Potluck #50: Global Nation

Just last week we received the passport for the last remaining person in our family, my youngest daughter, who recently turned 16, in the mail. So now we all have a valid passport. I have several dream vacations and could never narrow it down to one but included are a return trip to Germany but this time during Oktoberfest, a trip to Russia, and the Alaskan cruise.


Tripbase
Here I tried the "Tell us what you like. We'll tell you where to travel." tool and my top 5 returns were Yosemite National Park, California, , Galapagos Islands National Park, The Pantanal, Brazil , Yellowstone National Park, and Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica . When I restricted it to everywhere except North and South America, my top 5 returns were Morne Trois Pitons National Park, Cocos Island National Park, Costa Rica , Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica , Killarney National Park, Ireland , and Kvarken Archipelago, Finland . And finally when I did the same search but restricted it to Europe, my top 5 returns were Kvarken Archipelago, Finland , Killarney National Park, Ireland , Pyrenees National Park, France , London, United Kingdom , and Paris, France . Based on what I typed in as my likes and the results I was returned I am somewhat surprised that it chose the destinations that it did. Personally I can think of other destinations that would better fit my likes, so I wonder what influences the ranking of particular pages in results returned (i.e. Google Bomb? advertisers? etc.) Who wrote the site's search-rank algorithm? Anyway I guess I wouldn't take a website suggestion when it comes to taking a trip when I am spending hard earned money and using precious time off. As far as the social aspect, (with this site and any other social site on the internet) I have trouble getting together with my "real" friends let alone making time for "online" friends.


IgoUgo
"another social travel site" - that says alot and I am not into the social thing much but I guess I might once my decision had been made about where to go read up on what to do there, where to eat, etc... from people who have been there, although I much prefer reading about what people who live there have to say or "professionals" like Rick Steve's has to say.


Simpatigo
"At Simpatigo we don't tell you where to go - we just tell you how to get there and what you'll see along the way." Liked their philosophy right away. I keyed in the trip we will be making for Christmas and only got two results; one nashville which was a stop at the sometimes corny, sometimes brilliant, but always endearing grand ole opry (615-871-6779) duh... and the other in Baton Rouge, LA for a peaceful self-guided tour of the Louisiana State Capitol (225-342-7317), where one will find a monument to the vision and power of the Kingfish. In September 1935, Long, a United States senator at the time, was killed by a single bullet from an assassin's gun in a marble-lined back hallway. There is a small exhibit on the shooting and perhaps a lasting structural reminder a mark on a marble column said to have been left by a bullet from a bodyguard's gun. Long's grave is on the Capitol grounds, topped with his likeness in bronze bigger than life and gazing into the future.'' We don't even drive through LA. So then I tried a tour of several cities under explore a neighborhood but didn't find anything so I guess of the 5142 points of interest none of them are in Greensburg, Bloomington, or Marshall. So maybe when the points of interest grow to more like 500,000 it will be more interesting.

Ebookers

I don't like downloads because I don't like to "junk" up my computer. It also looks like this is for someone whose schedule is alittle more flexible than my family's, who has to work around school schedules for two kids and work schedules for two adults. I am sure there are some fantastic deals available but they are probably for dates and times when travel is low, i.e. when everyone needs to be in school. So not that helpful to me. We travel so little that and my time is so limited this website isn't for me.

So I checked out the sites but wouldn't use any of them to plan my dream vacation. And honestly seeing as how my dream vacation is years away I can't justify spending the time to plan a vacation I won't be taking for years.

Potluck #49: L'amore di lingue - Love of Languages

It's kind of funny how the topics of iHCPL seem to coincede with the activities of my household very nicely. October 26th was my oldest daughter's 18th birthday and one of the presents she asked for and received from her grandmother was Rosetta Stone's Language Program for Learning German. Although she's in her 5th year of German in high school, she feels that due to the way the class is structured this year (they have German 3, 4 & 5 all in one class) she feels she isn't learning anything new this year. Although that decision has already been made it is interesting to check out these online language programs too. I personally would love to learn Latin, German and Russian.


Livemocha
I agree with the Livemocha philosophy - "We believe that books and self-study programs are important, but to become truly proficient and conversational you need to work with actual native speakers." Nice format here but the emails telling me that I am "falling behind" are over the top.

Mango Languages
Most of everything I investigated on this site it seemed I would have to purchase, however it might be a good place to start and figure out if you want to seriously pursue a language. If you are just wanting to get some basics it will suit those needs but I'd recommend something else for more in depth study.

Wikibooks
I am not sure this would be helpful until one has achieved some proficiency in the language they are attempting to learn. I certainly don't know enough about the languages I am interested in learning to make Wikibooks in German or Russian work for me at this point.


After my investigations I would use Livemocha as my primary language instruction tool but would supplement this with Wikibooks.