#- may experience just as easily in a northern state or beyond

[florenceisfalling]

having internet friends is just listening to a bunch of people from the uk shitting on the fact that you live in texas until you seethe like a man betrayed

[shesey]

Wintering by Katherine May

“Wintering is a season in the cold. It is a fallow period in life when you’re cut off from the world, feeling rejected, sidelined, blocked from progress, or cast into the role of an outsider. Perhaps it results from an illness; perhaps from a life event such as a bereavement or the birth of a child; perhaps it comes from a humiliation or failure. Perhaps you’re in a period of transition, and have temporarily fallen between two worlds. Some winterings creep upon us more slowly, accompanying the protracted death of a relationship, the gradual ratcheting up of caring responsibilities as our parents age, the drip-drip-drip of lost confidence. Some are appallingly sudden, like discovering one day that your skills are considered obsolete, the company you worked for has gone bankrupt, or your partner is in love with someone new. However it arrives, wintering is usually involuntary, lonely, and deeply painful. Yet it is also inevitable. We like to imagine that it’s possible for life to be one eternal summer, and that we have uniquely failed to achieve that for ourselves.” “Plants and animals don’t fight the winter; they don’t pretend it’s not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives that they lived in the summer. They prepare. They adapt. They perform extraordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through. Winter is a time of withdrawing from the world, maximizing scant resources, carrying out acts of brutal efficiency and vanishing from sight; but that’s where the transformation occurs. Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but its crucible. Once we stop wishing it were summer, winter can be a glorious season when the world takes on a sparse beauty, and even the pavements sparkle. It’s a time for reflection and recuperation, for slow replenishment, for putting your house in order.” “That’s what humans do: we make and remake our stories, abandoning the ones that no longer fit and trying on new ones for size.” “In the changing room later, I experience a different kind of warmth: the nakedness of a dozen women, all unashamed. These aren’t the posing bodies you find on the beach, dieted beyond al joy to be bikini-ready, and tanned as an act of disguise. These are northern bodies, slack-bottomed and dimpling, with unruly pubic hair and the scars of hysterectomies, chattering companionably in a language I don’t understand. They are a glimpse of life yet to come: a message of survival, passed on through the generations. It’s a message I rarely find in my buttoned-up home country, and I think about the times I’ve suffered silent furies at the treacheries of my own body, imagining them to be unique.” “Ghost stories may be a part of the terror of Halloween, but our love of ghost stories betrays a far more fragile desire: that we do not fade so easily from this life.” “Winter has decorated ordinary life. Some days, everything sparkles.” “You realize that no one is what they look like, on the surface. Everybody has their dose of suffering; it’s just more hidden in some than in others.” “I think about this a lot, she says, the needle breaks the fabric in order to repair it. You can’t have one without the other.” “In the absence of sunlight, it would be too costly to maintain the machinery of growth.” “I’m fairly certain that my decision not to have a second child rests squarely on my worship of sleep.” “I have nothing to show for my forty-odd years on this earth, except for a pile of dusty books.” “4am. The ego flares like a struck match: bright, blue, fleeting. I am thankful to be alone when this happens, to let it burn out in private. We should sometimes be grateful for the solitudes of night, of a winter. They save us from displaying our worse selves to the waking world.” “Certainty is a dead space in which there’s no more room to grow. Wavering is painful. I’m glad to be travelling between the two.” “Sometimes writing is a race against your own mind, as your hand labours to keep up with the flood tide of your thoughts, and I feel that most acutely at night, when there are no competing demands on my attention. That slightly sleepy, dazed state erods the barriers of my waking brain.” “I can confess all my sins to a piece of paper, with no one to censor it.” “Our personal winters are so often accompanies by insomnia, but perhaps we are still drawn towards that unique space of intimacy and contemplation, darkness, and silence, without really knowing what we’re seeking. Perhaps, after all, we are being urged towards our own comfort.” “Lucy is a symbol of absolute faith and utter purity, but the sins for which she suffers are not her own. Instead, she shoulders the weight of the male gaze, and is destroyed by it.” “Some winters creep up on us so slowly that they have infiltrated every part of our lives before we truly feel them.” “We felt broken into pieces, but at the same time, never so loved.” “We changed our focus away from pushing through with normal life, and towards making a new one. When everything is broken, everything is also up for grabs. That’s the gift of winter: it’s irresistible. Change will happen in its wake, whether we like it or not. We can come out of it wearing a different coat.” “I could have stood there and cried on the spot, just knowing that I wasn’t alone.” “I felt accepted in a way that I hand’t for months.” “This isn’t just an unkind attitude, it does us harm, because it stops us from learning that disaster happens, and how to adapt when it does. It stops us from reaching out to people who are suffering. And, when our own disaster comes, it forces us into a humiliated retreat, as we try to hunt down mistakes that we never made in the first place.” “I simply had no defence against the changes that were happening in my life.” “Life never does quite offer us those simply happy endings. I often that that it’s all part of my own craving: the moral clarity of cause and effect, reward and punishment for my actions. A map for living that renders everything explicable.” “All her desires were for elemental things: love, a little comfort, the society of interesting people. Everyday life is so often isolated, dreary, and lonely. A little craving is understandable. A little craving might actually be the rallying cry for survival.” “I love the inconvenience [of snow] the same way that I can sneakingly love a bad cold: the irresistible disruption to mundane life, forcing you to stop for a while and step outside of your normal habits.” “In autumn, the male drones are sacrificed because they’re no longer of any use, and would otherwise just be hungry mounts to feed.”  “Our lives take different shapes: we do not work in a linear progression through fixed roles like the honeybee. We are not consistently useful to the world at large. We talk about the complexity of the hive, but human societies are infinitely more complex, full of choices and mistakes, periods of glory and seasons of utter despair. Some of us make highly visible, elaborate contributions to the whole; some of us are just part of the ticking mechanics of the world, the incremental wealth of small gestures. All of it matters. All of it weaves the wider fabric that binds us.” “We may sometimes drift through years in which we feel like a negative presence in the world, but we come back again, not only restored, but bringing more than we brought before: more wisdom, more compassion, a greater capacity to reach deep into our roots and know that we will find water.” “Usefulness, in itself, is a useless concept when it comes to humans. I don’t think we were ever meant to think about others in terms of their use to us.” “We flourish on caring, on doling out love.” “Winter is a time for the quiet arts of making: for knitting and sewing, baking and simmering, repairing and restoring our homes.” “We sing because it fills our lungs with nourishing air, and lets our heart soar with the notes we let out. We sing because it allows us to speak of love and loss, delight and desire, all encoded in lyrics that let us pretend that those feelings are not quite ours.” “As I walk, I remind myself ot the words of Alan Watts: ‘To hold your breath is to lose your breath.’ In The Wisdom of Insecurity, Watts makes a case that always convinces me, but which I always seem to forget: that life is, by nature, uncontrollable. That we should stop trying to finalize our comfort and security somehow, and instead find a radical acceptance of the endless, unpredictable change that is the very essence of this life. Our suffering, he says, comes from the fight we put up against this fundamental truth: ‘Running away from fear is fear, fighting pain is pain, trying to be brave is being scared. If the mind is in pain, the mind is in pain. The thinker has no other form than his thought. There is no escape.” “The future, to which we devote so much of our brainpower, is an unstable element, entirely unknowable.” “When we endlessly ruminate in these distant times, we miss extraordinary things in the present moment. They are, in actual fact, all we have: the here and now; the direct perception of our senses.” “I’m beginning to think that unhappiness is one of the simple things in life: a pure, basic emotion to be respected, if not savoured. I would never dream of suggesting that we should wallow in misery, or shrink from doing everything we can to alleviate it; but I do think it’s instructive. After all, unhappiness has a function: it tells us that something is going wrong. If we don’t allow ourselves the fundamental honesty of our own sadness, then we miss an important cue to adapt. We seem to be living in an age when we’re bombarded with entreaties to be happy, but we’re suffering from an avalanche of depression; we’re urged to stop sweating the small stuff, and yet we’re chronically anxious. I often wonder if these are just normal feelings that become monstrous when they’re denied. A great deal of life will always suck. There will be moments when we’re riding high, and moments when we can’t bear to get out of bed. Both are normal. Both, in fact, require a little perspective.” “We need friends who wince along with our pain, who tolerate our gloom, and who allow us to be weak for a while when we’re finding our feet again. We need people who acknowledge that we can’t always hang on in there; that sometimes, everything breaks.” “I recognized winter. I saw it coming (a mile off, since you ask), and I looked it in the eye,. I greeted it, and let it in. I had some tricks up my sleeve, you see. I’ve learned them the hard way. When I started feeling the drag of winter, I began to treat myself like a favoured child: with kindness and love. I assumed my needs were reasonable, and that my feelings were signals of something important.” “We tend to imagine that our lives are linear, but they are in fact cyclical. I would not, or course, seek to deny that we grow gradually older, but while doing so, we pass through phases of good health and ill, of optimism and deep doubt, of freedom and constraint.”

[thekeenanblogger]

Chiang Mai – Thailand’s Culture Capital

When we first started planning our honeymoon, the first thing we agreed on was that we wanted to meet elephants. We’d both had fantasies of seeing an elephant up close — and were pretty sure we would both burst into tears. It didn’t take much research to learn that the best place to do it was in Chiang Mai, the largest city in northern Thailand. We built our itinerary around having an ethical elephant experience, but in doing so, discovered our love for this incredible city.

After a short flight from Phuket and a fifteen-minute cab ride, we arrived at the Anantara Chiang Mai Resort. The hotel, situated on the grounds of the former British consulate, is a stunning collision of architectural grandeur against the urban epicenter surrounding it. Upon checking in, we were greeted with butterfly pea juice, matching jasmine necklaces and a short neck-and-shoulder massage by their talented spa staff, a practice we pray will make its way over to America.

Our room was a huge suite, decorated in minimalist bamboo with a giant terrace overlooking the garden.

The first thing we did after dropping off our bags in the room was catch the afternoon high tea, a hat tip to their British origin. The tea and pastries were as delicious as they were beautiful, and it was the perfect way to decompress after our journey while still keeping a touch of elegance.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the grounds. Every detail of the hotel seemed to be chosen with precision -- from the lotus flowers floating in jars lining the riverwalk, to koi ponds filled with lily pads and meticulously manicured gardens.

While we could have easily spent our entire time inside the gates of the Anantara, its close proximity to the hub of nightlife in Chiang Mai made it especially appealing. The hotel is only steps from the famous Night Bazar, which stretches for blocks during the evening hours, seven nights a week. We picked up some Christmas presents, window-shopped and finally tasted the infamously smelly-but-delicious fruit, durien. For the record, I loved it. (Scott wasn’t such a huge fan.) For dinner, we walked to Ginger & Kafe, place I’d found online that specialized in Chiang Mai’s signature dish, khao soi, a spicy, rich stew that still has my mouth watering just thinking about it.

After checking out the nightlife in Bangkok and Phuket, we were curious what the gay scene would be like in Chiang Mai. Spoiler alert: we were not disappointed! Just a block from the Night Bazar, Charoenprathet Road houses a stretch of gay bars and cabarets. We stumbled into Ram Bar, a whimsically festooned bar at the end of the street just in time for their 10 PM nightly drag show. What followed was honestly one of the best evenings of drag either of these two homosexuals have ever seen. 

The incredible dancing and performance level of these queens was staggering and the special effects — which included haze, bubbles and, I kid you not, one of the performers lighting her own hands on fire — had us howling to the point that we both lost our voices. Plus, Scott got dragged onstage for an impromptu dance!

When researching places to meet elephants, we didn’t realize how much of a problem tourist operations are for these incredible animals. Thirty years ago, when Thailand outlawed the logging that had leveled more than half of its rainforests, thousands of elephants that had been used by the logging industry were out of work. Too traumatized — and too valuable — to return to the decimated forests, most of them were forced into the tourist trade. In zoos, circuses, and the illegal logging trade that still persisted, these elephants were torn from their herds, held in sub-standard conditions in crowded cities or tourist-heavy beach towns, and brutalized at the hands of humans. But thanks to the work of Elephant Nature Park, a rescue and rehabilitation center in northern Thailand, these incredible creatures are being given a new home. No rides, no abuse, no tricks to perform — just elephants living together in the forest, like they’re supposed to be.

Our day was spent with eight other people, getting to meet two elephants — both sisters, aged twenty and three years old. Through the course of the day we got to feed them, go on a trek with them through the jungle, bathe them in the river and feed them their daily vitamins. It was truly one of the greatest moments in either of our lives, getting to see these beautiful creatures up close and in a sprawling jungle environment free of cages or chains. The Elephant Nature Park philosophy is to let the elephants do whatever they please, never forcing them into an activity. Rather, these creatures are very social and always seemed to enjoy the human interaction, especially the parts that involved ripe bananas.

After taking the longest showers of our life (it’s impossible not to get muddy when playing with elephants), we checked out of the Anantara and headed over to the Dhara Dhevi Chiang Mai.

The Dhara Dhevi Chiang Mai is, without question, one of the most incredible hotels in the world. Built by hundreds of traditional craftsmen in the style of a Lanna village, the Dhara Dhevi Chiang Mai makes guests feel like they’ve taken a step through time, wandering the streets of an idyllic Northern Thai city.

The villas — all large, luxurious and with individual architectural flourishes and floor plans — are secluded and peaceful, perfect for a romantic getaway. Our villa alone had to be ten times the size of our New York City apartment, complete with private pool and two stories of ultimate luxury.

The grounds, which extend for more than sixty acres, are dotted with temples, ponds, multiple pools, and immaculate gardens.

Shortly after checking in, we attended a private cooking lesson with Chef Juno, one of the chefs at Le Grand Lanna, one of the many restaurants on site.

Chef Juno guided us through a four course lunch menu of traditional Thai favorites. He was incredibly knowledgable and the perfect instructor. The food: unforgettable. We already have plans to recreate some of the dishes back home.

The staff at the Dhara Dhevi Chiang Mai made us feel so welcome and appreciated, from giving us a guided tour of the grounds to booking the perfect dinner table, with a prime seat to watch a traditional Thai dance performance in between courses.

During our stay we kept checking joking that it honestly felt like we were living in a dream, which is exactly what the Dhara Dhevi strives for. The hotel is so large that at times it felt like we had the place to ourselves. We couldn’t recommend it more to couples looking for an ultra-luxury hotel with a romantic setting that transports you into another world.

By the end of our honeymoon, we admit, we were pretty exhausted. Our two weeks were packed with such complete overload of the senses — from the pristine beaches that went on for miles, to the thumping music of Bangkok’s nightlife, to the most flavorful food we had ever tasted. We knew it would be hard to adjust back to normal life. But we find that our trip lives on, whether it be a funny anecdote that pops into our mind, or finding sand at the bottom of our suitcase and remembering the warm waters of Phang Nga Bay. We went off in search of a paradise, to find something untraditional and exotic, and Thailand delivered all that and more. As for being gay travelers? It went beyond feeling accepted. There is something every gay person feels in a new space – the feeling that you’re being clocked. In Thailand, no one ever batted an eye or looked twice as we held hands across a dinner table. It’s just not a part of Thai culture to judge. Now that we’re back in the states, the only thing to do now is plan our return.

[godkilller]

VERSE: RUKONGAI

QUICK INFO

name: Ichimaru Gin nicknames: Little brat, thief, freak age: Less than 20 occupation: Scavenger, caretaker location: Rukongai District #64, Northern Region - outside of town activities: Tricking and stealing from merchants, upkeeping a small garden outside of his home on the outskirts of town, and taking care of a weakened and weepy little girl he just found on the side of the road reputation: Shunned; most of the townspeople are wary or downright afraid of Gin due to his ever-growing potent reiatsu - as well as his overall subtly unsettling presence

OVERVIEW

         Gin lives in the 64th Northern District of the Rukongai, on the outskirts of a run-down village far beyond the walls of the Seireitei. He maintains a rummaged old shack by an abandoned pathway----accompanied by its own tiny garden of which he tends to. Spirits who dwell in his town are typically unaccustomed to encountering individuals with considerable reiatsu. Many liken the presence of power to a magnet for misfortune, and readily shunned Gin for various reasons including their belief that he was unlucky. Most who have power are merely inconvenienced by it via hunger, whereas Gin swiftly became burdened by both starvation and his power’s sheer weight.

          Disappearances began swiftly during the course of several nights, the result of terrible experimentations on souls aiming to fuel the creation of a wish-fulfilling orb—-at the hand of Aizen Sousuke. Due to those traitorous exploits, Gin met and quickly saved and befriended a collapsed young Matsumoto Rangiku after she was attacked by a group of men in order to harvest part of her soul for the Hogyoku. Gin offered her a dried persimmon and gave her insights on how spirits with power, unlike most living outside of the Seireitei, needed to eat to survive. Though she had been purged of a good portion of her soul, her power, she persisted back into good health with Gin’s help.

         Together, he and Rangiku weathered the harsh life of poverty and starvation within the Rukongai, creating a strong bond between them to the extent that Rangiku agreed with Gin that the day they met would become her birthday. Together, they lived within a beaten up shack by the woods in relative peacefulness—-until one night, whilst gathering firewood, Gin caught a glimpse of the men who took Rangiku’s soul piece bowing before Aizen. Gin connected the dots, focused in on Aizen, and swore to kill him for causing Rangiku pain.

         During the gradual snowfall of a winter night, the boy later hunted down and killed the three men who assaulted Rangiku with seemingly no weapon. Gin donned a stolen bloodied uniform from a felled foe upon his shoulders and promised a confused and concerned Rangiku that he’d “fix things” for them both by becoming a Shinigami.

PERSONALITY

          Previously a loner, withdrawn, Gin quickly became fiercely protective of his new friend----shedding his isolation like a second skin. The boy formed a deep devotion as well as a more outgoing, playful, and smiling demeanor when faced with Rangiku. Gin not only took on the role of his own caretaker----but became hers as well. He also showcased himself as having qualities of a leader, capable of taking initiative and making decisions for others with specific shared goals kept in mind. Gin practices selflessness in that he will gladly give up his meal if it means protecting and helping his friend.

          As far as he showed himself capable of growing, Gin also proved himself more than willing to withhold information from others that he deemed unnecessary. Secretive, and still in some sense withdrawn, Gin began sketching across the drawing board for the eventual creation of his second lifestyle as a liar, murderer, and a traitor. Morally aware of his inevitable fall from all good, Gin holds a keen amount of self-awareness, a sense of wrong and right, unmatched by other children. Or adults, for that matter.

STRENGTHS

         Agile, quick, Gin is capable of outrunning or wriggling free of most adults as they ( attempt to ) defend their goods from his swift thievery. The boy is also cunning, willing and able of devising numerous different methods to steal his dinners----or commit other acts----within seconds of observation. Not only that, but he’s also incredibly capable of improvisation if need be, and will even play dead / injured to lull looming angry merchants into a false sense of security. Gin thinks on his feet and takes advantage of other’s inability to do so with ruthlessness.

         Gin conveys a considerable amount of patience for a child when considering his plot to kill Aizen stretched well past a century.

         Thanks to his growing spiritual pressure, Gin is capable of possibly incapacitating others if they harbor no reiatsu of their own to counteract his. A subconscious effect of an untrained future Shinigami: if Gin were to throw a punch, it would not land lightly. Gin must undergo vigorous practice and training to properly harness this power, however, so his unintentional wielding of it beforehand is nothing more than an accidental outburst.

WEAKNESSES

         Though Gin can fool the average bumbling adult male with ease, there are still some patterns to his developing craft that may eventually get taken advantage of----his plans can falter, his ideas can become obvious, and his mischievous act can severely backfire. Any mocking actions can bring upon him terrible karma. No matter how erratic Gin may dart about, it’d be simple enough to trip or grab at him once his flow has been disrupted. Being a child, it’s also incredibly easy to overpower him by sheer size alone.

         Rangiku’s safety easily surpasses his own in importance, backing Gin into a corner of blatant vulnerability.

         Gin has no battle experience besides brief encounters with basic brawling upon the streets of his nearby town. Being young, he’s also completely inexperienced with wielding any kind of weapon----a full-length katana would be extremely heavy, not to mention too long, for him to bear. Outside of throwing rocks, Gin is limited in his ability to perform any offensive or defensive techniques and often relies entirely on his speed. If his footing is focused upon, he’s easily undone.

APPEARANCE

         Relatively tall for his age, skinny, and with sharp features ( wrists, chin, jaw, etc. ) Gin’s appearance speaks of his likely state of undernourishment. His key traits noticed by others are his silver hair, stunning blue eyes in the case of a rare reveal, and his ever-present grin. Gin often sports a plain dark yukata with a white pattern asymmetrically trailing down the left side, though he has a few other choices, he favors that outfit the most.

          Generally, he could be considered sickly to some extent----due to growing up in an environment where food isn’t always available, missing meals is normalcy, and there are no caretaking adults to see to him whenever he falls ill. Gin hardly takes on a healthy appearance thanks to his numerous chores and other duties, as well, keeping him from regular or lengthy sleeping schedules. His signature silver hair, short, straight, messily covers his forehead and temples, highlighting his typically unopened eyes and sharp, pale overall demeanor.

[traveltobhutan0-blog]

Best Experiences to Cover in Bhutan Travel Packages

For any person stressed of their official schedule and need to plan any getaway to rest and invigorate, Bhutan makes for a perfect desired destination option. Located in the Himalayan mountain region, just to the northeast of India, Bhutan is a small kingdom that will believes in taking care of its guests, surroundings and nature. Bhutan Travel packages take vacationers to this surreal land in the thunder dragon. Besides, the is dotted with many stunning monasteries and ancient temples or wats that offer a tranquil expertise to visitors. During a Bhutan tour, travellers can easily restart the gracious feeling of getting transported back in time, where they could explore the richness involving Bhutanese tradition and lifestyle. In addition , it serves as a great escapade in the lap connected with nature; thus transporting holidaymakers in dream land.

Bhutan's picturesque location and remarkable landscape offer great in order to adventure seekers. If one particular chooses the less sailed path, they can reach several remote villages and overwelmingcliffside monasteries that can just be explored during short walks or long treks. The expertise of moving around various serene hamlet and towns in Bhutan is beyond words because it involves a lot of climbing in addition to hiking along steep trails. For extreme treks as well as climbs, tourists can also go for great Lunana summit, and that is in the northern part of the region. During Bhutan tour, there exists one other magnificent summit to see, Chomolhari Mountain - giving incredible mountain trek to be able to adventure seekers. Moderate walkers will be able to admire numerous beautiful views alongside rice paddles and mountain ranges highlighting Tibet.

The Tigers Nesting, popularly known as Taktsang Monastery, marks as one of the most famous sights in the nation that should not possible be missed while Bhutan travel. The monastery is located amongst lush jungle, to the advantage of a sturdy rock ledge that plunges 900 feets into the valley below. Travelers can reach the monastery by taking a leisurely go walking. This awe-inspiring structure is understood due to the primary Lhakhang that has been built around the meditation cavern of Guru Rimpoche in 1684. It is a great place to practical experience inner peace and that is the principal reason why many visitors come here yearly. So , while contemplating any gift giving occasion do not forget to include this interest in Bhutan travel plans at any cost.

There is no way of departing Bhutan without taking a everyday stroll around Thimphu : the capital city of Bhutan, that is certainly popular for no targeted traffic lights. The capital city is home to many of the most sought-after tourist attractions of Bhutan like SimtokhaDzong, Funeral service Chorten, TashichhoDzong, State Textile Museum and ZangthoperiLhakhang. One can also look at the world-famous painting school inside Thimphu, officially known as Nationwide Institute for ZorigChusum, and engage themselves in a healthy and balanced discussion with local pupils who welcome art appreciators from all around the world.

The main connection of Thimphu commands ethereal surroundings to just sit and also sip a cup of tea or perhaps coffee. Tourists can also have got luscious cupcakes at community bakeries while walking entering the Changlimithang Stadium Countrywide Stadium - the convenient national stadium. If fortunate, one may be able to spot neighborhood football game being played out.

[connectpalm-blog]

The 30-Second Trick for Coachella Transportation

Shuttle To LaxYour shuttle line is going to be labeled clearly. Ultimately, it could be more effective to just go together with shuttle bus tickets. Some riders at a native Greyhound bus stop said they would be considering getting involved in this service rather than taking the bus.

The Living Desert provides an experience unlike any other. In reality, PSP's tranquil environment is only one reason why Palm Springs International Airport was named one of the best 10 Most Stress-Free Airports in the usa by SmarterTraveler.com. Unfortunately, it's illegal to enter the USA from Manning Park via the PCT.

DOT drug testing Coachella CA centers are within minutes of your office or home and same day service can be found generally. The aim of the meeting was supposed to determine methods by which the two agencies could work together. Companions may come along if space permits and if they're a senior or someone with a disability.

When you get in the show, that which we do (and the majority of people do) is try to smuggle in drinks and food since it saves you plenty of money, Gerber states. The likelihood of rain is just 20 percent. Actually, a fast tour of Coachella shows a good deal of activity.

You don't have to pay the $2 for trips if you're in a Managed Care Health Plan. No RVs will be permitted into the campgrounds beyond campground hours. Electric vehicles fit into the idea of smart cities.

Our most recent model vehicles are almost always clean, stocked with chilled bottled water and popular magazines to make sure your comfort whilst on the street. Thissolar power systemwill be utilized to power the very first public transportation system on earth mostly run by solar power. The next time you're in the marketplace and you wind up looking at the produce section, don't forget the water it requires to grow all the things we have to eat and should you know a farmer, tell them THANK YOU!

Shazam Since it's a festival with a wide selection of artists, there's a strong probability you'll locate a song you don't know. Now you've got to research the ideal location to stay, what to pack and the way to reach the well-known music festival. At Roadrunner our greatest priority is satisfied clients.

Failure to follow along with the time restrictions will end in the citation being upheld. Doing something similar to this mobile ordering allows us to attain that.  Actually, the northern end of Chile is really the most solar-energy-intensive place on the planet.

In case you have any inquiries or concerns, we've provided the aforementioned form for you to complete. While the businesses take measures to screen their drivers, there's always a chance of error. Tours give a chance for customers to observe the behind-the-scenes facets of the services that we provide, while allowing the District the chance to share important information on the topic of infrastructure, sustainability, water quality and more.

This set is a huge value for the cost! Utilizing the app lets you and your buddies share your locations, so nobody should be concerned about getting lost. It was only time to benefit from the Coachella payment program.

As your application is utilized to assess your job qualifications, it is essential that it include all appropriate education and experience for the last ten (10) years. If you're currently a DOT regulated company you're subject to regular inspections to guarantee compliance. Learn more on the subject of browser settings here.

It appears beautiful at this time and I'll update my review if there's any problems but I would say buy this today! No matter the sort of event you're hosting, we've got a portable toilet to fulfill your requirements. There is not a thing that you'll have to be concerned about as the absolute most well-mannered and skilled chauffeur will look after everything for you.

The agency states it applies to ten airports and nine airlines. Travelers who are thinking about taking the bus to popular tourist attractions are going to be happy to be aware that the site provides easily accessible info about which bus lines travel to which locations. It is possible to select your destination from our on-line map and Moovit will get the best available routes to get you where you should go!

All services are at no cost. If you'd like to use the payment program, please be certain to select that option when checking out. Other payment forms won't be accepted.

As stated by the NTSB, over 37,000 Americans die as a consequence of car crashes annually, nearly all of which are preventable Shuttle To Lax. The Maven Gig app was made to help people who currently may not own a vehicle, but still would like to be an area of the gig economy, she explained. He still arrived on time.

On the site or apps you will discover numerous links to other sites. Minimum browser requirements needed to put an order online Make sure that you have the most updated browser version. That information may be used for identity theft.

[jaime-leeunsw-blog]

Mental Health and Mindfulness Activity Research

With us deciding which activities we will be holding in our festival, I decided to do some research on how the activities we brainstormed are used to help with relieving and reducing anxiety and stress (which is very common amongst our target group: students) as well as general mental health.

Meditation:

Standard medical treatments for anxiety are anti-anxiety medications, cognitive behavioral therapy, or a combination of both.

Anxiety disorders affect about 40 million Americans.

Therapy is time-consuming and expensive.

Anti-anxiety medications work fast, but are some of the most addictive substances around and are not intended for long-term use.

Latest research shows that meditation works as well as commonly prescribed anti-anxiety medications!

A regular meditation practice not only can reduce anxiety symptoms, it also can reverse the damage caused by anxiety.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University sifted through over 18,000 mindfulness meditation studies to determine its most effective uses. They concluded that the number one use for meditation was anxiety relief.

Other studies support that meditation benefits mental disorders of all kinds including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, binge eating disorder, bipolar disorder and addictions.

Meditation can reduce rumination, even in those with lifelong mood disorders

Meditation Balances Brain Chemicals

Meditation increases the level of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), a neurotransmitter essential for feeling happy and relaxed.

Feeling anxious, easily overstimulated, and overwhelmed are common signs that you might be low in GABA.

Meditation can lift your mood by increasing levels of serotonin, another neurotransmitter vital to happiness.

Meditation also reduces cortisol, a stress hormone that, in excess, significantly contributes to anxiety, depression, sleep disorders and memory loss.

The brains of people who regularly meditate show measurable increases in the amount of gray matter, the volume of the hippocampus, and the thickness of the cortex.

Conversely, the size of the amygdala, the area of the brain region associated with fear, anxiety and stress, decreases and becomes less reactive.

Meditation increases blood flow to the brain, improves neural connections between various areas of the brain, and enhances neuroplasticity.

Painting and Drawing:

Shawn McNiff writes in Art Heals: How Creativity Cures the Soul "healing through art is one of the oldest cultural practices in every region of the world," and "Art adapts to every conceivable problem and lends its transformative, insightful, and experience-heightening powers to people in need."

Art therapy is a distinct field and art therapists are trained and educated in both art and psychology

Making art enables you to feel and express gratitude by helping you to observe and see beauty where others may not. It also gives you an outlet for expressing some of your anger and frustration, as well as your personal political and world views.

Art can help you discern feelings and express thoughts that are difficult to articulate. Engaging with the arts and creating something is a way of engaging with and being in relationship with yourself, helping you to know yourself better. The process of creating art opens channels of communication beyond those of the purely verbal, dissolving barriers caused by words or our own internal censors, helping us to see ourselves, and others, more fully and clearly. In so doing it connects us more deeply to ourselves and to each other. If you are working in class with other people the atmosphere becomes one in which there is a mutual give and take of ideas, and a spirit of generosity.  The creative process helps to create new relationships and foster existing ones in a positive productive environment.

Therapeutic Photography:

Therapeutic photography involves taking, analyzing and using photos for the purpose of personal healing, growth, or understanding, whether done consciously or unconsciously. By actively constructing, exploring and reflecting on photographs by pairing it with creative writing, you are able to learn more about yourself and how you see the world.

Photography can be a form of mindfulness (or present state awareness), similar to meditation, which is proven to help people suffering from depression and anxiety. Often when you’re taking photos, you can find yourself in “flow”, which brings many health benefits similar to meditation like calming the mind and providing relief from stress.

By creating photos that you are proud of, you can start to build self-esteem. Similarly, sharing your photographs and getting positive feedback from others can help you continue to build confidence and become empowered, which can help you become more comfortable expressing your opinion, thoughts, and story with others. A 2014 study found that those who took part in creating visual art had a significant increase in psychological resiliency. The neurotransmitter dopamine can be increased through this process, which can be lacking in those suffering from depression and has been found to immediately start to help prevent depressive-like behaviours.

A person’s perspective on themselves and the world can be gradually explored and changed through the process of taking photographs, analyzing them and discussing with others. Neuroplasticity tells us that our brain has the ability to change constantly throughout our lives and grow new connections.

People are using therapeutic photography techniques to help themselves and others overcome depression, anxiety, chronic pain and much more.

Zentangle Art:

Zentangle is known to many artists and craftivistas as a way to create structured designs through drawing various patterns. Basically, it’s a specific way to draw images, most often in black pen on white paper. 

Zentangle has become an international phenomenon that now has applications in stress reduction, education, therapy and even motivational training.

Zentangle itself may be relatively new, but the basic principles involved are as old as the history of art. 

It includes ritual [a core practice in ancient and contemporary arts] and mirrors the symbols, designs and patterns of numerous cultures [Mayan, Maori, Celtic, and American Indian, for example] from ancient through present times. And like “doodling” it is based on a human behavior in which one refrains from planning and allows lines and shapes to unintentionally emerge.

It Teaches How to Own Mistakes: Using a pen on paper requires that you risk making mistakes; in fact, most tangle art has at least some misplaced lines which cannot be erased. Tangling teaches you how to incorporate what seem like “mistakes” into the overall pattern of the design. It’s a great metaphor for everyday life—nothing is ever perfect, but how you adjust to imperfections [mistakes or the unexpected] in life is what really matters.

It Reinforces “Aimlessness.”: Many Zentangle enthusiasts highlight the tangle doodle process as a form of mindfulness. I like to think of tangling as a form of "creative aimlessness." Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh observes that we need to cultivate aimlessness in life rather than continually striving to be “number one.” Zentangle teaches us not to rush and to take good care of ourselves in the present moment—after all, the present moment is all there is.

It’s Self-Soothing: Repetitive creative work, in and of itself, can be calming and self-soothing. In fact, some of the preliminary research on the Zentangle process indicates that engagement in the process has measurable relaxation benefits. This is particularly true if you accept this process as one with no expected outcome other than the enjoyment of putting the pen to paper and staying open to whatever emerges.

It’s Simple: Zentangle art only requires a black pen and paper; you can do it just about anywhere.

Henna Hand Tattoo:

Henna, or Mehndi, is an evergreen plant. A member of the Loosestrife family, henna originally comes from Egypt, a country that is still one of the main suppliers of the plant. The henna plant typically grows in the drier climates of India, Northern Africa, and the Middle East.

The red-ish brown dye is made by crushing the dried leaves and then mixing the fine powder with other natural and acidic ingredients such as eucalyptus oil, lemon juice, or black tea.

Perhaps Henna's most well observed quality is it's natural cooling effect, which offers a delightful tingling sensation to the skin (similar to chewing spearmint gum and drinking cold water). Once this property was discovered, people of the desert, used henna to cool down their bodies. By making a henna paste and smearing it on themselves, they achieved an air conditioning effect.

Weaving Therapy:

Experts refer to the Relaxation Response:  The rhythmic repetitive movements seem to put us in the present moment, quietening our minds that are so often full of busyness and distractions, and research shows that these repetitive movements have a powerful calming effect – both from our hands moving as well as the motion of moving our eyes from side to side.

Knitting involves a complex, bilateral and co-ordinated pattern of movements and it uses up a lot of brain capacity, which means the brain has less capacity to pay attention to other issues, so it’s a good distracting technique for people with chronic pain. And the repetitive movement involved in knitting enhances the release of serotonin, which can help people to feel calmer and happier. The rhythmic nature of the movements is calming and leads to a meditative-like state.

Besides the many physical health benefits, such as being a pain and stress reliever, knitting also connects you to a social circle and community of fellow knitters, and this is especially important in those who feel isolated, depressed, and lonely.

“Knitters produce objects that people enjoy. And knitters will tell you that just stroking their yarn cheers them up,” says a knitting devotee.

Knitting and crocheting is the one daily therapy and relaxation tool you can take anywhere with you – you get peace of mind…and a fabulous scarf!

[peacefulheartfarm]

Spring Growth on the Homestead

So much going on with spring births on the homestead. And abandoned lamb was the immediate task to take care of today. A quick trip to town to get supplies and now I’m late getting to this podcast. That’s what it’s all about on the homestead. I have so much to share with you today and most of it is so much fun!!

I want to take a minute and say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. I appreciate you all so much. I’m so excited to share with you what’s going on at the homestead this week. As I said there is a lot of it and all relates to spring births.

Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates

Before getting to that abandoned lamb, let’s start with the garden and the birthing of new plants.

Spring Garden

If you are new to gardening perhaps you are not familiar with the terms spring garden, summer garden, and fall garden. Spring is the time of year to plant crops that thrive in cool weather. Some can thrive in the heat, like maybe potatoes. But most spring garden plants require cool temperatures. Things like lettuce and spinach will simply give up and go to seed if it gets too hot. Other things like root crops will just not grow in the heat. Their growth stalls and there is nothing to do for it but try again in the fall when the weather cools off again.

This spring we are planting two kinds of peas, snap peas and shelling peas. Shelling peas are those green peas that you buy frozen or canned. Snap peas are best for salads and such. They are eaten pod and all, though they can be shelled as well. But the pods are sweet and crisp.

I’m not going to plant potatoes this spring although Scott did dig up the potatoes that we had left in the ground over the winter. They were just starting to sprout and grow again. Really, we should have had them out of the ground a week or so ago before they sprouted. Fortunately, there are not tons of them. We will be able to eat them before they get soft. In the normal course of planting, I would have planted some of them for a new crop. I have enough potatoes and will forgo them this spring. Perhaps in the fall.

I have yellow, red and white onion sets to plant. Onions make bulbs according to the amount of light they need. There are short season, mid-season and long season varieties. Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and other northern states can grow those long season varieties. During the height of summer, the hours of daylight are significantly higher than we get in Southern Virginia. And farther south from us, only the short season varieties will grow. The farther south you get, the more equal the day and night hours become. While far in the northern States like Alaska, they have sunlight nearly 24 hours at the height of summer. Of course, it is dark for nearly 24 hours in the winter also.

Strange place, Alaska. I was there twice. Once near the spring equinox and the days and nights were fairly equal. But the second time I was there in July, just past the summer solstice. The sun was still up at midnight. It dipped below the horizon for about 3 hours and then daylight began to show once again. It happened in Germany also. I was there in August and it was daylight past 11:00 pm and the sun was back up long before I got up in the morning.

So that’s the story of onions. The rest of the garden will get planted in May. That will be the green beans, herbs and crowder peas.

The 500 strawberry roots are all planted and looking great. Leaves are visible on almost all of them. The beds look fantastic. Scott did a great job there. That bank of strawberries will also have four sections of culinary herbs. I already have a good stand of thyme and oregano. Inside I have started more rosemary as it didn’t do so well last year and I just let it go over the winter. It can survive the winter but needs protection. It did so poorly that I just decided to start over this year. And just today I got some garden sage seeds to fill in that fourth section in between the strawberries.

The blueberries and blackberries are leafing out. The blueberries will bloom soon and we will have berries around the first or second week of June. The blackberries will be ready in mid-July.

On to the cows.

Cows and Calves

Last time I talked with you, we had one calf. Now we have three. Rosie, our new Jersey heifer gave birth to Princess. Then Cloud gave birth to Winston. And finally, Claire gave to birth to a, yet unnamed, bull calf. No one has had any trouble so far, knock on wood. Butter and Violet have a bit of time to go before giving birth, Late May and early June respectively.

Now to the fun part of the cow story. Rosie, though she is her first calf, was giving about 2 ½ gallons of milk per day. We were estimating in the beginning because Princess was getting her share so we guessed about how much she was drinking. We were getting about a gallon and a half in the beginning and guessed Princess was getting about a gallon a day. Well, it didn’t take long and we were getting a gallon a day – and then a few days later, a half-gallon or even less. Princess was getting it all.

At this point, we would normally separate momma and baby and control the amount of milk baby is getting. Calves need about a gallon or so of milk to grow strongly. Certainly not two gallons. But they will drink everything they can if you let them. Take a beef cow for instance. Those calves are never going to get more than a gallon or so a day because that is all momma is going to make. But the dairy cows make lots and lots of milk and the calves simply don’t need that much. So what were we to do.

We came up with a very good plan. During this time when the milk volume we were getting was diminishing rapidly, Cloud had given birth. We cannot milk Cloud anymore. About mid-season last year, something spooked her and she began kicking the milking inflations off. Then she began kicking more and Scott got quite a few bruises and even a really badly sprained thumb from her kicks. We had to stop milking her. We thought we might try again this year if she perhaps had calmed down a bit. No luck there. We had her walking into the stanchion before she even gave birth, just getting her used to coming in and getting a little treat. They all get this training. It makes it easy to work with them for just about any vet treatment. Anyway, she got startled again by something and started kicking and we weren’t even trying to touch her udders. That answered that question. Cloud would not be milked this year either.

This is also a dilemma on a homestead. Every animal needs to have a purpose. Her purpose was to have a calf every year and to be milked. Now half of her purpose was eliminated. That means she has become more of a cost than a benefit. And even though we love all of our milk cows, we simply cannot afford to have any of them as pets. They must cover their own expenses at the very least. And of course, we really need them to provide some income. Otherwise, we are using our precious time to maintain a cow that is not giving much in return.

This year, she got a reprieve. We figured out how she could pull her own weight. She could become a nurse cow. Separating a calf from mom is normally a loud experience for three days. However, we separated Princess from Rosie and began grafting her onto Cloud. Princess was happy with the arrangement. Rosie was not. She still moos at Princess all the time. Princess ignores her and has since the second day.

A cow will sometimes easily take on another calf. In fact, we have had issues in the past with calves nursing on any cow in the area. Our Normande cows are pretty willing to let anyone nurse. Cloud was not quite so willing as Claire and Buttercup, but we were confident she would eventually accept Princess as her own.

We put Princess in with Cloud and Winston. And we had them separate from the rest of the crew for the exact reason I just described. We didn’t want Winston browsing around and finding milk beyond Cloud. Anyway, each day we bring all three up to the milking shed. Cloud goes in the stanchion and her head is locked in. She can still see who is back there nursing and the first day, she kicked Princess off repeatedly. Princess is quite resourceful and persistent. She was hungry after all. It didn’t take long for her to figure out how to position herself so that Cloud could not reach her with her kicking. She would get almost right up underneath Cloud with her butt close up next to Cloud’s front legs and her body nearly underneath Cloud’s belly. Cloud is locked in the stanchion and can’t walk away. The first two days, Princess was voracious in nursing. We were relieved and confident that she would be fine. She was filling her belly at least once a day. The third day or fourth day, Princess did not persistently try to nurse. In fact, she was rather disinterested in nursing at all. That told us that she was getting at least some nursing in earlier in the day.

As of yesterday, I did not see Cloud even push her away. At all. Princess was getting some milk with persistence in previous days. Now she is nursing whenever she wants. It’s a done deal. Cloud now has two calves. And we now have that full two and a half gallons of milk.

A yesterday and today’s bonus is that Rosie all of a sudden started producing even more milk. We believe it is the warmer weather. She now gives us over three gallons every day. That is fantastic for a first year Jersey cow of her size. Remember, she is still quite small in stature.

I can’t wait to see how Butter does this year. We are expecting in excess of five gallons a day from her as she is now a seasoned Jersey cow. Butter is as tall as any of the Normandes. She looked like a mini cow when we first got her, but she is definitely full grown now.

That’s it for the cow stories. Now on to the quail.

Quail Babies

Just a brief tale here. We had 68 eggs in the incubator. There were 40 of those eggs that hatched. We lost three babies in the first day or so and now have 37 quail babies in the brooder. They are about 10 days old now and have nearly all of their feathers. In about 8 days, they will be fully feathered and strong enough to go out on their own.

We will do our semi-annual deep cleaning of all of the quail cages just before we turn them out into the grow out cages. The breeder cages also get a deep cleaning during this time. We will sterilize and treat the cages for mites. They will all get fresh new sand in which to take baths and the automatic watering system will be started up again. The automatic waterers don’t work well in winter as the lines and water cups freeze over. Instead, I take fresh water out to the birds every day from late fall to late spring.

So, the cycle of birds is in motion. I’ll keep you updated on each new batch of cute quail chicks.

Sheep and Lambs

The biggest spring birth story is the lambs. It would have been nice to have a 100% success rate like we achieved last year, but alas, we knew it was not likely. Lambs are delicate animals in the beginning.

The first ewe’s lamb was born without a hitch. He is strong and healthy. The second ewe, not so much. She had a big beautiful boy and a very, very tiny girl. The girl was born an hour or so later and we suspect that she was in the birth canal too long and was oxygen deprived. She passed within a couple of hours. She was never able to get up.

We only have four ewes giving birth this year and I thought perhaps that would be the only issue. Unfortunately, that was not the case. This story has a better ending. I had to rush into town to get colostrum for an abandoned lamb. In all of our 11 years of raising sheep and lambs, this was the first abandoned lamb that we had. Well, Lambert was close to being abandoned. That was two years ago. He was small and one of three. The other two were getting all the milk and we ended up bottle feeding him.

Today’s spring birth of lambs was, again, twins. But the ewe never touched the second lamb. Right after milking this morning I went out to check on the ewe because I could tell she had given birth. I had looked out the window and I could see the one up and running around. He was already dry. But she was laying down and straining again, so I thought another was on the way. And perhaps she was having an issue as the other was already standing up quite strongly and dried off. I feared a repeat of the previous situation where the lamb was damaged in the long birthing process. Nope, not this time. When I got out there the lamb was born and was actually standing up. She was significantly smaller than her brother, but still quite strong. She was as wet as she could be and still standing strong. I could tell that mom had not licked her at all. Who knows why it happens? But it does happen. Mom just rejects one of the lambs, usually the second or third one. As I said, we have had lots of issues with lambing but this was first time we had experienced the complete abandoning of a lamb. I tried rubbing the birthing fluid that was still on the new one onto the older one. Perhaps I could fool mom into accepting both as hers. No luck. She simply ignored the other lamb.

What to do? What to do? We quickly put all three in a smaller enclosure. We tied up mom and put baby girl underneath her and showed her where to nurse. While this little girl was strong, she seemed to have no clue as to how to nurse. Finding the correct location was no issue, but latching on was not going well. We fiddled with her for about an hour before giving up and deciding that we were just not going to be able to get her to nurse. And even if we did, mom was going to push her away, or walk away and leave her behind. She had already done that. When I first arrived, she took her boy and moved away from me. I brought the girl up to the boy and laid them together. Mom approached as a I walked away. She sniffed and licked the boy and completely ignored the girl. Then she walked away again with her boy in tow, abandoning the girl.

So, what happens when a lamb is abandoned? Well, we have to get colostrum into her within 24 hours. If you ladies out there have children you know what I mean when I say colostrum. Or if you have your own homestead you will know what I’m talking about here. For those of you still considering and learning, colostrum, not milk, is created for about three days or so. In sheep it contains lots of protein and a higher amount of fat than other species. The fat is important for lambs. The other really, really important part of colostrum is it contains the antibodies for common ruminant diseases. Lambs, kids, and calves can survive without it, but their chances of getting sick and dying due to lack of the antibodies to fight the infection is very, very high. All newly birthed ruminant animals need that colostrum for survival. On top of that, the ability to absorb the antibodies declines quickly after 24 hours. Therefore, it is imperative that the newborns get that colostrum immediately.

Once we made the decision to bottle feed the new lamb, we now needed the supplies. We have never really kept lamb colostrum on hand since we reduced our flock to a half dozen ewes. We picked the best moms and we’ve never had an abandoned lamb, as I said. I was aware that this stuff can be hard to come by for lambs. All kinds of calf colostrum which will do in a pinch. But the lambs really need the extra fat. That means I had to get on the phone and find some ASAP. The closest Tractor Supply that had some was an hour away. No problem, put everything else on hold, get in the car and make the trip.

I got back with the goods, fixed up a bottle for her and she drank it down in a couple of minutes. She is a really strong lamb and I think she will do fine. The other thing I needed to find was lamb milk replacer. Again, this formula needs to be made for lambs. The fat content of ewe’s milk is very high compared to cows or even goats. Fortunately, the Tractor Supply store that had the colostrum also had the lamb milk replacer. Phew. I got it all done. I feel pretty good about this little girl’s chances of survival. It was as flurry of activity, but that’s pretty normal for homestead life in the spring.

There is one more ewe still to give birth. Praying all goes well for her.

Final Thoughts

That’s about all I have time for in this podcast. It’s time to go bring up Cloud and make sure once again that Princess is being fed properly and we need to give Cloud some calorie treats daily as she needs to supply milk for two calves. I’ll feed and water the baby quail and get another bottle of colostrum ready for the ewe lamb. She will get fed at least three times a day for a few days. Then it will drop to twice a day for at least two months.

It’s all in a days work on the homestead.

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Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

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[thevisafly]

The Finland Experience – Sights, Sounds, and People

Wouldn’t we all like to know what makes the ‘Happiest Country in The World’ tick? Well, a visit to this snow-filled (yet warmly inviting) wonderland and its treasure-trove of art, music and architectural wonders would probably answer that question for you.

One might argue that the best time to visit Finland is in the winter . However, this is not always true: Finland is a year-round adventure; Helsinki at springtime and Lapland in the winter are two vastly distinct experiences, yet both are scintillating in their own right. Nature – and You. Finland has natural beauty that you may not be able to find anywhere else. It is one of the few places in Europe that true wilderness exists. Finnish nature is revered for its wild charm. High, stone-clad slopes in Koli tower over clear, cool waters – one of Finland’s most visited sites. Understandably so, as landscapes in this country bring you closer to nature and pull you back to a time where one might even believe they belonged in a Medieval fairytale. The Devil Rocks of Läpisyöksy are made up of jagged naturally-carved inner crevices that scream when rough Northern winds blow through them. And if these peculiar – yet fascinating – sights weren’t enough, rock labyrinths exist a mere hour away from Helsinki for you to lose yourself in completely. Finnish nature is rough and unrelenting at first glance, still its beauty has depth upon exploration.

Sustainable Travel Many Scandinavian countries are starting to incorporate sustainability into their tourism, and Finland is no different. The country and its people take pride in the natural beauty that exists and thrive in oneness with it. Incorporating this mindset into their daily life has seen Finland transform their architecture into one whose design is sustainable, yet sleek and minimalist. ‘Slow Food’ and ‘Slow Travel’ are two more babies born from this initiative: whole, organic, green and ethical farming (and eating!) as well as exploring the country through bicycles, trains and on foot are what this concept is about. The idea is to take your time in this beautiful country, and explore both visually and gastronomically with mindfulness. Together, the experience is a must-feel – the connection that is felt with nature is a purposeful one, and once you feel it you just won’t be able to get enough! Explore Finland – Helsinki, Lakeland, Lapland and The Archipelago Helsinki This is the capital of the country, and also its largest city – both in terms of population, and sustainability. With one of the best public transport systems in the world, it is easy to find yourself and your way in the same trip: its laid-back atmosphere allows for people to explore its sights without feeling judged, or congested.

There are myriad things to do here, one of the most popular being their public saunas: both locals and foreigners flock to these steamy baths to relax and unwind. Travelling by one of the easily available and uber-connected flights (or by ship through the Baltic Sea – which is breathtaking, by the way) takes a toll on our bodies, and what better way to calm the nerves than by laying in a soothing sauna? The opera and ballet scene in Finland thrives, so why not take this chance to immerse your senses in a Renaissance-like atmosphere as well?

There are 6 national parks less than 2 hours away from the city, which means flora and fauna are just waiting for you to arrive! Other neighboring attractions include the historically rich city of Porvoo, the Järvenpää-Tuusula area that’s known for its artistic heritage, and the ironwork villages speckled in and around Helsinki. The region is a melting pot of culture, history and metropolitan flair that’s bound to keep you entertained!

Lapland Lapland is the northernmost area of Finland, and the place to go if you want to experience the true Nordic nature of the Finnish mountain folk. A region of contrasts, where the summer sees 24-hour sunlight and the winter sees dark, Aurora-filled nights. Speaking of Aurora, this is the destination many flock to, to take a peek at the Northern Lights, one of the most magnificent natural phenomena the world has given us.

But that’s not all Lapland has to offer. Other attractions include amazing outdoor ski resorts and special arctic-themed hotels (i.e., winter wonderlands that you can explore from the inside-out: glass igloos, snow castles, and aurora domes that guarantee an authentic and relaxing stay). Lapland also has majestic, towering frozen waterfalls (straight out of Frozen, we reckon) and peaceful reindeer farms that are open to visitors – authentic one-of-a-kind memories that are just waiting to be made!

Lakeland Welcome to an area filled with sparkling blue lakes and rolling green hills, both at the same place. Must-do water activities include steamboating and SUP boards – but if you’ve come to relax, the serene lakeside view is perfect for a calming sit-down as well. Winter paves the road for new adventures, too – waters on the lakes freeze into ice that’s perfect for snowmobiles, ice fishing, fat biking, and cross-country skiing.

Lakeland is more than just looks – its overwhelming visuals make way for the cleanest water in the world, which means you’re not just looking at nature – you’re feeling it, too.

The Archipelago What does the Finnish coast have to offer that other coasts don’t? Well, the answer lies in their rustic towns, Nordic fishing, and lifestyle.

Nötö is a quaint village area in the southern Finnish archipelago that people go to unwind and slow down in life – the Bed-and-Breakfasts are perfect for wholesome breakfasts that stretch out into lunches, and the atmosphere guarantees a dip in stress levels. We’re not sure if you’d ever want to leave, though!

Another inspiring part of Finland is Åland, located in the Gulf of Bothnia. The archipelago of Finland is arguably the one that receives the most sunlight, and with it, a heartwarming sunset as well. Åland is the perfect place for this – enjoy a romantic boat ride and Medieval bike trips around this archipelago that feels like you’re sailing back in time. Finnish Culture Each part of Finland hosts their own definitive style and way of life. What brings all the different parts together is the warmth and genuineness that Finnish people have in common. Although people here are known to be introverted and reserved, once you get to know them you’ll find yourself making friends that will last a lifetime. They enjoy their own space, however, they love to bond and make meaningful connections with people whom they feel comfortable with – you’ve just gotta give yourself time, and before you know it, you’ve made a new friend!

Finnish culture goes beyond their people, though – one of the countries’ archipelagos, Åland, is so unique that they own their own distinct taxation system and postal stamp, too!

What else is Finland known for? One of the World’s most famous architects is from Finland, too – Alvar Aalto. Finland boasts a booming classical music scene as well, with some of the best conductors hailing from here, and the world-famous composer Jean Sibelius adding to the list. Their wood-inspired architecture and international classical and hipster music festivals keep creating new benchmarks for contemporary art, design, and music around the globe. Some of their most notable accomplishments include the newer constructions of Oodi Library and the sauna Löyly, as well as festivals like Helsinki’s Flow (an indie favourite), the Kuopio International Dance Festival and the Savonlinna Opera Festival.

Furthermore, it’d be stating the obvious if we said Finland is known for its saunas – but it is! Like we stated before, Finnish saunas are enjoyed by both locals and foreigners alike. And for good reason, too:  these people take their saunas very seriously. Those who are able to, go at least once a week, usually on a Saturday. It seems to be an interesting yet vital part of the country’s culture. This being said, saunas here are a wonder to behold – stepping into a hot, steamy room from the country’s frigid climate is both relaxing, and comforting. Being enveloped in the warmth of the room, and coming out to the warmth of the people is what Finland has in store for us all.

The Food Scene We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again – Finnish folk have a bond with nature that transcends boundaries. It makes its way into the nooks of local mushrooms after September monsoon, and the crannies of chef’s hats in their Michelin restaurants. With one of the most innovative food scenes in Europe, they blend local ingredients into an awakening gastronomic tour (which they actually offer – food tours are the way to go!). Iconic Finnish foods include Karjalanpiirakka (a mouthwatering savoury pastry filled with potatoes, rice or carrots) and Mustikkapiirakka (Finnish pie-like dessert made from wild native bilberries and lingonberries). We recommend that you try out as much as you can – once you start there’s really no end!

Apply Visa OnlineApply For France E Visa Online Apply For China Visa Online Apply For Dubai Visa Online Apply For Australia Visa Online Apply For Azerbaijan Visa Online Apply For Bahrain Visa Online for Indians Apply For Cambodia Visa Online for Indians Apply For Egypt Visa Online for Indians Apply For Malaysia Visa Online for Indians Apply For Zambia Visa Online for Indians

[epackingvietnam]

Travel SEO Trends and Pivots from 2020 (and What to Carry into 2021)

Posted by Rachel.Vandernick

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that you can’t predict the future of tourism. Unlike nearly any other industry, tourism is simultaneously dictated by a number of factors including consumer proclivity, weather and climate, global economics, and government.

Travel was undoubtedly one of the hardest hit sectors in the 2020 shutdowns, which affected every business domain from the largest destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to local small businesses that thrive on the foot traffic tourism normally brings. US Travel’s year-end assessment determined there was a 48% drop in travel-related spending for December 2020 compared to 2019, and a year-long loss of $500 billion. Success in tourism in 2020 meant simply surviving for many businesses, accompanied by total content strategy revamps, product pivots, local SEO investments, and local marketing activations.

What worked in 2020

Locals-only tourism

With out-of-state quarantines in effect for most of the US, and especially prevalent in the northeast, once global destinations and metros became intensely local. Succeeding locally meant celebrating local culture and playing to the hometown advantage, and creating and activating hyper-local content and SEO to sell reimagined experiences and drive renewed interest at home.

Visit Philadelphia, the DMO for the greater Philadelphia region, revamped its 2020 marketing efforts to rollout “Our Turn To Tourist” through winter 2021, a “regional marketing initiative [that] encourages people to take staycations and close-to-home drive trips.”

Visit Philadelphia’s main objective is to attract tourists from all over the country to the city of Philadelphia. With millions of out-of-state visitors each year, and huge growth each year proceeding 2020, Visit Philadelphia had the early foresight to create content geared towards both locals and visitors, and adopted a local-first SEO strategy for things to do, see, and eat nearby.

The organization went so far as to create local-centric mini itineraries based off of current restrictions, optimizing for local tourism and attraction-related keywords, and widely distributing new COVID-19 content. This campaign supported not only the hotels and attractions in the city, but also the local restaurants and small businesses.

While not totally divergent in its approach, the long-term investment that Visit Philadelphia has made into winning at local search, snagging SERP features, and embracing new features like Discover, helps ensure it will continue to be a successful advocate for Philadelphia as “the greatest city in the USA to spend the weekend”.

Reinvented experiences

Tourism and experience-based companies hadn’t extensively ventured into the virtual space prior to 2020 — after all, why plan to watch the action from home when you could board a plane and take part live and in-person?

Philadelphia-based Beyond the Bell Tours, the only LGBTQ+-owned-and-run tour operator in the city, faced a critical decision in May 2020: Their hallmark Pride-themed ���Drag Me Along” drag queen trolly bar crawl was unable to launch with bars closed indefinitely and social gatherings restricted. As searches continued to increase for virtual events, virtual gatherings, and virtual things to do, businesses that rose to meet the demand found success. For Beyond the Bell, that meant turning the “Drag Me Along” concept into “Pride In A Box”: a series of five different themed Pride boxes that included products and experiential components for use at home.

Though their website was originally built on a tour-booking engine, to execute a pivoted product strategy, they restructured it to allow an e-commerce integrated function, and optimized to sell products and experiences for Pride.

Founder Rebecca Fisher said, “We thought about how a box could embody a community. We highlighted queer people, businesses, and queer products, and held weekly events for Pride, all proceeds of which were donated to racial justice. A single ‘box’ purchased during Pride supported many queer businesses, and we wanted people to feel that impact.”

Ultimately, businesses that adapted quickly to changes in consumer search behavior, and that conducted and implemented keyword research for new content targeting previously unranked/low-volume terms, were better positioned to maintain consumer support and visibility even though actual travelers continued to drop.

Up-to-date info on expanding and changing regulations

Domestic travel is rarely regulated in the US, so when cities across the country responded to shut down orders, hot spots beloved by locals and tourists alike emptied out and revenue began to drastically fall.

As an SEO community (especially local!) we’re always advocates of the value of keeping local listings in Google My Business up-to-date, and it never mattered more than in 2020. Coming out on top were those who updated hours, COVID-19 policies and procedures, and published delivery or third-party partnerships. Unsurprisingly, AirBnB’s and VRBO’s new Covid content “enhanced cleaning protocol” and “guidelines for owners” come out top in searches for short term rental cleaning best practices, and cleanliness related to travel accomodations. Updated local listings allowed exasperated consumers to easily see what businesses were open, and allowed search-savvy businesses to leverage their GMB to position themselves as safety-conscious, accessible, and prioritize addressing consumer concerns (not to mention the features released to help businesses access these tools).

What to expect from tourism in 2021

It’s hard to remember a time of greater collective cabin fever. Though with border closings, pre-travel testing, and business closures remaining a moving target, we can still expect that a majority of travel will happen closer to home in early 2021. Here’s where we can expect to see growth first.

Short term stays: road trips, workspace respites, and snow birds

What's ahead for short-term travels? Continued RV sales, for one, which were up 4.5% annually in 2020. These growth indicators, as well as public perceptions of travel safety, continue to slate hometown and close-by exploration as the early 2021 winners.

Outdoor and spaced-out activities show continued interest in search volume and sales. Yellowstone National Park alone saw a 21% increase in year-over-year visitation in September 2020. Don’t expect this to slow down any time soon.

Another trend we expect to see continue in early 2021? Snow birding. Once reserved for the retired, heading south for the winter is especially popular this year for northerners leaving lockdowns at home. Expect extended stays, fuller flights, and busier beaches than normal.

One final place you can expect to see travelers? In a nearby hotel. Formerly reserved for the luxurious staycations, local hotels have become workplace respites for those fully remote workers who lack adequate home office space. Though not “technically” travel, many hotels (Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton, for starters) are offering single-day, day-time only, “work from hotel” deals to help relieve lost revenue and fried nerves of managing co-occurring zoom calls at the kitchen table.

Extended visits: remote relocations

With many children and families, not to mention formerly remote employees, feeling the squeeze of their walls at home, many hotels and villa properties are offering cost-effective extended stays (three weeks or more). Mid-term relocations are becoming incredibly common, with particular flight happening from metro centers in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. Individual countries are actively trying to scoop up consumer demand for change of scenery and pace, with countries like Dubai, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands offering temporary extended work visas to US citizens as a way to revive local tourism.

Short term rental properties such as beach house bookings, waterfront properties, mountain cabins, and southern getaways — or you know, just a yard if you’re a city-dweller — are booking in greater numbers in 2020 than nearly any time in 2019. AirDNA notes, “Among those leading the rebound are beaches, mountain towns, lakeside getaways, and really anything within driving distance of a major urban hub.”

Longer-term remote stays, whether for yourself or your family, are increasingly popular, as are remote work options which, according to Google trend data, have increased by two-times the previous levels pre-pandemic. Searches for extended stay vacations peaked at the end of December 2020, with previous highs in October and April 2020. Moving into 2021, we’ll likely see expanded tourism offerings to match this consumer demand, and also to accommodate pre-quarantine requirements, which vary city to city.

In conclusion

Travel isn’t what it used to be, and for the time being, we’re seeing increasingly important local search activations and feature adoption. And as remote work and location agnostic work becomes more the norm, the lessons we learned from pandemic travel search will help businesses thrive in this new tourism climate moving forward.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

#túi_giấy_epacking_việt_nam #túi_giấy_epacking #in_túi_giấy_giá_rẻ #in_túi_giấy #epackingvietnam #tuigiayepacking

[bfxenon]

Travel SEO Trends and Pivots from 2020 (and What to Carry into 2021)

Posted by Rachel.Vandernick

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that you can’t predict the future of tourism. Unlike nearly any other industry, tourism is simultaneously dictated by a number of factors including consumer proclivity, weather and climate, global economics, and government.

Travel was undoubtedly one of the hardest hit sectors in the 2020 shutdowns, which affected every business domain from the largest destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to local small businesses that thrive on the foot traffic tourism normally brings. US Travel’s year-end assessment determined there was a 48% drop in travel-related spending for December 2020 compared to 2019, and a year-long loss of $500 billion. Success in tourism in 2020 meant simply surviving for many businesses, accompanied by total content strategy revamps, product pivots, local SEO investments, and local marketing activations.

What worked in 2020

Locals-only tourism

With out-of-state quarantines in effect for most of the US, and especially prevalent in the northeast, once global destinations and metros became intensely local. Succeeding locally meant celebrating local culture and playing to the hometown advantage, and creating and activating hyper-local content and SEO to sell reimagined experiences and drive renewed interest at home.

Visit Philadelphia, the DMO for the greater Philadelphia region, revamped its 2020 marketing efforts to rollout “Our Turn To Tourist” through winter 2021, a “regional marketing initiative [that] encourages people to take staycations and close-to-home drive trips.”

Visit Philadelphia’s main objective is to attract tourists from all over the country to the city of Philadelphia. With millions of out-of-state visitors each year, and huge growth each year proceeding 2020, Visit Philadelphia had the early foresight to create content geared towards both locals and visitors, and adopted a local-first SEO strategy for things to do, see, and eat nearby.

The organization went so far as to create local-centric mini itineraries based off of current restrictions, optimizing for local tourism and attraction-related keywords, and widely distributing new COVID-19 content. This campaign supported not only the hotels and attractions in the city, but also the local restaurants and small businesses.

While not totally divergent in its approach, the long-term investment that Visit Philadelphia has made into winning at local search, snagging SERP features, and embracing new features like Discover, helps ensure it will continue to be a successful advocate for Philadelphia as “the greatest city in the USA to spend the weekend”.

Reinvented experiences

Tourism and experience-based companies hadn’t extensively ventured into the virtual space prior to 2020 — after all, why plan to watch the action from home when you could board a plane and take part live and in-person?

Philadelphia-based Beyond the Bell Tours, the only LGBTQ+-owned-and-run tour operator in the city, faced a critical decision in May 2020: Their hallmark Pride-themed “Drag Me Along” drag queen trolly bar crawl was unable to launch with bars closed indefinitely and social gatherings restricted. As searches continued to increase for virtual events, virtual gatherings, and virtual things to do, businesses that rose to meet the demand found success. For Beyond the Bell, that meant turning the “Drag Me Along” concept into “Pride In A Box”: a series of five different themed Pride boxes that included products and experiential components for use at home.

Though their website was originally built on a tour-booking engine, to execute a pivoted product strategy, they restructured it to allow an e-commerce integrated function, and optimized to sell products and experiences for Pride.

Founder Rebecca Fisher said, “We thought about how a box could embody a community. We highlighted queer people, businesses, and queer products, and held weekly events for Pride, all proceeds of which were donated to racial justice. A single ‘box’ purchased during Pride supported many queer businesses, and we wanted people to feel that impact.”

Ultimately, businesses that adapted quickly to changes in consumer search behavior, and that conducted and implemented keyword research for new content targeting previously unranked/low-volume terms, were better positioned to maintain consumer support and visibility even though actual travelers continued to drop.

Up-to-date info on expanding and changing regulations

Domestic travel is rarely regulated in the US, so when cities across the country responded to shut down orders, hot spots beloved by locals and tourists alike emptied out and revenue began to drastically fall.

As an SEO community (especially local!) we’re always advocates of the value of keeping local listings in Google My Business up-to-date, and it never mattered more than in 2020. Coming out on top were those who updated hours, COVID-19 policies and procedures, and published delivery or third-party partnerships. Unsurprisingly, AirBnB’s and VRBO’s new Covid content “enhanced cleaning protocol” and “guidelines for owners” come out top in searches for short term rental cleaning best practices, and cleanliness related to travel accomodations. Updated local listings allowed exasperated consumers to easily see what businesses were open, and allowed search-savvy businesses to leverage their GMB to position themselves as safety-conscious, accessible, and prioritize addressing consumer concerns (not to mention the features released to help businesses access these tools).

What to expect from tourism in 2021

It’s hard to remember a time of greater collective cabin fever. Though with border closings, pre-travel testing, and business closures remaining a moving target, we can still expect that a majority of travel will happen closer to home in early 2021. Here’s where we can expect to see growth first.

Short term stays: road trips, workspace respites, and snow birds

What's ahead for short-term travels? Continued RV sales, for one, which were up 4.5% annually in 2020. These growth indicators, as well as public perceptions of travel safety, continue to slate hometown and close-by exploration as the early 2021 winners.

Outdoor and spaced-out activities show continued interest in search volume and sales. Yellowstone National Park alone saw a 21% increase in year-over-year visitation in September 2020. Don’t expect this to slow down any time soon.

Another trend we expect to see continue in early 2021? Snow birding. Once reserved for the retired, heading south for the winter is especially popular this year for northerners leaving lockdowns at home. Expect extended stays, fuller flights, and busier beaches than normal.

One final place you can expect to see travelers? In a nearby hotel. Formerly reserved for the luxurious staycations, local hotels have become workplace respites for those fully remote workers who lack adequate home office space. Though not “technically” travel, many hotels (Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton, for starters) are offering single-day, day-time only, “work from hotel” deals to help relieve lost revenue and fried nerves of managing co-occurring zoom calls at the kitchen table.

Extended visits: remote relocations

With many children and families, not to mention formerly remote employees, feeling the squeeze of their walls at home, many hotels and villa properties are offering cost-effective extended stays (three weeks or more). Mid-term relocations are becoming incredibly common, with particular flight happening from metro centers in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. Individual countries are actively trying to scoop up consumer demand for change of scenery and pace, with countries like Dubai, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands offering temporary extended work visas to US citizens as a way to revive local tourism.

Short term rental properties such as beach house bookings, waterfront properties, mountain cabins, and southern getaways — or you know, just a yard if you’re a city-dweller — are booking in greater numbers in 2020 than nearly any time in 2019. AirDNA notes, “Among those leading the rebound are beaches, mountain towns, lakeside getaways, and really anything within driving distance of a major urban hub.”

Longer-term remote stays, whether for yourself or your family, are increasingly popular, as are remote work options which, according to Google trend data, have increased by two-times the previous levels pre-pandemic. Searches for extended stay vacations peaked at the end of December 2020, with previous highs in October and April 2020. Moving into 2021, we’ll likely see expanded tourism offerings to match this consumer demand, and also to accommodate pre-quarantine requirements, which vary city to city.

In conclusion

Travel isn’t what it used to be, and for the time being, we’re seeing increasingly important local search activations and feature adoption. And as remote work and location agnostic work becomes more the norm, the lessons we learned from pandemic travel search will help businesses thrive in this new tourism climate moving forward.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[nutrifami]

Travel SEO Trends and Pivots from 2020 (and What to Carry into 2021)

Posted by Rachel.Vandernick

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that you can’t predict the future of tourism. Unlike nearly any other industry, tourism is simultaneously dictated by a number of factors including consumer proclivity, weather and climate, global economics, and government.

Travel was undoubtedly one of the hardest hit sectors in the 2020 shutdowns, which affected every business domain from the largest destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to local small businesses that thrive on the foot traffic tourism normally brings. US Travel’s year-end assessment determined there was a 48% drop in travel-related spending for December 2020 compared to 2019, and a year-long loss of $500 billion. Success in tourism in 2020 meant simply surviving for many businesses, accompanied by total content strategy revamps, product pivots, local SEO investments, and local marketing activations.

What worked in 2020

Locals-only tourism

With out-of-state quarantines in effect for most of the US, and especially prevalent in the northeast, once global destinations and metros became intensely local. Succeeding locally meant celebrating local culture and playing to the hometown advantage, and creating and activating hyper-local content and SEO to sell reimagined experiences and drive renewed interest at home.

Visit Philadelphia, the DMO for the greater Philadelphia region, revamped its 2020 marketing efforts to rollout “Our Turn To Tourist” through winter 2021, a “regional marketing initiative [that] encourages people to take staycations and close-to-home drive trips.”

Visit Philadelphia’s main objective is to attract tourists from all over the country to the city of Philadelphia. With millions of out-of-state visitors each year, and huge growth each year proceeding 2020, Visit Philadelphia had the early foresight to create content geared towards both locals and visitors, and adopted a local-first SEO strategy for things to do, see, and eat nearby.

The organization went so far as to create local-centric mini itineraries based off of current restrictions, optimizing for local tourism and attraction-related keywords, and widely distributing new COVID-19 content. This campaign supported not only the hotels and attractions in the city, but also the local restaurants and small businesses.

While not totally divergent in its approach, the long-term investment that Visit Philadelphia has made into winning at local search, snagging SERP features, and embracing new features like Discover, helps ensure it will continue to be a successful advocate for Philadelphia as “the greatest city in the USA to spend the weekend”.

Reinvented experiences

Tourism and experience-based companies hadn’t extensively ventured into the virtual space prior to 2020 — after all, why plan to watch the action from home when you could board a plane and take part live and in-person?

Philadelphia-based Beyond the Bell Tours, the only LGBTQ+-owned-and-run tour operator in the city, faced a critical decision in May 2020: Their hallmark Pride-themed “Drag Me Along” drag queen trolly bar crawl was unable to launch with bars closed indefinitely and social gatherings restricted. As searches continued to increase for virtual events, virtual gatherings, and virtual things to do, businesses that rose to meet the demand found success. For Beyond the Bell, that meant turning the “Drag Me Along” concept into “Pride In A Box”: a series of five different themed Pride boxes that included products and experiential components for use at home.

Though their website was originally built on a tour-booking engine, to execute a pivoted product strategy, they restructured it to allow an e-commerce integrated function, and optimized to sell products and experiences for Pride.

Founder Rebecca Fisher said, “We thought about how a box could embody a community. We highlighted queer people, businesses, and queer products, and held weekly events for Pride, all proceeds of which were donated to racial justice. A single ‘box’ purchased during Pride supported many queer businesses, and we wanted people to feel that impact.”

Ultimately, businesses that adapted quickly to changes in consumer search behavior, and that conducted and implemented keyword research for new content targeting previously unranked/low-volume terms, were better positioned to maintain consumer support and visibility even though actual travelers continued to drop.

Up-to-date info on expanding and changing regulations

Domestic travel is rarely regulated in the US, so when cities across the country responded to shut down orders, hot spots beloved by locals and tourists alike emptied out and revenue began to drastically fall.

As an SEO community (especially local!) we’re always advocates of the value of keeping local listings in Google My Business up-to-date, and it never mattered more than in 2020. Coming out on top were those who updated hours, COVID-19 policies and procedures, and published delivery or third-party partnerships. Unsurprisingly, AirBnB’s and VRBO’s new Covid content “enhanced cleaning protocol” and “guidelines for owners” come out top in searches for short term rental cleaning best practices, and cleanliness related to travel accomodations. Updated local listings allowed exasperated consumers to easily see what businesses were open, and allowed search-savvy businesses to leverage their GMB to position themselves as safety-conscious, accessible, and prioritize addressing consumer concerns (not to mention the features released to help businesses access these tools).

What to expect from tourism in 2021

It’s hard to remember a time of greater collective cabin fever. Though with border closings, pre-travel testing, and business closures remaining a moving target, we can still expect that a majority of travel will happen closer to home in early 2021. Here’s where we can expect to see growth first.

Short term stays: road trips, workspace respites, and snow birds

What's ahead for short-term travels? Continued RV sales, for one, which were up 4.5% annually in 2020. These growth indicators, as well as public perceptions of travel safety, continue to slate hometown and close-by exploration as the early 2021 winners.

Outdoor and spaced-out activities show continued interest in search volume and sales. Yellowstone National Park alone saw a 21% increase in year-over-year visitation in September 2020. Don’t expect this to slow down any time soon.

Another trend we expect to see continue in early 2021? Snow birding. Once reserved for the retired, heading south for the winter is especially popular this year for northerners leaving lockdowns at home. Expect extended stays, fuller flights, and busier beaches than normal.

One final place you can expect to see travelers? In a nearby hotel. Formerly reserved for the luxurious staycations, local hotels have become workplace respites for those fully remote workers who lack adequate home office space. Though not “technically” travel, many hotels (Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton, for starters) are offering single-day, day-time only, “work from hotel” deals to help relieve lost revenue and fried nerves of managing co-occurring zoom calls at the kitchen table.

Extended visits: remote relocations

With many children and families, not to mention formerly remote employees, feeling the squeeze of their walls at home, many hotels and villa properties are offering cost-effective extended stays (three weeks or more). Mid-term relocations are becoming incredibly common, with particular flight happening from metro centers in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. Individual countries are actively trying to scoop up consumer demand for change of scenery and pace, with countries like Dubai, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands offering temporary extended work visas to US citizens as a way to revive local tourism.

Short term rental properties such as beach house bookings, waterfront properties, mountain cabins, and southern getaways — or you know, just a yard if you’re a city-dweller — are booking in greater numbers in 2020 than nearly any time in 2019. AirDNA notes, “Among those leading the rebound are beaches, mountain towns, lakeside getaways, and really anything within driving distance of a major urban hub.”

Longer-term remote stays, whether for yourself or your family, are increasingly popular, as are remote work options which, according to Google trend data, have increased by two-times the previous levels pre-pandemic. Searches for extended stay vacations peaked at the end of December 2020, with previous highs in October and April 2020. Moving into 2021, we’ll likely see expanded tourism offerings to match this consumer demand, and also to accommodate pre-quarantine requirements, which vary city to city.

In conclusion

Travel isn’t what it used to be, and for the time being, we’re seeing increasingly important local search activations and feature adoption. And as remote work and location agnostic work becomes more the norm, the lessons we learned from pandemic travel search will help businesses thrive in this new tourism climate moving forward.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[xaydungtruonggia]

Travel SEO Trends and Pivots from 2020 (and What to Carry into 2021)

Posted by Rachel.Vandernick

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that you can’t predict the future of tourism. Unlike nearly any other industry, tourism is simultaneously dictated by a number of factors including consumer proclivity, weather and climate, global economics, and government.

Travel was undoubtedly one of the hardest hit sectors in the 2020 shutdowns, which affected every business domain from the largest destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to local small businesses that thrive on the foot traffic tourism normally brings. US Travel’s year-end assessment determined there was a 48% drop in travel-related spending for December 2020 compared to 2019, and a year-long loss of $500 billion. Success in tourism in 2020 meant simply surviving for many businesses, accompanied by total content strategy revamps, product pivots, local SEO investments, and local marketing activations.

What worked in 2020

Locals-only tourism

With out-of-state quarantines in effect for most of the US, and especially prevalent in the northeast, once global destinations and metros became intensely local. Succeeding locally meant celebrating local culture and playing to the hometown advantage, and creating and activating hyper-local content and SEO to sell reimagined experiences and drive renewed interest at home.

Visit Philadelphia, the DMO for the greater Philadelphia region, revamped its 2020 marketing efforts to rollout “Our Turn To Tourist” through winter 2021, a “regional marketing initiative [that] encourages people to take staycations and close-to-home drive trips.”

Visit Philadelphia’s main objective is to attract tourists from all over the country to the city of Philadelphia. With millions of out-of-state visitors each year, and huge growth each year proceeding 2020, Visit Philadelphia had the early foresight to create content geared towards both locals and visitors, and adopted a local-first SEO strategy for things to do, see, and eat nearby.

The organization went so far as to create local-centric mini itineraries based off of current restrictions, optimizing for local tourism and attraction-related keywords, and widely distributing new COVID-19 content. This campaign supported not only the hotels and attractions in the city, but also the local restaurants and small businesses.

While not totally divergent in its approach, the long-term investment that Visit Philadelphia has made into winning at local search, snagging SERP features, and embracing new features like Discover, helps ensure it will continue to be a successful advocate for Philadelphia as “the greatest city in the USA to spend the weekend”.

Reinvented experiences

Tourism and experience-based companies hadn’t extensively ventured into the virtual space prior to 2020 — after all, why plan to watch the action from home when you could board a plane and take part live and in-person?

Philadelphia-based Beyond the Bell Tours, the only LGBTQ+-owned-and-run tour operator in the city, faced a critical decision in May 2020: Their hallmark Pride-themed “Drag Me Along” drag queen trolly bar crawl was unable to launch with bars closed indefinitely and social gatherings restricted. As searches continued to increase for virtual events, virtual gatherings, and virtual things to do, businesses that rose to meet the demand found success. For Beyond the Bell, that meant turning the “Drag Me Along” concept into “Pride In A Box”: a series of five different themed Pride boxes that included products and experiential components for use at home.

Though their website was originally built on a tour-booking engine, to execute a pivoted product strategy, they restructured it to allow an e-commerce integrated function, and optimized to sell products and experiences for Pride.

Founder Rebecca Fisher said, “We thought about how a box could embody a community. We highlighted queer people, businesses, and queer products, and held weekly events for Pride, all proceeds of which were donated to racial justice. A single ‘box’ purchased during Pride supported many queer businesses, and we wanted people to feel that impact.”

Ultimately, businesses that adapted quickly to changes in consumer search behavior, and that conducted and implemented keyword research for new content targeting previously unranked/low-volume terms, were better positioned to maintain consumer support and visibility even though actual travelers continued to drop.

Up-to-date info on expanding and changing regulations

Domestic travel is rarely regulated in the US, so when cities across the country responded to shut down orders, hot spots beloved by locals and tourists alike emptied out and revenue began to drastically fall.

As an SEO community (especially local!) we’re always advocates of the value of keeping local listings in Google My Business up-to-date, and it never mattered more than in 2020. Coming out on top were those who updated hours, COVID-19 policies and procedures, and published delivery or third-party partnerships. Unsurprisingly, AirBnB’s and VRBO’s new Covid content “enhanced cleaning protocol” and “guidelines for owners” come out top in searches for short term rental cleaning best practices, and cleanliness related to travel accomodations. Updated local listings allowed exasperated consumers to easily see what businesses were open, and allowed search-savvy businesses to leverage their GMB to position themselves as safety-conscious, accessible, and prioritize addressing consumer concerns (not to mention the features released to help businesses access these tools).

What to expect from tourism in 2021

It’s hard to remember a time of greater collective cabin fever. Though with border closings, pre-travel testing, and business closures remaining a moving target, we can still expect that a majority of travel will happen closer to home in early 2021. Here’s where we can expect to see growth first.

Short term stays: road trips, workspace respites, and snow birds

What's ahead for short-term travels? Continued RV sales, for one, which were up 4.5% annually in 2020. These growth indicators, as well as public perceptions of travel safety, continue to slate hometown and close-by exploration as the early 2021 winners.

Outdoor and spaced-out activities show continued interest in search volume and sales. Yellowstone National Park alone saw a 21% increase in year-over-year visitation in September 2020. Don’t expect this to slow down any time soon.

Another trend we expect to see continue in early 2021? Snow birding. Once reserved for the retired, heading south for the winter is especially popular this year for northerners leaving lockdowns at home. Expect extended stays, fuller flights, and busier beaches than normal.

One final place you can expect to see travelers? In a nearby hotel. Formerly reserved for the luxurious staycations, local hotels have become workplace respites for those fully remote workers who lack adequate home office space. Though not “technically” travel, many hotels (Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton, for starters) are offering single-day, day-time only, “work from hotel” deals to help relieve lost revenue and fried nerves of managing co-occurring zoom calls at the kitchen table.

Extended visits: remote relocations

With many children and families, not to mention formerly remote employees, feeling the squeeze of their walls at home, many hotels and villa properties are offering cost-effective extended stays (three weeks or more). Mid-term relocations are becoming incredibly common, with particular flight happening from metro centers in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. Individual countries are actively trying to scoop up consumer demand for change of scenery and pace, with countries like Dubai, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands offering temporary extended work visas to US citizens as a way to revive local tourism.

Short term rental properties such as beach house bookings, waterfront properties, mountain cabins, and southern getaways — or you know, just a yard if you’re a city-dweller — are booking in greater numbers in 2020 than nearly any time in 2019. AirDNA notes, “Among those leading the rebound are beaches, mountain towns, lakeside getaways, and really anything within driving distance of a major urban hub.”

Longer-term remote stays, whether for yourself or your family, are increasingly popular, as are remote work options which, according to Google trend data, have increased by two-times the previous levels pre-pandemic. Searches for extended stay vacations peaked at the end of December 2020, with previous highs in October and April 2020. Moving into 2021, we’ll likely see expanded tourism offerings to match this consumer demand, and also to accommodate pre-quarantine requirements, which vary city to city.

In conclusion

Travel isn’t what it used to be, and for the time being, we’re seeing increasingly important local search activations and feature adoption. And as remote work and location agnostic work becomes more the norm, the lessons we learned from pandemic travel search will help businesses thrive in this new tourism climate moving forward.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[ductrungnguyen87]

Travel SEO Trends and Pivots from 2020 (and What to Carry into 2021)

Posted by Rachel.Vandernick

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that you can’t predict the future of tourism. Unlike nearly any other industry, tourism is simultaneously dictated by a number of factors including consumer proclivity, weather and climate, global economics, and government.

Travel was undoubtedly one of the hardest hit sectors in the 2020 shutdowns, which affected every business domain from the largest destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to local small businesses that thrive on the foot traffic tourism normally brings. US Travel’s year-end assessment determined there was a 48% drop in travel-related spending for December 2020 compared to 2019, and a year-long loss of $500 billion. Success in tourism in 2020 meant simply surviving for many businesses, accompanied by total content strategy revamps, product pivots, local SEO investments, and local marketing activations.

What worked in 2020

Locals-only tourism

With out-of-state quarantines in effect for most of the US, and especially prevalent in the northeast, once global destinations and metros became intensely local. Succeeding locally meant celebrating local culture and playing to the hometown advantage, and creating and activating hyper-local content and SEO to sell reimagined experiences and drive renewed interest at home.

Visit Philadelphia, the DMO for the greater Philadelphia region, revamped its 2020 marketing efforts to rollout “Our Turn To Tourist” through winter 2021, a “regional marketing initiative [that] encourages people to take staycations and close-to-home drive trips.”

Visit Philadelphia’s main objective is to attract tourists from all over the country to the city of Philadelphia. With millions of out-of-state visitors each year, and huge growth each year proceeding 2020, Visit Philadelphia had the early foresight to create content geared towards both locals and visitors, and adopted a local-first SEO strategy for things to do, see, and eat nearby.

The organization went so far as to create local-centric mini itineraries based off of current restrictions, optimizing for local tourism and attraction-related keywords, and widely distributing new COVID-19 content. This campaign supported not only the hotels and attractions in the city, but also the local restaurants and small businesses.

While not totally divergent in its approach, the long-term investment that Visit Philadelphia has made into winning at local search, snagging SERP features, and embracing new features like Discover, helps ensure it will continue to be a successful advocate for Philadelphia as “the greatest city in the USA to spend the weekend”.

Reinvented experiences

Tourism and experience-based companies hadn’t extensively ventured into the virtual space prior to 2020 — after all, why plan to watch the action from home when you could board a plane and take part live and in-person?

Philadelphia-based Beyond the Bell Tours, the only LGBTQ+-owned-and-run tour operator in the city, faced a critical decision in May 2020: Their hallmark Pride-themed “Drag Me Along” drag queen trolly bar crawl was unable to launch with bars closed indefinitely and social gatherings restricted. As searches continued to increase for virtual events, virtual gatherings, and virtual things to do, businesses that rose to meet the demand found success. For Beyond the Bell, that meant turning the “Drag Me Along” concept into “Pride In A Box”: a series of five different themed Pride boxes that included products and experiential components for use at home.

Though their website was originally built on a tour-booking engine, to execute a pivoted product strategy, they restructured it to allow an e-commerce integrated function, and optimized to sell products and experiences for Pride.

Founder Rebecca Fisher said, “We thought about how a box could embody a community. We highlighted queer people, businesses, and queer products, and held weekly events for Pride, all proceeds of which were donated to racial justice. A single ‘box’ purchased during Pride supported many queer businesses, and we wanted people to feel that impact.”

Ultimately, businesses that adapted quickly to changes in consumer search behavior, and that conducted and implemented keyword research for new content targeting previously unranked/low-volume terms, were better positioned to maintain consumer support and visibility even though actual travelers continued to drop.

Up-to-date info on expanding and changing regulations

Domestic travel is rarely regulated in the US, so when cities across the country responded to shut down orders, hot spots beloved by locals and tourists alike emptied out and revenue began to drastically fall.

As an SEO community (especially local!) we’re always advocates of the value of keeping local listings in Google My Business up-to-date, and it never mattered more than in 2020. Coming out on top were those who updated hours, COVID-19 policies and procedures, and published delivery or third-party partnerships. Unsurprisingly, AirBnB’s and VRBO’s new Covid content “enhanced cleaning protocol” and “guidelines for owners” come out top in searches for short term rental cleaning best practices, and cleanliness related to travel accomodations. Updated local listings allowed exasperated consumers to easily see what businesses were open, and allowed search-savvy businesses to leverage their GMB to position themselves as safety-conscious, accessible, and prioritize addressing consumer concerns (not to mention the features released to help businesses access these tools).

What to expect from tourism in 2021

It’s hard to remember a time of greater collective cabin fever. Though with border closings, pre-travel testing, and business closures remaining a moving target, we can still expect that a majority of travel will happen closer to home in early 2021. Here’s where we can expect to see growth first.

Short term stays: road trips, workspace respites, and snow birds

What's ahead for short-term travels? Continued RV sales, for one, which were up 4.5% annually in 2020. These growth indicators, as well as public perceptions of travel safety, continue to slate hometown and close-by exploration as the early 2021 winners.

Outdoor and spaced-out activities show continued interest in search volume and sales. Yellowstone National Park alone saw a 21% increase in year-over-year visitation in September 2020. Don’t expect this to slow down any time soon.

Another trend we expect to see continue in early 2021? Snow birding. Once reserved for the retired, heading south for the winter is especially popular this year for northerners leaving lockdowns at home. Expect extended stays, fuller flights, and busier beaches than normal.

One final place you can expect to see travelers? In a nearby hotel. Formerly reserved for the luxurious staycations, local hotels have become workplace respites for those fully remote workers who lack adequate home office space. Though not “technically” travel, many hotels (Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton, for starters) are offering single-day, day-time only, “work from hotel” deals to help relieve lost revenue and fried nerves of managing co-occurring zoom calls at the kitchen table.

Extended visits: remote relocations

With many children and families, not to mention formerly remote employees, feeling the squeeze of their walls at home, many hotels and villa properties are offering cost-effective extended stays (three weeks or more). Mid-term relocations are becoming incredibly common, with particular flight happening from metro centers in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. Individual countries are actively trying to scoop up consumer demand for change of scenery and pace, with countries like Dubai, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands offering temporary extended work visas to US citizens as a way to revive local tourism.

Short term rental properties such as beach house bookings, waterfront properties, mountain cabins, and southern getaways — or you know, just a yard if you’re a city-dweller — are booking in greater numbers in 2020 than nearly any time in 2019. AirDNA notes, “Among those leading the rebound are beaches, mountain towns, lakeside getaways, and really anything within driving distance of a major urban hub.”

Longer-term remote stays, whether for yourself or your family, are increasingly popular, as are remote work options which, according to Google trend data, have increased by two-times the previous levels pre-pandemic. Searches for extended stay vacations peaked at the end of December 2020, with previous highs in October and April 2020. Moving into 2021, we’ll likely see expanded tourism offerings to match this consumer demand, and also to accommodate pre-quarantine requirements, which vary city to city.

In conclusion

Travel isn’t what it used to be, and for the time being, we’re seeing increasingly important local search activations and feature adoption. And as remote work and location agnostic work becomes more the norm, the lessons we learned from pandemic travel search will help businesses thrive in this new tourism climate moving forward.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[camerasieunhovn]

Travel SEO Trends and Pivots from 2020 (and What to Carry into 2021)

Posted by Rachel.Vandernick

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that you can’t predict the future of tourism. Unlike nearly any other industry, tourism is simultaneously dictated by a number of factors including consumer proclivity, weather and climate, global economics, and government.

Travel was undoubtedly one of the hardest hit sectors in the 2020 shutdowns, which affected every business domain from the largest destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to local small businesses that thrive on the foot traffic tourism normally brings. US Travel’s year-end assessment determined there was a 48% drop in travel-related spending for December 2020 compared to 2019, and a year-long loss of $500 billion. Success in tourism in 2020 meant simply surviving for many businesses, accompanied by total content strategy revamps, product pivots, local SEO investments, and local marketing activations.

What worked in 2020

Locals-only tourism

With out-of-state quarantines in effect for most of the US, and especially prevalent in the northeast, once global destinations and metros became intensely local. Succeeding locally meant celebrating local culture and playing to the hometown advantage, and creating and activating hyper-local content and SEO to sell reimagined experiences and drive renewed interest at home.

Visit Philadelphia, the DMO for the greater Philadelphia region, revamped its 2020 marketing efforts to rollout “Our Turn To Tourist” through winter 2021, a “regional marketing initiative [that] encourages people to take staycations and close-to-home drive trips.”

Visit Philadelphia’s main objective is to attract tourists from all over the country to the city of Philadelphia. With millions of out-of-state visitors each year, and huge growth each year proceeding 2020, Visit Philadelphia had the early foresight to create content geared towards both locals and visitors, and adopted a local-first SEO strategy for things to do, see, and eat nearby.

The organization went so far as to create local-centric mini itineraries based off of current restrictions, optimizing for local tourism and attraction-related keywords, and widely distributing new COVID-19 content. This campaign supported not only the hotels and attractions in the city, but also the local restaurants and small businesses.

While not totally divergent in its approach, the long-term investment that Visit Philadelphia has made into winning at local search, snagging SERP features, and embracing new features like Discover, helps ensure it will continue to be a successful advocate for Philadelphia as “the greatest city in the USA to spend the weekend”.

Reinvented experiences

Tourism and experience-based companies hadn’t extensively ventured into the virtual space prior to 2020 — after all, why plan to watch the action from home when you could board a plane and take part live and in-person?

Philadelphia-based Beyond the Bell Tours, the only LGBTQ+-owned-and-run tour operator in the city, faced a critical decision in May 2020: Their hallmark Pride-themed “Drag Me Along” drag queen trolly bar crawl was unable to launch with bars closed indefinitely and social gatherings restricted. As searches continued to increase for virtual events, virtual gatherings, and virtual things to do, businesses that rose to meet the demand found success. For Beyond the Bell, that meant turning the “Drag Me Along” concept into “Pride In A Box”: a series of five different themed Pride boxes that included products and experiential components for use at home.

Though their website was originally built on a tour-booking engine, to execute a pivoted product strategy, they restructured it to allow an e-commerce integrated function, and optimized to sell products and experiences for Pride.

Founder Rebecca Fisher said, “We thought about how a box could embody a community. We highlighted queer people, businesses, and queer products, and held weekly events for Pride, all proceeds of which were donated to racial justice. A single ‘box’ purchased during Pride supported many queer businesses, and we wanted people to feel that impact.”

Ultimately, businesses that adapted quickly to changes in consumer search behavior, and that conducted and implemented keyword research for new content targeting previously unranked/low-volume terms, were better positioned to maintain consumer support and visibility even though actual travelers continued to drop.

Up-to-date info on expanding and changing regulations

Domestic travel is rarely regulated in the US, so when cities across the country responded to shut down orders, hot spots beloved by locals and tourists alike emptied out and revenue began to drastically fall.

As an SEO community (especially local!) we’re always advocates of the value of keeping local listings in Google My Business up-to-date, and it never mattered more than in 2020. Coming out on top were those who updated hours, COVID-19 policies and procedures, and published delivery or third-party partnerships. Unsurprisingly, AirBnB’s and VRBO’s new Covid content “enhanced cleaning protocol” and “guidelines for owners” come out top in searches for short term rental cleaning best practices, and cleanliness related to travel accomodations. Updated local listings allowed exasperated consumers to easily see what businesses were open, and allowed search-savvy businesses to leverage their GMB to position themselves as safety-conscious, accessible, and prioritize addressing consumer concerns (not to mention the features released to help businesses access these tools).

What to expect from tourism in 2021

It’s hard to remember a time of greater collective cabin fever. Though with border closings, pre-travel testing, and business closures remaining a moving target, we can still expect that a majority of travel will happen closer to home in early 2021. Here’s where we can expect to see growth first.

Short term stays: road trips, workspace respites, and snow birds

What's ahead for short-term travels? Continued RV sales, for one, which were up 4.5% annually in 2020. These growth indicators, as well as public perceptions of travel safety, continue to slate hometown and close-by exploration as the early 2021 winners.

Outdoor and spaced-out activities show continued interest in search volume and sales. Yellowstone National Park alone saw a 21% increase in year-over-year visitation in September 2020. Don’t expect this to slow down any time soon.

Another trend we expect to see continue in early 2021? Snow birding. Once reserved for the retired, heading south for the winter is especially popular this year for northerners leaving lockdowns at home. Expect extended stays, fuller flights, and busier beaches than normal.

One final place you can expect to see travelers? In a nearby hotel. Formerly reserved for the luxurious staycations, local hotels have become workplace respites for those fully remote workers who lack adequate home office space. Though not “technically” travel, many hotels (Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton, for starters) are offering single-day, day-time only, “work from hotel” deals to help relieve lost revenue and fried nerves of managing co-occurring zoom calls at the kitchen table.

Extended visits: remote relocations

With many children and families, not to mention formerly remote employees, feeling the squeeze of their walls at home, many hotels and villa properties are offering cost-effective extended stays (three weeks or more). Mid-term relocations are becoming incredibly common, with particular flight happening from metro centers in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. Individual countries are actively trying to scoop up consumer demand for change of scenery and pace, with countries like Dubai, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands offering temporary extended work visas to US citizens as a way to revive local tourism.

Short term rental properties such as beach house bookings, waterfront properties, mountain cabins, and southern getaways — or you know, just a yard if you’re a city-dweller — are booking in greater numbers in 2020 than nearly any time in 2019. AirDNA notes, “Among those leading the rebound are beaches, mountain towns, lakeside getaways, and really anything within driving distance of a major urban hub.”

Longer-term remote stays, whether for yourself or your family, are increasingly popular, as are remote work options which, according to Google trend data, have increased by two-times the previous levels pre-pandemic. Searches for extended stay vacations peaked at the end of December 2020, with previous highs in October and April 2020. Moving into 2021, we’ll likely see expanded tourism offerings to match this consumer demand, and also to accommodate pre-quarantine requirements, which vary city to city.

In conclusion

Travel isn’t what it used to be, and for the time being, we’re seeing increasingly important local search activations and feature adoption. And as remote work and location agnostic work becomes more the norm, the lessons we learned from pandemic travel search will help businesses thrive in this new tourism climate moving forward.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[gamebazu]

Travel SEO Trends and Pivots from 2020 (and What to Carry into 2021)

Posted by Rachel.Vandernick

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that you can’t predict the future of tourism. Unlike nearly any other industry, tourism is simultaneously dictated by a number of factors including consumer proclivity, weather and climate, global economics, and government.

Travel was undoubtedly one of the hardest hit sectors in the 2020 shutdowns, which affected every business domain from the largest destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to local small businesses that thrive on the foot traffic tourism normally brings. US Travel’s year-end assessment determined there was a 48% drop in travel-related spending for December 2020 compared to 2019, and a year-long loss of $500 billion. Success in tourism in 2020 meant simply surviving for many businesses, accompanied by total content strategy revamps, product pivots, local SEO investments, and local marketing activations.

What worked in 2020

Locals-only tourism

With out-of-state quarantines in effect for most of the US, and especially prevalent in the northeast, once global destinations and metros became intensely local. Succeeding locally meant celebrating local culture and playing to the hometown advantage, and creating and activating hyper-local content and SEO to sell reimagined experiences and drive renewed interest at home.

Visit Philadelphia, the DMO for the greater Philadelphia region, revamped its 2020 marketing efforts to rollout “Our Turn To Tourist” through winter 2021, a “regional marketing initiative [that] encourages people to take staycations and close-to-home drive trips.”

Visit Philadelphia’s main objective is to attract tourists from all over the country to the city of Philadelphia. With millions of out-of-state visitors each year, and huge growth each year proceeding 2020, Visit Philadelphia had the early foresight to create content geared towards both locals and visitors, and adopted a local-first SEO strategy for things to do, see, and eat nearby.

The organization went so far as to create local-centric mini itineraries based off of current restrictions, optimizing for local tourism and attraction-related keywords, and widely distributing new COVID-19 content. This campaign supported not only the hotels and attractions in the city, but also the local restaurants and small businesses.

While not totally divergent in its approach, the long-term investment that Visit Philadelphia has made into winning at local search, snagging SERP features, and embracing new features like Discover, helps ensure it will continue to be a successful advocate for Philadelphia as “the greatest city in the USA to spend the weekend”.

Reinvented experiences

Tourism and experience-based companies hadn’t extensively ventured into the virtual space prior to 2020 — after all, why plan to watch the action from home when you could board a plane and take part live and in-person?

Philadelphia-based Beyond the Bell Tours, the only LGBTQ+-owned-and-run tour operator in the city, faced a critical decision in May 2020: Their hallmark Pride-themed “Drag Me Along” drag queen trolly bar crawl was unable to launch with bars closed indefinitely and social gatherings restricted. As searches continued to increase for virtual events, virtual gatherings, and virtual things to do, businesses that rose to meet the demand found success. For Beyond the Bell, that meant turning the “Drag Me Along” concept into “Pride In A Box”: a series of five different themed Pride boxes that included products and experiential components for use at home.

Though their website was originally built on a tour-booking engine, to execute a pivoted product strategy, they restructured it to allow an e-commerce integrated function, and optimized to sell products and experiences for Pride.

Founder Rebecca Fisher said, “We thought about how a box could embody a community. We highlighted queer people, businesses, and queer products, and held weekly events for Pride, all proceeds of which were donated to racial justice. A single ‘box’ purchased during Pride supported many queer businesses, and we wanted people to feel that impact.”

Ultimately, businesses that adapted quickly to changes in consumer search behavior, and that conducted and implemented keyword research for new content targeting previously unranked/low-volume terms, were better positioned to maintain consumer support and visibility even though actual travelers continued to drop.

Up-to-date info on expanding and changing regulations

Domestic travel is rarely regulated in the US, so when cities across the country responded to shut down orders, hot spots beloved by locals and tourists alike emptied out and revenue began to drastically fall.

As an SEO community (especially local!) we’re always advocates of the value of keeping local listings in Google My Business up-to-date, and it never mattered more than in 2020. Coming out on top were those who updated hours, COVID-19 policies and procedures, and published delivery or third-party partnerships. Unsurprisingly, AirBnB’s and VRBO’s new Covid content “enhanced cleaning protocol” and “guidelines for owners” come out top in searches for short term rental cleaning best practices, and cleanliness related to travel accomodations. Updated local listings allowed exasperated consumers to easily see what businesses were open, and allowed search-savvy businesses to leverage their GMB to position themselves as safety-conscious, accessible, and prioritize addressing consumer concerns (not to mention the features released to help businesses access these tools).

What to expect from tourism in 2021

It’s hard to remember a time of greater collective cabin fever. Though with border closings, pre-travel testing, and business closures remaining a moving target, we can still expect that a majority of travel will happen closer to home in early 2021. Here’s where we can expect to see growth first.

Short term stays: road trips, workspace respites, and snow birds

What's ahead for short-term travels? Continued RV sales, for one, which were up 4.5% annually in 2020. These growth indicators, as well as public perceptions of travel safety, continue to slate hometown and close-by exploration as the early 2021 winners.

Outdoor and spaced-out activities show continued interest in search volume and sales. Yellowstone National Park alone saw a 21% increase in year-over-year visitation in September 2020. Don’t expect this to slow down any time soon.

Another trend we expect to see continue in early 2021? Snow birding. Once reserved for the retired, heading south for the winter is especially popular this year for northerners leaving lockdowns at home. Expect extended stays, fuller flights, and busier beaches than normal.

One final place you can expect to see travelers? In a nearby hotel. Formerly reserved for the luxurious staycations, local hotels have become workplace respites for those fully remote workers who lack adequate home office space. Though not “technically” travel, many hotels (Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton, for starters) are offering single-day, day-time only, “work from hotel” deals to help relieve lost revenue and fried nerves of managing co-occurring zoom calls at the kitchen table.

Extended visits: remote relocations

With many children and families, not to mention formerly remote employees, feeling the squeeze of their walls at home, many hotels and villa properties are offering cost-effective extended stays (three weeks or more). Mid-term relocations are becoming incredibly common, with particular flight happening from metro centers in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. Individual countries are actively trying to scoop up consumer demand for change of scenery and pace, with countries like Dubai, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands offering temporary extended work visas to US citizens as a way to revive local tourism.

Short term rental properties such as beach house bookings, waterfront properties, mountain cabins, and southern getaways — or you know, just a yard if you’re a city-dweller — are booking in greater numbers in 2020 than nearly any time in 2019. AirDNA notes, “Among those leading the rebound are beaches, mountain towns, lakeside getaways, and really anything within driving distance of a major urban hub.”

Longer-term remote stays, whether for yourself or your family, are increasingly popular, as are remote work options which, according to Google trend data, have increased by two-times the previous levels pre-pandemic. Searches for extended stay vacations peaked at the end of December 2020, with previous highs in October and April 2020. Moving into 2021, we’ll likely see expanded tourism offerings to match this consumer demand, and also to accommodate pre-quarantine requirements, which vary city to city.

In conclusion

Travel isn’t what it used to be, and for the time being, we’re seeing increasingly important local search activations and feature adoption. And as remote work and location agnostic work becomes more the norm, the lessons we learned from pandemic travel search will help businesses thrive in this new tourism climate moving forward.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

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