Hey, kids, it’s time for everyone’s favorite chunk of used space! And travel links!

Low-cost airlines are following you (and friending).

Nomadic Matt is giving away an iPod Touch and more!

And the WAEA goes to…

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Did you know that there is travel in them there Internets? It’s true!

Here are just a few of the items that have shuffled across our inbox lately:

If you have a kid, a camera and access to water you could win a $500 Best Western gift card at Babble Playground.  How’s that for a photo contest?

Holy cow, Jet Blue! All-You-Can-Jet for $599! Shamwow! Read More »

Since hardly anybody gets the paper anymore (and obviously the LA Times is feelin’ it, because it’s laying off many of the humans who work there and, like, write stuff) I feel an obligation to tell you about a wonderful feature that the Times ran last Sunday.  Hopefully they won’t be getting rid of Christopher Reynolds anytime soon, considering that he is a one-man travel section for the paper.

In one issue alone, Reynolds provided the following:

-a travelogue of his road trip along the California coast, south end to north end.

-a list and review of hotels along the coast that offer good deals.

-a guide to the restaurants he visited.

And his picks for the top five coastal CA campgrounds, which includes my favorite, Leo Carillo beach.  And I know my SoCal beaches (see photos below).

I feel this need to tell you about it because I, unlike many other travelers, still actually read the physical newspaper.  While I get fantastic travel ideas from Uptake, nothing grabs my attention like a well-written travelogue that smells of newsprint that I can enjoy while I’m drinking my lazy Sunday morning coffee.  That is, until my toddler comes along to shred it out of my hands.

Oh, they still have other writers on staff, who provided more gems in this very same issue, including this item about luxury hotel renovations, a gold mine of info about California’s national parks , monuments, and historical sites.  If you do read the newspaper and you fear the day it starts arriving as one long sheaf of advertising and no information whatsoever, Uptake will be here to make you feel better.  Might as well start using us more regularly now (and subscribe, even!) to soften the blow.

If only Uptake smelled like newsprint.  But maybe they’ll come up with smell-o-vision for computers.

All photos by Kim Tracy Prince