DuffelUp.com Blog

We’ve recently added a new way to add activities to your duffel, making it even easier to browse and add great tours to your trips’ itineraries.

Now, when you click on +Activity, you will be able to select and add-in from a pool of 100,000+ popular tours in over 450 destinations around the world.

Of course, you can still choose to custom-design your own activity (choose the “from scratch” option), but the new wealth of ideas is sure to help spice up and enrich your trip planning experience. 

Check out the tours, duffel up and go!

In case you missed any of our users’ featured duffels this week, here’s the rundown:

Jesse’s NYC Trip showed how you can forgo the itinerary and simply lay out everything on the corkboard.  Making game time decisions on exactly what you want to do each day can surely spice it up:

Nizza’s 3 Weeks in the UK showed a great combo of using the corkboard and itinerary simultaneously:

Bkarman’s Berlingasm stood true to its name and packed tons of activities into the itinerary:

Viviana’s Santiago de Compostela Pilgrimage was our first foreign language Duffel and had the most awesome looking map view we’ve seen to date:

And finally, Becktheanglophile showed much love for London in an activity-packed duffel with a corkboard full of ideas:

Have a Duffel you want to share? Email evan@duffelup.com.  Duffel up and Go!

Daily Duffels are users’ Duffels (either future, present or past) that we feature in our online community because we think they look fun, interesting and well put together. To see all of our Daily Duffels, check our All Stars Page or follow us on Twitter.

I heart you: Lower Antelope Canyon and its heart shaped light beam, near Page, Arizona.

Photo by Pei Hua W.

It is no secret that once someone spends 4 (or 5…or 6…or) years of their life making friends, living, maturing, eating and partying…oh, and studying in one place, that place becomes near and dear to his/her heart.  So dear, in fact, that the mere mention that another place could potentially be a “better” locale to spend these years is widely known to spur name-calling and fist-fights at bars throughout the country.

The truth of the matter is, in all seriousness, that the college years are truly a special part of life for those fortunate enough to have the experience.  The knowledge gained in those years goes well beyond what one learns in the classroom, and of course, includes an understanding of the college(’s) town like no non-alum could ever be expected to acquire.

So, if you are new to Duffel and wondering where to get started, why not start with your college town?  Or if you haven’t thought about your school days is a while, why not duffel up your college town?  Or if you, somehow, someway, believe your college town is better than mine and truly “the best” and want it featured on our All Stars page, well then it’s time to duffel up your college town.  When you’re done, send me an email at evan@duffelup.com with the link.

Have fun…and do be nice!

We know you love to travel, and we’re very happy that we can make your trip planning process a tad easier and funner, which is why we’re constantly making improvements to our trip planner.  As many of you have probably noticed, we have recently changed the look & feel of our user interface.  We have opted away from some icons that may have been confusing and replaced them with still text.  Not only, most users didn’t even noticed the Map View, so we labeled all our views (“Grid”, “Map”, “Print”).  Now, it is easier to see exactly how to navigate around your duffel:

We think the look is simpler and cleaner and hope you all like it.  Of course, our interface’s drag and drop features and our powerful Clip-It Bookmarklet tool remain the same and will continue to allow you the flexibility and creativity that make Duffel your online trip planning choice.  If you haven’t done so already, sign up here!

Please keep your questions and comments coming.  This is how we grow our community and adapt to your needs.

Happy Duffeling!

Small ship sailing into Johns Hopkins Glacier.  Taken from an Alaskan cruise.

Photo by Will C.

Prior to my time working for Duffel in California, I spent about 5 years living in Chile.  I studied, made friends, worked for a ski resort, married a Chilean woman and had the time of my life.  My wife and I could not wait to get back down here for our friends’ wedding.  We departed for Chile on Feb. 20.

The flight was long, as usual, but the events with family and friends in and around Santiago early in our trip more than made up for it, as they always do.  We visited some of our favorite restaurants (see the duffel), got together for “asados” (barbecue’s), went to the rehearsal dinner, bachelor party, and were ready for the big day when we went to sleep on Friday night.

3:26 AM, February 27, 2010: My wife and I awoke to the room rocking back and forth, like a ship does, steadily intensifying as noises from kitchen cabinets, shelves, and the house itself began to grow louder.  Being a Californian, I am no stranger to earthquakes, and as the temblor progressed, it was clearly time to take action.

Laying on the floor next to the bed - a technique I read about a few years ago which is supposed to create “triangles of space” if things begin to collapse - the rocking motion had turned so violent that it felt akin to the entire house being rapidly pulled back into a slingshot and then released and slammed into a solid brick wall.  Over and over and over.  The feeling was terrible, but the noise was at least as frightening.  Like the thunder of a wrecking ball mixed with breaking dishes and trinkets.  We could hear my in-laws in the front hall, yelling for us, and my wife could wait no longer so we stumbled out toward the front entryway of the house as the slamming continued and desperation began to set in.  At that moment, it stopped.  Outside, house and car alarms filled the air like a bad high school orchestra.

In the next hours, we used a battery operated radio to learn that this was indeed a huge earthquake (we later learned is was an 8.8 at its epicenter and 8.3 in Santiago) and had effected much of the country which is widely recognized more for its shape than for its stable economy and wonderful tourist attractions.  In our area of Santiago, we got power back by 10 AM and tuned in to the local news where we, little by little, found out more about the devastation in more southern regions like Bio Bio and Maule.  Although Santiago stood strong for the most part (a testament to the modern construction practices in place here and good economy enjoyed for many years), in places like Talca and Concepcion, whole apartment buildings toppled, bridges collapsed, and some coastal areas were hit by tsunamis.  Situations were desperate, but the Chilean response has been whole-hearted and impressive.

Our friends’ wedding amazingly was still able to take place on Saturday night, although the ceremony had to be moved and the reception completely modified.  Friends and family came together to make the most of a difficult situation, and the bride and groom were touched at the comradery displayed by all involved.

As I write this, there are still tremendous rescue, relief and security efforts taking place in many parts of the country.  Many people are without water and electricity and there are still many unknowns when it comes to national and international travel (though it appears international flights will begin to leave Chile within the next 24-48 hours).  The Chilean Government is working hard to get people the essentials they need.  Things in Santiago have begun to stabilize and I promise you people are eager to begin the rebuilding process and further demonstrate the resolve of this country.  Trust me, it will not be long before trips to Santiago, Vina del Mar, the Lake District, Torres del Paine, the Altiplano and the wine country like this (see the duffel) are once again on the calendars of thousands of international tourists.  And so they should be.