Yes, that’s the number of people expected to travel this Memorial Day holiday in the United States.

According to AAA, 37.6 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles this holiday season. It represents a mere 1% increase from last year. 80% will drive, 10% will fly, and 10% will use other forms of transportation (trains and busses).

With gas prices hovering at $3.00, expect this to be a good weekend for your friendly neighborhood oil company.

Link: 37 Million Expected to Travel This Weekend (Washington Post)

Photo from Flickr user Kim Scarborough

Someone finally put Google Maps and Wiki together to create WikiMapia. Users can add boxes around locations on the map and add their own content.

The site is pretty new so you will probably be one of the first to highlight locations. I have already extensively marked up the Washington, DC area.

Link: WikiMapia

If you are like me and you’ve always wanted to see your photos in National Geographic Magazine, then head over to Your Shot on the NGM website.

Users are invited to submit a photo each month based on a theme chosen by the editors (this month’s theme is “Pets”). The editors will then choose from the first 5,000 photos submitted each month. The winner will see their photo both online and in the magazine.

Link: National Geographic Your Shot

A funny find on YouTube. This is a World Cup 2006 Pepsi Ad which plays on Oktoberfest Bavarian traditions (or are they stereotypes?).

In the ad, several famous soccer players (Beckham, Ronaldinho, Raul, Henry, to name a few) arrive at and Oktoberfest-like celebration except it’s called Pepsifest and includes big mugs of Pepsi and lederhosen. The players show off their great talents and skill, but the real kicker (no pun intended) is the interpretation of Trio’s “Da Da Da” by the Germans.

The ad is part of a Pepsi promotion which will include games and player-branded cans. So far we know it’s in Thailand, but sure it’ll appear in other places. You can read more details in this press release.

Related: Washington Post article about World Cup in Bavaria

Welcome to TRAVELERism, a new blog about the world from the perspective of a traveler or a tourist (we don’t discriminate).

Through stories, links, photos, videos, and music we hope to bring the world closer to you. In the weeks and months ahead we will post stories about the world: places both near and far. We will also pass along travel deals, links to new related sites, and other info which we hope draws your interest.
We can’t travel everywhere or find all the great places and stories, so I hope you can help us extend our reach by contributing to the site. Tell us about your travel stories and experiences or point us to a place we should look at.

No better music for our launch than Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra.