TGPodcast #63: Dubai World Tourism Conference in 15 Minutes

This is a Travel Geography Podcast related post (click on the title above to download the .mp3 file)

This is a soundseeing (sst) tour from the World Travel and Tourism Council Summit in Dubai (20-22 April 2008) that I attended. It includes three elements:

1. About 5 minutes from an Intro to Dubai city tour,
2. A short and interesting segment of a presentation from the conference, and
3. A segment of the Gala Dinner, which closes with my visit to a fortune teller (entertainment for the dinner guests).

The whole presentation is about 20 minutes due to my introduction section. The actual Dubai part is 14 minutes.

SOME PHOTOS:

The conference site was adjacent to the Burj Al Arab (literally, 'the Arab Tower') - the self-described 7-Star Hotel, with daily rates running US$1,200 to $12,000 a night.


The Dental Spa - near the area where the tour guide talks about houses owned by Emerati that are rented out to expatriate workers.


Fortune telling, henna, and Arabic calligraphy were some of the entertainment for guests at the conference's Gala Dinner.


More Dubai photos can be found on my Flickr site at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alew/sets

G4T #46: Jewel Cave Undergound Soundseeing Tour

This is a Geography for Travelers Podcast related post (click on the title above to download the .mp3 file)

Jewel Cave National Monument is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, not far from Mount Rushmore. It is currently considered the second largest cave in the world (after Mammoth Cave in Kentucky), but only a small portion of it has actually been mapped, so it may be the largest cave system in the world. (Click Here for more information.)

I did the 1.5 hour tour of Jewel Cave last July and recorded the whole thing. I have edited it down to about 11 minutes, which I hope will wet your appetite to visit the cave in person. My visit was not a true spelunking experience, which they do offer, but which I don't think I could personally do. Multi-day spelunking trips require that you crawl through 7 inch spaces and carry out all of your personal wastes!

Special thanks to the great Ranger guide who took us on our walk through Jewel Cave!

[OOPS! The original file I uploaded was saved at a rate of 24000Hz, instead of my usual 22050Hz. This probably caused problems for most listeners. sorry about that. I have uploaded a new file that is correct.]

Melbourne's Penguins -- and a whole lot more

(click on the title above to download the .mp3 file)

In this week's Geography for Travelers podcast I talk about my recent visit to Melbourne, Australia. We did a lot during our three full days there, but the highlight for me was the penguin Parade on Phillip Island, south of Melbourne. There are a few soundseeing audio clips sprinkled in the podcast that I hope you will find of interest. You can find photos and a travel diary of my Melbourne visit at both VCarious.com and MyLifeOfTravel.com.

Click here to go to Martin Fluker's Travel Show Podcast (from Melbourne)

This is a long one -- 41min, 40 sec. -- mostly due to the soundseeing clips

And what they say about doing soundseeing tours is right -- it sure takes a long time to edit those!!!