I am beyond thrilled to announce that my first ebook Instagram as your Guide to the World – How, What and Who to Search and Follow on Instagram to Help You Travel the World just published this week and it is now available on Amazon.com for an introductory price of $4.99 for a limited time. You can also sign up for my newsletter and get a shorter version for free later this summer. I will be giving a free short version of the book as a .pdf for my newsletter subscribers for free of charge sometime during summer 2013. You can sign up for my personal weekly email here.

Million Little Travel Guides

I was honored to have the
New York Best Selling Author Chris Brogan to write the foreword for the Instagram as Your Guide to The World-book.

Katja is leading a movement of sorts, one to help others create a million little travel guides. But this isn’t entirely about Katja. She’s just our “point of view character,” as they say in movies. She’s actually here for you. Because when you’re done, you’re a recruit. You’re part of the movement. And you have work to do. The world needs your perspective, your take, and your inevitable greatness. We are, after all, creating a million little travel guides, and your work starts now.

says Chris Brogan about this book.

Chris Brogan is CEO & President of Human Business Works, a media and education company helping equip the Personal Business Revolution. He is the New York Times bestselling author of six books (so far) including The Impact Equation.

YOU become a travel expert

My easy-to-read ebook will help you to learn to use Instagram effectively as a travel guide. I will teach you how, what and who to search and follow on Instagram to make your travel planning a much more pleasant, even fun, experience. You will learn to connect with real travel experts; tourists exactly like you and local people. They can tell you the secrets the tourist guide would never reveal. This book gives you a fresh new way of seeing how, what and where people, like you, travel. It also helps you to find an amazing community of people and see different perspectives of our world.

I will also recommend a few supplementary tools that you can use in addition to Instagram to get the most out of your experience. This book is mainly a technical how-to-book, and you can skim through the topics and the tips pretty quickly if you are a seasoned Instagram user. In addition to the technical tips I have added a few travel photos and short travel stories in this book to highlight what this book really is about: an inspiration for you to discover the world! This book isn’t just about new technology and social media, but about discovery, community, and experiencing the world.

After reading this guide YOU will become an expert in finding exotic places to visit and insider tips on what to do – anywhere in the world. My hope for you is that you will not just find a new way to find photos and travel destinations, but that you are also able to make new friends around the country and around the world. I also hope you will learn more about different cultures and see just how different our beautiful world can be – and also see how similar things can be on the other side of the world.

The best thing about Instagram isn’t the technology. The best thing about Instagram is the people who use it. Take time to connect with the people behind the photos.

Remember to also share your own photos! I want to see your pictures from your travels, so remember to connect with me on Instagram, my username is Skimbaco. You can also tag your next travel photos with #IGTravelBook to share them with other readers and travel experts mentioned in this book. I would like to invite you to join our community of Skimbacoers, and share the pictures of how you enjoy life with the #skimbaco hashtag.

Join me in living life to the fullest, and sharing our world travels!

Get the Instagram as your Guide to the World-book now and learn more about the Instagram as Your Guide to The World-book here.

Virtually Travel with me to Bali

This week make sure to check out my photos on Instagram directly from Bali, Indonesia! I will be in Bali as a guest of Le Méridien Bali Jimbaran and will be attending the hotel’s ribbon cutting and opening ceremony, and a press conference on Thursday to learn more about this Starwood Preferred Guest property. The Le Méridien Bali Jimbaran resort is located on the secluded, tranquil Jimbaran Bay on the south-west coastline of Bali and has majestic views of the Indian Ocean and Jimbaran Bay.

I’m Skimbaco on Instagram – let’s connect there! Make sure to give me YOUR Bali travel tips and also tag your Bali photos with #skimbaco hashtag so we can all see more photos of this gorgeous location. You can find the latest #Skimbaco Instagram photos here.

Read also Reeta’s posts from her trip to Bali, and stay tuned for a full recap here after my trip. Subscribe to Skimbaco Travel weekly feed email and never miss a travel post!

Photos: the statue photo by Reeta Laaksonen and the hotel pool photo by Le Méridien Bali Jimbaran

Disclosure: I am traveling to Bali as a guest of Le Méridien Bali Jimbaran and my travel and accommodation expenses are paid. My opinions are my own, as always.

Searching the spring trends

Would you like to know my secrets for knowing what’s trendy? I would like to say it’s just “a hunch” but predicting and claiming what is trending right now takes a lot more work than you think. It’s all about searching and going through a lot of information. In fact, searching for the trends is much more than a guessing game. In any given day I spend a lot of time searching for information online, and following what bloggers and other trendsetters in different countries are doing. I have a Hollywood stylist on a speed dial, and I get press releases from multiple fashion brands. I follow what is presented on the runways, what is worn on the streets and what’s in the fashion boutique windows, all are equally important when you want to know what’s trendy.

I follow, read and stay alert and make my own conclusions and have “hunches” what is up and coming, but on the end of the day when I am writing a larger feature, let’s say “the top spring trends for 2013″ it is the search engines that help me the most when putting together a comprehensive trend feature. Even when I know which trends I want to feature, I still want to find out the best products that got the trend spot on, or who is wearing the trend the best.

I admit, I always use Google when searching, but the nice people at Bing asked me if I’d like to take the “Bing It On” challenge and give Bing a try. Let’s see how it goes!

Bing It On Challenge

You have probably seen the Bing it On- TV commercials, and many choosing Bing over Google.
I was interested in doing the test at the BingItOn.com website, which puts Google and Bing to side-by-side comparison test. The catch – you don’t know which search results are from Google and which one is Bing when you are taking the test!

I typed in “spring fashion trends” and the site asked me which results I liked better, the ones on the left, or the ones on the right. I clicked.

I typed in more detailed “2013 spring fashion trends” and clicked which results I liked better.
Same with “spring shoe trends 2013″ and “printed shorts for spring 2013″ and “metallics for spring 2013.”

After I had done this 5 times, the BingItOn.com site gave me the results which search I had chosen each time.

Wow! Didn’t see that coming! 4 out of 5 times I had chosen Bing! I was very surprised by the result, and did a few other searches as well. While Google was still coming up as my chosen search engine in many of the searches I did, I was surprised how often Bing actually was on the top.

After seeing this result last week, I decided to put Bing for a better test. I didn’t want just this Bing-owned test site to determine which was better search engine for me, especially because I had been loyal to Google for so many years. After using both Bing and Google for the past week, I realized a few things… I actually did like Bing better for many searches. I am connected to so many people via Google+ circles and other social media networks that Google tends to push me information that it thinks is more relevant to me and comes recommend by the people in my social networks. That’s good – and bad. I also want to see things from non-biased perspective and not recommended by the people in my circles, and did discover many new sites and in a way “fresh” perspective from the Bing results. I don’t think I am ready to abandon Google just yet, but it was great to take a more in-depth look how Bing works for me, and I know I will be checking the search results with Bing as well for now on.

You give it a try too! Try the Bing It On Challenge yourself and see which results you prefer.

Thank you to Bing and Technorati for being sponsors of this article. All opinions expressed here are my own.

* Based on a comparison of web search results panel only; excludes ads, Bing’s Snapshot and Social Search panes and Google’s Knowledge Graph. Learn about the study.

Photo by Legocontrol.

Repeat after me: there is no privacy online

I received an email from my daughter’s teacher urging us parents to take more notice what some of the children in my daughter’s class are posting on Instagram.
Last week a friend of mine was tagged in a very unflattering and inappropriate photo on Facebook and everyone was able to see it in her profile.
A few weeks ago I was chatting with my friend on Facebook in a language her husband doesn’t speak, yet he tried translating it with Google translate and greatly misunderstood our conversation and it resulted in family drama. The marriage drama had no cases for real drama expect the fact my friend didn’t have privacy to send private messages on Facebook.
A PR person from a respected company was featured in a major business website last week and a photo from his private Facebook page was featured and questioned for, and this may cause this person his job.

Rumors, published private information, poor judgement and bad behavior on social media result in lost jobs and ruined relationships and it has become part of our lives. A few years ago it was still front page news when people lost their jobs due tweets, Facebook photos or written blog posts, now it sadly has become part of today’s society.

Social media, internet and the way we are able to connect with people around the world has changed my life the past ten years, and I do publish personal stories, personal photos and information online, however, with a very strong filter to protect myself and my family. It might be easy to be mistaken that if you don’t have as many social media “followers” as I do that the filter isn’t as important. The filter is important for everyone.

Rules of engagement

My rule of thumb is that never publish anything that you don’t want your spouse (or future spouse) or your mother, your mother-in-law (or future mother-in-law) or your children (or future children) or your boss (or future boss) see.

Today’s Grandmothers are on Facebook, your children’s teachers are on Pinterest, your boss is on Twitter, and your children’s friends on Instagram, and every time you hit publish on any of these sites, think how these people will see you in all of these platforms.

Many argue for private profiles, private messages, and privacy settings and say that only a handful of friends are seeing what you are posting. Dear friends, there is no privacy online.

Sadly there is even no privacy when it comes to your emails nor text messages, or just read Damn You Autocorrect or other blogs where they publish screenshots of text messages, or embarrassing Facebook messages. There is always someone, or someone’s sister, friend or spouse with an access to your or your friend’s account, or Facebook has yet another privacy update removing all of our privacy all together. Always use caution when it comes to social media.

When it comes to my friend’s marriage drama and her husband’s misunderstanding, it would be easy to say that it was all of his fault for spying on her, and any marriage should base on trust. I agree on every marriage being based on trust. However, we all have to learn that there is no privacy online, however much we would like there to be. Even as close to home as in my own marriage, sure, I have seen my husband publishing things online that have made me angry and sad. And I am positive my husband has seen me to do the same regardless how much I try to be respectful in what I am posting.

Keep private things.. private and offline

It is a good reminder for all us to keep our private things private and keep them offline. What is put online has a funny way of always coming out, sometimes even weeks, months or years after the fact.

McAfee released findings from the company’s 2013 Love, Relationships, and Technology survey which examines the pitfalls of sharing personal data in relationships and discloses how breakups can lead to privacy leaks online. The study highlights the need for consumers to take steps to protect themselves from cyber-stalking and exposure of private information.

Nearly two-thirds of smartphone owners have personal and intimate information on their mobile devices, such as bank account information, passwords, credit card numbers and revealing photos, yet only 40% have password protection on their devices. This leaves a gap in personal data protection, which results in exposure.

We’re all aware of the cases involving celebrities, but you don’t have to be a celebrity to have your personal information exposed

said Michelle Dennedy, an online security expert for McAfee.

What about our kids?

What’s the most important thing about this is educating our children correctly about social media and being great examples. Online bullying didn’t exist when we went to school, and many parents might not have first hand experience or even know online bullying exists. We might also think that what we do online doesn’t concern our children, and your “online world” is separate from the “in real life parenting world.” You couldn’t be more wrong. Even if your child doesn’t have access to internet today, she/he will in the future and your online footprint can be found by your offspring (and for you younger single people – your online footprint can also be found by your prospective future spouse!).

As a parent you have responsibility not just learn about social media etiquette and best practices for yourself, but also so you can both educate and monitor what your child is doing online. If you are a parent and want to learn more, you might want to check out my friend Amy Lupold Bair’s new book Raising Digital Families For Dummies, out today.

I personally encourage my children for social networking and learning from day one how to do it correctly – before they are too old to make any big mistakes they might regret later in their lives. Our family’s favorite network is Instagram – and my son’s pictures are featured in the post.

New York!

Greetings from one of my favorite cities in the world: New York City. We are here only for a very short time, and spending some time also in Connecticut and in Beacon, NY in our old neighborhood. Follow me on Instagram to see my travel photos from New York and Connecticut. A reminder, I’m Skimbaco on Instagram.

How to move your Google Reader feed to BlogLovin

Google Reader is shutting down on July 1, 2013. If you are following the Skimbaco Lifestyle feed via Google Reader it’s about time to think of an alternative way to stay in touch.

I personally have been using BlogLovin for the blogs I read for a few years.

BlogLovin let’s you categorize the blogs you read and it’s easy to mark off the posts you are not interested in and you can also like the posts you did read and like. I would love if you followed Skimbaco Lifestyle on BlogLovin and saw it yourself how easy it is to use. I am not a tech-savvy person, and I like how easy it is to use BlogLovin and see the headlines and only click to the posts you want to read or you can use the handy top bar like in the picture below to click through all of the latest posts from your favorite blogs. Only bad about using the top bar is that you can not pin any images to Pinterest when using it and you need to remove the bar before pinning any images.

You can also easily move your Google Reader feed to BlogLovin. Create an account first, and then go to Settings, scroll down the page and click “Import Blogs”, choose “Google Reader” and start moving your blog feeds to BlogLovin.

Here are a few alternative RSS feed readers you can also use:
Feedly.com
Old Reader
Flipboard

The best way to get your Skimbaco-fix is to subscribe to our emails.
Each day we send out one email, one topic per day, and our Monday email has the latest posts from all of the categories. I highly recommend the Monday email but if you are only interested in specific categories, we offer you them separately as well.

To subscribe to our newsletters, click on the links below:
MONDAYS Skimbaco Lifestyle Newsletter, all topics.
TUESDAYS Skimbaco Home Newsletter, only home posts.
WEDNESDAYS Skimbaco Food Newsletter, only food posts.
THURSDAYS Skimbaco Travel Newsletter, only travel posts.
FRIDAYS Skimbaco Fashion Newsletter, only fashion posts.

Thank goodness spring break is around the corner. My family is going to take a few days to explore the mountains of North Carolina. We’ll be stopping in Asheville for one night, then spending a few days in the mountain town of Highlands, where waterfalls are as abundant as the curvy roads. In addition to my children’s luvies, snacks, and spring coats for that cool mountain air, I’ll be taking our new Intel tablet on this trip. We didn’t have a tablet before owning the Lenovo ThinkPad 2, and after taking some time to get used to the new Windows 8 operating system, I cannot imagine not taking it on our spring break excursion.

7 Reasons Why I’m Traveling with My Intel Tablet

1. Travel Planning

I’ve done a lot of trip planning while watching TV on my tablet. I’ve mapped out the best routes. I’ve bookmarked things to see on my travels, too. I want to continue my research while on location. The tablet makes it easy for me to do so. I love my smartphone, but the larger size of the tablet makes it a lot easier to reserach destinations on the go or in the comfort of the couch.

2. Entertaining the Kids in our Room

My kids have basically taken the tablet away from me. They love it. With the built-in inking feature, the kids have so much fun drawing with the tablet. They write notes. They draw glasses on their dad. It’s provided hours of entertainment. We love the app Skitch. My daughter has also found some great preschool games, too. I firmly believe in seeing things when traveling, and I don’t allow electronics during our dinners, but the tablet will be great for some downtime in the hotel room.

3. Watching Movies or TV Programs

The picture on the Intel tablet is crisp. It’s been great for watching TV and Netflix. With free Wi-Fi, I don’t have to be limited to what is on cable while in a hotel room or rental house. My son has earphones, so if he doesn’t want to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse then he can watch something else while we get ready for our day’s adventure.

4. Easy Access to Email and Social Media

With the tablet, and the touch of the Windows email app, I have all my accounts right there at the touch of the screen. It truly makes it easier to stay in touch and on top of my email when traveling. My mobile phone is just too small for me to type well. Under the People app, I can view my social media updates and notifications. I can take a photo of us in our room at Old Edwards Inn and Spa with the tablet and share it with my friends immediately.

5. Easy Access to Restaurant Reviews while On-Location

The one thing that the Intel tablet truly masters is speed and easy transition from one thing to another. It’s so easy to go from one app to another, watch a movie, or surf the net. It’s going to be great to have while traveling to seek out restaurant reviews, search for things to do in a new area, or even to see what’s playing at the movies while I’m in town. If I feel like having a burger for dinner, I can find the best burger in town within seconds.

6. Recording Special Travel Moments

I truly need to do a better job of catching special moments on our travels. The built-in camera allows you to transition from video photography to still photography with ease. The camera quality is good. The dual-camera feature enables you to get the videographer in the shoot, too.

7. Catching Up with my Favorite Reads

The tablet is great for reading. I’ve not downloaded a book yet, but I love reading my favorite blogs on it. I despise reading blogs on my phone. In fact, I don’t do it. Now when I travel, I can keep up with what Katja is posting on Skimbaco while I’m away.

I’m looking forward to taking the Intel tablet on this trip. I’m sure I’ll discover even more great uses while on the go.

Be sure to follow @SkimbacoTravel, @SkimbacoFood, and @Hinessightblog on Instagram so that you can keep up with me on my travels. I will be staying at the beautiful Old Edwards Inn and Spa while in Highlands. This European boutique property recently received the honor of being one of TripAdvisor’s Top 25 hotels in the U.S.

Disclosure: We don’t do product reviews on Skimbaco, but I was given an Intel tablet to use on my travels. Opinions about the tablet are my own.

SUBSCRIBE TO SKIMBACO TRAVEL, travel newsletter delivered to you once a week.

News: my Instagram Travel book coming soon

I am so happy to announce that my book Instagram as your Guide to the World – How, what and who to search and follow on Instagram to help you to travel the world is almost done and I am so thankful for so many great people who have supported me in this book project during the writing period. Many of my Instagram friends have been very encouraging and they have been asking for a coffee table book with some of my photos from Sweden. I really appreciate the compliments and Sweden does make it easy for me to take great photos. The winter, the snow and the river view on my backyard have made it very easy to post “good morning from Sweden” photos everyday on Instagram. I typically post every day right after 6AM local time.

Here are some of my latest Instagram photos from Sweden, you can see all of my photos on Instagram, my username is Skimbaco.

My book is not a photo book, and it is only going to be an electronic book and can only be read via Kindle, iPad or computer, so it is far from a coffee table photo book, and it is more like a technical how-to-book how to use Instagram for a very specific use: to use Instagram as a travel guide. The book has plenty of my photos though – I traveled to Paris and Rome during writing this book and the book has examples of how I used Instagram as my travel guide for both trips.

I don’t know anything about book publishing but I have been listening to Chris Brogan very closely and his tips to anyone who wants to write a book are spot on. By the way, even if book writing isn’t for you, you might still like the newsletter Chris sends out on Sundays, and entrepreneurs will love his Mastering the digital channel classes.

Several travel bloggers on Instagram have given quotes for the book, and I will be featuring many of my favorite Instagram accounts both in the book, and here at Skimbaco Lifestyle during the upcoming months. I’ve felt very honored that so many people from the global travel community have shared their photos with the #IGTravelBook hashtag and shared their photos with others, and this amazing community is really the main reason for me wanting to write the book at the first place. I wanted to show people how to find your own “travel tribe” and what kind of amazing information you can find from Instagram if you just know how to search. Instagram changed the way I plan my travels, I hope it will do the same for you.

Fodor’s Follow Favorite

I was very humbled that Fodor’s travel site featured my upcoming book a few weeks ago and named my Skimbaco account on Instagram as Fodor’s follow favorite. Here are the bigger versions of the photos they featured with the locations where I took them.

Check out lots of more pictures from our VIP tour of the Vatican in my video on YouTube.

Get my Swedish semla recipe here, these sweet cardamon bun with shipped cream and almond paste are amazing.

This time we have lived in Sweden has truly been amazing. I traveled in 12 countries last year, and can’t wait to write more about my travels once my book is published.

Skimbaco Travel travel bloggers unite on Instagram

And there is more…
Our entire Skimbaco Team travels all the time and while we all have our own Instagram accounts for personal travel photos, we just recently teamed for a joint account. Now you can see travel photos from all of the travel bloggers in our team on SkimbacoTravel account on Instagram.

This week Wes is traveling in Spain (Wes_Holland on Instagram) and Adrienne in France (therichlifeonabudget on Instagram) and I highly recommend checking their travel photos out.

Here are the latest photos from SkimbacoTravel account. With team members traveling all the time and living in places like Norway, North Carolina, California, New York City and English countryside, you will truly get photos from all around the world.

Are you on Instagram?

Share your favorite Instagram travel accounts here and leave a link to YOUR Instagram account so we can all get connected!

Shop with Sweet Relish

Today I would like to encourage you to take a coffee break and shop with Sweet Relish. Sweet Relish is a new social shopping site where you can create lists of things you would like or what you recommend for others. And before you say you use Pinterest for that – have you ever found great products on Pinterest and wanting to buy them immediately only to find out that the link isn’t working, or there is no link where to purchase the product and you are end up wanting to buy something, but can’t find where to buy it? Yeah, me too. That’s why Sweet Relish is awesome, every single product can be bought and you can create lists with products from virtually any online store.

Sweet Relish is brilliant for making gift lists (think birthdays, weddings and the Holidays for example), and I immediately thought it would be great to use it for home decorating projects. You could easily pick furniture and other home products from different stores for your room, create a Sweet Relish list of all of the different options. It would be very easy to see them all at one glance and compare them all, including their prices and then make purchases easily when ready. Since it’s a social shopping site, you can also find products from your friends lists, or send your list to your friends to look at (“hey babe, this is what I’d fancy for my birthday”).

I created a few lists and tested how Sweet Relish works. You can find my lists and you can also find the products pictured above in my coffee break list.

Using Sweet Relish is simple. You join in and you can get the Relish browser button and every time you find a product you want to add to your list, you just click the button and add it to the list you want, or you can create a new list. So get a cup of coffee and take a coffee break from your day and check out Sweet Relish and start your own shopping wish list!

Disclosure: This post was sponsored but all of my opinions and the product picks in the lists are mine.

Book about Instagram Travel

If you have been wondering about the quietness here on the site the past few weeks, I have been busy not just traveling to Paris, but also busy writing a book! In fact I have been so busy writing a book that I am missing only one more chapter and the entire book is done and written.

Instagram has completely changed the way I travel and make travel plans and I realized not many are using Instagram the same way as I am, and I want to share my discoveries with others in my book. The book will be geared towards anyone who has Instagram account and likes to travel. One of the chapters will feature Instagram travel stories from other users, and also a list of great travel experts who are on Instagram. If you would like to nominate yourself to be part of the book, please tag one of your photos on Instagram with #IGTravelBook and with my useraname @skimbaco and tell me why you deserve to be in the book! You can also nominate your favorite travelers, travel destinations and travel experts on Instagram to be featured.

Read more here.