Photos by Lola Akinmade.

When Joshywashington’s face first popped up on the huge screen behind Pam Mandel and Mike Barish, I turned to fellow Matador team member Nancy Harder in excitement.

“Look! it’s Josh!.”

Mike would go on to read Josh’s piece, All Aboard which had been published as part of Travelers Notebook’s Notes From The Road series.

I would later squeal some more as Matador team members, Eileen Smith and Leigh Shulman’s faces also appeared on the screen.

Both Eileen’s piece, an abridged version of her Ecuadorian travel horror story, and Leigh’s article, Homecoming Is As A Bittersweet Chocolate Truffle, were edge-of-seat engrossing.

In addition to theirs, articles from Matador contributors Lauren Quinn and Conner Gorry were also read to an eager crowd of peers soaking up every word.

This past weekend, travel bloggers, writers, photographers, and PR companies gathered in New York from across the globe for the first “officially organized” TBEX conference.

While nothing truly “ground breaking” was discussed at the various panels which ranged from upping your travel writing game to monetizing blogs and travel ethics, the energy in the conference hall was undeniable…everyone was ecstatic to see everyone else; the faces behind avatar-driven Twitter accounts and favorite travel blogs.

Other Matador team members in attendance included Carlo Alcos, JoAnna Haugen, Nancy Harder, Candice Walsh, Abbie Mood, and Andy Hayes (the man behind @MatadorNetwork).

During the panel on travel ethics in which I filled in for Managing Editor Julie Schwietert, an excerpt from Tom Gates’ exemplary piece, Notes from the Grand Del Mar Hotel, San Diego, was read as a refreshingly creative way of writing reviews based on press trips.

Matadorians were representing and in the most important way: showcasing transparent writing and original voices which is the very essence of our MatadorU travel writing course…and community.

Photo: tezzr

Our new bulk photo uploader lets you upload dozens of photos with the click of a button.

Using Matador’s new bulk photo uploader is easy. Here are the steps:

1. Login to MatadorTravel.
2. Choose “Create a gallery.”
3. Add as many images as you’d like with one click using the bulk uploader.
4. Once you’ve created a gallery, choose which image you want as your profile photo by hitting the “make profile photo” link.

If you have questions, please email me at julie[at]matadornetwork[dot]com.

Community Connection:

Want to improve your photography skills– or even become a professional travel photographer? Check out MatadorU’s travel photography course!

Photo: e-magic

A couple weeks ago, we announced the re-launch of MatadorTravel.com, the community side of MatadorNetwork, where individual and organizational members can set up profiles, write blogs, upload and share photos, and post or respond to travel-related questions in the Forums.

Since then, we’ve identified a number of bugs in the system and have been passing along the problems you’ve encountered to our tech team.

It may take a few more weeks for all the problems to be resolved, so thanks for your patience. If you have questions about the bugs or want to know the status of a problem you’ve reported, please visit this Forum thread.

Photo: NickPro

I don’t do surfing.

I don’t mean for that to come off like it sounds because I’d actually love to learn to surf. And the reason–five reasons, actually–are below. If you’ve ever read the writing of the folks included in this week’s members to meet, or seen photos of them killing it in the world’s oceans, then you’ll know why– surfing is stoke. Meditation. Adrenaline. Focus. Risk. Fear… but fear conquered, over and over again.

1. David Miller

David Miller, Matador’s senior editor, has temporarily traded his surfboard for a kayak since moving to Patagonia last fall, but I suspect if he had a chance to spend a week at Los Cerritos, he’d pull the plug on his laptop and head up there in a second.

2. Benita Hussain

Benita Hussain’s an interesting woman for a lot of reasons. She was a child actor. She ditched her job as a lawyer and decided to travel the world. And as she travels, she picks up new sports, including surfing. Read about her experiences in “Fear of the Big Drop.”

3. Rhys Stacker

Rhys Stacker’s been a Matador member since the early days, and as he’s made his laps around the world, he’s filed a handful of surf reports for Matador, including Surf Vietnam: China Beach and Beyond; Surfing Morocco; and Portugal’s Algarve Coast.

4. Alex Hapgood

Peep Alex Hapgood’s Matador profile and you’ll see him ruling a wave in Cornwall. Though he’s written about surfing in Portugal and Spain for Matador, he knows his local territory best. Check out his article about ING’s kitesurfing ban in Cornwall.

5. NickPro

NickPro is fired up on “surfing, partying, and meeting people” and felt most immersed in another culture when he worked on a surf lesson boat in Mexico. Check out his profile to see pics of him owning his board.

Community Connection:

Looking for the best surf spots around the world? Want to get started surfing? Everything we’ve ever published about surfing is on our Surfing Focus Page!

A girl at play in Austria.

Photo: Daniel Nunes

Community Connection:

If you’d like your photo considered for our Friday Photo series, please join the Matador photo pool on Flickr.

Photo: Genista

Back when he was in his 20s, Matador member Pat the Digital Vagabond went on his first cross-country road trip of the United States.

It changed his life.

“Roughly twenty years after my first great road trip,” Pat says, “I’m still a devout believer in the religion and magic of vagabonding.”

Pat continues to travel and is committed to making travel possible for other young people, too. That’s why he started the “Roads Scholarship,” a program intended to award a talented traveler/writer/photographer with a summer stipend of $500 USD and a ticket to the Burning Man Festival.

After last year’s successful launch of the scholarship, Pat decided to continue the scholarship in 2010. If you’re interested in applying for the scholarship, please visit Pat’s site, Digital Vagabonding, for more information.

Community Connection:

Looking for other ways to fund your travels? Read How to Travel the World for Free.

Hal Amen’s Korean for Beginners

I was editing some articles for Matador last week when the doorbell rang.

“Are you expecting anyone?” my husband asked me.

I wasn’t.

I opened the door and saw the UPS man, who was delivering an envelope, return address: Random House. I tore open the package, thinking it was a review copy of a book. Turns out, it was a copy of the 6th edition of Fodor’s Puerto Rico. I was one of six contributing writers on this guide, and having submitted my five features almost a year ago, I’d forgotten that the guide was just about to hit shelves.

It was nice to see my name in print alongside fellow guidebook writers, including Matador contributor Nicholas Gill and Charyn Pfeuffer, who we profiled on Matador Change a couple months ago.

As thrilled as I was to see the Fodor’s guide published, though, I was even more stoked to learn that contributing editor David Page and Trips co-editor Hal Amen were also celebrating some big accomplishments.

David’s piece, “Adventures in Weaning,” published on The Travelers Notebook, won first place in the John Reginato Conservation Awards at the annual conference of the Outdoor Writers of California. His “Writing Fire: A Brief Anthology on the Burning of Los Angeles,” also published on The Travelers Notebook, won second place in the web-only category. David won a whole bunch of other awards for his print work, too; he was just too modest to tell me so (I discovered the other awards when I checked the OWAC website, where I also learned that MatadorU alum Carina Port also picked up a few awards for her photography and writing).

Hal didn’t even broadcast his accomplishment; fellow Trips co-editor, Carlo Alcos, alerted the rest of the Matador crew to the fact that Hal had just published Korean for Beginners, a book he co-authored with Park Kyubyong. Learn more about his writing and publishing processes in this post from his blog.

Do you have an accomplishment to share? Email me at julie[at]matadornetwork.com.

Community Connection:

Interested in becoming a travel writer? Learn more about MatadorU’s travel writing program.

Screenshot of Matadortravel.com homepage.

The community site of the MatadorNetwork, Matador Travel, has just emerged from a complete overhaul that was more than a year in the making.

More user-friendly and tricked out with all kinds of bells and whistles, Matador Travel now allows community members to share photos more prominently, connect their Matador Travel updates to their Twitter account, and find and interact with other travelers and organizational members more easily.

The overhaul wasn’t without its frustrations–transferring massive amounts of data to a new server is a huge challenge. Difficulties you might have encountered with your account over the weekend include having received multiple friend requests in the email account associated with your Matador Travel profile. We’re also aware that some users didn’t notice our warning that any new posts entered over the weekend were likely to be lost.

We think we’ve ironed out the rest of the wrinkles, but if you encounter any problems or have any questions, please post them in this forum thread so we can address them right away.

Community Connection:

What do you think of the new site? Share your feedback in the comments.