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What is Travel Onion?   |   Who is Travel Onion?   |   How do we select blogs?   |   Press

What is Travel Onion?

Great travel information exists on the web - it's just hard to find.  Travel Onion brings an editorial hand to the chaos of the blogosphere.  We save our readers time by selecting the very best blogs and newsletters and then presenting the information in a way that helps our readers with pre-trip planning.
 
Our readers want to know where to stay, what exhibits to see, where to eat, and what is going on right now.  Through both our blog excerpts and our carefully chosen sponsored links we provide consumers with recommendations.
 
Our content is exciting, unique, and most importantly, current.  Our bloggers have extensive knowledge on their city or type of travel.  We mix in a variety of perspectives and category focus.  Food blogs, free events blogs, family travel advice blogs, nightlife recommendation blogs and much more can all be found on Travel Onion.  The result is a unique, informed travel experience more personal than can be found in a guidebook.

Who is Travel Onion?

Headquartered in Washington, DC, Travel Onion was officially launched on March 15, 2010.
 
 cal_headshot.jpg      nathan-editor.jpg       Kendall-2-copy1-150x204.jpg     Megan_2-_150x204.jpg
 Cal Simmons
, Founder/Publisher        Nathan Stone, Web Developer       Kendall Gartlan, Managing Editor     Megan Keyer, Sales/Marketing
Cal Simmons, the founder and publisher of Travel Onion, is one of the most trusted, recognized and successful travel experts in North America. Cal founded Cal Simmons Travel in 1976, which he grew into one of the top travel agencies in the country in only 25 years. Cal is a frequent speaker at travel industry events and has served on the advisory boards of several airlines, hotel companies and a rental car agency. Cal is the co-founder and manager of three early-stage venture funds. In 2001 he co-authored the popularly acclaimed investment guide Every Business Needs an Angel, published by Random House. In 2002 he was appointed Chairman of the VA Tourism Corporation by the Governor of Virginia. That same year, Cal published his first online travel guide, The Informed Traveler, which now reaches over 50,000 subscribers. Continuing his success in the online travel field, he launched Five Star Alliance (FSA), an online travel agency for luxury hotels, in 2004.  Last year, FSA booked over 30 million dollars of hotel reservations.  In addition to over 30 years in the travel industry, Cal is a past member and chapter chair of the Washington Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

Nathan Stone, the web developer for Travel Onion, is the founder of ASAP WebWorks and serves as its principal consultant. He has over ten years of experience designing websites, managing networks, and advising organizations on technology. His career includes stints on Capitol Hill, Government, Startups, and Higher Education. He has managed networks with ten offices and over 800 users, and web projects from under $1,000 to in excess of $100,000. Nathan holds an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, and B.S. in Economics and Public Policy from Duke University.

Kendall Gartlan, the managing editor of Travel Onion, loves to travel and has traveled extensively in Europe and North America. She began her career in the travel industry working in sales and marketing at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, just outside of Washington, DC and across the Potomac River from her hometown of Alexandria, VA. Kendall is a 2009 graduate of Virginia Tech, where she earned a B.S. in Merchandising Management and a minor in Business. When she is not travelling, Kendall is actively involved in her local community and serves as Co-Chair of Give Back Alexandria, which provides financial and volunteer support for local non-profit organizations.

Megan Keyser, head of sales and marketing for Travel Onion, graduated from James Madison University in 2010 with a B.A. in Business Marketing. Originally from Warrenton,VA, Megan, began her career upon graduation in the Washington, D.C. area. She acquired sales and marketing experience as a Technical Recruiter for TEKsystems, the number one ranked company within its field. Megan enjoys travelling with friends and family -- especially to the Caribbean. She has a lifetime goal of visiting every continent in the world, and would love the opportunity to stay at some of the world’s best hotels.

How do we select blogs?

Millions of blogs are now kept by professional, amateur, and aspiring writers.  Listing every travel blog ever written proves too inclusive to be helpful or useful, however, selecting too few blogs ignores the diversity and tastes of each traveler.  Thus, we weed out the blogs that are not regularly updated or recent.  We carefully select a variety of perspectives with great content.  Our bloggers are witty, fresh, cynical, amusing and always informative.  They highlight information and tips that dont always make it into guidebooks.  The blogs featured on Travel Onion can be trusted as the main avenue for inside information from local experts, for up-to-the-minute reviews and recommendations, and for events and exhibits happening right now.  The blogs are for both travelers and locals looking to take advantage of the places, events and sites their hometown has to offer. 

Many of the best travel related blogs have catchy names that do not always refer to the city they cover. Metrocurean could be a food blog about any metropolitan area (it's a delicious food-centric blog about Washington, DC) and Spoonfed could be a food blog (it's actually London's best events blog). Some of our blogs put you in touch with local voices when you don't have any contacts. Tokyobling, for example, is that friend who knows everything about Tokyo. These same local voices often know the best sites to go to for information, but only a local New Yorker (or New York restaurant aficionado) would know that NY Mag's Grub Street is the best resource for restaurant reviews. Other blogs provide a unique perspective on the city and its culture that you may have otherwise missed. These perspectives certainly enhance a travel experience, but you would be hard-pressed to find Stuff Parisians Like when collecting travel resources for a trip to Paris. All of the blogs featured here on Travel Onion are the creme de la creme of their kind.

Press

 

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June 10, 2010
Pamela's Punch

I Don't Care How You Get There, Just Get There If You Can

Enter Travel Onion and it’s new feature “Travel Contests”. Launched today, this site that consists of about 200 Editor’s Choice Travel blogs (the Punch made the DC list, whoohoo!) from all over, now offers a way for the most frugal and lucky traveler to get from Point A to M to Z and back again.  Check it out, enter and may your passport runneth over.  ...

read full article >>

June 9, 2010
Travel Onion Press Release

Travel Onion Website Launches Travel Contests Directory As New Feature

Travel Onion today announced the debut of a new feature on the site: Travel Onion Contests. Keeping in line with the driving idea behind Travel Onion, that great travel content exists around the web but can be very hard to find, Travel Onion editors are now aggregating worldwide sweepstakes in an easy to use directory page.  ...

read full press release >>

April 21, 2010
The District

DC Like a Local Around Town

Well, naturally we think we're awesome, but it's nice to see that others are picking up on the idea that DC Like a Local is a great source of information for those that wish to get more out of their visit to Washington, DC. Recently, we've had a couple of organizations add us to their feed, and I'd like to thank them.  The first is Travel Onion, a site that aggregates blogs and other web content about various cities, to help you (and often I), the helpless wanderer, to get your bearings. ...

read full article >>

April 16, 2010
Travel Pulse

Travel Onion Website Collects the Best of Travel Blogging

A new website, Travel Onion, will collect the world's best travel blogs and newsletters, indexed by destination and interest. So, for example, someone planning a trip to London might go to Travel Onion to find the latest restaurant reviews, tips for booking the best theater seats or to find the most talked about nightspot at the moment  ...

read full article >>

April 16, 2010
Potomac Tech Wire

Alexandria-Based Travel Onion Launches Site Aggregating Travel Blogs

Alexandria, Va. -- Longtime travel industry executive Cal Simmons on Friday officially launched Travel Onion, an Alexandria-based site that aggregates content from travel blogs and newsletters worldwide. Simmons, the co-founder of Fivestaralliance.com, an online travel agency for luxury hotel bookings, said that the site aims to highlight the best travel content from social media and blogs. ...

read full article >>

April 15, 2010
Tnooz

Travel Onion, NileGuide Make Express Push for Local Blog Content

Do you want to read about some lost ballerina shoes in London? How about the latest testimony in a sexual harassment suit in New York City? And, oh yes, there's a free Earth Day block party in Washington, D.C. You can find out about all of these things in blog posts on Travel Onion, an aggregator of local travel-blog content, which announced its launch April 15 ...

read full article >>

April 15, 2010
PR Newswire
Long Time Travel Industry Executive Announces the Launch of Travel Onion - An Aggregation Website of the World's Best Travel Blogs

ALEXANDRIA, Va.
, April 15 /PRNewswire/ --  "Great travel content exists on the web, it's just hard to find," says Cal Simmons, the founder of www.travelonion.com.  Simmons, an established travel industry executive has had multiple successes creating unique travel related websites.

read full article >>

April 6, 2010
April's London Invitation
This Site Voted One of the Best Travel Sites About London!

Very pleased: april’s london invtitation has been voted by Travel Onion as one of the best travel sites about London. It’s high praise, indeed, coming from the people at Travel Onion. Read on and be sure to check out their site where they collect the best travel blogs/sites for whatever city you may want to visit next ...

read full post >>

March 30, 2010
Spoonfed Blog
We Recommend: Travel Onion

Here at Spoonfed, we love local recommendations, in fact the reason we think Spoonfed.co.uk is pretty special is because all our editors have exceptional local knowledge of things to do around London. But what about when you’re travelling further afield? There are hundreds of travel sites that give a rough overview of cities across the world, but where can you find a insider’s guide to your favourite destinations? ....

read full post >>

March 9, 2010
Little London Observationist
Travel Onion: City Editor, London

This week, a new travel website launched in America, a website that showcases the best blogs to represent each city. I’ve been given the honour of being “City Editor” for London and look forward to contributing. It’s a great resource if you’re looking for other cool London links or plan to travel abroad. ...

read full post >>

March 18, 2010
Travel Onion Press Release
Long Time Travel Industry Executive Announces the Launch of Travel Onion - An Aggregation Website of the World's Best Travel Blogs

“Great travel content exists on the web, it’s just hard to find,” says Cal Simmons, the founder of www.travelonion.com. Simmons, a long time travel industry executive has had multiple successes creating unique travel related web sites.  In 2005, he co-founded, www.fivestaralliance.com which went on to become one of the leading online travel agencies specializing in luxury hotel bookings.  Now, he believes social media and blogging is the next great wave for consumers planning trips. ...

read full press release >>

January 11, 2012
Simmons Hotel Guides Press Release
Travel Industry Veteran Launches New Social Media Platform for Luxury Hotels Worldwide
Cal Simmons, a 35 year veteran of the travel industry, announced today a unique new platform allowing hoteliers to promote their properties through a series of social media outlets ....

read full press release >>

 
 
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KidFriendly DC
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