I'm not sure if it was the blanket coverage of folk making off with flatscreen televisions and trainers, but over on the forum this week thoughts turned to getting stuff for free. To be more precise, free things to do and see in your local town.
Of course, Wanderlust has been running a very popular series of articles on things that won't have you reaching for your wallet. Destinations featured include: Edinburgh, Buenos Aires, Zanzibar and heaps more places. But it's nice to get some tips on places closer to home.
Roovilla started the post with a list of activities in Birmingham – none of which involve walking into the local Carphone Warehouse and helping yourself top a new Blackberry Curve. DrG gave us the rub on Greenwich, KDBR on Glasgow and Andy Morris on Sheffield. Fiona Trowbridge let slip that the Friends of the Dinosaurs are descending on the Isle of Wight to help themselves to the dinosaur bones that litter the island in abundance. Expect baton-wielding riot police shipped down from Manchester to greet them.
Mattyboy876 gets all nostalgic with his post on revisiting old travel destinations. He's hankering after some of the places he loved as a younger traveller but is worried that he will be disappointed and his memories tarnished. What do you think?
Beccs started a post to compile tips for solo travel as well as listing the pros and cons of travelling alone (our good friend Alastair Humphreys wrote a blog extolling the virtues of solo travel here). I was particularly intrigued by Mattyboy876 's discussion on travelling alone as you get older.
The London Riots spread beyond Tottenham, Birmingham and Manchester to the forum where Lauren Amelia asked about the impact of the riots and the future of tourism. Thankfully – and bizarrely – the post took an unexpected and delightful turn towards Cornwall, an altogether sunnier and carefree world.
More people are looking for travel companions and advice. Hassan_Green_Eyes is looking for like-minded souls to join him in the Anti-Atlas Mountains. Kallan is thinking of booking a flight to Nepal with Jet Airlines and wants to know what they're like. Jill Frazier is keen to know if Air Madagascar are safe.
Meanwhile Stephen Darlington has a couple of boxes of back issues of Wanderlust magazine in Wimbledon and wants to give them a good home. Interested? Pop over to his post. Live closer to Warwick? Then you want to speak to Sheila H. Hers have binders!
Julia69 just got back from Nairobi and loved the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphange so much she went two days running (and adopted one of the baby elephants). Find her other tips for visiting Kenya's much-maligned capital here.
Treacleminer continues to send tips and advice from the former Soviet Union, this time from Azerbaijan. Must-sees? The Khan's summer palace at Sheki and the burning rocks of Yanar Dag. DrG, meanwhile, popped into Stanfords in Covent Garden, and filed our first Just Back From about a retail outlet. Excellent advice AND directions to a top pub nearby. Good work DrG!
Over in the experiences area, Liz Cleere continues to share tips and stories from her big around the world adventure. This time she reports from Udaipur, shunning the £6,200 Presidential Suite at the Taj Lake Palace Hotel for the more agreeable and altogether more affordable Anjani Hotel. Hassan_Green_Eyes' account of a 3,000km journey around Turkey is worth checking out as well.
Most of you are understandably saving all your best shots for our Photo of the Year competition, but I'm pleased to report that there are still some stunning images being posted on the myWanderlust photography section. LaurenAmelia's view from Bezier Castle soothes the soul; Jill Cochrane has shared her pics of brightly robed monks in India; Layhe has posted alpine flowers in the Dolomites; and Fiona Trowbridge snapped a cheeky seagull on the Isle of Arran.
I should point out that you can post your photos in the myWanderlust galleries AND enter them in our Photo of the Year competition. Great photos deserved to be shared.
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