest fruit ever at the Plant City Strawberry Festival
• Watch an air show at the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In
• Stay up late for the midnight movie Rocky Horror Picture Show at Universal Orlando
• Float down Rainbow Springs in an inner tube

Miscellaneous*

*not necessarily tied to a specific location, but an adventure nonetheless

• Do a Polar Bear Swim
• Skydive from an airplane
• Run a marathon
• Wear a speedo on the beach. Yep, you’ve read that right!
• Bungee Jump
• Ride in a helicopter
• Write a book
• Spend a day with a celebrity

What I’ve Done

In addition to all the adventures I’d like to do, there are plenty of adventures I’ve had that I never thought I would. Here’s the list:

• Rode through every single subway stop on the Boston “T” in a single day
• Flew an aircraft before I drove a car
• Starred as an extra in a Major Motion Picture
• Descended over a mile underground in a South African Gold Mine
• Won an all-expenses paid trip
• Backpacked through Europe

So, what do you think of my list? Did I miss something? What’s on your list? Leave your comment below.

You may recall my post a week and a half ago where I introduced the tugo. Well, I’ve tested it out on the road for 3 one-way trips and will share my adventures with my new cup holder. You should know that the fine folks at tugo aren’t paying me to write this post…but they did generously give me two tugo cup holders. One was my tester, the second is for one of you lucky readers (see the tugo contest link at the top of this page).

When I met with Megan from tugo in Oregon she shared me the story of the beginnings of this innovative way to carry your drinks on the road. Her mom Karen, was sitting at an airport one day and noticed how very dirty it was. She had no place to put her drink until she looked up at the space in between her suitcase handles and thought that would be the perfect spot.

Don’t you wish you could have a moment like that, when you come up with a great idea with the simplest of solutions? From that dirty airport the rest is now history.

The tugo is made out of a flexible material (I think rubber, but I’m not sure). It is made without phthalates. What’s that you may be wondering (and probably some of you are still trying to say it)? Well phthalates (pronounced THAL-ates) are chemicals that cause all sorts of health problems. Not a good thing to have next to your drinking cup. So the tugo is made without them. That’s the good news. It’s also made in the U.S.A (shout out to my U.S. American readers) and the package it comes in is recyclable paperboard.

The tugo fits nicely in my front suitcase pouch. It’s flexible so no worries about it being crushed. I keep my toiletries bag in the same pouch so taking my tugo out after security is easy breezy since I’m already in there putting away my hijacked hotel amenities.

Connecting the tugo is simple too. Megan from tugo demonstrated it nicely in Oregon.

With my tugo attached, I waited in line to purchase my first beverage.

I hate coffee. I really do. I’ve tried it twice, and both times I couldn’t finish the cup. I don’t know if it’s an acquired taste thing, or my usual finickiness with foods, but coffee is gross. Plus it gives you bad breath. But the good news is, lots of drinks come in cups. I enjoy a nice cup of hot chocolate before my plane trips. Or sometimes I have tea. Come Christmas it’s Apple Cider time. On this particular travel day, my hot chocolate arrived and it was quickly nestled into it’s new home, my tugo cup holder.

Once you start rolling your bag the tugo rotates and keeps your drink upright like magic.

As Megan instructed, I was careful to point the cup opening away from the suitcase. I forgot to take a drink from the cup first though. There was some spillage. In subsequent uses I took a sip first.

The tugo retails for $9.95 and is available online here. But why buy one, when you could win one here at adventureswithben.com. It would make a great stocking stuffer for the traveler in your life. The tugo is designed for cups. I was able to successfully put a water bottle in it, but it was a large water bottle. Smaller designs may slip through the hole. And the bottle I used actually fit in there just a bit tighter than it should. Nonetheless, you can view it here to see for yourself.

You may also want to measure your suitcase handle width before investing in the tugo. The space between my suitcase handles (i.e. the place where the tugo rests) is exactly 4 inches (about 10 cm). It’s probably the smallest space that the tugo can fit in. The cup holder needs a little breathing room in order to swing when the suitcase tips. I can make it work with mine, but any smaller space and you may encounter some difficulty.

The tugo is handy navigating through busy airports, frees up yours second hand to carry a bag or purse and looks spiffy. You’ll be the coolest jet setter in the terminal. When there is no table near your chair to rest your drink on, your tugo has the situation covered. I suppose you could even bring it with you into the bathroom, but seriously, why are you taking your coffee cup into the bathroom? Do I need to tell you about germs and communicable diseases?

For the frequent traveling drinker, the tugo is a handy accessory you’ll enjoy using.

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Remember to enter the the adventureswithben.com Tugo contest by visiting here.

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Don’t forget, Ben and Brian are applicants in the Ultimate Thailand Explorer Contest. Please follow us on twitter@benandbrianthaiand share our Ultimate Thailand Explorer Application Video to Puttaya, Thailand with your friends and family.