The DTour adventures include:

• A journey across North America, featuring sunny beaches and big city fun.
• An exciting trek among the cities and cathedrals of Europe.
• An adventure that spans the length of Africa and the Middle East, including South Africa, Seychelles, Tanzania and Dubai.
• An adventure across Australia - a continent that DoubleTree by Hilton is entering this year.
• An excursion through Asia, featuring visits to China, India, Thailand and Malaysia.
• A visit to the tropical beaches and rain forests of Central and South America.

Step 1: Go to DTour (www.doubletree.com/dtour), an amazing, first-of-its-kind YouTube channel that offers travelers a whole new way to plan and share their trips. By integrating all major social media networks in one place, DTour makes it easy for travelers to share memorable moments from domestic and global adventures.

Step 2: All you need to do is share an audition video in which you describe a nearby landmark, unique culture or not-to-be-missed travel spot while on vacation or in your hometown. Video submissions must be at least 30 seconds to three minutes in length, and have a description that is no more than 300 words.

Your audition could be about any travel-specific adventure … a sunset jog along the beach at Big Sur, the view from the Great Wall of China, rubbing the nose on the bust of Abe Lincoln outside his tomb in Springfield, Ill., hiking to the top of Canaa amid the Mayan ruins in the Belize jungle.

Describe it well, and you could be a big winner. Twenty-four finalists will be selected by a panel of judges – with six winners selected by consumer voting on the DTour website.

So what do you get if you win? Each winner will be awarded two-week to two-month travel experiences on one of the six continents where DoubleTree by Hilton is located. Their “job” will be to serve as a brand ambassador, traveling around the world, experiencing DoubleTree by Hilton hospitality, meeting locals and curating their own travel tips and stories via blog entries, photos, videos and social media posts for the DTour site.

The deadline is Friday, May 31 so visit DTour (www.doubletree.com/dtour) and win the travel experience of a lifetime!!

It’s been called one of the world’s most scenic drives. The Hana Highway along Maui’s eastern coast is 52 miles of narrow roads that carve through lush rain forests along rocky coastlines. Stretching from Kahului to the sleepy coastal town of Hana, this curvaceous highway coils around the island, across hundreds of curves and one-lane bridges. A trip there reveals the rugged natural beauty of postcard perfect Hawaii, from sweeping ocean views, to tropical waterfalls and volcanic black sand beaches.

Eager to experience this adventure for myself, I flew to Maui, rented a compact car, cranked the radio to a jamming ukulele station and hit the road. The drive to Hana can take from a few hours to a few days (depending on weather, speed and how many stops you make). It’s a windy route with hairpin turns and dramatic drops, so drivers should be mindful, slow and observant as they yield to oncoming traffic.

The view is worth the harrowing drive. Picture a velvet cape of emerald foliage; a patch quilt of Eucalyptus trees and subtropical rain forests. Mysterious, secretive, primordial and other worldly, it’s no wonder why location scouts chose this cinematic area to feature in the opening sequence of the film Jurassic Park. With such fertile landscapes and stunning panoramas, it’s hard to keep one’s eyes on the road.

For dramatic black sand beaches, large sea caves and volcanic tubes,Wai’anapanapa State Park is a must see, plus you can hike bamboo forests along the Pipiwai Trail. If wind sports are your thing, Ho’okipa Beach is an international hot spot for world-class wind surfers. Wildlife lovers should head to the Garden of Eden Arboretum and Botanical Garden, where you’ll find twenty-six acres of nature trails with endemic plants and exotic birds. With such incredible scenery, Hana lives up to its reputation as one of the world’s most stunning drives.

This story was first published by MSN. For the complete story, check out http://local.msn.com/travel/blog–cruising-the-road-to-hana-epic-road-trippn-in-maui

Picture 6,000 people dancing like lunatics, high-fiving each other, shouting “YES!” and “I OWN YOU” at the top of their lungs. Add personal breakthroughs, hilarious storytelling, group massages, moaning, nose picking, a Jumbotron, coarse language, and a fire-walk across hot coals—there you have the Tony Robbins experience. It’s a unique blend of convention meets summer camp, therapy meets rock concert, motivation meets techno party mega church.

Tony Robbins, the business and life strategist who has advised everyone from Nelson Mandela to Bill Clinton to Oprah over the past 30 years, is a magnetic speaker with a larger-than-life stage presence and contagious energy. This past weekend, I spent four days fully immersed in a live Tony Robbins event called “Unleash the Power Within,” held at the Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles. Participants traveled from all around the world for a chance to learn Tony’s formula to achieving more happiness, love, passion, success, and fulfillment in life.

Skeptics are quick to judge and I certainly came to the event with a healthy dose of doubt, but having just experienced a Tony Robbins event for myself, I have to admit…it was fabulous! It’s a very special experience that promotes self-reflection, gratitude, self-empowerment, connection with others, and design-your-own destiny. The event is a fascinating exercise in personal growth, optimizing your potential and, at the very least, it’s just plain fun.

Among many things, you’ll learn effective strategies for achieving your desired goals by replacing limiting beliefs with positive ones. You’ll learn the skills of rapport, the 12 principles of a vital life, and you’ll break free from unconscious fears that have been holding you back. But this kind of personal progress does require active participation. Standing in the riotous crowd, I quickly realized that the harder you play, the sillier you get, the more you open yourself up, let yourself go and be honest with yourself, the more you’ll get out of the experience. So I threw up my hands, shouted “I FREAK’N ROCK,” hugged a stranger, and unleashed my power within.

For a list of Tony Robbins’ upcoming speaking engagements, held all around the world from Chicago to Fiji, check out: http://www.tonyrobbi​ns.com/events/

*This article was originally published on MSN. For the complete story, check out http://local.msn.com/travel/blog–unleashing-the-power-within

An artistic town and hippie hangout in the heart of Bali’s terraced rice fields, Ubud is a go-to spot for most travelers passing through the popular Indonesian island. Whether it’s for a few days or a few months, the charming community of Ubud promises lush landscapes, exotic culture, Hindu temples and mischievous monkeys. A featured destination in the Elizabeth Gilbert franchise “Eat, Pray, Love,” Ubud is Bali’s cultural capital promising a laid-back vibe, yoga retreats, spiritual healers, affordable guesthouses, romantic restaurants and traditional dances. Having just returned from Bali a week ago, I’m excited to share some of the best activities in Ubud:

1) Go Rafting:
While there are many companies offering rafting trips in the Ubud area, Fantasi Rafting is one of the only outfitters that begins beneath an impressive 100-foot waterfall. This section of the Ayung River then cuts through dense tropical rain forests, across deep V volcano-sculpted terrain and through an active bat cave. Look up in awe as millions of flying webbed rodents soar around blindly and chirp frantically. Drifting downriver in the rubber raft, it’s a view that makes you feel like you’re in a living episode of Planet Earth. Even if you’ve rafted before, this hour-and-a-half adventure is certainly worth the $68 price tag (the tour package also includes transportation and lunch). The scenery is awesome, the guides are fun, and the class 2/3 rapids offer a fast-paced thrill ride for paddlers. It’s a must-do!

2) Get Pampered:
You can’t go wrong with an ultra relaxing hour-long Balinese massage for the whopping price of….wait for it…$16! Unbelievable, but true. Ubud is home to the luxury-for-less spa experience. You can expect high quality therapists in clean and tranquil settings, at alarmingly affordable prices. Spend your vacation getting pampered at one of the town’s many spas. Bali Botanical Day Spa, located off the main road near the Museum Neka, offers two-and-a-half-hour Ayurvedic massages for less than $45 USD. Book a 45-minute Pondecheri foot massage ($12), an hour-long Hand Spa treatment ($13) or an Herbal Facial treatment ($18) with one of the many therapists. Go forth and detox! For a more complete list of body treatments offered at Bali Botanical Day Spa, visit www.balibotanica.com​

3) Get Gluttonous with Meat and Martinis:
Be sure to experience the legendary ribs and martinis at Naughty Nuri’s, a well-known street side eatery along Jl. Raya Sanggingan Road. This iconic joint serves up succulent barbecue spare ribs and possibly the world’s meanest martini (even Travel Channel star Anthony Bourdain gave it a shout out). A generous pouring of your choosing (either vodka or gin), this adult beverage is so strong, it’s sure to make even the most hardcore cocktail connoisseur pucker. With outdoor communal seating next to a smoking grill, this down-and-dirty barbecue joint is a great place to fuel up and mingle with fellow travelers.

4) Learn to Cook:
For wannabe chefs, the best souvenir is taking home the art of Indonesian cuisine. Mozaic, the world-renown gastronomy restaurant offering gourmet six-course tasting menus, also offers cooking workshops. Classes include: Gourmet World Cuisine, Spa & Health Cuisine, and Asian Ingredients in Western Cuisine. On site, students will learn cooking techniques, help design a set menu, master the art of foie gras and apply the rules of Yin and Yang to create unusual, yet balanced cuisine. Half and full day courses typically cost from $90-130 USD.

5) Monkey-Around in a Sacred Monkey Forest:
If you’re a fan of playful primates in lush jungle settings, take a stroll through Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, one of Ubud’s most famous tourist attractions. Meandering around a series of trails, past temples and stone statues of dinosaur-sized Komodo dragons, you’ll spot cute long-tailed macaques. Funny little creatures with expressive faces and white mustaches, these photogenic monkeys swing from trees, climb atop tourists and are all ’round entertaining. Fearless, sociable and sometimes shameless little thieves (it’s best to leave your valuables and snacks at home), these monkeys can turn nasty if they’re taunted with food, so play it safe and don’t tease the animals.

For the complete story, originally published on MSN, check out http://local.msn.com/travel/blogpost.aspx?post=156c8898-0a21-4cb1-88af-bdfd8fbeb5cd

With jaguars, anacondas, black caiman and piranha, the jungle is home to a long list of creatures eager to eat, squeeze, bite or nibble on you if given the chance. With so many predator-free high-end luxury resorts around the world, it’s a wonder why people would choose to spend their vacation time in the thick of nature, (far from air-conditioning, room service or HBO) battling the elements. Seems counter-intuitive but learning to survive in the jungle is the exact reason why I, like the many other adventure-seekers before me, have found themselves in Guyana. Nestled between Brazil and Venezuela, approximately 80 percent of this small South American country is primary tropical rainforest, making it the perfect locale for Bear Grylls wannabes on a quest to survive.

Deep in the Amazonian Basin, a few hours walk from the tiny Amerindian village of Surama, I followed a trio of Makushi guides into the jungle for a two-day survival adventure. This remote jungle experience teaches guests how to hunt using a traditional bow and arrow, set traps for small animals, hand fish, sleep in jungle hammocks and make fire.

Part of an itinerary planned by Adventure Life (a tour operator offering multi-sport and adventure expeditions across Central and South America), this jungle survival course is an exercise in self-preservation, indigenous skills and bad-assery.

So there we were, in the middle of the jungle, trying to find a good place to camp. My guide signaled to a grassy patch of land that seemed suitable for a makeshift home. He handed me a machete and instructed me to clear away the vines that carpeted the jungle floor (so you can spot creepy crawlies who try to cuddle with you in the middle of the night). With the area clear, I strung my hammock between two trees, adjusted a tarp overtop, secured a mosquito net and voila. It was no Four Seasons, but did serve as an effective shelter.

With camp set up, next task was to hunt for our dinner using a traditional bow and arrow. I’ve seen “Hunger Games,” I know how it’s done.  Turns out that real life archery requires a combination of strength, co-ordination and timing… a trifecta I pretty much sucked at. From hunting, we tried fishing for our dinner. Using plump white grubs as bait, we caught a few small piranha, skewered the boney fish and grilled them over an open flame.

Post dinner, I retreated to my hammock to begin my going-to-bed ritual. As I reached for a toothbrush in my backpack, which was slung over a nearby tree branch, I saw something move. It was a massive wolf spider, double the size of my hand, crawling slowly up and territorially over my bag. Ahh. I recoiled. I’m not a fan of spiders, certainly not big hairy ones laying claim to my belongings. My guide grabbed a stick and poked him until he scurried away. Then one of his wolf spiders buddies emerged from my bag. There were spiders everywhere! I’d set up camp smack in the middle of a wolf spider compound. Just great.

Unsettled, but unscathed, I slipped beneath my mosquito net and obsessively checked the innards of my hammock. No spiders there thank goodness! Just as I was attempting to relax and settle in for the night, I spotted something big and black move inside my net. Bullet ant! Though they’re only an inch long, bullet ants are nasty little guys with reputations as the world’s most painful stinging insect. On the Schmidt Sting index, bullet ants rate as the number one most painful bite among hymenoptera, one of the largest orders of insects. Schmidt himself described the bite of a bullet ant “like fire-walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch rusty nail grinding into your heel.” So when you find one crawling around your bed, it violates the perceived safety and sanctity of the gossamer mosquito net. My guide once again came to my rescue and “escorted” the ant out (killed it dead dead as they would say in Guyana).

Needless to say, after so much wolf spider/bullet ant excitement, it was a restless night’s sleep. I feared what else might be in my hammock or lurking outside the net. In the middle of the night, I heard an animal stomping around camp. I listened hard, held my breath and hoped the massive man-eater (which turned out to be a harmless armadillo) wasn’t hungry for blonde travel writers.

After my short time in the jungle, it became clear. Beyond learning the tactical skills of survival, sleeping out in the jungle (exposed to the elements and plagued by an overactive imagination) tests your psychological strength. Depriving oneself from all that is comfortable and familiar, also makes returning to regular life all the more satisfying. Suddenly the simple comforts easily taken for granted (like running water, flushing toilets and walls), you now appreciate. Jungle survival in Guyana was an incredible experience! It’s a way to test your boundaries, challenge yourself and acquire some new skills….just watch out for those bullet ants.

The Details:

For more information on organized trips to Guyana visit Adventure Life

For those who are interested in a fully immersive, two-week long jungle survival experience, check out Bushmasters, a UK-based adventure tour company that pits man vs. nature in the remote Amazonian rainforests of Guyana. Your guides, a former British Army officer and locals from Surama village, will teach you how to hunt Amerindian style with a bow and arrow, wield a machete, hand fish and build shelter. The training culminates in a two-day isolation experience where you venture out into the jungle completely solo to put all your survival skills to the test.

This story was originally published on MSN. For the complete article, check out: http://local.msn.com/travel/blogpost.aspx?_blg=3&post=990ac0db-d119-4f86-956e-ae8c90759a96

With ancient Roman, Christian and pagan roots, Valentine’s Day is now less about history and more about Hallmark. It’s a retail cash cow, drawing billions of dollars annually in chocolates, roses and sexy gifts. Many people share in the sentiments of Jay Leno, when he said: ”Today is Valentine’s Day. Or, as men like to call it, Extortion Day.” In this spirit of romance, raunch and bitter cynicism, I bring you some weird and wacky eros-themed Valentine’s Day events to check out this year. From luchadore wrestling and burlesque strip shows in Hollywood, to the Museum of Sex in Manhattan, there are many titillating and provocative events in cities across the country that are sure to spice up your V-Day plans:

San Francisco

Nothing says “love” like smacking that special someone in the face. This Valentine’s Day, check out the Great San Francisco Pillow Fight, a free annual event that sees thousands of people in a public bedroom brawl of flailing pillows and feathers. This flash-mob type event will help you get out your aggression over a recent breakup, or, if you’re lucky, meet a new special someone. The Great San Francisco Pillow Fight takes place from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. in Justin Herman Plaza. Bring synthetic pillows (so the feathers don’t spew out everywhere), and get ready for a Valentine’s Day smackdown.

Los Angeles

Take your sweetheart to Lucha VaVoom, a two-hour show that blends authentic Mexican professional wrestling with campy comedy, burlesque striptease and rowdy audience participation. Picture luchadore wrestlers in skintight Spandex pants and Lycra masks flying around in the ring, performing acrobatic maneuvers and special holds. Between matches, sequined dancers with names like Kitten de Ville and Lacy Fur seduce the audience with erotic moves and leggy routines. This Feb. 13-14, head to the Mayan, an opulent Art Deco theatre in downtown Los Angeles, for Lucha VaVoom a fun kitschy way to celebrate the day.

Chicago

With clever saying like “Love Stinks, Let’s Drink” and “Cupid is Stupid” anti-Valentine’s Day Parties are tapping into the collective consciousness of single cynics everywhere. This year, the Windy City is hosting The Fourth Annual Anti-Valentine’s Day Party, presented by the Chicago Reader (Chicago’s largest free weekly newspaper). The party boasts DJs, spoken word dating disaster stories, dancing, drinks and roller derby girls. The Valentine’s Day event begins at 8 p.m. at the Logan Square Auditorium and the first a hundred people will receive a gift bag from The Pleasure Chest.

Photo credit: “Scott Beale / Laughing Squid” laughingsquid.com

This article was originally published on MSN. To see the complete version, visit: http://local.msn.com/travel/blogpost.aspx?post=55426ea6-d372-41de-9ed9-b0ef434b7a58

Thank you so much to everyone who attended my talk “Break The Routine: Extreme Adventures in 2013″ at this year’s New York Times travel show!! It was an awesome turn out! Below are many of the budget, money-saving tips I shared within my talk. For those who weren’t able to attend this year, here are some of the highlights in terms of booking your own travel adventures:

-When looking for a good deal on airline tickets, use travel search engines like www.kayak.com, www.skyscanner.com, www.orbitz.com, www.expedia.com, www.cheaptickets.com, www.momondo, www.hipmunk.com or www.airfarewatchdog.com which are all online search engines that compare hundreds of sites in one simple search. Compare, contrast.

-Sign up for Fare Alerts and airlines’ e-mail feeds to get promo codes and sale fares.

-Book on Tuesdays. Fly on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Morning is best. Be flexible with dates. Consider alternative airports and layovers. Factor in the additional cost of transportation (bus, taxi or shared ride) if the smaller airport is further away from the city center. Book flight and hotel together to potentially save hundreds of dollars.

-Bing.com has a price predictor on its travel booking site. Kayak has a feature called Explore, where you plug in your destination city and you can see where to go, and for how much.

-For low airfares, discount codes and special promotions, follow all the major airlines and your fave hotel chains on Twitter and Facebook.

-Collect frequent flyer points and sign up for loyalty rewards programs if you’re a frequent buyer. Dedicate yourself to one frequent flyer program and work towards elite status (and the associated benefits and recognition) plus a choice of attractive awards. Look for Bonus Intro Offers when you sign up for a card. Read every issue of your program’s newsletter for special promotions where you can earn double, even triple points. Know the partners ie. affiliated hotels, restaurants, shops that also offer points.

-Consider good value destination. Flights to Thailand, Vietnam, India, Argentina and Bolivia aren’t cheap but once you get there, your money goes a long way.

-For hotels and car rentals, bid on Hotwire.com or Priceline.com. If you’ve never done it before, sites like www.bidontravel.com and www.betterbidding.com will share recently accepted bids and advice on how to beat the system.

-Instead of hotel rooms, look for alternative forms of accommodation. VRBO.com (for Vacation Rentals), Hostelworld.com (for finding a hostel), Couchsurfing (for crashing on a local’s couch for free) and AirB‘nB.com

-Do a car share : Getaround (the Air B’nB of cars)

-For activities, check out sites like Livingsocial, Groupon, and Yippit for fun activities in your hometown. Go to the tourism board websites for discounts on hotels and activities.

-Yapta.com (will alert you if there’s a drop in airfare, so you can get $$ back)

What are your budget saving tips for when you travel or book your airfare. Please share below. Many thanks and safe travels! J.

For the complete story on Scenic Road Trips Around the World, check out MSN http://local.msn.com/travel/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=253428861

Photo credit: Flicker CC Ivanka Majic

(Before his Presidency, Obama was an original member of Color Me Badd. Fact. photo credit: Surian Soosay)

Beyond sugarcane and pineapples, Hawaii boasts another well-known export: Barack Obama. “You can’t really understand Barack until you understand Hawaii,” said his wife, Michelle. If you’re looking to get more insight into the President, here are a few hot spots to visit. Check out Kapiolani Medical Center, where Obama was born in 1961; his childhood home, a modest high-rise apartment building in Honolulu; and Punahou High School, where he played on the basketball team and graduated in 1979. From Olomana Golf Links — the president’s favorite golf course — to the Baskin-Robbins where a teenage Obama worked as an ice-cream scooper, now is a great time to say, “Yes, we can” to Hawaii.

For the complete story, check out MSN http://local.msn.com/travel/presidential-hot-spots-follow-in-the-footsteps-of-our-founding-fathers

Trader Joe’s “Two Buck Chuck” Charles Shaw not doing it anymore for your refined palate? If dry rieslings and aromatic gewürztraminers rev your engine, you’ll love the Alsace Wine Route. It’s a journey in northeastern France that takes visitors on a 105-mile drive, from the rolling vineyards of Thann to the ancient town of Marlenheim. This is the perfect wine weekend getaway, so allow for several days to explore. Beyond wine tasting, there are more than 100 charming villages tucked away in the foothills of the Vosges, peppered with medieval castles, half-timber buildings, romantic inns and Michelin-starred restaurants.

For the complete story on Scenic Road Trips Around the World, check on MSN http://local.msn.com/travel/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=253428861

Photo Credit: Flicker CC Chris Barker