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A short post today, I’d like to share this quotation with you…

Travellers are vital to this planet the way that blood is vital to your body. When a body is ill - diseased or parched or withered - the job of the doctor, masseuse, or therapist is to improve the circulation of blood to the affected area. I say that a healthy flow of travellers (Travellers - not tourists; tourists never visit diseased places) will work better than anything to heal the sick, impoverished, illiterate, malnourished parts of our world.
~~ Lance Free

I hope that it resonated as much with you as it did with me.

Popularity: 66%

In a world shrunk by jet travel, television and the internet, expeditions still offer the daring traveller opportunities to make new discoveries about the environment and themselves.

These days the expedition is planned and organised in a much more businesslike and professional manner than those organised by earlier generations.

The need to raise, or conserve, funds means that an enthusiastic volunteer, willing to make a financial contribution, is likely to be welcomed with open arms.

Modern day expeditions have also evolved to the point where the commercial, or charitable, expedition organisers are willing to balance self development for expedition members along with scientific, conservation or development elements within the expedition itself.

While for some people expeditions are seen as a form of adventure holiday, the vast majority see them as a way of assisting conservation at both home and abroad, while at the same time training expedition members in key skills and self development.

Popularity: 67%

With programmes such as “Long Way Down” which records the adventures of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman on their journey from John O’Groats to Capetown, travelleing by motorcycle has become much more popular.

And, as a long time motorcycling enthusiast, I can tell you that the motorbike has some great advantages compared with other modes of transport.

In my opinion the motorbike is one of the most flexible and versatile vehicles on which to travel. Why follow the herd when the motorbike offers the opportunity to travel long distances, to discover the remotest places. The motorbike is also one of the most economical vehicles and, because of its size, it cheap and convenient to move by ferry or freight.

This flexibility doesn’t come without cost, the rider must be constantly aware of the prevailing conditions. There is no need to be an expert, but you must be enthusiastic and capable of keeping all your wits about you. The motorbike is not at all forgiving and will not suffer fools al all!

As well as the more obvious hazards such as ruts and potholes, the rider will need to look out for stray animals, other rod users and over zealous police officers.

The motorbike is designed for the solo traveller and the minimum amount of luggage and, therefore, is the ideal choice of anyone wishing to travel light on their own.

Popularity: 67%

Once you’ve decided what you wish to do and where you want to travel to, there are several important tasks that will prepare you for your journey.

Of course it’s vital that you ensure that your passport is up-to-date and isn’t likely to expire before you are due to return. You should also make sure that you have the required visas and appropriate travel insurance.

One of the things that helps me to prepare for a journey is to research my destination and other places that I may visit on the way. I don’t just mean finding out about the best hotels and restaurants (although I do that too!); I mean looking into the local culture, seeing if there are any environmental issues and getting to know something about the local political climate.

Taking time to learn something about the places that I intend to travel to helps me to settle in much more quickly, alerts me to any local problems and helps me to be aware of local customs. I also like to become familiar with enough of the local language to get by during the first couple of days of my visit. Even just knowing the words for hello, please and thank you can make a big difference to how you are seen by the locals.

Time invested before the journey can pay huge dividends and make your trip so much more enjoyable.

Popularity: 63%

Although there is increasing awareness of the impact that tourism can have on our environment, tourist travel continues to grow year on year.

Tourism can be a powerful force for conservation, there are more than 5,000 national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserves around the world. Many of these resources are heavily dependent upon the tourist industry for their financial security. However, tourism can also be the cause of significant environmental damage. For example through CO2 emissions and the damage to to local species and habitats. In parts of the Mediterranean region turtle nesting sites have been destroyed to make way for hotels and other developments.

The travelling light philosophy means that we travel with responsibility, we aim to have the minimum impact on the environment and we respect the local traditions and culture of the places we visit.

I encourage you to think globally but to support locally by avoiding taking unnecessary items on your journey, by choosing the most appropriate mode of transport and by immersing yourself in the local culture and environment. If you must leave a footprint behind ensure that your footprint benefits the local community and economy.

Popularity: 31%

You may have heard a lot about the Kindle which is a small, dedicated machine with a few extras. The Kindle is designed to be the reader for your ebooks purchased from Amazon. You’ll get a discount on the ebooks but with the cost at $399 will take you a considerable period of time to recoup your investment; even with discounts off the latest titles to hit the bookstores.

There is one other major limitation with the Kindle and that is the fact that it is currently only available for distribution within America. The ASUS Eee offers a viable alternative.

The ASUS is a full sub-notebook PC. You have WiFi installed so you can connect to the Internet at any WiFi hotspot in the world. It also includes an Internet browser. Firefox is the browser on the Linux-based one and you will find that is very much better than Internet Explorer. You can call your friends using Skype. The ASUS Eee has integrated microphone and speakers as well as a webcam so there is no need to carry around loads of extras.

So, you have your toothpaste, your cereal bars, suntan lotion and so the list goes on. The final thing would seem to be the digital camera and the portable computer. Why the portable computer? you might ask. Very simple really the screen on the camera is too small to get a good look at the pictures to make sure they will look OK.

Do you really want the hassle? Do you really want to be looking after it all the time? You see the problem is that the value of a computer is not the price you paid for it. It is not even the cost of the software you loaded onto it. It is the price of replacing the data you put into it. Some pictures are irreplaceable.

Some photos that you have kept on your hard drive to remember people or places long gone cannot be brought back. I always tell people taking a portable computer with them on their travels to make two backups of the data.

The first backup is to take with them to restore something that was accidentally deleted. The second backup is to be kept at home so that the data can be recovered again.

The weight, the replacement time and effort and everything else will say don’t take your portable computer with you. Until now there was not really another option. But now you have the ASUS Eee.

It will allow you to look at the pictures you have taken. To clean off the hair or grease that has clouded the lens before it ruins all the holiday snaps. It will allow you to have a copy of the pictures you have taken in case your camera and memory cards are stolen.

The ASUS Eee is small (the maximum screen size is 8.9 inches) and light (less than 2 lbs). The ASUS is not so easily damaged as a conventional notebook as it has a solid-state hard drive. The drive may be small but it is harder to break then the spinning disks of a standard notebook drive.

The ASUS Eee comes with a choice of operating systems either Linux or Windows XP You can have either a Microsoft Works suite or, my preferred set up, the OpenOffice suite. Either will allow you to write using the word process, calculate spreadsheets and perform database transactions. The OpenOffice suite does have the advantage of allowing you to produce presentations and they can be saved either in OpenOffice format or in Power Point (pre-2007) format. I cannot really imagine someone preparing a major presentation on the small screen of the ASUS Eee.

While travelling, the ASUS Eee and a good supply of high capacity memory cards and there you have a recipe for an easier and more enjoyable journey. We do not need to fight our way through airports with a heavy computer. The ASUS Eee is small enough and light enough to use on the airplane while you are flying, but do remember to switch off the WiFi as it may well interfere with the airplane’s systems.

The ASUS will allow you to surf the web and to use Skype to make international phone and computer to computer calls.

So look out for the ASUS Eee and get to realize how much easier it can make your travels. Less stress and more relaxation, isn’t that what every one of us needs?

Popularity: 25%