Passports with Purpose Picks

Things are going along swimmingly with Passports with Purpose, the annual travelbloggers fundraiser. We’ve got, what, a hundred or so participating bloggers, we’re about 11k short of our goal, and the stuff this year, oh, the stuff is amazing. I don’t get to participate — as a founder, in an attempt to make sure that everything is on the level and that we look squeaky clean, I’m not allowed to bid for prizes. And oh, that just kills me.  See, I have two great prizes to give away:

• Three nights at an Aqua hotel in Waikiki with lots of fun activities including a personal tour of the island’s best grinds with Nathan Kam.
• A Flea ukulele — not just my favorite starter uke, but a perfect travel companion. (Seattle winner? I’ll give you a lesson to get you started, too!)

But in addition to what I have to give away, there are other amazing things you might take away, all in exchange for a ten dollar donation to this year’s beneficiary, LAFTI. It’s not easy for me to narrow it down to my personal favorites, but I’m going to give it a shot.

• For most bizarre transportation, you can’t beat Caitlin’s zeppelin tour over San Francisco. Amazing. On Roaming Tales.
• It’s a tie for that oddball combination of wacky and sweet between Mike’s Sky Mall gift card on Gadling and Harriet’s three ounce extravaganza on Stuck at the Airport.
• “Yes, I AM going to eat the whole thing. Now back off.”  Wandermom Michelle gets points for that Chocolopolis package, but anyone who’s been to my neighborhood knows that my heart — and my belly — belongs to the Bakery Nouveau prize hosted by the No Vacation Required guys, Kent and Canaan. (I love Bakery Nouveau even more for this.)
• If you don’t love trains, seriously, I don’t even know you. Charyn can help you keep railway history alive, maybe on an AstroTurf covered piece of plywood in your basement with her Golden Spike train set. It’s on  The Global Citizen Project.
• Last, but so not least is that HomeAway Holiday-Rentals voucher. I loves me some vacation rentals, and 800 USD worth of vacation rentals is something I could get some serious mileage out of. Lara and Terrance have the details on Gran Tourismo.
• Honorable mention to Corey at Irish Fireside for the most glamorous video for the Ireland vacation package. That’s some mad promoting there! Wow!

What do you have to do to get a shot at this — and lots more — excellent stuff? Go to the Passports with Purpose site. Pick the things you want from catalog, and then, check out — it’s ten bucks for each entry. All that money, minus a small processing fee for PayPal, goes to LAFTI. 25 families in India get homes and you get… well, who knows. You get to help support Passports with Purpose, for starters. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll get something amazing, too, in return.

The entire PwP crew is so grateful for the support of our sponsors. Take the time to check out what they do. A big thank you to BootsnAll, LiveMocha, Round the World with Us, HomeAway, Traveller’s Point, Transitions Abroad,  Hostelling International, Quintess, Raveable, TravelPost, and Uptake.