tripwolf proudly welcomes its new partnership with American Passport Express, one of the biggest online travel document specialists in the US for passport or visas. Last Wednesday, we talked travel with Bonnie McLoud, the General Manager of Portsmouth, NH based American Passport Express, about who they are, and how tripwolf users will benefit from our latest partnership!

“Here at American Passport, we are subject matter experts. We’ve been assisting travelers for over 13 years now. Passport and visa regulations are constantly changing, so we have to be on top of it,” says McLoud. Whether you need a six month visa for Madagascar, or a passport card that will get you over the Canadian border for a weekend vacation, American Passport can help you - and in as fast as 24 hours.

American Passport is a part of the CIBT group, a world leading travel document specialist and expediting Service Company which mainly works with corporate clients with high volume document needs. American Passport has the luxury of being more personal, working with the individual traveler, as well as smaller groups such as church organizations or schools.

“There are different levels of service, from as fast as 24 hours up to the normal rate of about 2 weeks,” says Bonnie, referring to the processing time in which American Passport guarantees to deliver the ready documents once the paperwork is through their doors, “though of course we can’t control the rare State Department delays.”

“I’ve come to realize that I’m not just affecting one person with my service.” For example, if the leader of a church group does not have his or her passport in order, the whole group may not be able to go on their planned trip.

Bonnie understands how urgent every request may be. One of the most touching cases Bonnie completed was that of a woman trying to renew her passport before a trip with her kids. The woman ‘was very calm, but urgently needed to get her passport renewed before she went on a trip with her kids. We spoke many times over the phone in order to get everything right and she opted for the 24 hour service.

This woman did receive her passport in time – the morning of her planned departure.” She thanked Bonnie very kindly, and told her “she had a terminal illness and this was the last trip she would go on with her kids. These stories are why we really treat everyone with the same importance! You never know their situation.”

One of the most relevant issues currently facing American Passport is the preparation for the 2009 Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. As of June 2009, all land border crossings will require a passport. For those American citizens crossing into Canada or Mexico daily for work or school, this is highly relevant. “It’s so many more people than you would think!” explained Bonnie, “For faster service we will provide many of these people with the so called ‘passport card,’ which is a bit easier to acquire, and is only good for land border crossing,” as opposed to flying, for which travelers will need an official passport.

tripwolf asked Bonnie if American Passport has been noticeably affected by the economic situation, as many travel and tourism oriented companies are seeing some rough times. “I can’t say we are suffering,” even if travelers spend less money on upscale hotels or vacation packages, “they will not want to miss their vacation, since it only comes once a year for most of us, and up-to-date travel documents are a pre-requisite before leaving on that well-deserved trip.”

Bonnie is an avid traveler herself, as well as a tripwolf user! “I just got back from a two week vacation on the West Coast of Ireland. We rented a home on the Burren overlooking the Aaron Islands.. I want to live there now! I also brought with me a Global Phone, another service offered by our mother company, CIBT and it truly saved me when we lost our video camera.”

“We are very excited about the partnership with tripwolf since we address the same target group: people who are interested in travel and exploring territories beyond their country’s borders – that makes tripwolf the perfect partner!”

American Passport provides tripwolf users with up-to-date passport regulations and visa entry requirement information in the “travel info” section of more than 200 country guides worldwide as well as direct access to their highly skilled customer service agents providing a safe and reliable source to process their paperwork easily and quickly.

-Adena/tripwolf

A new breed of traveler has emerged, they are tech savvy with an passion for travel.  The Facebook generation has spawned the ‘Next Generation Traveler.’

tripwolf is geared towards this type traveler, who is peer-to-peer orientated and who enjoy sharing their travel experiences online among their friends.  The Next Generation traveler is ditching bulky travel guidebooks in favor of personalized travel guides, which is one of the many cool features offered on tripwolf - ‘create your own printable travel guide’

PhoCusWright recently produced a report on the unique attributes of the NextGen Traveler.

- The NextGen Traveler relies heavily on the internet when is comes to planning, purchasing and sharing information on travel experiences.

- 41% have taken a virtual tour of a destination

- 38% have built a trip itinerary online

- 4/10 report being influenced by personal comments read on social networking or travel advisory websites

- 1/3 have authored and posted a travel review online.

All of these attributes are featured on tripwolf, the one-stop shop for the Next Generation Traveler.

Jennifly/tripwolf

La Tomatina in Buñol, Spain, is the most famous food fight in history. On the last Wednesday in August, tens of thousands of participants come from all over the world to battle in which they’re only provided one weapon – rotten tomatoes! Though the tomato fight only falls on one day, the festivities last for an entire week.

Buñol lies near the city of Valencia, Spain, which lies on the Eastern Mediterranean Coast. Buñol itself is a quaint town of only 9,000 residents, but during this week in August, tourists flock from the coast (and the rest of the world!), tripling the population and filling the streets with dancing, fireworks and music.

No one knows the exact origin of the fight; everyone has his or her own story. Some say it originated from a friendly food fight, or when irritated townspeople attacked a parade or politician. Either way, Buñol has stayed true to tradition for over 50 years. Be sure to waterproof your camera, and bring plenty of towels – tomatoes are provided. Worth a trip down the coast from Barcelona, because you’ve never seen anything like this!

Adena/tripwolf

Hi everybody,

I wanted to let you know about one of our new partners - presentify. It’s not really a content partner, however, we have been using their service several times in order to organize our parties, barbecues and other things we had or have to celebrate here at tripwolf.com.

Presentify lets you create your very own party site, manage your invites and send out e-mails and notifications to people you invited to your event. Compared to similar services surch as evite.com or amiando.com presentify’s interface and clear and easy to manage. The site is unfortunaltey only available in german right now (or is it ip-logged?) but I think the guys are doing a great job in improving planning your parties. So go check it out.

lukas / tripwolf team vienna

Despite many serious protestations against China’s hosting the 2008 Olympic games, they will go on as planned in Beijing. The Olympic games always force an evaluation of our world’s current situation on many levels - this year can only be considered a perfect example. The Olympics are a true test for the ego. Each athlete must balance nationalism with humility and respect for every nationality – all simply on the human level. Here is where some say China has failed.

China’s human rights record is at the base of the pre-game conflicts. Activists around the world have held protests, as well as made attempts to sabotage the running of the torch – in fact the torch was put out in Paris, France – due to China’s abuse of Tibetan monks and other citizens. China’s history is tainted by its government’s lack of acknowledgment of Tibet as an autonomous region and it’s aggressive disrespect of other religious or ethnic minorities.

There is a real fear of protests during these games by Tibetans and their supporters, so China has had to take a lot of precautions; even regulating who is allowed to work at the games. It seems China is in the ultimate “catch 22” situation; no matter how hard they try to create a safe and respectful atmosphere, they have to make someone unhappy.

Beijing has undergone some extreme changes in the past two years to prepare itself for the influx of tourists and athletes. The largest project has probably been the attempts to reduce pollution in the city of 8.5 million inhabitants. In the last decade, China has caught up with the biggest polluter in the world – the United States. Though while doing so, China has also improved the welfare and livelihood of its people.

If this is not your first time in Beijing, expect a new city! Beijing subway system has more than doubled in size and efficiency. One of the most incredible architectural challenges has been the construction of “the bird’s nest,” or the Beijing National Stadium. This building will hold over 90,000 people – in fact, the opening ceremony contains 15,000 performers – the largest in history. Construction of this building began over five years ago, and it’s doors opened for the first time in July!

These games will be memorable for a lot more than just the controversy surrounding them. This year over ten thousand, five hundred athletes are expected to compete in the 302 events. 28 sports are represented this year, one more than in any previous Olympic games. The newest sport to become a part of the Olympic games is the extreme sport of BMX bike racing.

Being the Olympic host means a lot to the Chinese people. It is the first time China has been able to prove its standing as an equal player on the world stage. In 2001, when China won the nomination, Li Lanqing, the vice premier of China, declared “The winning of the 2008 Olympic bid is an example of the international recognition of China’s social stability, economic progress and the healthy life of the Chinese people.”

China is a country of over 1 billion people – if you spent a lifetime trying to meet all of the different people, experience their culture, history and cuisine, I doubt you could fit it all in. The famed Forbidden City still lies in the heart of Beijing, and The Great Wall is only a small trek away. Numerous UNESCO Heritage Sites can be seen in this city, including Tao temples, historical gardens and mosques. Only a place with as much to give as China does could have just as much to lose

Adena/tripwolf

After only launching to the public  just over a month ago, tripwolf is a hit with internet travel enthusiasts.  More than 10,000 users have registered since the launch, and are now active members of the community.

The website’s content is also growing rapidly: more than 180,000 pictures and 30,000 travel videos are getting people hungry for travel.

jennifly/tripwolf

tripwolf and the lomography photo community are starting a travel photo competition! Between August 4 – 31, upload your best travel pictures to win one of 10 great lomography cameras!

What is lomography? The term derives from a Russian photo camera creating edgy colors, and was re-discovered by Western students in the 1990s. But nowadays, it does not refer to a single camera nor is it a technical expression — it’s a photographic style. The motto is “don’t think, just shoot” – be creative and spontaneous, and see what happens.

Back to the competition: 4 categories are longing for your entries: “Best Travel Photo”, “Weirdest Travel Photo”, “Best Wolf Photo”, “Best Travel Buddy”. Read more about the competition.

Philipp / tripwolf