Passports with Purpose: Win Stay at Omni CNN Center Plus Swim w/Whale Sharks

Win three days and two nights in the luxurious Coca-Cola Suite at the Omni CNN Center, spa gift certificate AND swim with whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium, plus admission to Atlanta’s favorite attractions, all for a $10 donation!

What: Passports with Purpose: Gifts for a Cause
Where: Prizes from all over the World including the Omni Hotel at CNN Center and Downtown Atlanta Attractions
When: Nov. 28 – Dec. 11, 2012 
(winners notified on Dec. 18)
Cost: $10 per chance to win

Last Christmas, Santa brought my son an Xbox. The gift itself wasn’t all that unique, but Santa informed us of the present through a phone call from Michelle Duffy of Passports with Purpose during a hike up Kennesaw Mountain, rather than the usual down the chimney on Christmas Eve. You can’t imagine how excited I was to get the call that we had won! This year we’ve got another shot at the magic, and you do too, through Passports with Purpose, a fundraiser put on by travel bloggers around the world. Read on to find out how you can win some sweet gifts for a cause, like three days in the Coca-Cola Suite at the Omni CNN Center and a host of Atlanta area attractions, including a swim with whale sharks!

How to purchase gifts for a cause:

• Log onto Passports with Purpose
• Select what prizes you’d like to win
• Donate $10 for each entry
• Visit often between Nov. 28 and Dec. 11 for more entries
• Look for an email of what you’ve won on Dec. 18

What could you win? 
In addition to a host of fabulous prizes, there is one close to home. The Omni Hotel at CNN Center is offering an exclusive Atlanta experience at the four-diamond Omni Hotel at CNN Center valued at $1,700!  I wish I could win this package that includes:

• Complimentary accommodations in the luxurious Coca-Cola Suite for three days, two nights
• Daily Art of Breakfast buffet for two at Prime Meridian Restaurant
• $200 spa credit at Natural Body Spa and Shop inside the Omni Hotel at CNN Center
• Swim with the Whale Sharks: Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to swim side-by-side with the gentle giants of the ocean- whale sharks! Choose a private swim or SCUBA dive for two people in the Georgia Aquarium’s 6.3 million gallon aquarium, the largest aquarium habitat in the world. Journey with the Gentle Giants is the world’s only experience where you are guaranteed to swim with whale sharks.
• Admission for two (2) at the World of Coca-Cola, home to the secret formula of the world’s largest beverage brand.
• Inside CNN VIP Tour for two (2) at the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta. **

One of the awesome prizes from Passports with Purpose is a luxurious stay at the Omni CNN Center.

About the Omni Hotel
We’ve stayed at the Omni CNN Center and my boys are STILL talking about the amazing breakfast buffet. See photos of our stay at the Omni CNN Center on Field Trips with Sue on Facebook. Recently I stayed at the Omni in Dallas, TX where I became a Select Guest.  Select Guest is a pretty amazing loyalty program that is free to join. My favorite part– complimentary morning beverage delivered right to my room. A pretty close second is the complimentary pressing of two items, and shoeshine.

The most unique part of this package though is the swim with the Whale Sharks at the Georgia Aquarium. I’ve never personally done this, but my friend Liz Engle can’t stop raving about it. If you’d like to know what it’s like, read Liz’s guest post on Swimming with the Whale Sharks at the Georgia Aquarium.

As part of the Omni CNN Center Package, enjoy a $200 spa credit at Natural Body Spa, located within the Omni CNN Center.

What is Passports with Purpose?
Passports with Purpose is an annual fundraiser supported by globe trotting travel bloggers. For a donation of $10, you can enter to win any number of fabulous prizes from around the world. Winners are announced on Dec. 18. Donating more lets you choose more prizes or increase your odds of winning the exact prize you want. On December 11, winners are chosen at random. Over the past four years, more than $180,000 has been raised to fund projects for Heifer International, build a School in Cambodia, build an entire Village in India and that Library in Zambia.

This year, funds will go to build drinking wells in rural Haiti through water.org. In the US, we don’t think too much about our water. It’s always there, clean and fresh either from the tap or bottled. However, every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related illness. Fecal matter causes the majority of illnesses, yet more people in the world have a cell phone than a toilet.

More about Passports With Purpose
In 2008, Debbie Dubrow, Pam Mandel, Michelle Duffy and Beth Whitman, the bloggers behind Delicious Baby, Nerd’s Eye View, WanderMom, and Wanderlust and Lipstick, respectively, began a travel-inspired initiative to raise money online and raised $7,500 for Heifer International. In 2012, with the help of fellow travel bloggers, they hope to raise $100,000 to build wells in rural Haiti through water.org.

** Prize Exemptions, Conditions and Expiration Date: Package includes accommodations, meals and local experiences for two people. Gratuities and liquor charges are not included. Winner is responsible for costs associated with additional guests. 14-day advanced reservations required. Based on availability and restrictions apply. Must be 18 years or older to check-in to the hotel. Inside CNN VIP Tour All participants must be ages 12 and older. Guests under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Journey with the Gentle Giants All participants must be ages 12 and older. Guests under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a participating adult. For dives, proof of Open Water SCUBA certification from a nationally or internationally recognized organization must be provided, along with photo identification. 

Thank you, 2012 Sponsors:

• Platinum: Expedia
• Gold: TripIt
• Silver: tbex
• Bronze: HomeAway. TravellersPoint, HostelBookers, Go with Oh