Think globally, blog locally

                   

I usually cast a world-wide net for travel information, but just for fun today I thought I’d support my local bloggers and highlight some links from Texas-based blogs. 

Many of these are written by folks that I’ve gotten to know through the awesome Freelance Austin networking group.

**  Ever look at a hotel or restaurant bill when you travel, and start to feel that your family is suffering from a “taxing vacation?”  Personal finance writer Kay Bell at Don’t Mess With Taxes says you aren’t imagining those “gouge the tourists” add-ons.  It’s certainly more popular to raise a city’s hotel taxes than to raise revenue from residents.

**  Are you coming to our fair city for the Austin City Limits Music Festival next month?  British transplant writer and editor Julie Tereshchuk recommends a few downtown places to drop in for a bite and maybe a coffee.  Want more foodie tips from an Austin local?  I like author Brad Whittington’s blog about all sorts of eateries; Brad’s novels about Fred, Texas are a hoot.

**  The good folks at Texas Highways magazine have rolled out their own blog, full of good scoop on various hidden delights in the state.  I’m a proud contributor to the magazine myself; check out my articles on those famous Round Rock (TX) donuts and the fabulous honky-tonk action at the Old Coupland Inn and Dancehall.

**  I’m actually thinking about fall and winter holidays right about now, so I can nail down some early hotel reservations for travel with the kids.  Did you know that there’s a Victorian Christmas celebration every year in Galveston?  The Texas RV Travel blog isn’t just for RV-ers, and blogger Eileen has a post about Galveston’s Dickens on the Strand, with lots of stuff for children. 

**  Finally, to get your non-travel-related geek fix, I recommend TechBlog, written by my old friend Dwight Silverman at the Houston Chronicle.  I followed his recent saga about buying his college-bound daughter a laptop. 

If you’re like me and starting to think about that topic (fortunately my teenager is just a high school sophomore) then take a look at these posts:  his spec requirements and daughter’s desire for a PC, the eventual capitulation to a Mac and why, and the ultra-dweeb-way-over-my-head-but-interesting discussion about going through Apple’s “Boot Camp” process to get Windows running on her Mac.

Do you have any favorite local bloggers to tell us about? 

Technorati tags: travel, family travel, blogging