Sober up watching Johnny Jet in ‘Hot Spots 2012′ on the Travel Channel this Sunday

John DiScala (aka Johnny Jet) interviews Richard Branson (aka Sir Richard) for his Travel Channel special, "Hot Spots 2012."

When I met him at the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach last year, I noticed something strange about John DiScala (aka Johnny Jet)—he’s one of the few travel writers I’ve met who lays off the booze.

This Sunday, when you’re sprawled out on the couch suffering through New Year’s Day because you don’t have the restraint that Johnny does, however, he’ll be there for you. At 9 p.m. on Jan. 1 (and again at midnight), the Travel Channel is airing his new special, Hot Spots 2012.

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I’m on vacation

My daughter and I are looking forward to making faces at my parents in person, and not just on the webcam.

While I’ve been fortunate enough to travel all over the damn place of late, it’s been three long years since my wife and I took an honest-to-God vacation longer than a three-day weekend. That changes now when we head to my hometown of Reading, Mass. (just north of Boston) for a couple days to stay in my parents’ cozy accommodations (reviewed here), have dinner with a new friend I met in Beijing, and drink with a few old friends I met as far back as nursery school.

After that, it’s three days in Vermont (near where the recent floods hit) for my wife’s law school reunion. Then we’re off to Nantucket for five days with my folks. Growing up my family occasionally vacationed on the island. I hated Nantucket trips: beaches + restaurants + cutesy shops = boring. At 8 years old, I favored fast-paced visits to big cities, a preference I’ve maintained ever since. Until this year. I couldn’t be happier about our destination (and not just because my parents will be providing free childcare while my wife and I celebrate our anniversary at one of our favorite restaurants, The Boarding House).

Don’t follow along in real time at Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr—I won’t be Tweeting, updating, or checking in (other than for reading, restaurant recommendations, and directions, Uncle iPhone’s getting a rest too). Our capable intern is covering for me at Louisville.com and I’m limiting myself to a quick 15-minute check of my other email and voice mail each morning. As much as I love my job, I’m looking forward to dining at a restaurant and not jotting down my thoughts on the meal.

Talking travel–namely how to make money from other people’s trips–on Louisville TV

From WHAS 11′s May 4, 2011 5 p.m. newscast’s segment on renting out your home for Kentucky Derby:

Yes, our lawn did get mowed before our guests arrived (although my hair still needs a trim). And, a minor correction: my site is KentuckyDerbyHomeRental.com—I’m totally slapping the “As Seen on TV” logo on it.

Ustream Broadcaster iPhone ap streams live video to the Internet, just not well

Ustream: "You're On." Maybe. But not in good quality.

On my trip to San Diego and Kamiah, Id. last week, I tried out Ustream, a “live interactive broadcast platform that enables anyone with an Internet connection and a camera to engage their audience in a meaningful, immediate way.” Immediate, yes. Assuming it works And if by meaningful, Ustream means via video that gets hung up, truncated, or chopped up into installments–if makes it to the Internet at all–then it lives up to its billing.

I was hoping to use Ustream to share my travel experience immediately (the technical term is in real time) by broadcasting video live from my iPhone 3GS via the Ustream Live Broadcaster ap (free) to my Ustream channel at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/zach-everson. I configured my Ustream account to send out a Tweet with a link to my show as soon as I started broadcasting. And when I finished broadcasting, the video would save to my Ustream account, a link to it would go out on Twitter, and a copy of the video would be posted to my YouTube channel and Facebook profile. Nifty, huh?

The results? Mostly poor. The executive summary: don’t use Ustream unless it’s essential for you to post live video. And it’s probably never essential for you. The suggestion: keeping using your iPhone camera to record video and posting it to YouTube, where viewers can watch it (gasp) a minute or so after you took it. Check below the jump for the details.

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Talking about traveling with a child on UpTake’s podcast

In a conversation on travel quite different from our last one about solo backpacking through Europe, Addison Schonland interviewed me again for UpTake’s podcast–this time we discussed traveling with a baby. (I blog about travel lodging for UpTake.)

Last month my wife and I took our infant daughter on her first overnight trip when we drove to Milwaukee and Chicago. While the trip went well, traveling with a 2 month old was a different travel experience. Nevertheless, being a parent doesn’t mean the end to being able to travel–you just have to do a few things differently. Listen to the podcast for some pointers.

[Updated Feb. 24, 2011: The link to the podcast on UpTake's site is no longer working, but you can still listen to our 14-minute talk here.]