My husband and I are teaching a blogging and social-media class this semester. It’s been great fun to dig into the mystery surrounding the Internet and Google search results and keyword research. And guess what? The students and I even learned some HTML last night!
It’s been the most fun class I’ve ever taught, hands down, because it’s so practical — so REAL.
Anyway, the students’ big assignment for the semester is to write a travel blog post. We’re posting them all here, and then they get graded (YES, GRADED!) partly on how well their post does in Google search results and page views.
So if you’ve ever been a college student fighting for a good grade (or if you need some pretty darn good travel advice), check out the posts below. Leave comments. Share on Facebook. Tell your friends. And help a student.
Thanks for your help!
Ideas for frugal travel fun
- How to Have an Adventure on a Budget: 9 Ideas for Finding Things to Do Locally — Some fun ideas for frugal family fun, including visiting local state parks (and how to find them) and trying out geocaching.
- 6 Tips to Help You Save Money on Family Vacations — This blog post gives some great ideas for saving precious vacation dollars, including staying in a cabin or rental home instead of a hotel, so you can cook more meals.
- Rainy Day Activities for Kids: 16 Fun, Simple Boredom Busters — On vacation or at home, rainy days can really be the pits. Here are some great ideas for keeping kids happy inside, including an upside-down picnic, comic scavenger hunt, and make-your-own Mad-Libs. Intrigued? Read more!
- 5 FREE Travel Tools (Websites & Mobile Apps) That May Put Your Travel Agent Out of a Job! Find the pros and cons for several great apps and sites, including Tripit, which creates a travel itinerary out of hotel and dinner reservations!
Airplane traveling tips
- 8 Fun Things to do in an Airplane with Kids — From a career babysitter comes some great advice on keeping kids happy on an airplane. And a place to buy some great finger puppets.
- Flying Alone for the First Time — This post is packed with tips for a first-time solo fly-er, including what to pack (and not pack), how to plan your time, and how to be prepared for anything.
- Airport Security and How You Can Make it Your Friend — Lots of details about how to make sure you’ll fly right through airport security, including tips for savvy travel dressing.
- Airline Tickets Can Be Cheap: Here’s Where to Start Looking for Them! How do you find the best deals on airplane tickets? Here are 4 great places to start.
Tips for making the car ride fly
- Things to do on a Long Car Ride — This post is broken into three parts: road trip with friends, car ride with kids, and car ride by yourself. It also has a pretty great list of car conversation starters.
- The Perfect Road Trip Playlist — I do love a great playlist! Here’s how to make one that’s perfect for your trip, whether you are traveling with friends, your family, or with that special someone.
- Activities to do on a Long Car Ride — Long car rides can be bliss or a nightmare. Here are 7 ways to pass the time along the road.
- 10 Easy Car Games — Some of these are what you’d expect, but there are some things you won’t expect on here, too, like the game Sweet and Sour or the Story Game.
Photography help
- 12 Photography Idea, Tips, and Tricks from the Pros — Do you understand the rule of thirds? Do you know when to use a flash? Do pictures turn out on rainy days? Find out all this and more on this post.
- Preserving Your Travel Memories — How to make sure you take photos on your vacation, and also how to make sure your photos don’t just sit on your camera.
- 5 Creative Ideas to Make Your Vacation More Interesting — Not enjoying your getaway as much as expected? Here are five pretty good suggestions for spicing things up, including ideas for great conversation starters.
Other great travel advice
- Travel Safety Tips for Mountain Hiking — This post is broken into two parts — supplies needed for hiking in the mountains and general safety tips.
- 6 Steps to a Vacation Your Teenagers Won’t Hate — From a recent teenager, this is pretty sound advice, including “plan less” and “make sure your hotel offers Wi-Fi.”
- How to Avoid Being Scammed: International Bazaars — Ever worried about being scammed when shopping at bazaars internationally? Here are some common things that people will tell you and how to tell if they are true.
- How to Bake Permanent/Sharpie Marker on Ceramic Coffee Mugs — Here’s a craft that’s easy enough to do in a cabin in Tennessee or in a beach house in Florida, using Sharpie markers and ceramic coffee mugs.
The students are in a competition for the most page views! Will you help them?