Leo Babauta Speaking at the London Bloggers Meetup

Our friends at LifeSort were good enough to record Leo Babauta’s presentation at the London Bloggers Meetup.

We’ve embedded below the first part, but Leo was good enough to talk for some time and the rest – along with Arvind Devahia’s fantastic talk too – are available on the LifeSort YouTube channel.

Enjoy and be inspired. Two really interesting speakers.

London Bloggers Meetup Exclusive: Brits cut down on long holidays in favour of short breaks

Thank you for joining us yesterday at the Long Acre for a few drinks and to chat about a topic that everyone loves – travel. It was really nice meeting everyone and thank you for the opportunity to share with you a little bit about the launch of Hotwire.com in the UK.  As you might remember from yesterday, we’ve given LBM on exclusive on our survey about the booking habits of UK holidaymakers. For those of you who didn’t have a pen or a smartphone handy, below are a few highlights from the survey of 2000 adults which will be released next week.

Survey results

The survey revealed that nearly two thirds (58%) of Brits are taking more or the same number of holidays as they were last year. However, more are taking shorter breaks instead of one main long holiday and look for bargains once they have decided on the location.

Also, we are hunting for bargain holidays but will not compromise on the destination. 45% of people think of their holiday destination first, and then search for the best price to get there; compared to only 13% of consumers, who have a set price in mind, then look for the best holiday deal to that destination.

When booking hotel accommodation, people considered location (50%) and price (31%) as the most important factors. 49% of people considered themselves to be ‘planners’, booking their hotel two to four weeks in advance while almost a fifth (18%) of the population considered themselves to be ‘last-minute deal seekers’ booking one to five days before they travel.  Interestingly, when we asked you, the LBM bloggers, the same question, the results were nearly identical (50% of you are planners and 19% are last-minute deal seekers). The LBM bloggers are clearly representative of the general UK holiday maker J

Congratulations!

Congratulations to the winners of the Hotwire competition who told their craziest travel story. You can read the winning stories from Shimelle Laine and Jorgen Sundberg on the London Bloggers website. Shimelle saved money by renting a broom cupboard and Jorgen ended up staying behind a gypsy camp in Bosnia. Jorgen also shared details of his charity project Blog 4 Girls which might be also worth checking out.

Keep in touch

Do let us know if you would like to be invited to future events, get updates or just need a list of the best deals or any other information on travel trends and savings. Just email us at hotwireUK@atomicpr.com.

Are you in one of the photos

We’ve posted a few photos from the event on our Flickr page.

The Blogger Interviews: Leo Babauta

At the start of the year, my friend and blogger Arvind Devalia approached me and asked if I’d like Leo Babauta to speak at the London Bloggers Meetup. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know who Leo was at first – not having read his Zen Habits blog, or many blogs about health, minimal living, motivation and inspiration. Arvind was very excited and when one or two others started getting excited too, it was high time I checked him out.

I was pleasantly surprised. Not only was Leo writing one of the top 25 blogs in the world, but he was writing content that genuinely offered something of value. The more I spoke to people about Leo, the more I got an excited reaction about the prospect of him speaking. Ultimately Arvind put me in touch with Leo and the rest is history.

For someone who has achieved so much, Leo is a remarkably humble person. When he arrived at our event, he quietly made an entrance and immediately started talking with our community. Many were genuinely huge fans of Leo and his writing, but this didn’t seem to phase Leo or steal away his calm. Aside from his talk, Leo spent the entire evening talking to our bloggers – no commercial pitch, but a genuine interest in simply meeting people. I have to say, it was an absolute pleasure hosting Leo.

I took the opportunity of asking Leo to participate in one of our short blogger interviews which you can read below. – along with a short video clip from the night here. I strongly advise you check out Leo’s blog and perhaps his book The Power of Less (which I have subsequently devoured and loved).  Well, enough introduction, over to you Leo and thanks for taking part.

1.       What’s your blog called and what’s the URL?

Leo: I write Zen Habits (http://zenhabits.net).

2.       What’s your blog all about (in 20 words or less)?

Leo: Simplifying your life.

3.       When and why did you start blogging?

Leo: I started in January 2007 to chronicle some of the changes I’d been making, to share some of the lessons I’d been learning with others, and to connect with (and learn from) others doing similar things.

4.       Which blog platform do you use?

Leo: I started on Blogger.com but quickly moved to WordPress. It’s what I’d recommend to any blogger.

5.       Can you give an example of how blogging has enriched your life?

Leo: Oh, in so many ways. It’s connected me with some amazing people from all over the world, and I’ve learned a lot from them and made some good friends. It’s helped me to reflect more deeply on my life, so that I could share with others. It’s given me a job doing what I love — for the first time in my life. And I’ve had readers tell me that I’ve changed their lives in numerous ways … which is the most gratifying thing in the world.

6.       Are there any blogs you recommend reading and why?

Leo: I love so many that it would be hard to know where to start. Other than the big names (Dooce, Daring Fireball, Seth Godin, etc.), I’d say read Tweetage Wasteland, Derek Sivers, Idlewords.com, Marco.org, Rowdy Kittens, among many others.

7.       What three tips would you give to someone just starting out in blogging?

Leo: 1. Do something remarkable and share how you did it;

2. Focus on writing great posts before all else;

3. Enjoy the connections you make with your readers rather than worrying about numbers.

8.       If you could change one thing about your blog what would it be?

Leo: I’m very content with my blog. I’m really racking my brain here and I can’t think of a thing, which is interesting to me.

9.       What is the key to getting readers to your blog?

Leo: Creating amazing content on a regular basis. That’s the only reason readers come to your blog — to learn, to be inspired, to be entertained, to be moved. Do that for them regularly, and they’ll not only subscribe, but share your work with others.

10.      And finally, what motivates you to keep on blogging?

Leo: It’s those emails I mentioned from people who say I’ve changed their lives. It’s really moving to hear that, and when I write a post these days, I think of people who I might help, and it makes me feel good to know I might make even a small difference to someone.

Competition Time

Start spreadin’ the news, I’m leavin’ today
I want to be a part of it, New York, New York

Would you like to find yourself singing these very words?

You might well have the opportunity to sing, hum and scream them from the rooftops if you enter our competition to win a free hotel stay in New York, or in fact pretty much anywhere in the world – from Las Vegas, to Paris, Dubai to Edinburgh.

That’s right, our friends over at the hotel booking website Hotwire.com have just launched in the UK and to celebrate they’re offering two lucky bloggers the opportunity to pick up travel vouchers worth a total of £400.

I know, it sounds too good to be true. But it’s not. All you have to do is answer the question below and you’re in with a chance.

So what’s the question?

What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done to save money while traveling?

The two most entertaining answers, as judged by Hotwire, will win the first and second prizes of £300 and £100 vouchers to be redeemed on Hotwire.com.

Need some inspiration?

I once took a taxi through northern Cambodia which we shared with 7 other passengers to keep the price low. Even the driver was sharing his seat, which I can tell you is a frightening experience, particularly when the road hasn’t even been built yet.