Having made it this far you must be fairly curious already right? You’ve seen the glossy images and sleek design, glanced at the lists of featured destinations; mentally ticking off where you’ve been and where’s next on your list. You’ve even read a few quotes and checked out the weather from the four corners of the globe before resting your eyes on that chance to win a shiny new iPad…
For those that don’t know us, we’re My Destination, and over the past few very busy months we’ve been undergoing something of a makeover. Much like the weathered backpacker back on home soil, we’ve been updating our look, collating our globetrotting expertise and are now ready to re-connect with the world. For those that do know us, we hope you’re impressed.
So, without further hesitation, and with the enthusiasm of your great uncle Eric showcasing the latest compilation of his finest holiday snaps; THIS is why you should keep your eyes very firmly on My Destination:
1. An exciting NEW LOOK!
The biggest and most obvious reason to check us out is our super-slick new look. Not one to grow old gracefully we’ve gone for a look that is clean, fresh, creative and hopefully, super inspirational. Indeed, if you manage to resist the allure of our striking images and high quality photography you are made of strong stuff!
As well as images to inspire we’ve also got travel quotes to further tug at your itchy feet and wandering mind. From quotes taken from our latest articles, destination overviews or even words of wisdom from the greats, it is all easily digestible – and hopefully, fun.
One thing we pride ourselves on here at My Destination is the wealth of our information. Navigate onto one of our destination sites and you’ll be presented with everything you’d expect, and more; from info on restaurants, accommodation and things to do to, where to party, hit the shops or soak up some culture. We also provide articles, videos, virtual tours, photos and weather info to help you get the most out of your trip. For fear of blowing our own trumpet (would we do that?) we like to think this makes us the only place you’d need to go and research your holiday.
If you’re still with us and wondering, ‘Hmm, this is all well and good My Destination, however, what, dare I ask, makes you different from my current travel guide / holiday provider?’ Well, we can proudly say it’s our vast network of local experts scattered around the globe.
Having each of our destination sites run and powered by local experts on the ground we know we are getting the most up to date and comprehensive information out there. As soon as something is going on we can cover it. A new restaurant opens? We can be the first to recommend what to try - and where to sit. Our local experts are now more than ever offering up their local tips for you to take advantage of. Perfect if you like heading off the well-worn tourist track and sampling just what makes a destination tick.
Another advantage of having locals on the ground is that they know what’s going on when. If you like nothing more than joining in with a local festival, trawling a local market or enjoying an evening of traditional music and reverie, we have the means to make it happen! Put in the dates of your trip into our events finder and select what type of event you are looking for and we’ll do the rest.
We’ve already mentioned how photos and images are hugely important to us; so much so we have packed our new-look site with more than ever (a quarter of a million, but hey, who’s counting?). Moving images are also pretty neat in our opinion and as such we’ve now got a huge bank of over 3,000 videos and virtual tours from around the globe, all waiting to be discovered. Our multimedia covers a whole range of topics from virtual tours in restaurants and nightclubs, to videos of local beauty spots, our local experts out in the field or HQ out and about taking on another wacky adventure…
While we do believe the old Chinese proverb that ‘a picture can tell a thousand words’ we’re also more than capable of writing a thousand words when the time calls for it. And, as you’ll see from our huge bank of worldwide articles the scribes amongst us have been busy, very busy. Over a thousand articles and features are now proudly displayed across the My Destination network; written by our local experts and their teams on the ground as well as our professional writers here at My Destination HQ. Regardless of the writer, topic or tale however, you can rest assured our articles are packed with layers of local knowledge and insight. Because that’s what we do best.
So, if you’re still with us (if so well done… we’re nearly there) you have hopefully digested one important fact. The golden nugget of My Destination’s mantra, we like local knowledge. It doesn’t however, give the full picture. Indeed, we’re not just about the information (thought that’s clearly the right way to start). Once you’ve absorbed your information, digested it and come to the only possible conclusion that works for you, you’ll then need to do something about it. In other words you’ll want to book.
To offer competitive deals we have partnered up with global providers for accommodation (Hotels Combined), flights (Sky Scanner), Car Rental (CarTrawler) and travel insurance (WorldNomads). Thus, you can do more than just procrastinate with us – though that, as we said, is a fine place to start…
One thing that is hard to find out about before you jet off is what exactly are the local facilities going to be like? You may want to check out the local restaurants, children’s facilities or beaches. Alternatively, you may want to look up the nearest shopping center, hairdressers, bar or waterpark. Our local business listings allow you to do just that, with a write-up, photo selection and even video or virtual tour. So, if you’re the type that likes to plan ahead you can easily map out your trip from the comfort of your sitting room…
Ok, so this is probably not going to rock your world on first glance, however, stick with us! Better tagging by us means a better user experience for you since you’ll be able to find exactly what you’re looking for sooner, and with a lot less hassle. We want to make our site as personal to you as we can, enabling you to find what you want to know with the click of a button. You want to know where to sleep in Vancouver? Eat in Ljubljana or hang out in Cape Town? We’ll be able to tell you. Now.
So you’ve seen what we can offer and you’re still wondering why you should stick with us? Free stuff! With our brand new shiny batch of competitions hitting our homepage you can win an array of magnificent prizes that will no doubt make you all warm inside. Don’t believe us? Turn out to be one of the lucky winners of a new iPad and you may find a smile creeping up from the depths of your subconscious (accidently, of course).
11. Shhhh!
Obviously, we could carry on shouting about how amazing and wonderful, splendiferous and special our new-look site is. However, rather than running away on a train of self-promotion we will bring things to a tidy halt by merely saying that there is one part of the new site we are not going to shout about. It’s up to you to find it…
"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake" - Robert Louis Stevenson
