Woah! I'm not sure if something's been put in the water, but things have gotten a little gnarly on the forum this week.
The biggest dust-up is over on Louiseheal's post on Taking kids out of school. Even our urbane magazine editor, Dan Linstead, waded in with his solution – prompted, I suspect, by the fact that he took his son out of school two-hours early to head off to the Algarve.
It's something I'm conflicted about at the moment too. I'm attending a literature festival in Nairobi in September and was tossing up with the idea of taking my daughter out of school and dragging her along with me. I'd figured she'd miss out on her spellings that week, but that would be about it. Julia69's impassioned defence from a teacher's perspective has given me food for thought.
Sergeant Pluck's seemingly innocuous post on travelling 500 years in the future has descended into a bare-knuckled scrap about population control and the inherent benefits of travelling naked. Pop over and get stuck in.
LaurenAmelia's post on the forthcoming Olympics has prompted a lot of discussion too, with myWanderlusters putting forth where they will be when the torch finally reaches London just under a year from now. The general consensus seems to be "anywhere but".
As a veteran of the Sydney 2000 games all I can say is "What's wrong with you people?!" It was a magical two-weeks, sprinkled with pixie dust, where the trains ran on time, everyone smiled at each other and the whole city felt like it was on a two-week summer holiday (I should add the caveat that I spent a lot of the time at the Dutch party zone sponsored by Heineken, down at Darling Harbour). Who's with me?
Seriously though guys, embrace it. Unlike the Beijing Olympics, London 2012 is going to be fun. And I'm speaking as someone who applied for a shed load of tickets and didn't get a single one.
OK. Time to get off my high horse and play matchmaker. This week has seen an influx of people looking for travel companions. Verjoglyn has got a bus going to Oz in June next year and is looking for people to tag along. It's going to be a three to four month trip. And the intended route is Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, boat to Australia. I'm tempted to go along myself.
pennyyeulet is still looking for people to go to New York with her. PennyH is looking for advice on places to stay upriver in Gambia. Summerchick needs tips on spending Christmas and New Year in Thailand. And claire_rigby needs to know the best way to transport a group of jet-lagged university students from Chennai Airport to the train station at 3am in the morning. They need you. Please help them.
Just Back From continues to set high standards in getting feet itching with top notch advice from jcrane66 on Montenegro – don't just stay on the coast, pop up to Piva monastery. Carla Francisco gives us the rub on extreme catarmaraning in Mauritius. And PennyH reveals the secret to spotting Spatula-tailed hummingbirds in Ecuador and Peru.
The galleries posted in the photography section seem to be getting better and better each week. I love Rhoda1's shot of the fisherman at sunset on Lovina Beach in Bali. Amaya's shots of the locals on Tonle Sap Lake had me marking that corner of Cambodia as a future travel destination. And chandaala's stunning pictures from the Venice Carnival show that it's possible to capture striking images from even the most well-known tourist destinations.
And guys, don't forget to enter these pics in the Photo of the Year competition. I'd love it if an image that first appeared in our myWanderlust galleries took out the big prize!
Don't forget to check out the video section of myWanderlust. It doesn't get a lot of love, as a rule, but there has been a marked increase in great stuff being posted there. DJ's series of videos, Around The World And Back In Time For Tea is worth checking out. I'm surprised he wasn't locked up for filming women in the Holy Shrine of Imam Riza in Mashad.
Experiences continues to throw up gems with Tom Coote's essay on a Short Trip to Libya capturing perfectly what may have been if things hadn't gone all pear-shaped. Rhoda1 takes us on a journey through one of my favourite parts of the world with her Indonesia Odyssey Parts 1 and 2. And Roody2Shoes takes us on a tour of a ghost town in the Mojave desert. There's much, much more of course. Including the beginning of charliegilpin's first big trip to South-East Asia. Make sure you check them all out.
Finally, on a non-myWanderlust note, I'd just like to wish my Mongol Rally team, Genghis Carnage, a wild and unpredictable trip to Ulaan Batur. I just spent three days travelling with them in their little Suzuki Alto from Chichcester to Prague, just to get a taste of what it's like on the go with the Mongol Rally. And despite being cooped up in a tiny corner of the backseat, surrounded by luggage, I was very, very tempted to stay with them all the way to Mongolia. You can follow their progress here. I know I will be.
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