We’ve been perusing Ooh.com for things you can do next week. You’ll notice on the front page of the site we’ve got a button, which will show you what’s going on around the world next week, and another one for next month. These are great ways to quickly check the site for new listings coming up.


In the mean time, here are a few things going on next week.



This truffle hunting and gourmet cooking break is available from the 5th to the 9th Feb, and costs €650 – a great way to escape the cold in the UK and try something completely new.



This Weekend Wake-up Parkour class is available on Sunday 31st Jan and Sunday 7th Feb. At only £5 it’s a real bargain, and a great way to make sure you get the most out of your lazy Sunday!



Rolling in at a weighty $2,095, this Sea Kayaking and cloud Forest hiking trip in Roatan, Honduras, seems expensive at first glance. But you only have to look at the photos and read the description to realise that this 8 day inclusive package is great value for a once in a lifetime trip. It’s available from the 6th to the 13th Feb, and there are other dates available later this year.


So, three great ideas for the coming week, and you’ll find plenty more where those came from if you click on the “Next week” link at the top of Ooh.com.

Before launching Ooh.com this week, we thought we’d explain why it’s a great idea to join us, and how!

Why create an Ooh.com listing?
- If you offer a niche activity like photowalks in New York, skydiving trips in New Guinea or Surf tours in Costa Rica
- If you’d like to tell the world about your events, courses, lessons, classes, tours, trips or adventures of any kind and take bookings & payments instantly.
- If your activities have a fixed price with a fixed start and finish time.
- If you don’t want to pay for it. Yep, listing on Ooh.com is free!

Start by registering on Ooh.com. Once you’ve registered, click the purple add new activity button to set up your first listing in 4 easy steps.

Use the Basic Info section to give the listing a title, subtitle and description. We also reckon that a thorough About the Seller description will really help sell your activity. You can also add any specific terms and conditions you want to apply in this section.

Using the Location page, you can pinpoint where your activity takes place on the map. Choose the country where it takes place (NOT your domestic country, unless it’s the same…), then fill in the address and click “Find it on the map!” If the pin isn’t perfectly located, you can drag and drop it to just the right spot. Neat, huh?

Once you’ve got your location nailed, add some Photos & Videos to attract buyers. The more photos the better and if you’ve got a Flickr set, or Youtube video you’d like to add, you can include that as well.

Now you’ll need to choose a payment method. You can use Paypal, Google Checkout or Other Payment. Using our handy “Other Payment” feature, you can describe how you’ll take payment from buyers. This text will appear in your listing, so whether its “cash on the door” or “payment by bank transfer” you can receive payment however you like!


The next thing to do is to Add Dates. Just create one date if it’s a one-off event, or use the repeat dates button on the right hand side to repeat the event weekly, monthly or annually. Remember you can still vary the number of spaces and the price for each event.


So now you’ve set up your perfect listing, don’t forget to email your existing customers to let them know. You can also use the links in your listing to share your listing over Twitter and Facebook!

Nathan Kingerlee is a mountaineer and outdoor enthusiast, not to mention an Ooh.com lister.  And when we say “enthusiast”, we really mean it.  With his adventure company, Outdoors Ireland, Nathan offers experiences of the best mountains, rivers, cliffs and valleys in Ireland.  So, where from here?  Surely such a seasoned adventurer has done it all?  Nope.  He hasn’t undertaken a mammoth hike along The Blackwater Way, with a dog, and a goat, in order to discover whether the famous Irish welcome is still alive and well, outside of tourist season.

In case you didn’t know (and no, we didn’t either) The Blackwater Way is a way-marked trail, stretching from Shrone near Killarney in Kerry, to Clogheen, near Clonmel in Tipperary. Along the way it meanders down the lush Blackwater Valley, through fertile farmland and weaves through the Bogeragh and Knockmealdown Mountains.  So far, so normal.  The goat?  Kingerlee explains:  “I have wanted to hike the Blackwater Way for a long time.  The idea of bringing a goat along came to me one evening while in my local bar over a few pints. I had just finished the book ‘Round Ireland With A Fridge’ by Tony Hawks and thought I would love to do something like that but instead of a fridge, a goat would be much better company.”  Of course, there are pros and cons to both goats and fridges.  But considering that mother nature at this time of year will most likely take ample care of keeping things cool, the spritely goat, Bob, may just have the edge.  Cara the dog is Kingerlee’s own Springer puppy.

Kingerlee’s biggest fear is that the goat may not be able to keep up with a 20–30km pace each day over 168km.  But let’s face it, this is what goats do.  They frolic, chew on things, and climb impossible gradients.  But the overarching purpose, other than some fun, is to test the trail out and see if it can sustain hikers and tourists, as Nathan explains: “I’ve spent my whole working life in the tourism industry; I want to take a step outside the industry and see if the Irish welcome that we market overseas still does exist in the little towns and pubs along the way and see if the infrastructure and information is in place for a tourist who could step off a bus in Killarney next Spring and decide walk the Blackwater Way.”

We salute you, Nathan (and Bob and Cara) for your unique sense of adventure.  If Nathan ever decides to make this into an adventure trip of his own for Outdoors Ireland, you’ll likely find it on Ooh.com.

There’s been a lot of snow kicking around in the Northern Hemisphere lately. But we’re keeping our spirits warmed with thoughts of all the fun to be had on the snowy slopes of Europe, the USA and Canada. New Zealand, your time will come!

To share our winter cheer with readers, we thought we’d let you know about some great stuff to do on Ooh.com this winter. You can find even more Cool Stuff to do this winter in our Hall of Fame.

Here are a few of the most recently elected Winter highlights!

A fantastic opportunity to gain an insight into the Japanese language and enjoy some winter sports at the same time.

We’ve heard that winter 09/10 is going to be a massive year for backcountry (off-piste) skiing. And where would be a more exciting place to get knees deep in the fresh powder than Kashmir, India?

Backcountry skiing isn’t without risks, so take the opportunity to brush up on your avalanche awareness skills with this full day introduction to avalanches in Boulder, Colorado!

People often associate winter sports with skiing and snowboarding, but most haven’t thought of Ice climbing. If you’ve never thrown an ice axe and a crampon into a sheer face of ice, now’s a great time to head to Chamonix, France and experience the rush yourself!

That’s it for our top winter things to do roundup. These four are only a handful of the great listings you’ll find on Ooh.com, so head to the site, have a browse and see if anything takes your fancy. Of course, if you want to sell a wintery trip, course or event, you can do that too, for free! Bonus…

With such a greeting, the mention of “New Year’s resolutions” is inevitable.  But let’s face it, the prospect of resolving to be more punctual, walking to work or using floss hardly screams glamour and excitement.  My resolution (quite genuinely, not just for the purposes of this post) is to come away at the end of 2010 with some amazing stories, hopefully of some fantastic adventures, and, most probably, some comical screw-ups.  But if you’re in need of a nudge to get into something new in 2010, here are some ideas from the Ooh desk:

Not your run-of-the-mill volunteering:

Animal volunteering project on the islands of Samoa

Get back to nature:

Wilderness Awakening – 5 Day Bushcraft & Survival Course

Get active:

Beginners Parkour – indoor academy

Expand your palette:

Taiwanese Oolongs Tasting

I could quite happily do this all day, but be sure: we’ll be resolving this year to be blogging a whole lot more once we fully launch.  Which is very soon.