Though there seems to be progress in stopping the leak in the Gulf, the misperceptions about oil on beaches may take far longer for the travel industry to fix and may be problematic for future Gulf Coast and Florida tourism . Travelocity recently conducted a poll of over 2,000 Americans and found that many travelers believe the oil has spread far beyond its actual reach. For example, one in four respondents named the Florida Keys as one of the top three destinations they thought were impacted by the spill. One in four also named Panama City as affected, although the beaches are clean and open.

Travelocity asked: “Based on what you’ve heard in the news, which would you say are the top three destinations that you think are most affected by the oil spill?” The chart below illustrates the results of the poll.

Please join us in welcoming guest author Joel Frey, one of the Travelocity Roaming Gnome’s most trusted publicists.

Call me a sucker for good PR.  Over  the years, I've read a handful of glowing travel stories on Marfa, Texas, a town of a 2,121 people about 200 miles southeast of my home in El Paso. Most of these reviews first focused on the "Mystery Lights," followed by a summation of the artist Donald Judd's ties to the area and wrapped up with a few paragraphs on a revival which has seen an influx of galleries, restaurants and renovations spring life into an otherwise a dusty ranching town. Inspired by The New York Times, my wife and I recently spent a weekend there.

If you're still looking for Mr. Right or Ms. Walks-on-Air this February 14th, you might wonder if your chances would be improved by a visit to Valentine, Texas or Valentine, Nebraska. Recently a single friend suggested I write a travel blog called: You Don't Have to Go to Alaska to Meet the Man of Your Dreams. She wanted me to figure out where the most single men live so that she could vacation accordingly.

A blizzard tore through the Texas Panhandle this weekend. Wipe that disbelieving frown off your face; yes, it snows in Texas. I awoke on my second morning home for the holidays to see white gusts blowing sideways outside my window. We were house-bound, and the snow rendered the roads so impassable that an 80-car pileup slammed into I-40, just outside Amarillo (which is about 120 miles south of my hometown, Perryton). On the rural plains, there are no trees, no tall buildings, no blips on the flat surface of the landscape to break the winds and provide a buffer from the onslaught of winter weather. Not only does it snow in Texas, but the conditions snowstorms bring are fiercer and more violent here than I’ve ever experienced in my going-on-8-years in the Northeast.

With not much to keep me occupied (I taught my sister to play Scrabble, started a jigsaw puzzle, and read four cookbooks cover to cover) I began to think about the misconceptions that plague my not-so-humble home state. As travelers, we encounter misconceptions (others’ and our own) with the regularity of delayed flights; this single phenomenon encompasses one of travel’s greatest challenges and the root of its greatest rewards. And it’s because we understand this that it’s our duty to dispel misconceptions wherever and whenever we are qualified. As a born-and-bred Texan who is actually quite fond of her home state, but whose first impulse upon telling others of her origins is to assure them that she isn’t, I think it’s high time to set the record straight. Please take a moment to get the cowboys-and-guns jokes out of your system. Now, coming to you straight from the Lone Star State, here are the five things every Texan wishes others understood.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member bmwhd