The trip photos I love the best are ones that you probably would never see in a guidebook. I like the unexpected photos; the ones that could easily be passed over if you didn’t take a minute to examine the intricate details. This week’s photo posted by Teobius shows a more intimate side of Istanbul. Away from all of the hustle and bustle of the city, it’s in suburbs similar to these that the people of Istanbul live. I love how the woman is captured in the corner and how in the back of the photo, against the buildings, there is a child.

Photo: Teobius

And in case you haven’t heard, Istanbul is the 2010 European Capital of Culture.

What are your favorite types of trip photos?

Plan your trip to Istanbul on TravelMuse.

Want to share your recent trip photos and have them featured on TravelMusings? Add your photos to our TravelMuse Flickr group or TravelMuse Facebook page, and we’ll publish our favorites.

I think biking to work is a great idea: you can help reduce your environmental footprint (yes, one person can make a difference!) while getting trim for beach season. It’s a win-win for everyone, except maybe oil companies.

Today is the San Francisco Bay Area’s 16th Annual Bike to Work Day. All nine Bay Area counties will be participating in the festivities. The celebration takes place one week before National Bike to Work Day, which happens on May 21. Check out your area for Bike to Work Day deals and steals—a few shops in my town offer free breakfast, trendy water bottles or coupons for various goodies.

Use Bike to Work Day as your launching pad to train for a cycling vacation. Exploring a city by bicycle allows you to experience it through the eyes of a local. You’ll see areas that you would miss if you were traveling by tour bus or taxi, and you might even make some new friends along the way. Beijing, Chicago, Montréal and Amsterdam are just four amazing cities that are bicycle friendly.

Novara’s award-winning Transfer ($649). Photo: Courtesy of REI.

Need a bike to jumpstart your lifestyle change? REI has launched a new collection of Novara bikes to complement their Bike Your Drive Web page, which allows you to log the calories you’ve burned, the CO2 emissions you’ve reduced and the gas money you’ve saved by riding your bike.

And just to give you an idea of how big of an impact one person can make, here is what one-month of biking to work can do:

1.    Burn 18,800 calories
2.    Save $88.00 in gas money
3.    Attain a CO2 reduction on 383 pounds
* Calculations according to REI and based on a total distance of 400 miles over a one-month period

Read about how to plan cycling vacations.

Read more articles on cycling.

Plan your cycling trip on TravelMuse.

Spending a majority of my life on the California coast, I have become accustomed to a moist, moderate climate. I can’t really imagine any type of landscape more opposite of the coast than the desert. And in week and a half, I will be making my way to the Southwest for the first time in my life: Jessica versus desert. In honor of my upcoming jaunt, I chose to feature a gorgeous photo taken in Sedona, Arizona, by Thales that was recently added to the TravelMuse Flickr group.

Hot Air Ballooning in Sedona. Photo: thales

What is your favorite thing to do when you visit the Southwest?

Plan your trip to Sedona on TravelMuse.

Want to share your recent trip photos and have them featured on TravelMusings? Add your photos to our TravelMuse Flickr group or TravelMuse Facebook page, and we’ll publish our favorites.

We’re excited to announce today a next generation Travel Planner and a chance to escape to a tropical paradise!

We know that planning a trip can be an overwhelming experience and although the internet is the go-to place for all your information these days, it can be a real challenge to collect and organize your research. The new TravelMuse Planner makes the chaos of travel planning easy and fun by providing a central place to save, organize and share all your research for any destination.

So what have we changed?

•    New TravelMuse Bookmarker
•    New TravelMuse Planner
•    New Destination Guide section
•    New Ask Friends on Facebook integration
•    New TravelMuse Trip Widget
•    New Contest to Win a Trip to a Tropical Paradise!

You might ask what haven’t we changed!

1.    New TravelMuse Bookmarker
We believe that the Web is the platform for planning your trip, and although we have great content on TravelMuse, we know from industry research that people search about 22 different sites to gather research. We also know that with the existing Bookmarker, TravelMuse members have already saved over 5,000 different websites to their Trips!

The new Bookmarker now allows you to save pages, photos and text from any website into your personal Trip folder. If you include the address, we’ll plot it on an interactive map. Learn more and watch the demo video.

2.    New TravelMuse Planner
You can now view your research on an interactive map, create a schedule and find other popular items based on the research you have saved. This will make planning your trip on TravelMuse more intuitive and rewarding.

Map View
You asked for it, we built it. Being able to use maps to plan your trip came out as a top request, so we’ve built out some cool interactive maps to help plan your trips.

•    Saved items are plotted on a map.
•    The Most popular drop-down menu shows attractions, hotels, restaurants and shopping items saved by other TravelMuse members.
•    The More… drop-down menu shows photos, videos and Wikipedia entries from Google.
•    The Google search box at the bottom of the map also lets you search for items from Google Local and save these directly to your Trip.

Item View
On the “Items” view the research cards are now easier to read and expand to show more detail. We also added:
•    Sort by Most Recent, Added By, Category, Location and Schedule
•    Click on the icons on the right of the card to edit, schedule or delete.
•    Ask Friends on Facebook from an Item view (see below for details on this).
•    Click on the destinations to explore destination guides on TravelMuse or the items to see more detail.

Schedule View
Not everyone wants to plan every day of vacation, but some trips call for more organization than others, so we changed the scheduling view to be more calendar based.
•    Now on the calendar view you can open items in the right hand Trip list and select the day or date they want to add the item to.
•    On the calendar itself you can drag and drop items between days.

3.    New Collaborate and Share
You can still invite friends to join you on TravelMuse to help plan your trip. We’ve also further integrated with Facebook to develop the “Ask Friends” feature. Now for every item you can ask for specific advice. Requests are posted to your wall and then the respective comments are incorporated back into your trip.

4.   New Destinations
We reorganized the key destination landing pages which you can navigate to from the Destinations header or to a particular destination highlighted in your trip.

It’s now easier to navigate between guides, hotels, attractions, restaurants, shops and Trips. You can explore items on the map and scroll down the page to see popular Trips, Most popular attractions, themes and activities and articles.

5.    New TravelMuse Trip Widget
We  introduced the TravelMuse Trip Widget so you can share and showcase Trips on your website, blog and across your social networking sites, based on your Member ID or Trip ID.  Learn how to create your Trip Widget.

6.    New Win a Trip to a Tropical Paradise!
We’re really excited to have partnered with the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau to give away a fantastic luxury trip for two to the tropical island of Oahu!. Join TravelMuse and create a Trip to any destination for a chance to win this amazing prize. Enter now!

Lastly, stay tuned for details on our “Trip of the Week” giveaway with Frommers.

We hope you enjoy taking the new site for a spin and please give us any feedback—be sure to use the new feedback tab on the right side of the page!

Phew, right time for a beer or two, I think…

Cinco de Mayo is a good reason to enjoy some top-shelf tequila and delicious Mexican beer, however the holiday commemorates much more than the spirits from across the border. Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s Independence Day. Rather, on May 5, 1862, the Mexican militia claimed a dubious victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla. Cinco de Mayo is not as widely celebrated throughout Mexico as one might think—the holiday is observed mainly in the state of Puebla and in the United States. Want to experience more Mexican culture? Extend your Cinco de Mayo celebration into a vacation in Mexico.

Cabo. Photo: migpascual

From lush jungles of Puerto Vallarta to the ruins of Tulum to the cultural hub of Mexico City, there is somewhere for everyone in Mexico. Cabo is one town in particular that always seems to peak travelers’ interests.

Two Cabos
Actually, Cabo is not one town, but two, linked by 20 miles of four-lane highway called the Tourist Corridor that skirts the Sea of Cortez. To the south, flamboyant Cabo San Lucas teems with bikini-filled beaches and raucous nightlife. To the north, the more dignified San José del Cabo entices with quieter pleasures. More tranquil still are the jutting cliffs of the Corridor and the surf-beaten enclaves along the Pacific Coast. Most visitors refer to the whole area as “Cabo,” but to locals, Cabo means only San Lucas.

When to Go
Get to Los Cabos any season you can. Pressed to choose the best vacation windows, I opt for mid-October through November, or April through mid-May. With 360 days of sunshine per year, Los Cabos is a sun-lover’s dream.  But the rays here are intense, so never forego sunscreen.

Arriving in Cabo
At the airport, brace for long lines at the Immigration counters, where you’ll get a card that must be turned in at the end of your stay. Head straight for Los Cabos Express, which has a monopoly on airport transportation. Depending on where you’re headed, the bus ride can take upwards of an hour, so sit back and enjoy the scenery.

All-Inclusive Resorts

• Crowne Plaza Resort offers daytime club activities for kids and a nighttime club for teens.

• The Meliá Cabo Real boasts a safe swimming beach and a world-class golf course along with club activities for toddlers through 12-year-olds.

A La Carte Hotels and Resorts

• The stunning Westin Resort and Spa, located on the San José end of the Corridor, is perched on cliffs overlooking the Sea of Cortez.

• On the Pacific side, the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach boasts a huge private beach and 50 acres of villa-style suites.

An oceanview room at the Pueblo Bonito Oceanfront Resort. Photo: Courtesy of Pueblo Bonita Oceanfront Resorts & Spas.

Los Cabos Restaurants

• For fine dining, the 7 Seas Restaurant, Morgan’s Restaurant & Cellar and the Tropicana Restaurant are traditional favorites in San José. Dolce Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria and Damiana round out the mix.

• On a budget, you can’t go wrong at Rosy’s Tacos or Hangman in San José. Rosy’s is open only for lunch, but I’m always happy to take time off from the beach to gobble down fish tacos with all the fixings for about a dollar each. Hangman is fun and affordable for casual dinners. It doesn’t serve alcohol, but you can bring your own.

Plan your trip to Cabo San Lucas on TravelMuse.

Plan your trip to San José del Cabo on TravelMuse.

Adapted from “Tale of Two Cabos” by Deb Vanasse.