Spotted by Matt Doughty on TravelMole:-

“New York named as ‘endangered destination’. 

You might be wondering what New York, Riga in Latvia, the island of Madagascar and Beijing’s historic hutongs have in common, but they are all on an endangered destinations lists.”  Read more at http://www.travelmole.com

Received by The Ant from Avalon Travel Publishing:-

“Avalon Travel has released the eBook editions of Moon Fiji and Moon Tahiti, the leading travel guidebooks to the South Pacific. They are now available in the Kindle store at Amazon, in the Nook store at Barnesandnoble.com, on the Kobo at Borders, on iTunes for the Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, and at the Sony Reader store.”  Read more at http://www.akgmag.com

From Matt Doughty again via the BBC:-

** Pair in 14-day isle hop challenge **.  Two men from Edinburgh are aiming to visit as many Scottish islands as they can in the space of two weeks.  Read more at http://www.bbc.co.uk

Long term, active traveller & member Tony has come up with a novel idea – a web site giving an insiders’ point of view on his native Portobello home & surroundings in London !  Those who know Tony, realise that it won’t be the bland, safe view of London that is presented officially…it’s aiming to be a fully-fledged experience of what is worth enjoying, whether you’re a local or a visitor 🙂

Tony has used his experience in TV & socialising to come up with a different perspective on how show what London life could be about and what is worth making an effort to seek out.

Tony’s web site can be found at http://www.portobelloland.co.uk/ – browse away & send him your feedback, questions & comments…he’s waiting to hear from you 🙂

Are you inspired by all this talk of travel ?

Are you ready for you own independent adventure?

Or do you know someone who could benefit from a helping hand into the wider world?

What is the award ?

Each year the club offers up to two £1,000 awards to give out for the best independent travel plan, as judged by the club’s Committee.

The deadline to receive applications for the next award is 31 October 2011.

See the legacy page on the club’s web site for more details, where you can review previous winners’ trips and/or apply with your plans for a totally independent, travel trip.

If your idea catches our eye we’ll take a closer look at what you’re proposing and give you feedback & maybe a helping hand on your journey of a lifetime!!

This time round Mac discusses movies that could inspire you or him to go travelling:-

1. Outsourced (India) – see what happens when a US company outsources an entire department to India.

2. The Motorcycle Diaries (in Spanish I think with subtitles)…a dreamy, reflective view of Che Guevara’s formative travels across South America

3. Into the Wild – Its what most backpackers dream of doing and directed by Sean Penn

4. Under the Tuscan Sun – Hollywood’s take on Frances Mayes 1996 novel

5. Slumdog Millionaire What it is like to live in India, from the ground up, in the modern world…

6. Lost In Translation…with Bill Murray clashing cultures in Japan

7. Eurotrip – Makes you want to buy a one way ticket to see Europe from a graduate’s perspective…

8. Shanghai Kiss – After watching it you will want

to see China, again from a cross cultural graduate point of view.

9. City of God – Stories of life from very different perspectives in Rio De Janeiro  Brazil

10. The Beach – set in Thailand, staring Leonardo Di Caprio

Whilst some are certainly down to personal choice, I suspect Mac has thrown enough thoughts into the proverbial hat, so that we can come up with our own ideas.  What do you think – are Mac’s choices rotten tomatoes or Oscar winners ?  Which films would you chose instead ?

The Ant

If you enjoy writing & travelling, why not write for the free Globetrotters eNewsletter !  The Ant would love to hear from you: your travel stories, anecdotes, jokes, questions, hints and tips, or your hometown or somewhere of special interest to you. Over 15,000 people currently subscribe to the Globetrotter eNewsletter.

Email The Ant at  theant@globetrotters.co.uk with your travel experiences / hints & tips / questions. Your article should be approximately 1000 words, feature up to 3 or 4 jpeg photos and introduce yourself with a couple of sentences and a contact e-mail address.

Dear Globetrotters

Wonderful to get your news as we are in mid Australia on BIKE THE EARTH – www.biketheearth.net   (Please check out at least the first page of our website).

We have done 3500 km, connecting communities, inspiring initiatives, on ABC Television, on the radio, and in the media, with some great testimonials for the work we are doing!

Warm wishes for the Christmas season!

Regards

Chris Le Breton

lebreton1@gmail.com