If travels are you passion, then you might like to think you’d recognize places from the photos you see of them. Even if you haven’t visited all major cities around the world yet, you definitely have plans to, so you’ve done your research and list of places to see.

If you think you’ve got that travel mojo and would like to put it’s sharpness and quickness to a test, what better way than Stay.com’s “Guess the City” contest? You have to guess 10 cities in a limited amount of time after seeing a collage of distinctive tourist attractions.

Besides being extremely addictive, the game comes with prizes aimed to please the travel addicts. Free one week hotel stays in major cities around the world. Stay.com states the contest is open to players from all over the world, but they haven’t yet disclosed the list of cities they came up with. Nor did they mention if you get to choose or they pick the city for you. It will all be a big surprise for everybody.

One more thing, don’t fear the competition. Yes, you give your friends a chance to win by telling them all about the game, but you get points for doing it, so the threat and the karma boost are leveraged.

The contest ends on July 15. So come out and play until then and let me know what you think of the game. I for one have played it dozens of times and I can barely make myself stop playing Hope you have as much fun as I’ve had.

There are dozens of hotel booking sites available online. Some are general, and you can find a hotel in every country of the world, some are region specific, built around a continent or a larger region and some are country specific. As you see, your options are unlimited, you can search and find the best deal ever. But how to choose wisely every time? Well, there are a few tricks to that.

I for one have started booking my vacations online about three years ago. It started with a sort of an accident: some friends were planning a vacation and used such a site to book our stay. I loved the simple process, the hotel, the fact that we had no major issues with the reservation. I have to admit I was a bit worried, but it all turned out perfectly.

What online booking sites are best at is putting you in charge of your holiday. You’ve already drawn up a budget, you know how much you’ll spent on transportation, sightseeing and food and now you have an amount of money to spend on a hotel. Where to book your stay? And what to keep your eyes open for?

First Ingredient: Research

You should start by selecting a few online booking sites to choose from. You can find online reviews and you can ask friends to recommend some. Do a quick search and work on trial and error.

Remember one thing though! Reviews of booking sites are not always about the best ones. They are sometimes about the newest challengers, so combine them with other resources in your research.

Second Ingredient: Setting up the right criteria

As you might have guessed, the cheapest deal is not the only thing you should look for. You should also keep an eye on what’s included in the room price, how far it is from your visiting objectives, how hard will it be to find it. Also, the price of not included services is important! If what you save on the room is spent on parking, air conditioning or other such services, it’s not the best deal!

Third Ingredient: Selecting a Couple of Great Sites

When you plan your own vacation, research and planning tend to get a little time consuming. So you need a list of top 2 or 3 sites to compare every time you need to find your hotel accommodation. For example, pick one with the most possible destinations, one that also has hostels or apartment rentals and one specific to an area you most frequently choose for your trips.

Third Ingredient: Keep an Eye on New Sites

New hotel booking sites are launched quite often. You should stay updated and make sure to check out the launch contests, special offers and new destinations. I for one have one favorite booking site, but always compare it with new kids on the block. In some areas, they are better, in others, my long lasting love still rules

Your spell is now ready! Stir all ingredients and say the magic words: I’m going on an amazing trip and I’m the one who organized it! All you have to do now is show up and enjoy every second

Your master in travel spells,

The Travel Wizard