Grab Bag: Over-used travel words and latest carnival

Here’s a mashup — a terrific thread from the Travelwriters.com BBS of most over-used words in travel writing, and the latest Home Turf Media blog carnival. 

For the first topic, I must say that, yikes, I’ve been guilty of a few of the cliched expressions that are panned on the BBS, like “a step back in time” or “nestled.”  This is a fun discussion and should be required reading for English composition classes. 

For the second topic, let me commend the Carnival of Cities #3, Urban Planet to your reading pleasure.  Topics submitted include:

Houston, Texas, USA    Bill at Wisebread wants you to know why a bad first job is good for you. It’s the first in a series of articles about how to break into Houston’s advertising industry.

Seattle, Washington, USA    Mary Jo Manzanares tells us about the thought-provoking photography exhibit “Captured Youth” at Pioneer Square’s James Harris Gallery.  She writes at The Seattle Traveler.

Des Moines, Iowa, USA    Doug Mitchell wants to know what would happen if “Little House on the Prairie’s” Charles Ingalls had venture funding (or How America’s Heartland Is HOT.)   

Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA    Alli Crumley extends a warm welcome to Chattanooga visitors (it’s natural that you will love it here.) 

San Francisco, California, USA    The Silicon Valley Blogger is appalled that this old house is worth US$ 1.23 million compared to a gorgeous home in another attractive Western US city. 

Bellevue, Washington, USA    Steve Madsen tells us that in Bellevue, Seattle’s younger sister is growing up. 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia    CJCM discovers that Zass!!, the world’s first mobile hair salon, is in Kuala Lumpur.   

Tokyo, Japan    Yours truly presents a detailed itinerary from Asakusa to Odaiba in Tokyo. 

Preston, Lancashire, the United Kindom    Riversider argues against excessive development and barrage construction on the historic River Ribble, near the town of Preston.  His post asks, “Riverworks, who stands to gain: property consultants or the environment?”   

Berlin, Germany    Steve presents Five Favs – Berlin, Germany posted at Exit Row Seat. 

Fribourg, Switzerland    Jul describes colorful Fribourg in words and lovely photos at her blog This non-American Life.  

That’s it for today; the week is rapidly getting crazier as I prepare to attend Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference (for “digital creatives”) starting this Friday.  I’ll be blogging about it over at Liz Strauss’ Successful Blog.