Ever plan your trip down to the last detail only to find you missed a fabulous festival or event just down the road the day after it happened? Use this handy
search engine from
Travel Cuts, a Canadian student travel agency, to find worldwide celebrations and happenings before you leave home - search by country, theme and/or date. The engine offers the option to search up to two years in advance, but you'll probably only see this year's dates for festivals unless they're annual events and take place at the same time every year - you'll see a disclaimer if it's possible that a particular festival's details may change.
Themes
Without specifying destinations, a random search for events and festivals in the ten theme categories pulled up some examples of interesting things to see and do in August:
Arts - Shoot Out - 24 Hour Film Making Festival, Empire Theatre, Toowoomba, Australia - Very interesting! Shoot a seven minute movie in 24 hours. "It's for film makers with guts!" say promoters.
Bizarre - Liars' Festival, Moncrabeau, France - How well can you fib? Weave the best lie and wear the yarn spinner's crown, or simply be entertained by tall tale tellers.
Classical Music - International Chamber Music Festival, Stavanger, Norway - Worth the trip just to see the music venues, including a 900 year old cathedral.
Festivals & Heritage - Emancipation Day Celebrations, Nassau, Bahamas - Former Bahamian slave village Fox Hill inhabitants celebrate the anniversary of their freedom. The Junkanoo (island music) Festival is key to the festivities.
Gay and Lesbian - Gay Pride in Reykjavik, Reykjavík, Iceland - Leather summit, Diva's Night and a parade mark this small country's big gay festival. Iceland is warmly welcoming and staggeringly beautiful.
Kids and Family -
International Contemporary Mime Festival (MIMOS) - Périgueux, France - Who couldn't love this best-of-its-kind event? Watch amateurs and pros strut their silent stuff; indulge your inner mime with a workshop.
Lifestyle - Hemp Parade, Berlin, Germany - Whatever your views on the legalization of cannabis, you'll find someone espousing them here. Take a break from the political part and peruse hemp made goods from clothing to ice cream in the "Market of Possibilities".
Music & Nightlife - Pukkelpop, Kiewit, Hasselt, Belgium - The Prodigal, Korn, Marilyn Manson, Good Charlotte and Jello Biafra number among the bands at this three day rockfest attracting over 100,000 cool campers. Give it up.
Science & Knowledge - Australian Science Festival, Canberra, Australia - Scientific sojourn down under showcases amazing technology and down home fun, like making musical instruments from carrots and garden hose. A big bash that's a long way from your junior high science fair.
Sport & Outdoors - Summer X-Games, Los Angeles, CA, USA - A cool million bucks is up for grabs among the world's hottest skate boarders, BMX bikers, motocross riders and wakeboarders (very cool). Oh yeah - and street luge - complete maniacs. X marks the date for this madness.
Details
When you click into an event, you'll be taken to its individual page with details like dates, venue and contact info, location and directions, a weather link, tourist offices and a link to the event's website if one exists. Because Travel Cuts is a full-service student travel agency, a bonus is that any event's home page also contains links to information about the hosting country:
Overview
Introduction
Government
Environment
Society
Economy
Pre-departure
Climate
Communication
Getting There
Getting Around
Culture
Images
Map
The Bottom Line
The search engine is surprisingly comprehensive, considering that it attempts to cover events and festivals worldwide. Play around with it for a bit and you may find yourself changing your travel plans to make sure you hit the Swiss National Yodelling Contest or the Japanese Rice Planting Festival.
"I think that travel comes from some deep urge to see the world, like the urge that brings up a worm in an Irish bog to see the moon when it is full."
--Lord Dunsany
