Mark your calendars: Mother’s Day is coming up this Sunday (you’re welcome)!

Still looking for the perfect Mother’s Day surprise? While the obligatory card/breakfast in bed/flowers/hug always makes them smile, why not break the mold this year and do something fun together with mum?!  

There are lots of unique activities happening soon that would make great mother’s day presents. Here are just a few:

• In New York, go on a lovely long walk through the city’s coolest community gardens, and end the night with a sushi-making class together at home.
• In Berlin, surprise her with a 60 minute flight over Berlin, or take her on an alternative “coffee date” at the Coffee Circle brewing workshop.
• In Amsterdam, bust out the old cameras on the Vintage Camera Photo Walk, and spend the rest of the afternoon on a private canal tour. 
• In Istanbul, if she’s a fan of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature winner Orhan Pamuk, join this tour based on his novel The Museum of Innocence. Or, go for the old faithful: a day of pampering at the spa. 
• In San Francisco? A perfect gift for any food-lover: take her on a 3 hour culinary walking tour of the Mission District and meet the owners, purveyors and even taste some of the great local offerings. 
• In London, start a family brand and learn to make chutney, or take a watercolour painting class together so Mum can replace the “art” on her fridge.
• In Los Angeles , play tourist for a day or learn to make delicious homemade condiments from scratch.

Today’s the big day - the Gidsy community has officially unlocked it’s first city: Istanbul!

As of today, anyone can organize and book things to do in Istanbul, and we couldn’t be happier about it! Istanbul is the first city that’s been launched in the name of “Unlock your City!”, and there are many more to come soon. Stay tuned…

For now, take a look at these great events happening in Istanbul: 

• Alternative Istanbul, from Bridge to Bar, with Dennis. Escape the main streets, and visit the alternative side of Istanbul with a local, from the best restaurants and bars to stunning historical sights 
• Street photography workshop, with Arjen. Improve your photography skills, and get inspired by the street scenes found off the beaten path.
• A day of pampering, with Birgit. This one is for the ladies! Treat yourself to a relaxing day at the spa. 
• Early evening bar hopping, with Gokcen. Get a taste of Istanbul’s nightlife in your choice of neighbourhood. Visit 5 different bars, and enjoy a drink at each stop. Who’s ready for a great night out?

Now what are you waiting for? Istanbul’s got plenty going on, and this is only just the beginning! 

Organize an activity in Istanbul   or   Find something fun to do

Gidsy’s coming to visit!
We’re so excited about the Istanbul launch that we’ll even be sending some of our team to visit! Our CEO Edial as well as Frieda & Katie from the Community team will be strolling the streets this coming weekend. If you’re in Istanbul on May 12th, we’ll also be hosting a fun meetup (location TBD - know anywhere fun?) and would love to see you there. Feel free to RSVP on Facebook if you’d like to join us on Saturday!

Public Gidsy profile pages are a very useful tool for organizers to build and establish their own “brand” around their activity, improve their marketing efforts and share their activities with a broader audience. 

We already have some superstars on Gidsy, when it comes to successfully marketing activities and building up a steady fan base. There is, for example, Piet in Amsterdam. He’s a retired Amsterdam cop who leads Red Light District tours, and integrates his Gidsy presence into all his marketing efforts - with huge success!

Mark, the organizer of two NYC dumpling tours is another stellar example (read his handy promotion tips here). With his newly established Twitter account ‘Dumplr’ he can reach out to even more people and establish a brand experience that’ll help him to kick even more, ahm, dumplings in the future. 

Customize your public Gidsy page with a personal URL
An easy but efficient first step for you to get started is sprucing up your profile page, and set up your custom Gidsy URL. Choosing a personalized Gidsy URL will make sharing your public Gidsy page even easier, and more beneficial for you. It’ll also make it easier for people to find you via search machines and key words. 

A well groomed profile page with a personal picture that shows the very best side of your gorgeous face, a few lines that describe yourself and links to your other online presences will work wonders.

Berlin Web Week started yesterday. That means loads of presentations, workshops, events, organizers and all sorts of other activities are happening around the city. Bigger than ever, Berlin’s internet scene is thriving. Of course, we can not miss out on this. So, we’re organizing a very special Berlin Startup Crash Course. 

If you want to meet the founders of Gidsy (Floris, Phil and myself), we’d love to see you this Saturday at the Gidsy HQ.

We’ll talk about investors, press, team, product and everything else that you want to learn more about. 

Update: It’s sold out now! Stay tuned for the next one.

We’ve just stumbled on this fun read in the New York Times.

For a new generation of American chefs, one of the most crucial ingredients in the kitchen is audible, not edible: music actively inspires the way they cook, the way they think, the way they live.

In ‘Sounds from the Kitchen’, 10 culinary creators reveal which songs make their cooking a fab time. 

So we were wondering, can music actually inspire a great meal? Which song makes you go wild in the kitchen?

The community has spoken: Gidsy will launch in Istanbul on May 7th! Since this is the first city launch that you have made happen with “Unlock your City!”, we’re that more excited about it. Congratulations, Istanbul!

If you’re in Istanbul, we would love to get you involved! You can start creating your listings now so they’ll be online for the big launch, and get a bit of extra attention. 

Organize something in Istanbul 

Want to help “Unlock your City” on Gidsy? Get your peers involved and start creating listings! Once there are enough listings for a city, we’ll launch there - easy as that. For a little inspiration, take a look at this great blog post about launching Gidsy in Gent.

The Gidsy Team is coming to Istanbul!
Since we’re so excited about working with the great community in Istanbul, we’ll even be going there to organize a meetup in the next few weeks! Be sure to follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter to stay in the loop about our upcoming visit…

Food Revolution Day is only 22 days away, and the campaign is picking up a lot of momentum.

Really great events ranging from farmer’s market tours to cooking classes, community fundraisers, and even a “picnic flash mob” will be happening all over this fine globe of ours, to help raise awareness for our collective right to better food. How exciting! 

Here’s just a sample of what’s happening across the world on May 19th:

• In Sunbury, Australia, join the “Rawvolution” and enjoy a raw food tasting event at a local organic cafe. 
• In Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, the Petits Chefs Academy will be hosting not one, but two family friendly cooking classes.
• In Orford, UK, home of the Kitchen Garden project, there will be a farmer’s market, as well as the launch of the Orford Primary School’s very own pasta sauce!
• In Calabasas, California, it’s Kid’s Day at the local farmer’s market! Plenty of workshops, fun activities and of course, plenty of food to enjoy. 
• In Budapest, Hungary,  it’s a Food Revolution Picnic Flash Mob! Bring a blanket, pack a picnic, and join in on the fun!

Want to take part in this global event? What are you waiting for?! Get together with your friends, neighbours, co-workers or community, and stand up for real food. 

Create a listing 

Learn about event guidelines here, or visit the Food Revolution Day website for more info.

And remember: if you’re in Berlin on May 19th, we’re taking part in the Food Revolution by hosting a Seed Funding at the Gidsy HQ, and would love to see you there!

Where is the most memorable place you’ve ever been? 

This was the question I asked a number of our guests (and founders) at our Meetup this past Saturday. 

The answers - spanning from Disneyland to the Serengeti - definitely ignite a bit of wanderlust! So, for your listening pleasure, please enjoy this compilation of their most memorable adventures. 

What about you?