Dorms Around the World Offering Cut-Rate Housing for Tourists (TRAVEL)

I feel very good about the recent chance discovery of a remarkable resource for finding university dorms around the world offering cut-rate housing for visitors: University Rooms.

This site (part of TravelBookingNetworks, much of which is devoted to various dorm-stay operations) acts as a broker for many colleges and universities looking to pad out their endowments by renting unused dorm space to passing tourists in the summer.

The savings are phenomenal: from a $32 single in London to a $78 double room by Lake Como in Italy to a $315 two-bedroom apartment in Barcelona that includes Wi-Fi and breakfast. Rates start as low as $30 to $50 for a single room, or $50 to $120 for a twin or double room (usually, the cheaper end is if you are willing to share a bathroom down the hall in true dormitory style).

Many include breakfast in the rates; some throw in dinner as well. A few have a two- or three-night minimum requirement, but most are available by the night -- though weekly stays can often result in even better rates, as little as $150 per person for a full week.

Now these are not fancy accommodations -- at least not for the most part. The vast majority are what you would expect from a dorm room: small, simple, with slightly tattered modular furnishings designed to withstand semester after semester of undergraduate abuse. However, some are located in historic castles, villas, or townhomes, and there are many that break the mold, offering flashy modern flats with full kitchens and other facilities.

This site offers one-stop booking for short-term dorm stays, mostly in Europe (the U.K., Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium), but also a few choices in the United States (Worcester, MA), and Canada (Calgary, Montreal, Toronto), with Australia and South Africa to be added soon.

Free Greeters Programs & Pay-What-You-Wish Tours (TRAVEL)

At last count, no fewer than 21 major cities have created "greeters programs" operated by persons who volunteer to lead visitors around the town they love. These are officially sponsored civic programs in which the tour guide receives nothing for his or her services (and would be offended if offered payment), although the visitor is supposed to pick up any costs of transportation or snacks consumed en route. The number of such cities has rapidly grown in the last two years and they presently amount to 21. In addition to the U.S. cities of New York, Chicago, Houston, and San Francisco, they include Toronto, Melbourne and Adelaide in Australia, Paris, Moscow, Belgrade, The Hague, Buenos Aires, Brussels, Marseilles, Brighton and Kent in England, and several others.

But travelers should know that several other, somewhat similar programs are offered by individual entrepreneurs in a slowly growing group of other cities. These, quite frankly, have only recently come to my attention, and it should be stressed that people taking such tours are expected to pay something for their tour -- an amount which they, the visitors, determine, and which usually should be about $10. In effect, you accept a free-of-charge tour, but tip the tour guide at the conclusion of the tour.

Examples? D.C. by Foot runs what it characterizes as "free, tip-based walking tours," two hours in length, of the nation's capital, on which participants are expected to slip about $10 to the guide. Tour Guys operate free-of-charge walking tours in both Toronto, Ontario, and Vancouver, British Columbia -- they rely on tips for their remuneration and charge no fee for their basic tour in each city. And finally, RunnerBeanTours of Barcelona does the same, and provides an excellent tour by highly-motivated young graduate students of local universities; currenly they offer a "Free Gaudí Walking Tour" and a "Free Old City Walking Tour", and they are working on a free "Kids & Family Walking Tour" to be offered at some time in the future.

Ireland is the Least Expensive Euro Travel Destination Right Now (TRAVEL)

As we approach the high season for trans-Atlantic travel, it is becoming more and more apparent that Ireland is a top destination this year for European travel. Ireland suffered greatly from the financial crisis of 2008-09, the assets and earnings of the Irish people are badly down, and prices are therefore also down for lodgings, meals and sightseeing.

All that can best be seen in the prices charged by leading Irish tour operators for air-and-land packages to Ireland this summer. Though the very lowest warm-weather prices for Ireland are in June and September, and prices spike upward in July and August, even those peak season rates are less than travelers will be paying to go elsewhere in western Europe.

From June 1-15, and again from September 1-30, a payment of $829 (in June) to $839 (in September) for the Emerald Package of Sceptre Tours, that long-established company's most popular travel program, will buy you round-trip mid-week airfare on Aer Lingus between the U.S. and Dublin or Shannon, a night upon arrival in a four-star hotel in Dublin or Shannon, a car (stick shift) with unlimited mileage for a week, and five nights of accommodations with full Irish breakfast daily in your choice of farmhouse B&B's all throughout Ireland. You can extend the number of nights of your stay for only slightly more. Government fees and taxes add about $180 more.

That $829-to-$839 is considerably less than you would pay for airfare alone to London during similar dates. And even though the price goes up to $999 in the latter part of June, to $1,129 in most of July, and to $1,069 in the latter part of August, all those prices are again considerably less than you'd pay for trans-Atlantic airfare alone between the U.S. and England. Yet to Ireland, you receive not simply airfare but also accommodations with breakfast throughout and a car for the week.

It is possible that even these low costs may be further reduced as a result of a government announcement this week that Ireland will soon reduce the VAT tax on travel-related expenditures (hotels, restaurants, museums) from 13.5% down to 9%. It also announced that it will eliminate the air travel tax, thus reducing a great deal of the $180 in air taxes referred to above. These steps indicate the importance that travel has in the judgment of the present government of Ireland, and will surely do much to further reduce the cost of an Irish holiday.

If you haven't yet enjoyed the profound pleasure of a self-drive motoring vacation through Ireland, you might now consider doing so.

Globe Tripper (MISC/FUN)

Globe Tripper is a new travel game available on iPhone and iPad. Challenge yourself and your friends to travel the world in this fast-paced trivia and puzzle game. Completing challenges will earn you points that unlock other destinations until you’ve covered the entire world.

Virtual frequent flyer miles add up as you complete each trip around the globe. Upload your points to the global leaderboard and compare your status with players all over the world.

Unlock a virtual collection of souvenirs as you travel through 30 countries. There are 90 to collect.

QR Codes on TV (MISC/FUN)

QR codes are proliferating quickly across print and outdoor advertising -- promising extra info or content to readers who photograph them with their smartphones -- but CNN gave the tactic new visibility during its Republican presidential debate Monday night.

"You'll see an electronic code on your screen," CNN's John King told his viewers. "You can snap a picture of that code. You'll get some exclusive access about our debate, some behind the scenes video, some analysis and content."

Last night Jon Stewart at "The Daily Show" took issue with the effort and countered with an on-screen QR code of his own. "Don't do it now though," he said, "because, you know, we're doing a show."

CNN was not able to say by deadline how many people activated the debate's QR code.

The QR code discussion begins at the 2:45 mark, after Mr. Stewart considers CNN's claim that including questions from Facebook and Twitter users would make its debate "different than any presidential debate you've ever seen."

The Latest Digital: Landrover’s Being Henry & Hg2 for Intelligent Travelers (MISC/FUN)

As the digital world evolves, it’s becoming more and more exciting to see the ways in which brands and service providers are enhancing the customer experience and attracting those outside their traditional base. As Range Rover launched an interactive video, where the viewer dictates the story’s path. Promoting the Evoque model by Range Rover, Jaguar Land Rover has developed an Internet film called “Being Henry” that allows users to interact with the film to ultimately reveal their own personal perfect car. The choices that the viewers make in terms of direction, colour and other choices will ultimately lead them to the ideal Range Rover at the end of the story, where there are a possible nine different scenarios with 32 possible endings.

A Hedonist’s guide to… released an application to act as a city guide on iPhone. Covering 41 cities and ski resorts around the world, Hg2 have launched just one application for the iPhone, incorporating a guide to each city’s best bars, hotels and restaurants. The application incorporates Augmented Reality (on devices with a compass), integrated Foursquare check-in and the option to download from iTunes a handpicked ‘soundtrack to the city’. All Hg2 travel content is stored on the device, only using data connections for features such as maps, check-in and sound track to the city to minimise data roaming costs.

Virgin Mobile Canada Uses Rewards to Inspire Volunteers (MISC/FUN)

Trying to make life better for Canada's youth, Virgin Mobile Canada is working to encourage people to volunteer to help at-risk and homeless teens through its RE*Generation program. People who donate their time can earn rewards such as concert tickets and events across Canada -- starting with the Katy Perry California Dreams tour.

Virgin is using technology from Los Angeles-based Causecast, which offers Volunteer Tracking and Rewards, a cause integration platform for nonprofits and brands that lets companies incorporate volunteer opportunities into their campaigns and digital media efforts. The technology enables potential volunteers to find opportunities in a specific area and to track their activities and earn rewards points while giving Virgin Mobile control over which nonprofits are supported and allowing the company to track the program's impact.

So far, RE*Generation has raised more than $800,000 for youth-serving agencies in Canada.

"Programs like this help engage youth to give back and learn more about the issues facing their generation. Causecast has made it easy to track and manage the volunteer efforts on a massive scale, giving us the ability to help more at-risk and homeless youth than we would have otherwise been able to impact through the RE*Generation program," says Andrew Bridge, director of brand and communications, Virgin Mobile Canada, in announcing the effort.

According to Virgin, more than 2 million youth in North America between the ages of 12 and 24 will be homeless at least once each year, while more than 100,000 will be homeless for six months or more. Youth homelessness -- usually the result of such problems as poverty, drug abuse, homophobia, mental illness and domestic violence -- leads to adult homelessness, Virgin says.