We were at the Tour de France, live, in Chinaillon in the French Alps. This Tour de France video is from the Tour de France 2010.

Video – Tour de France in Chinaillon is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

To listen to our experiences, press play below, or subscribe (free) in iTunes:

We had a great time, but as always we learned a fair bit about what we could have done better.

What we did right

Arrived early
Although the fight starts at 11am, you can’t get there at 10am and hope to be part of the action. The smart people are in the main square at 8am – we didn’t make it that early but we were there by nine.

Didn’t prepare too much but knew where we were going
We travelled by train, and we knew that the train we wanted left from San Isidre station and not from Valencia Nord, the main station in the centre of town. The night before, we worked out how to get to that station (by metro) and we got there as soon as we could. We’d tried to find out about train times, but couldn’t – which didn’t matter anyway, since there was a crowd waiting at the station and everyone just had to wait until the next train, whenever it might be.

In Buñol, we followed the crowd to the main square, but we knew we wanted to be in sight of the ham, so we squirmed through until we could see it. We had a great spot which ensured we were part of the action.

Wore sensible (and disposable) clothing
Despite the fact that one of the few rules of La Tomatina is “don’t rip t-shirts” a lot of people lost the shirts off their backs. We wore shirts that we wouldn’t mind losing – in fact Linda’s was one wear away from the bin in any case, so she threw it out afterwards.

Linda wore shorts with a zip pocket for a credit card, train ticket and a bit of cash, and bought a pair of cheap sunglasses instead of wearing her hat. Craig wore swimming trunks with a deep pocket.

We both wore sneakers instead of flip flops. This was definitley a good idea, we saw hundreds of flip flops floating on the tide of tomato, and many people were shoeless at the end of the event. Washing our shoes wasn’t fun, but it was better than losing them.

Didn’t take too much
We didn’t take a bag with us. There just isn’t room in a crowd like that, and it would likely have been stolen. We took a cheap camera which we tried to waterproof, and a video camera that now needs a bit of love.

We also took a plastic bag with some croissants in it, but we bought water when we arrived. There was plenty of food available, but we enjoyed having our croissants on the train.

Were in a good mood
Being in a good frame of mind is essential to enjoy La Tomatina. Some people were angry about being pushed around or having wine poured on their heads, others panicked when the crowd were too dense. We tried to relax and enjoy ourselves (and practise deep breathing occasionally) and left with a positive view of things.

What we did wrong

Weren’t waterproofed enough
Since we didn’t decide until the night before that we were going to go to La Tomatina, we didn’t have the equipment to waterproof our cameras, and we had to take our cameras! We scrounged around and found a couple of ziplock bags, but they both ripped during the event, so our things got tomatoed.

Linda took her wallet, so everything made of paper was ruined – better just to put a credit card, 20 euros and a driver’s license in a plastic bag and zip it into your pocket.

Didn’t have goggles
Linda bought a pair of cheap sunglasses, which were good for the sun but no defence against tomato juice, and Craig was wearing his real glasses which mercifully weren’t ruined. You could buy cheap goggles on the road down to the event, and it’s definitely a good idea to do so if you like your eyes.

Had electronics
This is marginal – we wanted to take our cameras to record the event, but they both got damaged. Maybe just better waterproofing was in order.

Didn’t book our tickets out of Valencia
We didn’t realise our next big mistake until the next day. Since we’ve been travelling by Eurail, we’ve gotten used to just showing up at the train station half an hour before the train we want to catch and getting on it. But thousands of backpackers were trying to leave Valencia, and all the trains to Barcelona require a seat reservation. Craig managed to score us the last seats on a train at 4pm (three hours after our planned departure) and it was the most expensive seat reservation we’ve paid. But at least we made it out!

In conclusion

La Tomatina was an awesome experience, but if you want to get the most out of it you need to be prepared. We were prepared in some instances, which meant we had a fantastic time, but weren’t prepared in others, which meant we spent more money than we needed to.

165 – La Tomatina Festival 2010 is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

23/8 Monday After a productive work morning, we walked through the park to the City of Arts and Sciences, which is a collection of impressively large and interesting buildings. It was hot though, so we had to stop and rest a fair bit – we spent ten minutes with our hands trailing in one of the moats.

In the evening, we met up with a whole bunch of travel bloggers – Christine, Suzy, Abbey, Joel, and Dave. They were all in town for La Tomatina, and it was awesome to meet, chat, drink and eat together.

24/8 Tuesday We’d mananged to find a nice, well-priced hostel for our first two nights, but the prices tripled for La Tomatina so we decided not to stay. However, on Monday we found a great deal on Booking.com – a hotel room for the same price as a hostel. Plus it had a pool. We worked in the morning then moved to the hotel, had lunch then went for a swim. It was bliss in the heat – it is truly so hot at the moment.

In the evening we wandered around the Old Town then met the blogging crowd for dinner again. The streets were packed with yellow-shirted teenagers in town for La Tomatina, so we chose a small place down an alley in the hopes of getting dinner sooner. It didn’t work. We missed the last metro home by a good hour, but it worked out because we met an Italian traveller called Luigi in the station and walked up the road with him, talking in an almost incoherent mix of Italian, Spanish and English. Priceless.

25/8 Wednesday It was a tough one, but we decided to go to La Tomatina. This meant a 6am wake up, 6.30 departure. The train station was thronged when we arrived by metro, but we made it on the next train and, on arrival in Buñol, wormed our way through the crowd until we could see the ham. (One of the traditions of La Tomatina is that people have to climbe a greasy pole and touch the ham on top.) We were in the centre of the action for the fight and got seriously tomatoed, it was awesome. We tried to get out of the crowd before the end though, and the crush was incredible. Also, we definitely damaged the camera and video camera.

In the evening, we ate with the bloggers again and shared notes on our experience in Buñol. Some of them had barely seen a tomato, which was a real shame.

26/8 Thursday We checked out at 12 and made our way to the station to catch the 1pm train. But everyone else in Valencia had a similar idea, and we could only manage to get seats on the 4pm train – and that was only because we have first-class Eurail tickets. It was a pleasant journey, we chatted with a Barcelonian couple and they gave us very detailed instructions about how to use the metro in Barcelona. We’d had to pay a hefty reservation fee for our seats, but it was worth it – we were plied with drinks and food for the whole jouney.

We finally arrived and met our couchsurfing host Ruben, who took us to the beach where we met his friends Danny and Jenny, who we chatted with in a mixture of English and Spanish for the rest of the evening.

27/8 Friday Ah, a sleep in. I always enjoy them. We recorded the podcast then headed out to Park Guell to see some of Gaudi’s work, then wandered through Barcelona seeing things and buying souvenirs. Later, Ruben took us on a guided twilight tour of his city; which included the Sagrada Familia, views from the hill, a magic fountain, beer, a plato combinado, and a pumping street party with a computer game theme.

The bloggers: Christine, Suzy, Chris, Abbey, Joel, Dave, and Linda.

28/8 Saturday Ruben prepared us a tasty traditional breakfast of chorizo, cheese and tomato rubbed into toast, then took us on another tour of the city. This one included the Arc de Triomphe, the Cathedral, a Gaudi building, beer, horchata, and grammar books. We had an early night since it was an early start in the morning.

29/8 Sunday Muh, getting up at 6.30am is not my idea of a good time. Our flight left at 11, but we had to leave the house at 7.30 to catch the metro, then the train, then the shuttle to the airport. The flight was uneventful, and we got to our hotel (S-bahn and tram) without problems. We welcomed ourselved to Vienna with cordon bleu for lunch and dinner – awesome.

Mostly tomatoes is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Here are all of the entries from the first competition in June:

First place was Nancie McKinnon- congratulations!

Second place went to Sue Boxell.

Thanks to everyone else who entered. Go enter this month’s competition now- there’s still time!

Solo Travel Facebook photo competition is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Travel photo: Melbourne, Australia

Travel photo: Melbourne, Australia is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

So what to pack to take part in the fun and games plus be comfortable and safe camping in such harsh conditions?

This list has been culled from a number of different lists shared with me by various long-time burners. I also refer to the Burning Man Survival Guide.

I break it up by rooms of the house and overall activities. Since we’re all different, you might decide you won’t need many of these things, but make sure to include the important staples, such as food, water, sunblock and the supplies you’ll need to protect your skin and feet in the dust of a dry and highly alkaline lake bed.

Bedroom

Something to sleep in. You can go simple or complicated on this one. You could bring just a sleeping bag and plan to sleep one of the many crash places.

Beyond sleeping bag
Bring a tent with sleeping pad or mattress, pillow(s) with pillowcase(s). Bring an extra flat sheet, queen or king size, to throw over your sleeping area during the day. It will protect your bed from dust that will invariably seep through the walls of your tent. Take it off. Shake your sheet outside the tent. Sleep in relatively dust-free bed.

Tent tips
You’ll want to cover the mesh with fabric or duct tape. It’s not easy to find a good tent with no mesh, but if you find one, hold onto it.

Then you’ll want some light or hanging lantern for your tent. Something you can attach to the top of the tent and simply switch on when you enter at night. Choose something battery-operated. You can find them in camping and army-navy stores for anywhere between $9 and $50.

Bathroom

Shower
The simple solution: bring a plastic bin, spray bottle and garbage bags. Lay the garbage bags on the ground, stand in the bin and spray yourself down or have someone do it for you. Soap up, rinse off. Done.

You can also choose a shower pump, a solar shower or an RV shower.

Remember: You can’t spill your used shower water out on the ground. Read up on how to dispose of this grey water.

For spot cleaning, bring baby wipes and/or face wipes. You’ll never really be entirely clean when on the playa, but it still feels great to remove the outer layers.

Vinegar
Vinegar neutralizes the alkaline dust. You’ll want to regularly spray your feet with vinegar, then rinse with water, dry and lotion before putting on your socks. This is particularly good to do before you go to bed at night.

Other bathroom essentials

• First-aid kit.
• Lotion.
• Aftersun or aloe gel.
• A towel.
• Spray-on sunblock.
• Saline eye and nose drops to keep your membranes moisturized.
• Dr Bonners soap, which can be used for anything you want to wash in kitchen and bathroom. Dr. B’s is particularly good for keeping your feet healthy on the playa. Wash your feet down with the doctor’s soap daily to prevent playa foot.
• Disinfectant gel.
• Toothbrush and toothpaste.
• Two Nalgene bottles. One for spitting out your toothpaste after brushing. The other for middle of the night peeing. It can suck to have to trudge to the port-o-potty every time you have to go.
• Brush or comb.
• Oil such as jojoba to condition your hair.
• Lip moisturizer with SPF.
• Tampons/pads.
• Cotton balls/Q-tips.
• Make up remover (if you so desire).

Kitchen

It’s possible to hook up with a number of meal plans in Black Rock City. Some, you pay by meal. Some camps provide meals if you volunteer with them. Plenty of places all over the city offer food, but you’ll have to stand in line for them. Here, I’m including the basics to remain well nourished.

I personally didn’t feel too hungry. The heat and constant sensory overload left my attentions elsewhere. I ate one meal a day with a meal plan and then mostly lived on beef jerky and dried fruit. You can also buy or make prepackaged meals that you simply need a skillet and stove to reheat. Or bring ramen noodles or other soups that simply require hot water to prepare. Bonus: they don’t need refrigeration. If you bring a cooler, consider hard-boiled eggs (pre-cooked), chocolate, fruits and vegetables (which will probably need to be eaten earlier in the week) and cheese sticks.

Make sure you bring enough potable water. 1.5 to 3 gallons per day per person is enough for drinking, cooking and showering. Also make sure to bring food that contains salt to keep your sodium levels up.

Other kitchen possibilities

• Cooler. You can buy ice on the playa to replenish your cooler.
• Camp stove and gas canisters.
• Plates/bowls. You only need one per person.
• Eating utensils: Bring cutlery or a hobo tool. Chopsticks are great for the playa. They’re easy to transport, easy to clean and you can burn the wooden ones. You can also use them to decorate your hair.
• Electrolyte powder.
• Coffee and coffee maker.
• Skillet.
• Condensed milk. There’s just something about real coffee with condensed milk first thing in the morning.

Camp maintenance

• Ziplocks are good for storing just about everything.
• Garbage bags.
• Paper towels.
• Burn Bin to collect burnables to take to center camp burn stations.
• Ropes.
• Batteries to replace in your flashlights, headlamps and tools.
• Giant clips. The ones you get at the office supply store are great for attaching things to your clothing or tent.
• Zip ties. Supremely useful in many situations.
• Scissors.
• Plastic crates or bins for storing your stuff.
• Rebar to stake down your tent. Regular tent stakes are likely to result in your tent flapping away in the wind.
• Tennis balls or stuffed animals to cap the rebar stakes. One stumble over a 24-inch rebar in the middle of the night will explain why you don’t want to forget this.
• Hammer for putting in rebar. One per camp. Bring or borrow.
• Utility knife.
• Duct tape.
• Tarp for under tent or doing other work, showering or art projects.
• Work gloves. Especially if you’re camping with a larger group and putting together and later tearing down a more intricate camp.
• Cleaning rags, mostly for kitchen and bathroom.
• Flashlights.
• Headlamp.
• Karabiners. Because you never know when you want to attach something to something else.

Closet

You want to make sure whatever you bring to wear is comfortable.

• Full length mirror. Every camp should have one. Bring or borrow.
• Tutu for Tutu Tuesday.
• Warm clothing: jacket or windbreaker, pants, scarves, gloves, sweaters. Fuzzy fake fur clothing is the best. It’s warm and feels good and soft.
• Hot-day clothing: tank tops, shorts, underwear, skirts, corsets, bras, sarongs, pieces of cloth to wrap around your body
• Costumes. Anything you want.
• Whatever make-up you want.
• Hair elastics.

Even if otherwise totally naked, you’ll want

• Socks and tights.
• Boots.
• A hat.

There is only one rule to remember when it comes to dress: No shirtcocking.

Going out and about

• Bike with tractor seat if possible. Your butt will thank you.
• Camelbak or similar way to carry water.
• Utility belt to hold whatever else you want to carry. I got mine at an army-navy store along with easily attachable and very secure pockets for carrying stuff. Cheap and really work well.
• Repair kit for bike.
• Bike basket.
• Bike lock. You definitely need one.
• Lights for both you and your bike. You want to be seen at night and the playa can be really dark.
• A cup to attach to your bag or clothing to use for free drinks.
• Desert goggles. They should be clear, not dark. You won’t be able to see during a dust storm, especially at night, with dark goggles. You can find these at army navy stores or purchase eye protectors from the hardware or dollar store. These eye protectors usually have holes, so you’ll want to plug them up before going onto the playa.
• Face mask, scarf or bandana to protect you from dust storms.
• Ear plugs.
• Rain gear. It does occasionally rain.
• Umbrella.

Gifts

Use your imagination. This year, I’m bringing mate cups and bombillas, jewelry I’ve collected through our travels, including two necklaces I bargained with a Bedouin man named Fahdi on the West Bank, and leg and arm beads from the Kuna Yala on Wichaub Wala. Also, cans of beer are wonderful to stuff in a bag and give away when you’re out exploring.

Gifts, though, don’t have to be stuff. They can be giving of yourself, doing something for someone. This year, I’m bringing the supplies I need to give pedicures on the playa.

Remember, though, you only want to give gifts that people actually want. Cheap mardi gras beads and stuff too easily labeled as crap isn’t really a gift, anyway. Use yourself as a yard stick. Is the gift you’re giving something you’d want to receive?

Last but not least

• Your Burning Man ticket. You cannot get in the gate without it.
• Directions to the playa. The survival guide contains this information.
• List of where your friends are on the playa.
• A bit of money to buy coffee in center camp or ice for your cooler.
• One change of clothes in a large Ziplock bag to wear after Burning Man.

The Indie Travel Podcast checklist: How to pack for Burning Man is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Explore Berlin with this travel video, which takes you through various regions, to the highlights, and to some of the unusual and local spots one might find.

Video: explore Berlin is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Saqqara: the dawn of the Pyramid Age

The birth of pyramid design actually began with the appearance of Djoser’s step-pyramid complex at Saqqara (c. 2667 – 2648 BC). His stunning mortuary complex contains the world’s first monumental buildings in stone, including a sophisticated collection of elegantly designed hallways, shrines and open courtyards.

At the centerpiece of this architectural tour de force was the tomb of the king – the Step Pyramid. This was a radically new style of building and the foundation for the transition from earlier royal mastaba (or bench-like) tombs to the true pyramid forms that would later appear in the 4th dynasty (2613 – 2494 BC).

Djoser had originally intended to build for himself a large stone-built mastaba. However, for reasons unknown to us, he continued to expand the structure with the addition of a second smaller mastaba, built on top of the first. This process was repeated until the building took on its final form – that of a six-stepped pyramid – without doubt, a truly brilliant piece of engineering.

Sneferu, Master Pyramid Builder

Thirty-five years after Djoser’s death, king Sneferu came to the throne as head of a new line of 4th dynasty monarchs (r. 2613 – 2589 BC). He quickly set about a prodigious and highly innovative campaign of pyramid building that included no fewer than three monumental pyramid-tombs, one at Meidum and two at Dahshur. His feats as a monumental builder are remarkable. In fact, the stone used in his three funerary complexes surpasses the amount employed by Khufu in the “Great Pyramid” at Giza.

Mistakes at Meidum

Whilst the vast necropolis of Saqqara is high on the list of most tour groups, very few tourists have time to visit Meidum, some 100 kms south of Cairo. It was here that Sneferu built his first pyramid. Originally conceived as a seven-stepped, and then an eight-stepped monument, it drew its inspiration from the blueprint set down by Djoser. Whilst the structure has partially collapsed (probably in antiquity), it still dominates the desert landscape for miles around. A visit to Meidum will be rewarded by gaining entry into the core of the pyramid and the rather uncomfortable, though hugely exciting, descent to the otherworldly burial chamber of the king.

The move to Dahshur

Upon completion of his Meidum step-pyramid, the complex was mysteriously abandoned when Sneferu re-located the imperial court from Meidum northwards to Dahshur, around the middle part of his reign. This would coincide with a dramatic shift in royal funerary architecture. For it was here at Dahshur, in the second half of the reign, that Sneferu’s architects would experiment with the construction of the first-ever “true” pyramids.

The Bent Pyramid: a flawed design

The first of Sneferu’s monuments here was the Bent pyramid, which marks his first attempt to make the transition from step pyramid to a true geometric pyramid. Greater emphasis on solar cults probably played an influential role in the new design. Upon death the king was believed to have been assimilated with the sun god. He joins the solar deity in his divine barque on a daily journey – a voyage that mirrors the cycle of the birth-death-and-resurrection of the sun god – and, by extension, the death and re-birth of the king himself.

Form following funerary function

The smooth sides of these new pyramids were styled to imitate the rays of the sun god – endowing the king with their divine, life-enhancing energy and thus providing him with a means to ascend to his final destiny. By ascending this ramp, the king would re-enact the main motif in the ancient perception of the afterlife – his eventual unification with the sun god in his daily journey through the heavens – a journey that would result in his own re-birth.

Third time lucky?

Unstable foundations meant that the Bent pyramid was plagued by structural difficulties and its angle of inclination had to be reduced midway through the build. It is this radical modification in design that is responsible for giving the pyramid its unique “bent” shape!

It was also at this point that Sneferu embarked upon a second, more ambitious pyramid, just to the north on the Dahshur plateau. This “Northern Pyramid” is more commonly known as the “Red Pyramid”, on account of the hue of its limestone core. With a base measuring some 220 metres, it is a mere 10 metres shorter than the “Great Pyramid” of Giza.

It is only in recent years that the site of Dahshur has been re-opened to the public and visitors allowed access to the inner chambers of the Red Pyramid. These fascinating, yet much neglected, monuments help to piece together our understanding of the technical advances in royal funerary architecture that took place between the construction of the first step-pyramid and that of the most famous pyramid of them all, the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza.

There’s more than three pyramids in Egypt. Really. is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

One person fomenting the career break discussion is Sherry Ott from Briefcase to Backpack and one of the leading figures behind Meet, Plan, Go – a North American event with meetings around the US and Canada to help people find career break opportunities themselves.

In this interview we talk with Sherry Ott about her own journey, about career break travel, and about Meet, Plan, Go. Click play to listen, or subscribe, for free, in iTunes.

Career break travel

Many people are put off the idea of taking extended time off work to travel, because they think it will damage their careers. But it doesn’t have to – in fact, Sherry points our that what you think of as a negative could in fact be a positive – you could learn something that helps your career, or learn a completely new kill to launch a new occupation.

Meet, Plan, Go

Meet, Plan, Go is a series of meetings that will be held around the States and Canada to help people who are considering long-term travel. Attendees will have the chance to meet people who have already been on a career break and returned not just unscathed but acutually enriched by the experience.

If you’re considering long-term travel, check out meetplango.com on September 14, and break out of the cubicle.

Career break travel with Meet, Plan, Go is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

16/8 Monday Benny had to work during the day, so we slept in with the plan of having a work morning. However, my laptop decided it didn’t really want to work and staged a rebellion – which Craig spent most of the rest of the morning trying to quell. I think I need a new laptop.

We had a light lunch then headed out to see Ostersund by day. We crossed over to the island and hiked around a bit, then found a coffee and failed to play minigolf since it had closed stupidly early for a summer afternoon.

We did manage to get a bit of work done in the evening, and Benny cooked us an amazing dinner – it was truly spectacular. We then proceeded to stay up far too late given the time we had to get up in the morning.

17/8 Tuesday New country! Planning our trip to Norway has been a bit of a mission, and having to catch a train at 7am definitely fits into the “mission” category as well. Madga and Nahikari had said we could stay with them in Selbu, a town 90 minutes by bus from Trondheim, and we’d accepted but found it difficult to work out how to get there. We had a choice of trains from Ostersund – the 7am one, or one that would get us to Trondheim too late for the last bus to Selbu. As it turns out, we could have just caught the bus to Hell (hehehe) and gone from there, but the internet didn’t want to give me that information.

The work was worth it though. We made it to Trondheim and had lunch by a canal and played Settlers of Catan in a nice cafe. Then Craig worked for a bit and I explored the city, which is a really nice relaxed one. We decided to make the most of our Eurail passes and caught the train back through Hell to Stjordal and from there to Selbu (via Hell). They say it’s hard to get out of Hell, but we were there three times in one day and it was all right.

Our couchsurfing hosts were really nice, they cooked us a pleasant meal and we sat by the lake for an hour or so.

18/8 Wednesday Selbu is in the middle of the forest and the forest is full of fruit, so we went for a hike and collected some of it. The blueberries were small but abundant and the raspberries were perfect, and they both tasted spectacular on waffles for dinner.

19/8 Thursday It was sad to say goodbye to Magda, Nahikari, and Selbu, but the walk to the bus stop was pleasant, as was the bus trip back to Trondheim (even if it did pass through Hell again). We hadn’t managed to find a place to stay in Trondheim – all the hostels were full and we were wondering what to do, but luckily Couchsurfing came to the rescue. A guy called Morten had started an emergency couch request group for Trondheim, and when I called him he said he’d be happy to host us. Unfortunately he had to work in the evening, but we spent a pleasant couple of hours with him drinking coffee and wine and discovering shared interests (notably coffee and wine).

The afternoon was tranquil – we went to see the fortress then relaxed on the hill in the sun. We got a couple of hours work done in a cafe then wandered around the city, weaving through drunk people on their way to or from an outdoor concert that closed off several streets. After kebabs for dinner, we watched a movie and a few episodes of Smack the Pony (which is my new favourite comedy show).

20/8 Friday We all slept in surprisingly late, and Morten had to head off to work again. Craig and I recorded the podcast then headed to Morten’s work for a tasty lunch – I think that was the best hotdog I’ve ever eaten. Yum. In the afternoon, we escaped the rain with a game of Settlers, then circumnavingated the isthmus that houses most of Trondheim. We ate in then caught an overnight train to Oslo.

21/8 Saturday The morning was a bit of a write-off after not sleeping too well on the train, but we found our second wind and a hotel to stay in, and visited the tourist information office before walking to our accommodation. We’d found it on LastMinute.com, and I’d seen that it was part of the hospital, but I hadn’t realised how much a part of the hospital it was. We couldn’t find it so we went to the front desk, where we were told to “follow the signs”. So we did. Through silent hospital corridors, past wards and departments, until we emerged at the hotel and were given a room with cemetery views. Priceless.

We only had a day in Oslo so we wanted to make the most of it – we visited the incredible sculpture park and had a coffee and a nap in the park before exploring more of the city. I enjoyed wandering around the waterfront and seeing the new opera house – it’s really impressive. On the way home we had a progressive dinner – hot dog, calzone, sushi and cake in as many establishments.

22/8 Sunday Oh, I slept so well, it was great! Hard to get up in the morning though, but we managed, and headed out to meet Sam Daams from Travellerspoint. We had a pleasant morning chatting with him, eating breakfast, and completely failing to catch the bus to the airport (it was full, they sent another one half an hour later). Despite the fact that we were flying Ryanair, we managed to get to Valencia without any problems – so we’re now in Spain! I’m so excited – I love Spain! We had a great meal involving wine and tapas are looking forward to our next week here.

Six days of Scandinavia and on to Spain is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Travel photo: Valencia, Spain

Beautiful Spain travel photo of the Hemispheric at the Ciudad Artes y las Ciencias in Valencia, Spain.

Travel photo: Valencia, Spain is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Eat Pray Love is the runaway best seller about how one woman ‘found’ herself by going to other parts of the globe. Most people think it is a ‘chick flick’ about relationships and broken hearts. However, I choose to look past all of the sappy stuff and see it as a book/movie about travel; specifically career break travel.

Elizabeth Gilbert (played by Julia Roberts in the movie) is a thirty-something who left her regular life and magazine writing job in America to do extended travel for a year. Sounds like a career break to me! Granted, she did already have the book deal lined up before she left the US, so in some ways this was a working trip. However, she gained much insight into her life and career while breaking away from her normal work life in the US for an extended period. She immersed herself into cultures and really tried to learn from them going far beyond the ‘normal’ tourist trail.

To prove to you that it’s not just a love story, here are five career-break travel lessons you can learn from the story of Eat Pray Love:

Travel slow

Elizabeth Gilbert did not pack her year of travel dashing from country to country racking up her ‘countries-visited count’. Instead she chose slow travel, immersion with locals and cultures. By visiting only three countries and really living in them among the locals, she was able to experience them in a much more meaningful way.

Enjoy the local food

Don’t be afraid to really jump into a culture and its food! In Italy, Elizabeth made a point to not care about what she ate, but instead to try everything put in front of her. By immersing herself in the cultures of India and Indonesia, she was also naturally expected to eat what the locals were eating.

Choose an itinerary with personal meaning

Elizabeth chose her itinerary very carefully – based on things she had always wanted to try, but never really given herself the permission to do in her ‘everyday’ life. Whether that is eating your way through Italy, learning a language, or trying on meditation – the important thing is that this is your time to explore. If you’ve always wanted to try something – this is the perfect time to dip a toe into a new hobby (or career) – while in another country.

Build your abilities as part of your travels

Elizabeth approached her travels in such a way as to learn and further herself both tactically and emotionally. In Italy she took language lessons. In India she practiced meditation, and in Bali she originally went to help a medicine man learn English as she learned from him how to balance devotion and pleasure for a less stressful life.

You don’t always need a plan

When Elizabeth showed up in Bali she had no plan and had done no research. She hadn’t planned her accommodation; not even her visa. However, like everything in travel – it works out. By leaving herself open to possibilities, Indonesia was one of the most rewarding places she traveled to and set changes into motion in her life beyond her expectations.

One sixth thing I have to add to this list of travel lessons:

Career break travel doesn’t ruin your career, but instead it can enhance it.

Elizabeth Gilbert became a best selling author AFTER she traveled for a year. Her career successes were based on her travels. She didn’t ruin her writing career, she improved it by seeing the world and doing extended travel!

Why can’t you?

Whether you love or hate the movie, you can still take these great travel lessons away and put them to use as you plan your next big trip!

Five travel lessons from Eat Pray Love is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Elise accepted the challenge of finding Swensens in Seam Reap, Cambodia.

Crazy Swensens Icecream Challenge, Seam Reap, Cambodia is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Museums and art galleries

Like most major cities and travel destinations, LA has a wealth of museums and art galleries that demonstrate the eclectic art scene of the city (if bizarre is your style, try the Museum of Neon Art, every display of which is necessarily shrouded in darkness). Most museums are free one day per month — usually either the first Tuesday or Thursday — but if you don’t happen to be in the area during this time, there are a number of museums and galleries that charge no admission fees, including the Getty Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Design Center, and the Griffith Observatory.

In addition to this, the city also hosts the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk on the second Thursday of every month. From 12-9pm on this day, both art enthusiasts and interested individuals have access to over 40 galleries across the downtown area. If you bring a car, most public garages charge a flat rate of $5.00 for the entire afternoon and evening, but all else is free.

Bonfires on the beach

The beaches of southern California are certainly not overlooked by travelers, but fun in the sun is only the beginning. From Huntington to Hermosa, most beaches have fire pits which are available for bonfires during the evening absolutely free of charge. All you need is your own fuel and matches. How do you claim one? It’s literally as easy as standing next to a pit.

Also, be sure to check the fine print on those parking meters, as many beaches stop charging after 8pm.

Libraries

A little-known fact about Los Angeles — even to locals — is that all the libraries in the county participate in a summer reading program aimed at encouraging children in the area to read books out of school. Most libraries hire entertainment either weekly or fortnightly; this entertainment can be anything from storytellers to jugglers to traditional Hawaiian dancers. These shows run the full spectrum as far as quality goes, but the adventurous traveler will enjoy the risk as well as the admission price, which is, you guessed it, free.

Do you have any tips on free activities in Los Angeles?

The local’s guide to free stuff in Los Angeles is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Listen here or listen in iTunes.

Layout

Buenos Aires is located on the Rio de la Plata (the silver river). Most of the transport hubs are located on or near the river, and the city is laid out on a rough grid stretching away from the river. The city centre is centred around where Avenida 9 de Julio (which runs up from the river) crosses Avenida Corrientes, and that’s where the Obelisk is located. The other principal street, Avenida 25 de Mayo, runs parallel with Av. Corrientes.

Buenos Aires is divided into 48 barrios (neighbourhoods) but most are residential – posh Recoleta is in the north near the bus station, and edgy La Boca is in the south near the river.

In the city grid, the blocks are numbered by the hundreds, so each street you cross will take the numbers up 100, even though there aren’t that many buildings in each block. This makes finding an address really easy!

Accommodation

There is certainly no shortage of accomodation in Buenos Aires. Couchsurfing is a little difficult to make work as hosts are inundated with requests, but hostels and hotels are scattered throughout the city. Hostels average around A$35 per person per night in a dorm room, and though there are cheaper options to be found, this is a pretty standard price. There are hundreds of mid-range hotels, just find one that you like the look of. Quite a lot aren’t listed online, though this is changing now. If you’re looking for something special, you could book one night online then wander around near Av. Corrientes to find something different.

There’s a Hilton, an InterContinental, a Sheraton, and a Park Hyatt, among other high-end hotels, so take your pick if you’re that way inclined. But there are also a lot of other five-star hotels that will give you the same amenities as the famous brand names with a bit more personality added in – do a bit of looking around.

Food

You aren’t going to go hungry in Buenos Aires. There’s everything from budget options like hot dogs on the street, to the lushest meal in a five-star restaurant. Don’t miss out on an asado (barbecue) – if you can get yourself invited to a local’s home you’ll have the most authentic experience, but if not restaurants are tripping over themseves to feed you tasty Argentinian meat.

Empanadas are a must – they’re pastry circles folded over and stuffed with meat, egg and olives, There are different fillings but the beef ones are the most popular. You can find them in bakeries and some corner stores – make sure you ask for them heated or you might get cold ones. Alfajores are a typical Argentininan snack – two soft biscuits stuck together with dulce de leche and maybe coated in chocolate. If you take a long bus trip, they might just give you one, but the fresh ones from a bakery are much better. Medialunas (half-moons) are a great option for breakfast or a mid-morning snack.

Mate is also worth a try, but it’s difficult to buy just one cup. Mate is the bitter tea you’ll see Argentinians drinking all day out of small cups, with a straw.

You might have some problems in Argentina if you’re a vegetarian, although most restaurants have some sort of vegetarian option, it isn’t universal. There are quite a few vegetarian and vegan restaurants around though, if you do your research!

Transport

Getting to Buenos Aires can be expensive, but it’s worth it. You’ll probably arrive at Ezeiza International Airport, and the easiest way to get to the city is by private shuttle. Your hotel or hostel will organise this for you. A taxi costs about the same (A$70) but could be more – and you’re more likely to be ripped off. Bus #8 runs to the central city, and is really cheap (A$2) but takes two hours.

In Buenos Aires, the best way to get around is by metro, which is known as “subte” in the city. Tickets are $1.10 per journey, and you can buy multi-tickets which don’t save you any money (ie. 10 rides = A$11). There are six subte lines, identified by letter (A to H) and by colour on the maps. The trains run from 5.00 (8.00 on Sundays) to at least 10.00 (some run a bit later).

Buses run everywhere, but you’ll need coins to use them, and that can be a bit difficult. You have to tell the driver where you want to go (or just say “un peso vienticinco, por favor” which means you want to travel within the city and pay the normal fare), and he’ll press a button which will enter the information in the machine slightly inside the bus. Put your coins in, take your ticket, and you’re done.

Attractions — free

Buenos Aires is an attractive city to walk around, with a lot of parks and squares to explore. Many are central, but Palermo is a great place to start, as that is where the Botanical Gardens are located. There’s also a rose garden in Parque Tres de Febrero, and BA has the largest Japanese Garden outside of Japan.

Plaza de Mayo is a square in the central city, and is lined with impressive buildings that house the government offices, and might be familiar as the location of one of Eva Peron’s speeches. You can also visit Evita’s grave in the stunning Recoleta Cemetery – many other historical figures are buried there, but it’s worth a visit even if you hate history, the tombs are amazing.

Take a walk around the port, and visit Caminito in La Boca – it’s a heavily touristed area now, but for good reason. The buildings are all painted bright colours and the cafes which line the central street often have tango displays going on outside. It’s not a very safe area to visit at night, though.

There are lots of markets you can visit, usually held on the weekend. The San Telmo market is held on Sundays and has a lot of antique items and hand-made products. Take a walk down Av. Corrientes and browse the bookstores, they range from super-cheap to a feast for the eyes.

The National Museum of Fine Art is always free, and the Museum of Latin American Art is free on Wednesdays.

Attractions — seasonal

The Buenos Aires Tango Festival is held in February and March. The 150 or so performers give almost 100 free shows during the event. And In April Buenos Aires hosts the Buenos Aires International Book Fair, which is one of the best book fairs in the world. Also in April is the International Festival of Independent Cinema.

In November, there’s a Noche de los Museos, where you can visit many of BA’s museums for free at night. There are film showings and music performances, and the whole thing ends with a huge party.

Plus there are other art, dance, and theatre festivals throughout the year. You could watch polo or football in season, or celebrate snow in August.

Attractions — paid

Buenos Aires is a popular place to learn Spanish or tango. There are a multitude of schools to choose from, so search around and find one that suits you. For tango, consider a private tutor. We got ahead on our Spanish with Bueno Entonces, which we’d recommend.

If you just want to watch tango, you can do that too, but there’s usually a cover charge. Ask your hostel receptionist where the best place to go is.

The Teatro Colón has recently reopened, so if you’re interested in opera or theatre, a visit to this beautiful building is well worth it. There are also a lot of other theatres to choose from.

Guidebooks

Traditional guidebooks such as Lonely Planet’s South America: On a Shoestringor The Rough Guide to South America on a Budget have more than enough information on Buenos Aires, especially if it’s one stop on a longer trip around South America. If you want a book just about Buenos Aires, though, you can choose from Lonely Planet,Rough Guide,Fodor’s,Frommer’s, or just about any other guidebook company you can think of.

We found the ebook Four Perfect Days in Buenos Aires really useful for planning an itinerary, though we didn’t follow Jeff’s suggestions exactly. It’s really beautifully laid out, too.

Where to next?

If you’ve just flown into Buenos Aires from overseas, you need to explore more of Argentina, and the opportunities are endless. Head west to Mendoza, south to Patagonia, or north to Rosario or Iguacu falls. Bus is the cheapest and easiest way to get around, and the long-distance buses are relatively safe. Choose a slightly more expensive company rather than the cheapest option, and travel with someone if you can. Your bags should be fine under the bus, but keep valuables on you.

To get to Mendoza, you’ll need about 12 hours, and from there to Santiago, Chile is another seven. Bariloche is 22 hours away, Rosario is a four-hour trip, and getting to Iguazú Falls will take a good 20 hours – stop off on the way.

You can also catch a ferry across the Rio de la Plata to Uruguay (Buquebus). There’s a direct one that goes to Montevideo, but it’s cheaper and easier to go to Colonia and make your way by bus to Montevideo. Colonia is a pleasant town that’s worth a visit.

The Indie Travel Podcast guide to Buenos Aires, Argentina, is sponsored by HostelBookers. Whether you are after cheap things to do or a hostel Buenos Aires has plenty of choices for travellers and backpackers.

With properties across the city, HostelBookers is not only an average of 8.7% cheaper than their competitors, they also have no booking fees!

The HostelBookers blog, Facebook and Twitter provides travellers with all the latest travel news, tips and guides on destinations throughout the world from Buenos Aires to Berlin. ‘Like’ HostelBookers on Facebook now and start sharing your travel experiences with other keen travellers.

Buenos Aires city guide is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

9/8 Monday Unfortunately Terese was summoned into work so she couldn’t spend the day with us, but we headed out with her around lunchtime to explore on our own. Goteborg is a lovely city, full of nice neighbourhoods and parks – we visited the Botanic Gardens, a neighbourhood called Haga, and a fortress on the top of a hill that had nice views of the city.

In the evening, Therese and Ola took us for a walk around their neighbourhoood and we stopped to feed apples to some grateful Highland cows. Then they proceeded to cook us a tasty Swedish meal and we sat around chatting for hours.

10/8 Tuesday It was an earlier start than we’re accostomed to – we had to leave the house at 9am! We caught the tram to the ferry station, and cruised comfortably into the city, where we cafe-hopped in order to get some work done. We explored Goteborg a bit more then headed home to do laundry – which in Swedish apartments is apparently a bit of a mission. The evening was full of South and Central America – pebre, causa rellena, Argentinian wine and Cubatón.

11/8 Wednesday As always, it was a rush to get out of the house in time, and in our haste we left our beloved coffee machine behind. So it was with sad hearts that we caught the train to Stockholm. We stayed with Niklas, who we met in Lithuania in 2007, it was great to catch up with him again! He lives a fair way out of the central city, but we made the most of the location by going for a walk in the forest after dinner.

12/8 Thursday Since Niklas doesn’t have wifi at home, we couldn’t really work there, so instead we headed into his office for the morning. It was awesome, we got up, commuted, got to the office dead on 9 o’clock, and worked hard until lunch when we gave up on pretending and went to see Stockholm. We met Ulrike, a friend of Niklas’s, for lunch then wandered around the old town and harbour. In the evening we went for another walk in the forest – it’s so good to be hiking again!

13/8 Friday It was time for a sleep in, so we got up late then packed a picnic for lunch, which we ate on an island in Stockholm harbour, from where we could see the cruise ships setting off. We wandered around the island then took an old tram to the centre of the city, from where we got on the wrong metro twice before giving up and walking to a concert/dance competition where we were meeting more friends of Niklas’s. It was a free event and the outdoor auditorium was totally packed out – and although the dance style wasn’t really to our tastes there was a great atmosphere. We enjoyed chatting with Niklas’s friends then had tasty fish burgers from a street vendor before heading home.

14/8 Saturday Ahhh sleeping in is so good! We’d failed to record the podcast on Friday, so we did that then packed up another picnic – this time for the beach. Niklas took us to a gorgeous beach that wasn’t too busy, and we relaxed, swam and played frisbee before walking home through the forest.

15/8 Sunday It seems to be a theme – we left Niklas’s place in a bit of a hurry, but managed to catch the bus which took us to the central city. Finding a cafe with wifi was another mission, but we succeeded and were even on the train to Ostersund with six minutes to spare! Our couchsurfing host Benny met us at the station and took us for a long walk after dinner – since it got dark at about 11pm, we could stay out as late as we wanted.

One week in Sweden is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Travel photo: Brunei

An amazing Brunei travel photo of the beautifully lit Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque at night.

Travel photo: Brunei is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

The Philippines, which is predominantly Catholic, is host not to temples but to beautiful churches, legacy of the 400 years of Spanish colonial rule. They may not be as majestic as Borobudor but their structures are a treat to heritage travelers, art trippers, architecture buffs and yes, photoholic travelers.

Some of these beautiful churches are among Unesco’s World Heritage Sites and can be found in the northern Philippine region of Ilocos.

1. Paoay Church

Also known as the St. Augustine Church in Paoay. I’m no devout Catholic but I wouldn’t mind hearing mass in this church everyday, if only to marvel at its so-called “Earthquake Baroque” architecture.

The powdery white Batac Church

During the Philippine Revolution against the Spaniards in 1898, the church’s coral stone bell tower was used by the Filipino revolutionaries as an observation post. In the year 2000, archaeologists who excavated inside the church found a prehistoric human skeleton and fragmented ceramics. These artifacts are now in display at the National Museum.

Paoay Church is part of the UNESCO World Heritage List and is under the Diocese of Laoag, Ilocos Norte.

2. Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church

Its powdery white exterior stands out in an otherwise nondescript city of Batac in the province of Ilocos Norte. Built in the 16th century, the church’s whiteness is due to palitada — a decorative plaster used to protect and decorate soft volcanic stones that form these colonial-era churches

Vigan Cathedral has both Spanish and Chinese influences

3. San Augustine Church

This is one of the oldest churches in Ilocos Sur, located in the town of Bantay and built in 1590. Noted for its neo-Gothic design, the church is made of indigenous materials, bricks and lime. It was built in honor of Our Lady of Charity – an image of whom was placed in a wooden box and was found floating in Bantay river by the town’s fishermen. The church’s belfry is on top of the Calvario Hill – overlooking a healthy pastureland. It was used as a watchtower for invading enemy forces during the First and Second World Wars.

4. Vigan Cathedral (St. Paul’s Metropolitan Cathedral)

Another Baroque-styled church, its main doorway features an alcove that depicts the conversion of St. Paul. Another prominent feature of this church is the Chinese-lion dog ornaments (Fu dogs) located on the outer doors, symbolizing the prominence of the Chinese Filipino families in the city of Vigan in Ilocos Sur.

Heritage travel in Ilocos is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Geneva, Switzerland is a tiny city with a lot to offer travellers. We explore a piece of it.

Video: Travel in Geneva, Switzerland is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

August photo competition: Urban Spaces

The Indie Travel Podcast photo competition for August is now live! The theme: Urban Spaces.

First prize: US$100 of Marriott Vouchers or 4x Rough Guide books, posted to you anywhere in the world. VoucherCodes.co.uk provided this prize – you can check out all their travel vouchers here.

Second prize: A copy of Ralph Velasco’s Ralph Velasco On Travel Photography: 101 Tips for Developing Your Photographic Eye & More.

Both winners will also get a copy of Travelling Europe and Art of Solo Travel.

You can read the full terms and enter on Facebook.

Winners for July! Natural Wonders

First place went to Troy Floyd for this stunning image of the Thermal Hot Springs in Santa Rosa, Colombia. He says, “One of the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen and the thermal pools are to die for!”

Thermal Hot Springs in Santa Rosa, Colombia -- Winner of the Natural Wonders photo competition

Second place went to Spencer Quong, with the Emerald Lake off of Kachemak Bay near Homer Alaska — a great place to meet bears. Spencer used a point-and-click to take this beauty, but he had to wait over two hours to take it as a plane took off and disturbed the water!

He writes:
If you’re visiting Homer Alaska, Kachemak Bay State Park is beautiful park where you can walk almost right up to a glacier. You can take a water taxi from Homer for the day or short backpack. However, you should keep an eye out for bears as I encountered a mother and her two cubs on my way back from Emerald Lake where I took this photo. Here’s a short story on that meeting.

Emerald Lake, Alaska

Our third-place winner for July was Giulia Cimarosti. The photo was taken in Egypt’s West Desert.

Dunes in the West Desert, Egypt

Thanks again to VoucherCodes.co.uk (check out their Thomson vouchers), Ralph Velasco and Indie Travel Guides for July and August’s prizes.

Improve your travel photography

Three resources to help you improve your travel photography:

• Matador’s Travel Photography Course
• Transcending Travel Photography on DPS
• On Travel Photography

Natural Wonders travel photos (our July competition winners) is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

First stop. The Burning Man website.
First step. Sign up for The Jack Rabbit Speaks Newsletter. Even if this won’t be your first burn, you’ll want to read the JRS, because Burning Man guidelines and rules change yearly. The newsletter contains the most up-to-date and last-minute information.

If it’s your first burn, you’ll want to check out the First Timer’s Guide which also includes a Preparation Survival Guide.

Between the two, you’ll learn everything from what is MOOP to how to fly into the Black Rock City Airport to how to contact you in an emergency and everything else.

2. Getting to Black Rock City

Some people fly or drive directly into Reno. Black Rock City lies about a three-hour drive away from there. Others find their way to San Francisco and travel to Nevada in any number of ways.

You’re driving yourself? Read specific directions and warnings.

If you fly into Reno, you’ll find a greeters’ table soon after walking out of your flight. They help set up ride shares and also have information about a shuttle that will take you into Reno.

You can also do what we did. We took ourselves to Trader Joe’s where we stood outside with a sign saying “Two seats needed to BRC”. We had rented a truck with a group of friends, and they transported our gear, tent and supplies to the playa, so we only needed to find space for ourselves. It took a couple of hours to find a ride.

The newsletter I mentioned above will let you know the best contact points to find last-minute rides.

Otherwise, you can check online for ride shares from Reno or San Francisco prior to the event at either E-playa or on the tribe.net community website.

3. The three Bs of Burning Man

Boots

My first time in BRC, I brought a pair of Keens and lots of thick socks. You’re going to need more protection than that. Boots are perfect. Any kind. Thigh length fake-furry ones, to cowboy boots, to your high-heeled black dominatrix boots. All is fair game, all will protect your feet and calves from corrosive playa dust.

And don’t forget the socks to go with them.

Bikes

BRC is huge, a massive semi-circle filled with fascinating, mind-blowing art, people and lord knows what other surprises. Walking can be fun when you’re popping over to a friend’s camp with a drink or to share a candy bar, but when you’re stuck on the opposite end of the playa in the hottest part of the day, a long walk home can be exhausting. Use your energy elsewhere and ride.

There are a number of ways to find a good-quality bike.

Kiwanis Club. You have to reserve early, and put down a deposit of $30. Bikes rental itself costs $30-$50 and after the burn, these bikes go to kids who use them for the rest of the year and beyond.

Da Rat rents bikes to people who travel long distances to get to Burning Man. You can contact him for more information or to make reservations at nv_desert_rat@nvbell.net. He also runs out early.

Black Rock Bicycles. BRB’s owner Randy is a long-time burner who rents bikes for the entire Burning Man week for $75. He also sells all the gear you’d need from seat covers and locks to lighting, baskets and bike-repair kits.

We rented from him last year, and his bikes are excellent quality. This year, he offered me a free bike when I told him I’d be writing about him. BRB bikes all have tractor seats which are a huge plus when bouncing around the playa for a week. It will literally save your butt. These bikes are more expensive than many of the other options but are more comfortable than many of the others I tried.

Beyond that, you can check on Craigslist, where there are always cheap beater bikes for sale or purchase from Target or another similar store. Remember, though, the playa is an extremely harsh environment and wherever you get your bike, it will likely suffer some wear and tear. Go cheap, spend your extra money on a tractor seat and a lock to secure your bike on the playa.

Block

Buy a few bottles of spray-on sunblock. It’s easy to apply – you won’t have the mess of trying to glob on heavy cream while dust swirls about you. Don’t leave the cans out in open sun, but otherwise, you’re good to go.

4. Finding a camp to call home

You have two options to consider. First, you could just go and wing it. There’s always space for people who just walk in the playa to fit in and burn with the rest. Keep in mind, it’s also entirely possible that you’ll spend most of your time in other people’s camps, tents or in center camp.

Your other option is to connect with an existing camp such as Camp Nomadia, Couchsurfing Camp, or Kidsville. And there are plenty more.

Do you have a special skill? Cooking, massages, herbal medicine, tight-rope walking, fire breathing, sewing costumes. Are you a lesbian, deeply into S&M or want to begin your day with hard-core Ashtanga yoga? There will be a group on the playa for you. Ask around and see what you find.

Talk to friends, family, any burner you meet on the street and again, check out the E-playa forums and tribe.net.

5. Carry your water like a camel

My first year I bought a cheap backpack water supply and learned very quickly why that wasn’t the way to go. The plastic mouthpiece on the water hose fell off after only a day, and I spent the rest of the week with water dribbling down my back. This year, I got a Camelbak. It was three times the price, but it won’t leak, break or stop working halfway through the burn.

You’ll also want something with extra pockets to carry lighters, cards and gifts. Purchase karabiners at your local hardware story to attach whatever else you need that won’t fit into the pockets.

6. Get into the gift culture

The gift economy of Burning Man is one of my favorite things. Aside from a coffee shop in Center Camp, there is literally nothing to buy. Everywhere you go people have something to hand you, be it condoms or chocolate or even ice-cream cones. It’s amazing the level of creativity people reach on the playa with their gift giving.

You will most definitely want to take part in this.

Gift ideas
Go to thrift shops and buy random, but interesting or beautiful pieces of clothing, cloth, whatever you find that piques your interest. Make your own Burning Man commemorative necklaces. Cans of beer make easy-to-carry presents that are almost always welcome.

But you don’t need to go out and just buy some crap simply because you feel you have to give gifts. You can also help people out, give a hug or massage or make them a snack. Whatever it is you choose to give, make it meaningful.

7. Synthetic fibers are your friends

Dust brushes and washes off these with relative ease. You’ll go from hot to cold to hot again, so cotton and other natural fibers can get sweaty, then freeze and back again. Synthetic materials stand up more heartily to these conditions. As for your costumes, real feathers and fur are more likely to fall apart, be swept away in the wind and MOOP up the ground.

8. Don’t be a spectator

Throw yourself into the experience. There are hundreds of ways to get involved. From sitting in center camp with a bottle of cream offering foot rubs to guarding The Man himself to fortune telling and teaching yoga classes. Check out all your options to volunteer.

9. Let information overload happen

We deal with information overload every day with the internet. Burning Man takes it to another level. Just sit back and let the various sounds, colors and extremes of heat and cold stream in. You will be overwhelmed.

That’s exactly what’s supposed to happen.

10. Say no when you need to say no

While Burning Man is all about pushing your boundaries and radical self-reliance, it’s extremely important to find your limits. If suddenly things seem too much, too hard and too heavy, it’s okay to shut down or hide somewhere. You don’t have to accept every touch or substance. You don’t have to eat dust in the worst dust storm. You do need to take care of yourself.

And remember that whatever happens, you cannot prepare for everything. Nor should you want to. Burning Man is about expanding your limits and your mind. It’s about looking into the black space behind your existing universe and stepping forward even when you’re shitting yourself scared to do it.

To quote Zoe Serious, long-time burner and the woman who helped me navigate my way through my first burn: “The first rule is No Expectations: Things will change and they may not change the way you want them. Or they might.”

Soon your eyes will be wide open. You’ll never see the world the same way again.

Ten steps to prepare yourself for Burning Man is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

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Berlin Holiday

We travelled by Eurail from Bern, staying in a hostel for our first night. We were in Berlin for just under a week: enough time to catch up with two old friends plus meet Paul and Benny. It was the perfect holiday with lots of coffee drunk, people to see and an exciting city to explore. Craig kept saying he hadn’t felt so creative in years … that might be a problem.

Berlin Photos

Since Paul is one of the leading lights of the Matador Photography Course, we asked him to show us the city…

Berlin Parliament Building at night

Café culture, Berlin.

The Brandenburg gate, Berlin

Relaxing by the water; that's Slow Travel Berlin

We had an amazing time in Berlin, and we’re excited to get back soon. There are plenty of cheap flights from throughout Europe, so hopefully it’s going to be possible. Rent prices on long-term stays also seemed really reasonable; cheap, even, for a European capital. Perhaps that’s what attracts so many artists and creatives there.

What are your Berlin travel experiences? What do you recommend?

Berlin Travel with Paul Sullivan is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

3/8 Tuesday After a lazy sleep-in, we met Guido, otherwise known as the Happy Hotelier. We’ve known him on Twitter for quite some time, so it was nice to finally meet him in person. He picked us up and took us for a drive into the country, we cruised along beside rivers and canals and had a pleasant lunch in a beach bar by the lake.

In the evening Craig and I went for a walk and Floor surprised us with a present – stroopwafels and Dutch licorice!

4/8 Wednesday Since Bregje and Floor had to head to work, we dragged ourselves out of bed to say goodbye to them. Our train didn’t leave until 11, so we had plenty of time to pack our bags and get to the station.

We’d changed our plans at the last minute and decided to stay in Hamburg for a night instead of going straight to Copenhagen. Luckily we found a couchsurfing host – Nadine and her son Killian were lovely to stay with, we played games with them until late in the evening.

5/8 Thursday Nadine had to leave early in the morning, so we headed into the city to explore. The weather wasn’t very pleasant, but we enjoyed seeing the architecture and relaxing in a cafe. Our train to Copenhagen was delayed by an hour, a time which got longer and longer … and the first-class compartment seemed to be full of loud children. Not the most successful train trip ever! We got a little lost trying to find our couchsurfing host Mona, but she’d prepared dinner for us – it was the perfect end to a day that had seemed full of problems.

6/8 Friday After a pleasantly productive work morning, we set forth to explore Copenhagen. It’s a really pleasant city, with lots of lakes and canals. We enjoyed looking at the buildings and had a nice hamburger each for lunch. In the evening we met up with Frej and Astrid, another couple of couchsurfers, and ended up going back to their place for dinner. It was a mix of flavours – I made pebre and tortilla española, and Astrid introduced us to typical Danish sausages, cheese and cold-cut meats. We finished the evening with my new favourite dessert – koldskaal. It’s a kind of thick milk that you crush special biscuits into.

7/8 Saturday It was the weekend, so we slept in. Not that we are very good at telling what day of the week it is, but to be honest we’ll find any excuse for a sleep-in. After a tasty breakfast of spicy fruity porridge, Mona took us out to show us her favourite parts of the city. We relaxed in the afternoon and had dinner on the rooftop terrace.

8/8 Sunday Although our train didn’t leave until 10.23, we still managed to be in a rush to get there. Luckily we made it, and our first-class tickets were very useful, since second class was packed – even the aisles were full of people.

We made it to Goteborg and were met at the station by our host Ola, who took us on a tour of closed restaurants before we found a nice Japanese place to have lunch. Afterwards we met our other host Therese, who had been working, and caught the tram back to their place through the rather spectacular rain.

We spent the evening playing a Swedish travel board game called Near and Far (or something like that) – it was definitely a good idea to choose the teams according to gender rather than just playing couple versus couple, since that meant each team had a good range of knowledge. Plus someone had to translate the questions from Swedish – who would have thought Craig would do such a good job at it?

Onwards and northwards is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Travel photo: Roatan, Honduras

A stunning nature photo from Roatan Island, one of the Bay Islands in Honduras.

Travel photo: Roatan is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Take your time!

Next time I go to London, I would like to be there for at least two weeks. There is just so much to see, and I like being able to go at my own pace. However, this is not always possible. So, if you find yourself in the same predicament as I did, with only a few days to cram in as much of London as you can, here are a couple more words of advice that will help you make the most of your time.

See the important stuff

Obviously, the “important stuff” is different for everyone, but figure out a few things that you really have to see, then some things that would be nice to see, and then you’ll feel more relaxed as you make your way around this amazing city. This doesn’t mean you have to create a strict schedule, everyone has their own travel style, but it’s still a good idea to have a few things in mind ahead of time so you won’t be disappointed thinking back on what you should have done. Here are a couple of really great things that I suggest you make time for:

Camden Market is a great place to go shopping in a non-traditional way. There are literally hundreds of shops and outdoor market areas that cater to a variety of different tastes. My favorite was the Camden Stables Market, a great place to find artsy, vintage stuff as well as delicious food. I would recommend looking through several shops before buying anything– sometimes the further in you go, the lower the prices!

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatere is also a must-see in my opinion. Unfortunately, the plays sell out a few days in advance most of the time. But Rick Steves suggests waiting around outside during one of the plays. There are standing room tickets and sometimes people leave halfway through the play. We didn’t give it a try this time, but you could someone leaving if you could buy their ticket off them at a reduced price, or maybe just get it for free.

Stay in a good, central location

I stayed in Hyde Park, at Astor Hyde Park Hostel, and it was great. It was just a short walk from a tube station, and an even shorter walk to the Natural History Museum, and right next to the absolutely beautiful Hyde Park (I could have used up an entire day just wandering around this amazing place). They serve free breakfast every morning and the bathrooms are clean!

Get an Oyster card

What’s an Oyster Card, you might ask? You can find out more here. Basically, it’s your key to the public transportation system in London. You can get them almost anywhere, but getting one at the train station when you arrive is probably the easiest way to do it.

Talk to people

I’ve found that one of the best ways to find out interesting stuff is simply by talking to people. If you’re staying in a hostel, it’s great to meet people in the lounge or at breakfast. I almost always end up meeting a few interesting people who can give me advice, or even want to tag along or show me some cool places.

The hostel staff is also normally very knowledgeable about the area, and will give you insider tips if you just ask. You can also just talk to the locals! I found that many Londoners are very open and friendly, and who better is there to tell you about a place than someone who lives there!

I hope your trip to London is a great as mine was! Happy traveling!

Five tips for London travel is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

When we were in Bristol for travel, we looked for wine-tasting events and discovered the Bristol Food and Wine Fair 2010 was on. Here’s what we saw.

Video: Bristol Wine and Food Fair is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

One of the greatest things about Europe is the thousands of potential destinations. There are so many cities, towns, parks, and islands to see that it would take a lifetime to try to see all of Europe. But while everyone goes to Paris or London or Rome, they miss the tiny destinations that hold just as much charm but are often overlooked. Here are four destinations you might have overlooked or not heard of but are worth a visit:

Krakow

This spot in Poland is a popular destination for the few people that make it out of Western Europe, which sadly few people ever do. Krakow has traditionally been one of the leading centers of Polish academic, cultural and artistic life. It has a sad side of history too – during World War II, the Jewish population was moved into the Krakow Ghetto.

Krakow is a medieval city with beautiful architecture, great information about the holocaust, and a vibrant atmosphere. From coffeehouses to jazz clubs, Krakow has a sophisticated nightlife – but not too sophisticated as people go out until the break of dawn. In 1978, UNESCO placed Krakow on the list of World Heritage Sites.

Utrecht

Just south of Amsterdam, Utrecht is a miniature version of the capital but without the crowds. Utrecht’s city center features many historic buildings and structures, and is host to Utrecht University, the largest university of the Netherlands. After Amsterdam, it has the most cultural events in the country. You’ll find beautiful canals, ancient churches, great green space, and lovely town squares.

The city is a big university town and as such as very youthful and vibrant feel to it. Hardly anyone ever visits here despite it just being 30 minutes from Amsterdam. If you thought Amsterdam had too many people, come here and relax – you’ll get the same level of beauty but without the crowds that often spoil it.

Paros

Paros is considered as one of the most beautiful islands of the Cyclades. During the summer, everyone heads to the Greek islands. The warm weather fills up these islands with pasty people looking to get rid of their winter whiteness and get an amazing tan. But even though there are hundreds of islands to choose from, people seem to get stuck on Santorini, Rhodes, Crete, Mykonos, or Ios, so these islands become expensive and overpriced. Paros doesn’t.

Paros is an island in the Cyclades that remains quiet even during the high season. There are no crazy clubs or bars and most people skip over it. But you shouldn’t. There are great fishing villages here, good seafood, and good sailing trips can be taken from the island.

Cornwall

Cornwall’s culture, spectacular landscape, and mild climate make it a popular tourist destination, especially during the summer. When people come to visit England, they tend to stick to London. But the best part of England is outside of London, and Cornwall is one of the highlights of a trip to the country. Located on the west side of England, Cornwall is filled with rolling hills, easy hiking trails, beautiful lakes, and tiny towns with friendly locals. It’s my favorite place in all of England and I highly recommend it.

There are a million destinations in Europe but often people just focus on the most popular cities. Learning about the places we visit is more than just visiting the hot destinations, it’s about going someplace different. Variety is the spice of life and variety gives you more understanding of where you go.

So, next time you’re in Europe, try out one of these places and get a better sense of the places you visit by exploring the unexplored.

Four hidden European destinations is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

To listen click play or download from iTunes (for free):

If you’re just taking one or two long train trips during your European vacation, you’re probably best to just buy point-to-point tickets. But if you want to see more of the continent, a Eurail pass is a good option.

A Eurail pass (also known as a Eurorail pass) is a ticket which allows you unlimited train travel in Europe. It comes in many different forms – you need to decide which region you’ll be travelling in, how long you want the pass to last, how many days you’ll actually be travelling within that time frame, and if you want a first or second-class ticket.

Ticket types

Region
If you’re just going to one country, a one-country pass is a good option. Prices vary according to how expensive the train network is.

Regional and Select passes allow you to travel in countries that border each other, so you might choose “Scandinavia” or “Germany, Austria and Switzerland”. Regional passes usually include just two countries, although passes involving Scandinavia and Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) allow you to travel in up to four. With a Select pass, you choose which of three, four, or five neighbouring countries you’d like to visit.

And a Global pass allows you to travel throughout the whole region. Be aware that not all European countries participate in the Eurail scheme, those that don’t are mostly in Eastern Europe.

Duration
Next, you need to decide how long you’re going to travel for. Most passes are available for so many days within two months – you might choose six, ten, or 15 travel days within the two month validity of the pass. The Global Pass also offers a “continuous” option – you can travel every day within the validity of the pass, which could be between 15 days and three months.

Class and discounts
Finally, do you want to travel in first or second class? If you’re under 26 on the first day of your pass, you can buy a discounted second-class ticket. Adults over 26 must buy a first-class ticket, but if there are two or more of you travelling together, you can get a Saver ticket which saves about 15%. If you’re under 26 but want a bit more luxury, you can just buy a first-class Adult or Saver ticket.

Choosing a ticket

When choosing a ticket, make sure you think about:

Destination and duration
Where are you travelling? How long are the journeys between each place, and how much do they cost? Do a few searches on sites like oebb.at in Austria, or bahn.de in Germany to see how much the point-to-point tickets cost. If they are cheaper than the daily cost of your pass, buy them individually and skip the pass. This is especially true in Italy, Spain and Eastern European countries.

Other options
Perhaps you could replace one of your travel days with a budget flight? We’re travelling from Oslo to Spain by plane in the middle of our travel time, because it worked out cheaper than a travel day as well as saving us about 24 hours on the train.

Buying
It’s much easier to buy a Eurail pass from home and have it sent to you there, Although you can now buy Eurail passes in some main train stations, they will cost on average 20% more than buying online, and you don’t have the full range of options. The online store will however ship your pass to you within Europe, but you have to pay hefty shipping fees – it’s often free to countries outside of Europe.

Using the pass

Fill it in
On the first day of validity, you need to get the pass validated. Take it to a ticket office and they’ll stamp it. If it’s a continuous pass, your work is done. If it’s a flexi pass, you need to fill in the date for every day that you use the pass. Make sure you do this carefully and clearly – if you make a mistake, you lose a travel day.

Take it easy
One of the benefits of using the pass is that you don’t have to plan too much. The pass comes with a booklet of times, but I prefer to use oebb.at for timetable searches, I then write the information in my notebook. Look at earlier and later alternatives and be prepared to spend more time in a place you love.

Extra fees
Not all trains are free when using the pass. Some trains have compulsory reservations – which means that you have to pay to reserve your specific seat. A lot of international and almost all night trains require you to do this, whether it’s for a seat or a couchette (bed). You can almost always travel the same journey for free but it will take you longer.

You can identify trains that require a reservation by the R printed next to them in the booklet. Online, Oebb makes it perfectly clear with bold type: subject to compulsory reservation.

Read the booklet
The pass entitles you to some benefits and discounts, which are outlined in the booklet you’ll be given. Read it! There’s some important information as well as advice in there.

Who is the pass good for?

A Eurail pass is the best thing in the world for people travelling in Western and Northern Europe, specifically Switzerland, Germany and Scandinavia. If you’re planning on travelling for five or more hours on each journey, you will save a lot of money and probably effort.

A traveller who is spending a lot of time in Italy or some Eastern European countries won’t get as much out of the pass, and might want to consider getting a pass for their travel in the West, and using point-to-point tickets in cheaper areas.

Eurorail and Eurail pass tips and tricks is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

26/7 Monday After a sleep-in in the morning, we met Benny the Irish Polyglot, who would be our host for the next two days. As a traveller and blogger, Benny is one of those people we’ve known of for ages, so it was great to meet up with him and spend some time with him.

We had a nice lunch in a Mexican place near the station (which played reggaeton in the bathrooms), then headed back to his place to drop off our stuff before heading out for a bit of sightseeing. In the evening we headed out to a Couchsurfing meetup and got to speak Spanish with some of the other Couchsurfers.

27/7 Tuesday We slept in a little, but managed to make it to our meeting with Paul from Slow Travel Berlin only half an hour late (after also getting lost). Momo met us there and took us to the East Side Gallery, which is an awesome outdoor art gallery of murals painted on a stretch of the Berlin Wall. We also had a drink at a beach bar on the banks of the River Spree.

We failed to buy Craig a new backpack, and joined in part of the walking tour we’d had recommended. But there were about 50 people in the group, so we piked out and headed back to Benny’s for a rest before dinner. Dinner was great – we met Benny, Claudia and Momo for a last drink or two and a huge meal at White Trash Fast Food.

28/7 Wednesday The day started with a very successful trip to the Hauptbahnhof to catch our train to Cologne – absolutely no missed connections, it was awesome. In Cologne, we had lunch with my language partner Andreas, who I’ve chatted with for about eight hours a week for the last eight months. It was great to finally meet him in person!

From there the train took us to Ghent, where we were met at the station by our friend Tom, who we met while walking the Camino de Santiago in 2008. It doesn’t feel like two years since we last saw him! He took us back to his castle (yep, a genuine castle, owned by the Duke of Flanders) and we spent the evening getting to know the bars of Ghent.

29/7 Thursday I’ve had a pain in my side for the last few days, so I finally got over my dislike of doctors and headed to the medical centre. Nothing to worry about, apparently, I just need more vitamins. And to not lift heavy things.

Apart from that, we spent the day in Ghent marvelling at its architecture and trying out a few more bars. And, since Belgium is famous for its waffles and frites as well as for its beers, we partook of a bit of both of those as well.

30/7 Friday Friday was a work day. In the castle, though – how awesome is that?

31/7 Saturday Tom dropped us off at the station, and we had a rather unsuccessful trip to Utrecht. The first train arrived in Antwerp late, so we missed our connection to Rotterdam. We tried to make the most of it by having a coffee in an outdoor cafe, but it rained. And finally, we got off at the wrong Utrecht station and had to call Floor for advice. But we did make it, and it was totally worth it.

Floor and her partner Bregje took us into the city centre for a guided gastronomic tour – when I mentioned that I liked streetfood, they promptly bought one of almost every type of deep-fried Dutch delicacy, and we gorged ourselves on those, in between beers in interesting bars near the canals. Oh, and we also saw some architecture.

1/8 Sunday Today was incredibly Dutch. It started with a Dutch breakfast – everything is sprinkles! Yes, those sugar sprinkles you put on cakes, they have dozens of types of them and you have them on bread for breakfast. Next we went for a long cycle in the countryside, with a pancake house as our destination, and our return trip was mostly in the rain. (Cycling in the rain is very Dutch, apparently.) We finished up the day with dinner at home and a Dutch movie with English subtitles.

The adventure continues is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Travel photo: Luxor Temple, Egypt

Egypt travel photo from the Valley of the Kings- Luxor Temple on the Nile River.

Travel photo: Luxor Temple, Valley of the Kings, Egypt is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Big damn volcano. That’s why.

When the Icelandic volcano erupted the IATA estimated that 1.2 million people a day were affected by it (via CNN). You didn’t even need to be in Europe to have your flight canceled. You and thousands of other people all trying to get a ever-dwindling number of rooms. How does an extra week in London impact your budget? But that won’t happen again – right?

What does travel insurance typically cover anyway?

Let’s look at what WorldNomads cover, but remember it varies from plan to plan. Typically they cover costs involved with canceled flights and missed trains or tours. Travel insurance also covers you if you have to cancel your trip or if your traveling companion backs out on you – you don’t want to get stuck with the full cost of things that you booked planning to pay half of.

Nearly all plans also have some sort of extra medical coverage. What if you get hit by a vehicle? I think you have to watch out for mopeds more than you do cars in many cities. Those little buggers will mess you up if you get clocked by one. Not going to the big cities? Ever read any blogs where someone has gone into the emergency room for food poisoning or malaria?

Did you know your travel insurance also covers lost or stolen bags? Yup, your Macarena iPod and Farmville box too. You have to read the fine print because there is often a $500 max on all “electronic gear” but it’s better then nothing.

Just think about it

You may have your ideas about travel insurance, if you’re a backpacker or on a limited budget you should really think about it. It doesn’t have to be something huge like a volcano, it could be something personal to you. My recent hospital stay taught me about that. Less than 12 hours before my flight to Europe I ended up in the hospital on large doses of morphine. My point is, you never plan on missing a flight.

We want you to be safe and to keep traveling. And one of the best ways to ensure that is to buy travel insurance.

Travel insurance? Why waste your money? is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

In Phnom Penh, we visited the Killing Fields and Prison 21. We were faced with the huge loss of human life during the reign of the Khmer Rouge Regime up until 1979.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

My current set-up is a two-bag Berghaus wonder: a red and grey 45+8lt Antaeus along with a black Remote20 with my laptop, microphone and plane or train reading material in it. The goal, however, is one that Linda has already achieved: the one bag.

Linda’s currently carrying a 35lt Backfavour from the small New Zealand manufacturer Aarn. This is one of the most amazing backpacks I’ve even seen or worn, but I don’t want to get the same pack as Linda. This couple thing can only go so far!

Picky as I am, here are five backpacks I haven’t bought.

1. Mountain HardWear Enterprise

The Mountain Hardwear Enterprise Backpack was one of the first real contenders in my search for the ultimate travel backpack. At the moment it’s still the most likely contender, but it’s really quite expensive and I could do with an extra five litres.

The bag has excellent external pockets, including a lined one for electronics or sunglasses. It also has expansive side pockets, which appeal to me. The laptop holder, inside the bag, is suspended, meaning the computer won’t hit the bottom of the bag and get crushed and would also be quite easily accessible from the main backpack opening. I loved the duffel bag-style grip handle, but thought the harness was a bit on the light side.

2. North Face Angstrom

The The North Face Angstrom Backpack was recommended to me at the same shop as the Arcteryx pack below. I thought it looked really, really ugly. It was OK, but certainly didn’t excite me. A badly stitched area on one zip meant I didn’t really look at it further.

3. Arcteryx Blade

I loved the Arc’teryx Blade 30 Backpackat first glance. It had all the pockets and technical bits and pieces I wanted. It had a suitcase opening, which I’m considering after years of top-loading hiking backpacks. The external laptop pocket was excellent (and would have additional room for paperwork and notes).

I didn’t buy this one because when fully packed (and yes, I took everything I own down to the outdoors store) it looked like I had a suitcase suspended on my back. The weight distribution was all wrong and the harness didn’t really help that much, being a little short for my back.

4. Deuter Futura

From there I turned to the Deuter Futura 32 Backpack.I’ve been a long-term fan of the build quality of Mountain Hardwear, Deuter and Berghaus, so I was really positive about this one. It would be a great hiking backpack: lightweight, tear-resistant, lots of connection points and excellent harness support.

Unfortunately, it would be a terrible backpack for a digital nomad: not many internal pockets, absolutely no laptop access. Notes, sketches and receipts would end up like they are in my current pack: scrunched and destroyed.

5. Kathmandu Litehaul Pack

The Kathmandu Litehaul Pack really had me excited when I first saw it. I used to use Kathmandu gear a lot, but they seem to have become more fashion-conscious than hardy recently. The price doesn’t quite reflect the build quality.

This bag, however, was innovative and seemed well-constructed. The amazing thing was that the duffel-bag style shoulder strap unclips and becomes a waist harness, meaning the bag is an excellent convertible travel backpack.

I didn’t buy this one because I was unsure how long the plastic clips that control this would last. I bet it would be less than three months with our lifestyle. It also didn’t quite seem to sit right on my back when we loaded it with a few tents for weight. Also, I am really hanging out for an external laptop pocket now; as my only bag it needs to be good for quick laptop access while we’re out and about.

The perfect bag …

My perfect travel backpack will:

• be around 35 litres
• be good for carry-on travel on most airlines
• have an external laptop access point
• have a proper harness system
• have a few external pockets, including space for a waterbottle
• have lockable zips
• be sturdy enough to handle hiking, suave enough to suit a hotel lobby
• not look stupid
• not cost the earth

Can you help me?

Best backpacks for travelling (or, five backpacks I haven’t bought) is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Click the play button or find this show in iTunes (for free):

The road trip story

Victoria travelled around South Australia with her friend, Trent. One of their highlights were the characters they met along the way. Meet some of them, and see their top-ten things to do in South Australia in this video:

Things to do in South Australia

Victoria and Trent spent a lot of time on the coast, spear-fishing, sandboarding, kayaking, diving, swimming with sealions, feeding tuna and eating lots of seafood.

They also were in Adelaide for the amazing Adelaide Fringe Festival and made it out to the Barossa Valley wine region not once, but twice. Sounds good to me!

The outback got its fair share of love with hiking in the Flinders Ranges and sleeping in a swag.

You can find Victoria at Pommie Travels and on twitter. Head over to Vantastic.WorldNomads.com in order to vote for your favourite traveller.

Victoria’s application video:

In the South Australian outback. Has Victoria grown horns?

Mt Gambier Blue Lake - A view from the South Australia Road Trip

A bi-plane?! Awesome ... Perhaps more exciting that the normal road trip

Sunset over South Australian bush

160 – Road trip South Australia is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

19/7 Monday Paul had to go to work, it being Monday and all, and Craig and I spent a lovely day with Kirsty and Maia. We did a bit of work in the morning then headed out to explore Geneva a little. It’s a beautiful, compact city and we enjoyed climbing the tower of St Peter’s Cathedral and looking out over it.

In the evening we had a South American meal – pebre and causa rellena, with a Spanish wine and Maná playing in the backgound for good measure.

20/7 Tuesday It was sad to have to say goodbye to Paul, Kirsty and Maia, but at the same time it was nice to continue the adventure. We caught a train to Biel/Bienne in Switzerland to have lunch with two of my ex-students from Auckland, Barbara and Michael. It was great to see them again, this time on their home turf.

After lunch we went to Barbara’s place in Thun to drop off our stuff, then went to the river in Bern for a swim. Well, I say a swim but it was more like a float downstream in the fast current – you have to walk for a kilometre or two, jump in, and get swept down the river really quickly. There are special landing stations for getting out, you have to grab the pole and swing yourself around – it was fantastic.

It was the birthday of one of Barbara’s friends, so we went to her house for a party. Everyone was really good about speaking English with us – our attempts at Swiss German weren’t very successful!

21/7 Wednesday In the morning, Barbara took us on a tour of Thun, which is a really pretty town. We saw the castle, had a picnic by the river, and visited an old church with awesome paintings on its walls. In the afternoon we met up with Michael and went to Barbara’s hometown of Speiz, which is on the shores of a lake. We did a loop through the forest to its picturesque castle, and down through the vines to the lake, where we ate ice-cream and waited for the rainstorm to pass over.

In the evening, we headed to Barbara’s boyfriend’s place for a barbecue. It was nice and relaxed, and we tried out a drink recipe we’d learned in Rosario – lemon ice-cream and sparkling wine. Yummm. Plus, I got to speak Spanish with Fabian’s sister. Awesome.

22/7 Thursday More goodbyes – Michael headed south and we headed northeast to Berlin. It wasn’t what we’d planned to do, but with Eurail passes we can choose where we go. The train journey was long and comfortable – we have first-class tickets since we’re over 26, and we managed to get a compartment to ourselves for most of the trip. Since there was a power supply in the compartment, we managed to get a fair bit of offline work and study done. Awesome.

We stayed in a nice hostel that was somewhat spoiled by the drunk idiots who ran up and down the corridor most of the night, knocking on doors.

23/7 Friday We got up a little late, and managed to get some work done before heading out into the city. We’d decided to walk to the Hauptbahnhof to leave our bags in the lockers there, and although the walk was long, it was really pretty.

After leaving our bags, we had our first experience of currywurst und pommes, then walked along Unter den Linden looking at architecture and dropping into interesting-looking churches.

We’d been invited to stay with Claudia, who we met in 2007 on the West Highland Way. We stayed with her and her friend Holger at Holger’s parents’ place in Sauerland at the end of that year, but had pretty much lost contact since then, and it was really great to catch up again. She had to head out for the evening, so we ate kebabs in a local eatery then chatted with her until quite late.

24/7 Saturday We spent the morning working then headed out to meet Momo (an ex-student of Craig’s) for a coffee. Afterwards, he showed us around the city a bit, we visited the Parliament and saw a section of the Berlin Wall.

In the evening, Claudia took me to her intercambio with Antonio, a Peruvian guy who’s living here. It’s supposed to be half Spanish, half German, but since I don’t speak German almost the whole evening was spent speaking Spanish – great for me and Claudia, but I think Antonio lost out a bit.

For dinner, which we had at the rather South American time of 10.30, we visited Claudia’s favourite Thai restaurant.

25/7 Sunday A nice relaxed day. We slept in then visited the Mauerpark fleamarkets with Claudia and her aunt, who is visiting from Frankfurt. It was interesting to see the last stretch of the Berlin Wall that is still standing, and to see the space which used to be the dead zone between East and West Berlin. Now, it’s a pleasant park.

We had enormous kebabs for lunch and then Claudia and I went to a tango event near the Ostbahnhof. The dance space was awesome, in an old building overlooking the river.

Switzerland and Berlin is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Travel photo: Western Wall, Jerusalem

Travel photo: Western Wall, Jerusalem is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

1. Paris – Plan your trip around the first Sunday of the month
If you’re planning a trip to the French capital, plan it around the first Sunday of the month when main museums are free. This includes Musee D’Orsay, Musee du Louvre and the Musee du Arte de Moderne at the Pompidou Centre.

2. Berlin – Go on a free walking tour
Yes, that’s right…FREE! New Berlin Tours operate free walking tours every day at 11am, 1am and 4pm from the Starbucks on Unter den Linden (near the Brandenburg Gate) around the German capital’s main sights. All you have to do is tip at the end. The same company also operates similar tours in London, Dublin and other cities.

3. London, Dublin and Edinburgh – Visit the free museums and galleries
Three cities – one tip. In all these capitals, the National Galleries are free. In London many others such as the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum are free. In Edinburgh the National Museum of Scotland is free along with many more which can be found along the Royal Mile. While in Dublin, the National Museum of Natural History, aka the Dead Zoo (it’s full of dead, stuffed animals) is free also.

4. Milan – Get fed for free
Around 6pm in Milan is ‘aperitivo’ time, and this is when many bars leave a full table of food for you to feast on for free. All you need to do is buy a drink to avail of their generosity. One of the better places is ‘Bar Brera’ on Via Brera in the Brera neighbourhood.

5. Vienna – Take a (cheap) round trip of the city centre
Most of Vienna’s most beautiful buildings are located along the Ringstrasse which circles the city centre. These include the Rathaus (city hall) and Parliament. Trams #1 and #2 both loop the Ringstrasse, passing all these buildings. The journey costs just €1.80.

6. Edinburgh – Enjoy cheap food for being a backpacker
Prove to the staff of ‘The Last Drop’ in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket that you’re a backpacker and you’ll get all mains on the menu costing £7.25 for £3.95. Your hostel key or card should suffice.

7. Madrid – Visit the two main art museums for free
The Spanish capital’s two main art galleries are Museo Prado and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. The former is free Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm to close and on Sundays from 5pm. The latter is free Monday-Friday (closed Tuesday) from 7pm to close, from 2.30pm on Sundays from 10am to close.

8. Rome – Get into the city’s top art gallery for free
Admission into Rome’s most famous art gallery is €15. But if you happen to be there on the last Sunday of the month get there early – entrance is free then between 9am and 12.30pm.

9. Lisbon – Jump on Tram #28
Lisbon has a red tourist tram that passes many top attractions which costs approximately €15. But if you jump on tram #28 and pay for the single journey (not more than €2) you’ll pass by many of the city’s top attractions such as Sé Cathedral, Sao Vicente de Fora and others.

10. Prague and Krakow – Explore castle grounds for free
The main attraction in both these cities are castles, and you need to pay to get into some parts of both. But exploring the grounds of either of castle is completely free.

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Money-saving tips for Europe’s top cities is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

The idea of a holiday on a Greek island conjours up images of relaxing on the beach, or watching the sun go down with a glass of Retsina in your hand, but you may not think of it as a destination for trying some quality wines. On the Greek island of Zakynthos (also known as Zante), I met up with a couple of wine-makers, Timothy and Christina Maria, who are trying to change this image by starting a boutique winery on Timothy’s family property at Oenolpi Winery.

Christina talked me through a tasting of their wines and Timothy showed me around. As we walked through the vineyard and olive groves, with the pretty little blue chapel, I thought what a beautiful island Zakynthos is and how the inland area away from the crowded beaches has so much to offer.

Wine tasting in Greece on the island of Zakynthos is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

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Coley describes a China of amazing diversity, both physically and culturally. We talk about China’s most well-known cities, then head west to get away from the big smoke and into the countryside.

Shanghai

Currently hosting the World Expo, Shanghai isn’t a typical tourism destination. It’s a cosmopolitan city with a variety of Asian and European colonial influences, such as the French Concession, plus a modern, commercial district.

Coley recommends spending 2-3 days wandering around and enjoying the street food. It’s easy to walk through a large area of the city.

Beijing

China’s capital, Beijing, is packed with tourist opportunities: the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square … it’s where to be a tourist in China.

It’s big, sprawling and fast-paced. Give yourself enough time to do all the cultural sites, but also spend a bit of time exploring the city via public transport.

Yunnan

Although it’s “one of the most natural places in China”, Yunnan’s people and food really stood out for Coley. Bordering Thailand and Burma in China’s west, it also has Tibetan influences and the expectedly beautiful mountains, rivers and valleys to explore. Kunming and Lijiang are the two cities to start from.

Xinjiang (far west)

Like Yunnan, Xinjiang is rich with ethnic minority groups, creating a very different China from the one you might expect. Rich landscapes and friendly people make this an area that’s both unusual and accessible for an adventurous traveller.

Coley described local food as a cross between Turkish and Chinese; something that has to be tasted to be understood.

Visas

Although all visitors to China need visas, they are reasonably easy to get, with same-day service from most embassies. The Chinese Embassy in the US has a break-down of visas (and lovingly calls everyone aliens).

About Coley
Coley Dale is the Senior Manager of Ctrip’s English website and has offered his advice with your China travel planning. All photos are from Coley’s Flickr account.

Travel to China, an interview on independent travel in China is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

12/7 Monday Our first day in Chalet Balaena was a tranquil – we basically stayed in and worked all day, at least we got a lot done. We headed out in the late afternoon to explore the town of Chinaillon and buy “un pain”, and some food for dinner. Because the supermarket opens at 4pm, we had a very late lunch and a correspondingly late dinner – though not late by South American standards!

13/7 Tuesday One of the reasons we were in France was to watch the Tour de France go through the village where we were staying. Accordingly, we set off at about 10am with Wink and Brett to find the perfect spot to see the action – this was on the side of a hill, just over the col. We joined the small community of campervanners who had obviously been there at least overnight, if not for a few days – seems to be a popular holiday around here, to follow the Tour across France.

We were there in plenty of time to see the caravane go past – this is the procession of sponsors’ vehicles, from motorbikes to intricate floats, which precede the cyclists along the route. Many of them throw out gifts – I got two hats, some Haribo sweets and a couple of packets of laundry liquid. There was an hour’s wait between the end of the caravane and the cyclists coming past, but luckily Wink had come prepared and we had a glass of wine. The cyclists themselves whizzed past in a matter of minutes, surrounded by support vehicles. It was amazing to see the speed they go, especially downhill.

We headed home for lunch and an afternoon of work – it’s nice to work with the view of picturesque chalets with mountains in the background!

14/7 Wednesday Wednesday is market day in Le Grand-Bornand, the larger town which Chinaillon is technically part of (I think), so we headed down the hill to buy some apricots and have a look around. It was also Bastille Day but there weren’t any celebrations during the day, and the fact that there was no transport back up the hill after 6pm meant that we couldn’t stay for the evening festivities. Le Grand-Bornand is a very pretty town, with an incredible carousel next to the centrally located church. We had an ice-cream near the river before catching the cable car back up the mountain – sadly it doesn’t go straight to Chinaillon, but it meant we had a good hike home before a late lunch of reblouchon cheese, salami and tomato.

We had a nice relaxing afternoon and evening, I read a lot then we had a game of Catan. And of course, it was all accompanied by local wine.

15/7 Thursday A work day at home, we ate good food, drank good wine and I thrashed Craig at Catan. Nice.

16/7 Friday We had a nice lazy morning then headed through Chinaillon for a short walk in the hills before lunch. We ate at a small restaurant/bakery/ice-cream parlour, they put on an excellent menu del dia (it’s just called a “menu” here, I don’t think that’s descriptive enough). We had a quiche to start, followed by fish (being Friday) and a lemon meringue pie to finish up – I could barely finish it all, and we were so full that we had to spend half an hour at home before heading off on our longer hike of the day. This started at Chalet Balaena, went straight up for 200 metres, then circled back around through the village.

In the evening we had a drink with Wink, Brett, and their friends, then had a relaxing evening in.

17/7 Saturday Brett was driving into Annecy, and very kindly gave us a lift in – it was awesome, because getting there ourselves from Chinaillon would have involved two buses and a lot more time. We spent about three hours walking around Annecy, which is an incredibly pretty city built on the shores of Lake Annecy and canals feeding into it. Then we hopped on a bus which took us to Geneva, where we found our way to Paul and Kirsty‘s house. They’re old friends from home and ex-flatmates from our England time, who we haven’t seen for almost four years, since we left St Albans.

We got to meet their gorgeous baby Maia and went out for a tasty chicken meal, accompanied by local wine for us and local beer for Paul. Yum.

18/7 Sunday Ah, the perfect Sunday. We got up late and Paul cooked breakfast, then we sat around for a couple of hours playing with Maia before walking to the park. Craig and Paul played a game of giant chess, then we went to Kirsty’s favourite cafe to drink coffee, chat, and relax for an hour or so. In the evening we walked to a different park for a picnic – the weather was perfect (i.e. not too hot) and the only problem was Maia getting food all over herself. Awesome.

France and on to Switzerland is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Travel photo: Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery, Hong Kong

Travel photo: Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery, Hong Kong is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Yesterday the Tour de France passed through Chinaillon and we managed to take a little Tour de France video as the cyclists tore past.

What amazed us what the sheer number of vehicles, easily outnumbering the cyclists 3-1, and that doesn’t include the half-dozen helicopters buzzing overhead. Take a watch and tell us what you think.

Tour de France 2010 – Live from Chinaillon, France is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

The unthinkable

It happened during my first trip to Paris a few months ago. I was thoroughly prepared and ready to take on anything that came my way. I’ve learned a few things while living in Switzerland that I didn’t know about when living in the US, such as how to use public transport. So, I felt completely at ease on the Paris metro during the first few jaunts.

Then, the unthinkable happened. I was with several friends and we boarded the metro during what seemed like rush hour. It was hot, crowded, and extremely awkward. Of course, we tried to make light of the situation, laughing and joking while doing our very best to avoid eye contact with our fellow travelers who were squeezed in all around us, lurching about with every tired movement of the rickety, overloaded train.

I suppose it’s in people’s nature to want to block things out in awkward situations, and that’s probably the main reason why I was caught off-guard. Even though I was fairly distracted, I remember noticing three women who seemed a little more awkward than the rest of us. One of them was pregnant, so in my mind she had every right to look awkward. Right after I noticed them, the pregnant woman edged in a little closer in front of me, as the others moved in another direction behind me. At this point, she was much too close for me to feel comfortable looking at her, so I looked away, silently praying for the next stop to come quickly. I must add here that I was being very careful — I had been warned of the dangers of thieves and therefore had my bag zipped and in front of me, feeling quite secure with this arrangement.

It’s very hard to detect when someone is touching you deliberately when at the same time there are about ten people touching you because they have no choice — but something at that moment made me look down. When I did, my heart leapt into my mouth in shock and horror at what I saw.

The pregnant woman had one hand unzipping my bag, and the other already inside and clutching my wallet (I have no idea how she was keeping her balance while multitasking so well…). I felt frozen with fear but at the same time compelled to action. Without thinking, in one fell swoop, I grabbed my wallet away, shoved it into my bag, and zipped it closed (thank God for adrenaline!). By the time I looked up, the lady was gone! She and her friends had already made their way to the other end of the car and there was nothing I could do.

I looked around helplessly at my friends, who were completely oblivious to what had just happened. Still stunned, I got off the metro at the next stop and saw the women running to the next car in order to avoid being caught (and doubtless to try again). I told the story to my friends and we all decided upon a few good rules to help us in the future.

1: Never leave your stuff unaccompanied

This may seem like an obvious one, but it’s worth mentioning. It’s good to have at least one hand on your bags at all times. When eating out, don’t put your bag beside you or leave it hanging on the back of your chair. If my bag is small enough, I keep it in my lap. If it’s too big, I will set it under the table, normally with one strap wrapped around my leg. It may sound silly, but you can never be too careful.

I met someone while traveling a few weeks ago who lost everything when he was eating at an outdoor café because he set his backpack down next to him and was deep in conversation. The next time he looked down, it was gone — his money, passport, camera — everything. It’s better to be safe than sorry!

2: Keep your eyes peeled

No matter how much you’ve traveled, or how experienced you are — even if you’re in your hometown — stay vigilant! Even though I was taking some precautions, I still almost lost my wallet. Staying aware of your surroundings and not getting too comfortable or confident is a surefire way to keep you and your stuff safe.

3: Don’t draw attention to yourself

I and my large group of babbling Americans no doubt had a large sign above our heads that said: “HEY! We’re easy to take advantage of!” If at all possible, refrain from standing out. That doesn’t always mean just keeping quiet — several things come into play here. For example: clothing, language, body language, and items like maps, cameras, and (gasp!) guidebooks can also peg you as a tourist. Of course, maps, cameras, and guidebooks are sometimes necessary, but it’s good to use discretion.

4: Find what works for you

Everyone has their own way of packing around their stuff, so I’m not going to say here that one kind of bag is better than another. What I will say is that no matter what kind of bag you carry, you need to put some thought into it ahead of time. Take for instance someone who carries a backpack. Some guides say that this is a no-no because they are easily accessed from behind (obviously) where you can’t see. I for one am not a fan of backpacks, but I have a friend who has quite successfully used a backpack for some time now while traveling. She puts locks on all the compartments to keep would-be thieves away. You could also take off your backpack and hold it in front of you when you find yourself in crowded situations such as the one mentioned above.

Personally, I use a shoulder bag with a strap that crosses in front of me. I keep the bag zipped and in front of me at all times, and I have found this the most convenient way for me to carry things. Rick Steves encourages travelers to use a money belt underneath their clothes. I’ve used one of these a few times but find that it’s inconvenient if you need to get anything out of it. However, the concept is still a good one — it’s better to not have all your important belongings and money in one place. However you choose to split it up is your decision, but NEVER get anything out of your money belt in public — that will definitely get you pegged as a tourist with valuable things on your person.

5: Have fun

My goal in sharing this story isn’t to scare anyone and I definitely don’t want to deter anyone from traveling — on the contrary. Traveling is exciting, with lots of unknown adventures around every corner. Staying aware is the best thing you can do for yourself to keep your trips full of fun and thrilling experiences! Happy traveling.

Five ways to avoid being pick-pocketed: a travel story is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

5/7 Monday I’d been wanting to visit Bath for about four years, partly because I’d heard it was beautiful, and partly because it features heavily in Jane Austen’s books (which I love). Well, on Monday we finally made it. We took the train from Bristol, where we were staying with Heather Cowper, and arrived at about 11.30.

We headed straight to the Roman Baths then followed a Jane Austen audio tour around the main sights of the city – which lined up pretty exactly with what Heather had recommended. The Georgian architecture was incredible, and I finally got to see a haha. We had an excellent coffee at Colonna and Smalls before heading back to Bristol.

It was Heather‘s birthday, so in the evening we had a nice dinner with the family, then Heather, Craig and I ensconced ourselves in the office to record a podcast for Heather’s site.

6/7 Tuesday We had planned to visit the Georgian House and the Red Lodge on our last day in Bristol, but they were both closed for works. Makes sense, refurbishing in the middle of the tourist season … we walked up a nearby hill to see Cabot Tower – it was also closed. Amazing. We walked to the train station by way of Wetherspoons for a cider, and had an uneventful trip back to Chertsey.

After a day of work in Chertsey we headed into London for the afternoon and evening. We didn’t want to take on too much, so we just visited the museum of war which was nearby – not the one I would have chosen, but it was really interesting. We also visited the Tibetan peace gardens and wandered along the Queens Walk after a drink in the Hole in the Wall. There was a performance being held outside the National Theatre, and the audience were under the stage, it looked really interesting.

8/7 Thursday Like all weddings, there was a fair bit to do the day before, so we tried to help Gail and Kevin knock off some of the more important things. In the evening we went to the wedding venue for a pre-wedding dinner with Gail and Kevin’s family and closest friends, which meant we got to see most of Craig’s dad’s side of the family.

9/7 Friday Finally, the day of the wedding arrived. We spent the morning sleeping in then making ourselves pretty, then headed out to Foxhills where the wedding was being held. It was a gorgeous day and Gail and Kevin got married with no problems.

The reception went well too – the speeches were interesting and the food was good. We’d been given a room at the hotel as a birthday present from Craig’s parents, so we could spend time there in the gaps between events – in fact we recorded a podcast between the service and the reception.

10/7 Saturday After a comfortable night at Foxhills, we headed back to Gail and Kevin’s to set up for a family barbecue. It was nice to have an informal event with everyone from Craig’s dad’s side of the family, and the weather couldn’t have been better.

11/7 Sunday The last few days had been pretty busy, so we decided to have a lazy one – we got up, spent far too long packing our bags, and flew to France. Hmm, maybe it’s not as lazy as it could have been!

We got picked up at Geneva airport by Wink Lorch, we’re staying at her chalet in the French Alps, which is right on the Tour de France route, so we’ll get to see that go past on Tuesday. We spent the evening with Wink and her partner Brett, eating delicious Spanish food and drinking perhaps a bit too much local wine.

Almost exclusively England (but not quite) is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Our winner is…
Floating Solo on beautiful Mabul Island, Sabah, Malaysia by Nancie McKinnon (aka Ladyexpat). congratulations! You win a copy of the Art of Solo Travel and a copy of Travelling Europe.

Winner of our June photo competition. Well done, LadyExpat.

In second place, Sue Boxell with her shot, Solo – Essaouira, Morocco:

Runner up in our June photo competition - Solo - Essaouira, Morocco by Sue Boxell

Sue wins an Indie Travel Media travel guide of her choice.

Thanks to the Indie Travel Podcast interns and our guest judge, Nomadic Matt for their help in judging.

Winners, please contact us to claim your prizes.

Photo comp for July; $150+ of prizes

We have some excellent supporters who have stepped up for our July photo competition.

First prize is courtesy of Vouchercodes.co.uk. The winner can choose either a $100 Marriott Gift Voucher or four Rough Guides books. An Expedia voucher from VoucherCodes.co.uk could help you travel for less.

Second prize is courtesy of Ralph Velasco Photography. Ralph is offering a copy of his new ebook, 101 Tips for Developing Your Photographic Eye & More. Ralph is also sitting in as our guest judge this month.

We’ll also be offering copies of our travel guides to both winners.

How do you enter?

To enter, you must be a part of our Facebook community. Visit here and click “like”.
Rules and instructions are available here. Have fun, and good luck!

Amazing photos (and great prizes) from the ITP community is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Press play or click to subscribe in iTunes (for free):

Getting there

Direct trains run from London Paddington station and take between 90 minutes and two hours to get to Bath train station, which is conveniently located in the centre of town. If you book in advance, you can get single tickets from £9.50 – and it’s a lot cheaper to buy two of those than to get a return ticket – they start at £48.80. If you buy a ticket on the day, you’re looking at around £30 each way. However, Southwest trains, who run the service, often have a “days out” deal, which means that if you pay for two people to travel, up to four can travel for the same price.

National Express, the coach company, also runs a service to Bath from London (and from many other places throughout the country). The trip’s a lot longer than the equivalent train journey – between three and three-and-a-half hours. National Express often has cheaper fares known as “funfares” for as low as £1, though the cheapest I’ve seen for this route £5 per person each way – still a good discount off the normal £19 fare. You have to book in advance, but funfares often appear without warning, so it might be worth monitoring the website for a bit if there are no funfares on the day you want to travel.

First Great Western also have a deal on at the moment, £20 return fare from London returning within one month, if you have an Oyster card. (If you’re spending more than a few days in London, you should get one of these anyway for travelling around London on the Tube.) (https://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/oyster-voucher)

The closest airport to Bath is Bristol airport, still a good hour away from Bath by coach and train, but worth considering over London if you’re flying in from Europe.

And, of course, you can hire a car and drive there if you like, giving you the flexibility to see some of the countryside and other attractions of the South West. But for Bath itself, a car isn’t necessary – the town is very compact and you can see all the principal attractions on foot.|

Attractions

So what are these principal attractions? Bath is a world heritage site, and its architecture and Roman ruins are the biggest drawcards, but the public gardens are also spectacular.

Roman Baths
Bath’s number-one attraction is conveniently located in the centre of town. Well, perhaps it is fairer to say that the town grew up around the baths, given that the Romans moved to the area to make use of the hot springs. They weren’t the first ones there – the Celts used the site as a shrine to Sulis (also known as Minerva).

It costs £12.25 per adult to get in, and if you buy a combined ticket you can get a discount on the Fashion Museum. The audioguide is free and informative, with explanations of the baths, Roman life, and some of the artifacts that have been found in and around the baths.

Museums
Take your pick – Bath has a Fashion Museum, a Postal Museum, a Museum of Bath at Work, a Musuem of East Asian Art, a Jane Austen musuem, and a Museum of Astronomy (among many others). Unlike museums in London, you have to pay to enter, but for many you can get a 2-for-1 entry if you travel by train.

Gardens
Bath is full of parks and gardens. Royal Victoria Park was opened by Princess Victoria when she was 11 years old – she was so impressed that she honoured it with the word “Royal”. The Parade Gardens run along the river front near the abbey, and Jane Austen used to enjoy the free Sydney Gardens. The Queens garden features and obelisk (and at the moment, four lions) and is a nice place to have lunch, while the hidden gem of the Georgian garden is located at the back of a Georgian house and can be accessed from the Gravel Walk. There are a lot more to choose from – wander around and discover your favourite.

Buildings and rooms
Visit Bath Abbey – the last Gothic church in England. It’s just across the square from the baths, in fact you can get some nice photos of it from inside the bath complex. Pulteney Bridge and Pulteney Weir are both impressive, the bridge being famous for having shops all along it, like Florence’s famous bridge. Apparently only four bridges in the world share this honour. The Royal Crescent was designed by John Wood and finished in 1774, and is an excellent example of Georgian architecture – head to the Circus nearby for another one. The grass park in front of the Royal Crescent buildings features a haha, a kind of hidden fence used to keep out livestock. Also, stop into the Assembly Rooms, to see where the balls in Jane Austen‘s books were held.

Shop
Jane Austen’s characters in her novels that are set in Bath always seemed to be shopping. Most of the shops around the Roman Baths are pretty touristy, but if you roam further afield you’ll find some nice little stores. And of course, there’s a full range of supermarkets, banks, and high street shops.

Eat
Bath has a wide range of restaurants, but if you’re only here for a day, you’d be better picking up a picnic and eating outside. There’s a Waitrose right near Pultney Bridge, stop in and stock up and eat beside the river in Parade Garden.

We discovered the best coffee of our trip so far at Colonna & Small’s Espresso Rooms in Princes Street. The coffee was made well and with love, and the decor in the two small rooms upstairs was pleasant. If you’re after a cream tea, you could try the Sally Lunn’s tearoom, which is located in the oldest house in Bath, and sells the famous Sally Lunn bun.

Two-for-one offers

Throughout Britain, you can get a two-for-one deal on certain attractions if you travel there by train. You need to fill in an online form, print out a voucher, and show the voucher and the train ticket when you’re buying your tickets at the attraction. Some of the things you can do in Bath on this offer include: Thermae Bath Spa, Bath Abbey, the museums of Bath at Work, East Asian Art, Post, and Fashion, as well as discounts on meals at several restaurants and coffee houses. Check out the Visit Bath website for a full list of attractions.

What to do in Bath, UK is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Travel photo: Yasawa Islands, Fiji

Travel photo: Yasawa Islands, Fiji is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

I will admit that I have come to dread the “100 This” and “1000 That”  books that are growing like mushrooms in the travel guide section of bookstores.  “A gimmick,” I think, as I pass on to something of more substance. But when the publishers at Traveler’s Tales offered me a review copy of this book, for Indie Travel Podcast, I was intrigued.

One: I love Italy. Doesn’t everyone?

Two: This seemed like something quite different from a publisher who can be counted on for delightful books.

Van Allen outdoes herself in this breezy book.  She doesn’t just give the independent traveler a bare list of Venus-and-Mary art, spas, shopping, adventure, gardens, food; she also includes itineraries for a perfect day, web addresses, tour guides and places to stay.  I was delighted to see favorites of mine like Slow Travel, Dream of Italy, and David Farley‘s book An Irreverent Curiosity, among many other old friends. I would have included Donna Leon and her mysteries set in Venice, but perhaps the book was overloaded with Venice information.

If you want a deeper understanding of, say, Peggy Guggenheim in Venice, or the mythology of Venus, Van Allen dives into the details,  particularly delighting in the bawdy bits.

Since I write about books, the author won my heart with her recommendations of books and movies that accompany nearly every chapter.  She says,

I love to read books that take place in Italy. They fling me around through its history, give me a chance to see the country through a different lens. They take me beyond guidebooks, bringing another layer to my experience of a destination … Wondrously there’s that “reading as communion” thing that happens when these writers pour their passion for Italy on the page.

How perfect to have advice about “their” Italy from Frances Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun), Erica Jong (Shylock’s Daughter, set in Venice), Marcella Hazen (Italian cookbooks) and Mary Taylor Simetti (who writes about Sicily, On Persephone’s Island).

My only criticism: You can find regions and cities in the regular index, but I would have liked to have a cross index by place in this book which is organized by interest and activity. Really, although the book is slanted toward women, Van Allen has written a complete guidebook that serves up a feast for anyone planning a trip to Italy, whether first-time or return journey, particularly the independent traveler.

Review: 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

Seven pairs have each travelled a state of Australia, from east to west, and created a mini documentary of their road trip. The organisers, WorldNomads, want to know who you think created the best video. They’ll reward the creators with AU$10,000 and two flights with Virgin Blue.

They’ll reward you (or one voter, anyway) with a $5,000 prize pack including:

• iPod Touch 32GB
• $100 iTunes voucher
• MacBook Pro 15″
• iPhone 32GB
• Canon Legria HF20 video camera
• WorldNomads.com adventure travel kit

So let’s get voting! Here are the entries then visit Vantastic to vote.

Adam and Hamish – Queensland

Here’s our Queensland road trip interview with the boys.

Kirsty and Carly – New South Wales

And our interview with Kirsty and Carly on their New South Wales road trip.

Tim – Victoria

We caught up with Tim about his road trip in Victoria.

Dara and Catherine – Tasmania

We spoke with them about their Tasmania road trip.

Victoria and Trent – South Australia

Willie and Andrew – Northern Territory

Alex and Patrick – Western Australia

Vote for your favourite video here for a chance to win a AU$5,000 prize pack!

Vote for Vantastic is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel

After breakfast we chatted for a bit then Craig and I headed out to do some sightseeing – we walked through Central Park on our way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was closed (being Monday) so we had to rethink our plans. The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) was open so we sped through there, enjoying the Picasso more than anything. After a quick stop in the pub to be disappointed by Chile’s last performance in the World Cup, we headed up to the Top of the Rock viewing platform only to be drenched by a sudden downpour. Luckily it was warm so we dried off quickly. We spent the evening eating corn chips and watching 30 Rock – it was nice to be in the right city for it!

29/6 Tuesday We’d heard the Circle Line cruise was worth a go, and we had free tickets for it, so we set off early (for us) to make the 11.30 cruise. The guide was knowledgeable and descriptive, and we had some spectacular views of the city. It was a pity there were so many people on the boat though, and they all rushed from one side to the other every time there was something interesting to see. When we got back we ate bagels and deli sandwiches before finally visiting the Met, which was incredible. We only had two hours, and I think I could have spent all day in there. The variety and quality of art is truly amazing, and it’s all laid out in imaginative ways that displays the art to its full potential.

In the evening we went to Riverside Park, which runs along the Hudson River and is a lot more tranquil than Central Park. We were there for our ITP meetup, and it was excellent to meet some of our listeners, as well as to spend a bit more time with some other TBEX attendees.

30/6 Wednesday One of the things I really wanted to do in New York was to visit the new High Line park, which is built on an old raised railway line. So we headed that way in the morning, stopping en-route to have a coffee and a bagel with Anna, a fellow TBEXer and travel writer. The park was great, the designers have made really good use of the space – I particularly like the way the flower beds have fingers of space reaching out into the walkways, making the area seem more wild. Next we wandered through Chelsea Markets, Little Italy and Chinatown before heading back uptown to meet Christopher for a drink. In fact we were waiting outside his favourite pub at opening time, managing not to bang on the door. The Pony Bar is a fantastic place, it has a three-page beer menu and several cask beers on offer – a rare thing in the States. After that, it was time to head back to Christopher’s to pick up our stuff and hop on the subway for the long long ride out to the airport.

1/7 Thursday After arriving back in Chertsey at 10am, and not having slept on the plane at all (I watched a terrible movie, it was great), I basically just crashed out. Craig worked, apparently.

2/7 Friday Another lazy day. We did a bit of gardening, a bit of shopping, a bit of watching the World Cup, and a bit of work. Nice mix, actually. In the evening we headed to the pub to drink with Gail and Kevin’s golfing friends.

3/7 Saturday We slept in a bit, then had to hurry to pack our things for our train to Bristol. It’s not too far but we had to change trains twice which made the journey a bit longer – it’s a gorgeous journey though. We’re staying with Heather Cowper and her family — Heather’s a fellow travel blogger, and we spent the afternoon chatting with her. In the evening several of her friends came around and we had a really pleasant dinner party.

4/7 Sunday Today was a sightseeing day. We set off a little later than planned due to me sleeping in, then headed out to explore Bristol. We started with the harbour area, which I was already a bit familiar with, having seen Heather’s video on this subject. We visited a modern art gallery and saw the SS Great Britain, then caught a little ferry across the river to go to the Bristol Food and Wine Festival. I really enjoyed it – we went to a cooking display (and got to taste things), then tried a lot of wine in the wine tent. I particularly liked trying the English wine (and mead), it’s so great that the British wine industry is starting to take off.

After pie for dinner, Heather and Guy took us to see the Clifton suspension bridge, which is very impressive. It spans a rather deep gorge and there’s a little tower up on the hill behind it. We finished off the day with a drink in a pub nearby.

New York, Chertsey and Bristol is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's "Best Podcast" -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel