STA Travel Online Community and Sweepstakes

STA Travel is the world’s largest student and youth travel company. I was a card carrying member in my college days as a student in Salamanca, Spain. STA Travel has just launched two new online community initiatives that bring global travel to student’s fingertips. The latest update of statravel193.com introduces the first social community designed exclusively for student travelers. The community is “an interactive, multi-media environment that provides information on all 193 countries in the world. Students can communicate with one another through their profiles and upload their travel tips, videos and pictures to the website, creating a growing repository of destination and travel information.” Very cool. A little like BootsnAll for the whipper snappers.

As an incentive to join STA Travel 193, students who create profiles are automatically entered to win a Safari trip for two in South Africa. Hows that for some material for the “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” essay? Community members are offered exclusive travel deals and have access to STA Travel destination experts who can be contacted from inside the community to answer any questions or help with travel plans. Sounds like I need to finally start grad school so I can get in on the action.

In addition, students who want to embark on a virtual, 3-D travel experience can visit STA Travel’s virtual travel center in the online world of Second Life. The STA Travel presence within Second Life was built with a “soft landing” so students can jump right into a “customized orientation island” and start exploring destinations quickly and easily. There are scheduled weekly events and tours produced by STA Travel and when students need a break they can head to their own customized dorm room and relax with friends. Crafty.

If you’re a student, check it out.