I am pleased to announce that the Slow Travel websites are joining Internet Brands’ family of travel sites. Internet Brands, based in Los Angeles, runs websites in three vertical markets: Automotive, Real Estate & Home Finance and Travel. Read more about them here: www.internetbrands.com.
You won’t notice any major changes in the Slow Travel websites and message board; I am working with Internet Brands to make sure everything keeps running as it does now.
The moderators and I will continue to run the message board. All of us who worked for Slow Travel before now work for Internet Brands. I publish my travel articles and other Slow Travelers articles on slowtrav.com. Chris runs the Classifieds. Kim publishes trip reports and vacation rental reviews and answers the "help" email. Colleen publishes hotel reviews. Charisse from Internet Brands publishes restaurant reviews. The only changes you will see in the future will be good ones to make our websites and community even better.
The Slow Travel websites have grown in size and traffic since their beginning in 2001 and are at the point where a bigger infrastructure is needed to run them. This is where Internet Brands steps in. They will handle the advertising, marketing and bookkeeping, and provide their resources for the operation of the websites.
At the end of October, at Palma’s GTG in Palm Springs when the Slow Chicks did their hilarious song about everyone traveling except Pauline (“And no one’s staying home except Pauline”), I realized the irony – I am running a travel site, but not traveling because running the site has become a full time (plus) job! It was after that party that Internet Brands contacted me. Good timing.
I am very excited about this opportunity. I will be working with Internet Brands to transition the sites and their activities to them, so that I can focus on working with Slow Travel writers and doing my own travel writing for the site. I have started a weekly travel blog, “Views from the Slow Lane”, with topics of general interest to travelers and spotlighting current Slow Travel message board topics, Slow Travel articles and articles/activities from the other Internet Brands travel sites.
John McGanty, General Manager of the Travel Division, welcomes the Slow Travel community to the Internet Brands family. "At Internet Brands we are very excited to have Slow Travel join our growing family of travel guides and communities. This different approach to travel provides a wonderful alternative to the more typical way of visiting destinations. We're impressed with the quality of content on the sites and the enthusiasm of the Slow Travel community and are excited to begin providing support for the Slow Travel sites, both from our other sites and with our various back-office resources."
Please join with me in welcoming Internet Brands to the Slow Travel Community!
We welcome your comments and questions.
(The official press release from Internet Brands will go out in early February.)
Pauline - I read your announcement with conflicting emotions. I am delighted the value of this site has been recognized, and that ST will now have a supportive infrastructure.
At the same time I am sorry to see us grow out of our small "family" oriented framework. I hope that the new associaton will be all positive, and that editorially you and the mods retain full control over content and the unique "culture" of this board.
Would someone please remind me that change is a good thing?
Judy
Posts: 1878 | Location: Berkeley, CA | Registered: 22 March 2005
Pauline - you have set off a stir in the Gold Star Chat! LOL
This is excellent for you and I am so happy that you will be able to do what you love.
A part of me is sad though about the possible changes to the board - I'm sure that your emotions are even more conflicted because this is your baby! I selfishly want it to stay exactly as it is!
It is a tad ironic because my blog post today was about slowtrav and how amazing the site is.
Well done and enjoy your freedom!
Jerry
The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see. ~G.K. Chesterton
Pauline, I am thrilled that you can now concentrate on the fun, interesting parts of running Slowtrav--and leave to IB the headaches of the nuts and bolts that make such a huge and informative website possible.
In my short time on ST, I've been impressed by the growth in members but even more impressed by the number of guests at any given time - so the word about ST is obviously spreading - Heaven knows I'm doing my part.
What a surprise! Congratulations on what appears to be a new chapter in your lives. I do respect and admire you and Steve for what you were able to create in SlowTravel. Without your creation I would not have discovered a better way of seeing the world and for that I am grateful.
Enjoy and all the best in your future travels.
Kathy
Posts: 668 | Location: California | Registered: 19 September 2004
Thanks everyone! I am still going to be around - me and the moderators run the message board. Now I will have more time to read it! I will still be working publishing travel notes (and still have a backlog!) and for now I am still running the websites. I hope to have a long and happy relationship with Internet Brands, working on the Slow Travel sites.
A big thanks also goes to Chris who tirelessly worked with me all these years, doing all the programming. Internet Brands is taking that over and that will be the biggest change. I am used to shooting off an email saying "can you add this" and having Chris figure out the perfect approach. Internet Brands has big shoes to fill (okay, that did not come out right, but you know what I mean).
The change for me is the amount of work. This past year was very intense - long days and always working weekends. I am happy to get back to a more balanced life. I always thought that they would have to pry Slow Travel out of my cold, dead fingers (again, that did not come out right), but Internet Brands approached it in a great way - I am still involved, but they do the heavy lifting.
(Could I have had more cliches? I don't think so.)
Congratulations, Pauline! I think this is really cool and I am sure you wouldn't have given up (on some levels) your baby to anyone who you don't have 100% confidence in.
You've help build a great community and I am sure that community will soldier on, regardless of who is running the office and stuff like that.
I have made so many friends and had so many great experiences because of slowtrav in the past few years and for that, I will be eternally grateful, regardless of what happens in the future.
So, cheers to the past, and to the future, of Pauline and Slowtrav!
And Chris, I am sure Sacramento is waiting, just waiting, for a "Sacramento Notes" newsletter. Go for it!
I just want to say congratulations and good luck in this new endeavor. While my time here at SlowTravel has been relatively short (or maybe not), it has become such an important part of my life; through your endeavors I have personally seen my life enriched by new friends and a wealth of information, not to mention a few good gatherings. . I know this will not change because we are a community of caring people; the infrastructure may change, but we are all still here.
I'm sure I am not alone in wondering about the future, but change can be good and we need to embrace it. I hope that this will allow you to once again become the Travelers that brought forth the Slow Travel concept and community. You have my support and admiration.
And now you really have to come to Paso Robles for a toast to this new adventure,
Congratulations Pauline and Steve, well done. Your website, your decision and your well-deserved reward. I only have an inkling of all the hours you put into maintaining and promoting the site, getting advertisers, getting paid members, so that you could make a living (barely, from what you've told me) doing what you love. Not to mention the tact that you (and the moderators) use to handle conflicts on the board -- that would really stress me out. (Pauline is writing notes "do not accept Janie as moderator if she volunteers") As for me, I'm pretty optimistic about maintaining the character of the site because it's not under the control of IB, it's really up to us members and the moderators. As long as we contribute and behave the same way, why should it change? I think that it will change/evolve the same way it would have anyway as it grew larger -- maybe more special interest topics, or more coverage on Rest of World than we have now. IB has a whole bunch of travel sites, each specialized, and they obviously liked this niche that Pauline founded, and there is no benefit in it for them to change the community when that is why they bought in the first place. As with any business, they may make some decisions that turn us off along the way, but then the truly irate will vote with their feet (some members have done that already after some of Pauline's decisions). Which may make IB reconsider. I guess what I'm saying is that unlike a corporation, control over a web community's character is distributed amongst the active members rather than in the hands of a single owner.
Pauline, heartfelt congratulations on this major milestone and the opportunity to make an important and needed change in your life. I join the others who have thanked you for creating this special place that's Slow Travel. Some come here to ask questions or find information about travel, others come to share travel stories, and many of us have found a whole new circle of friends here and come just to hang out and talk. Slow Travel has certainly changed my life, and ultimately that's because of you.
So we turn the page to a new chapter. I wish much happiness to you and Steve... especially the opportunity to travel yourself and participate more with us in the fun of Slow Travel. Thanks to the moderators and other regulars who make this a real community. And congratulations to Internet Brands... I think they definitely picked a winner!
And for all of us, I do hope the best is yet to come. Here's to Pauline and Slow Travel!
Of course it is great news that Pauline will be able to get out from under the burdens of running the board and can focus on the content of the site. As I have said frequently, "if Slow Trav didn't exist, I would have to invent it"...I can't imagine not having the message board and the lively discussions available.
But I have to confess more than a vague sense of unease at the news.....and hope that it is completely misplaced. I guess we always want things to continue as they are...at least, when things are going well.
No one can begrudge Pauline the chance to focus on the fun parts....but there is always the old saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Here's to many more years of the Slow Trav that we all know and love.
Wow, congratulations Pauline! As many have expressed, I have a bit of mixed emotions regarding this--really, really happy for you and Steve and knowing this may enable you to have the freedom to travel and even plan that move to England you've been hankering for...a well-deserved reward for all your hard work. But, a little apprehensive as to what the future might hold for this community. Time will tell-- One thing I'm sure of is that nothing will change the great friendships and connections that the board has forged, for me and many of us! And I'm sure the board will still be the fun and informative place its always been.
Pauline and Steve -- I'm kinda late to the congratulations posts, and can only reiterate what pretty much everyone else has said, but I think it's a good thing for you, because it obviously makes you both happy! It makes me think of a situation where, if you have a business and you find that one, completely right person, to help you run it. The one who manages it for you -- and you have complete trust and faith in them because that means you get to go do what you want, and to handle the parts you want, while knowing the rest of it is in good hands.
You've obviously found that "person" and I'm happy for you both! The whole community has grown so very much from back in 2001 into such a wonderful place. You know it has to be, because if you have to leave it for a little while and then when you come back it's as if you've returned *home* and everyone says "welcome home whatcha been doin' how's it goin' tell us everything!". I mean, really, how cool is that
Were it not for this little community, I don't think I would have ever had the courage to do what I did. You all saw me through it, encouraged me when I was lonely and afraid, and gave me a swift kick in the a** when I needed to be reminded of what I had dreamt of and desired.
Topic Closed
I have to absorb this more. 
for a happy road in front of them. (OK, it's an Irish saying and I can't recall it correctly.)
. I know this will not change because we are a community of caring people; the infrastructure may change, but we are all still here.
