If you’re worried about the hobbit-sized ecological footprint you leave every time you jet off to discover the world, you may be interested to know about ‘carbon offset’ companies, like Carbonfund.org who’ll repent your sins for a nominal fee.

Hey, with all those new low-cost airlines, there may just be an opening in your travel budget.

What’s your experience of carbon offset travel?

Jenni Kauppi

Whoa, tiger. Take those skates off. Put those brakes on.
Slow down!
Whistle-stop tours don’t get you anywhere but worn out and ticked off. There’s something to be said for radically simplifying your itinerary. Base yourself in just one or two places – hang out, find a favourite place to buy fruit and have coffee, get to know the locals, live a little.
The movement is growing – more and more people are seeing the sense of getting off the carousel, listening to the senses again, savouring, taking time. Find a rental instead of a hotel, get off planes and cut down your carbon footprint, or just take a good, long quaff of the roses.
What’s your travelling speed?

Some pets are so worldly they have their own pet passport. Others are lucky to just get a ride around town on the back of their owner’s bike. Here Lonely Planet dog-lovers give us the low down on taking your canine companion for a ride:

• Convert a little kid tote into a doggy tote
• Dog bike trailers
• A milk crate with a wire cage over the top, sitting on a small trailer thingy
• Milk crate + chicken wire + broom handle + skateboard = pet transport system
• Get a sturdy back basket and a car harness from the pet shop. Attach the ‘seatbelt’ bit to the bottom of the bike basket. Put a blanket down and strap her in – it works really well because the harness means they can sit/stand up but can’t move far enough to get over the edge of the basket.

Got any other ways to get around town with the pooch?

In this age of food snobbery, airline food is looked down upon as the toothless, penniless guttersnipe of the gourmet world. Many travellers abhor it, although there are a number (me included) who actually dig the stuff – the anticipation, the surprise/shock/horror, the little containers, the comedy bread bun that is impossible to bite. I had my first crab stick on a flight to Hawaii as a fourteen-year-old and it felt like the height of glamour.

If you have an in-flight food fascination, airlinemeals.net covers all bases, even taking you behind the scenes of airline catering or showing you what the crew eats. Travellers the world over send in photos of their meals. Get depressed by a miserly vegan breakfast! Long for the campy delights TWA were serving up in the 50s! Mourn the loss of a post-dinner Baileys on Swiss Air!

So what’s been your worst in-flight meal?

If you’re planning a trip to New York and have a desire to uncover the city’s best street art or are off to Berlin to shop for spring, check out Gridskipper, an award-winning travel blog that combs the web for the latest happenings in the coolest cities around the globe. The self-confessed urban fanatics behind the venture publish daily posts covering a vast range of themes under the broad umbrella of ‘urban lifestyle’.

Some great recent posts include: indie pop/rock summer concerts in Paris, an overview of London’s best design shops and a guide to drinking in Berlin’s Friedrichshain.

It’s by far and away one of my favourite travel blogs. What’s yours?

Why do we feel the need to dress differently when we travel? The ‘traveller/tourist’ look is usually very easy to spot – it falls into two broad (and insultingly generalised) categories: The Sensible and The Native. Why does the former get about in chunky, overly practical, asexual synthetics and the latter in baggy cottons, waistcoats and toe-rings?

Sensible doesn’t have to mean you dress like you’re about to climb the Eiger and Native shouldn’t have to include exposed navel and dodgy tattoo.

A mate and I travelled together in Mexico some years ago and he insisted on wearing a very clean white panama hat and cravat everywhere we went – we were assumed to be a nice gay German couple, which was very understandable in hindsight.

Why are ‘normal’ clothes so wrong?

Larry O’leary

Whether you’re a blogger, an ardent correspondent or just want to keep up with the news or book ahead for accommodation, these days the internet plays a big part in the way we travel.

Several sites offer directories for where to find internet cafes, like this one in Australia. Or if you, like many others, don’t dare travel without your laptop, you’ll love a great wi-fi directory for Australia, Europe, the UK.

Got any hot-spots? C’mon, we want in!

Las Vegas and Orlando have laws that ban the feeding of homeless people in certain public spaces. Put that ladle down, son, and come out with your hands up! Such laws in a self-proclaimed Christian country have raised hackles all over the world – but what’s your ethical position on giving food or money to beggars when you’re travelling in poorer countries like India or Thailand? It can go against the heart to resist a plea for help; on the other hand, many argue that giving to beggars unbalances and corrupts communities, creates dependencies and encourages child trafficking. So, what to do? Do you give directly to a local charity, even though that will probably not help the unfortunate directly in front of you? Do you harden your heart and walk on?

-Cherry Washington

One of the hottest (but sadly, let’s face it, most boring) topics of conversation right now is the price of fuel. One glance at the price boards at the local service station is seriously the cheapest facelift you can get – those eyebrows aren’t coming down for a good long while. In light of this rise in fuel prices, some airlines are cutting their services to less popular destinations (or ‘low-yeilding leisure routes’ as they call them – how’dya like that, Gold Coast? Wow.) Both domestic and international services will be getting their wings clipped.
This is really interesting. Are the days of 10-cent travel over? Is that flurry of budget flights finally coming to rest? How is this going to affect the future of travel? Are we all going to start investigating destinations closer to home or are we just gonna suck up that price hike and awkward schedule?

I’m interested, I’m conflicted, I’m kinda excited. How’s this going to pan out? What do you think?

– Slickarus

In about six months or so I will be heading off to Europe for three weeks with my Mum. We are off to England to celebrate my London-based older brother’s 40th birthday and then on to Portugal.

We’re expecting to have a great time travelling with Mum; she is an adventurous, curious traveller, with a lively mind who adapts well.

However, from what I have gleaned, most web-based travel advice concerning travelling with older parents assumes they are drug-dependent, semi-invalids, prone to fatigue with an insatiable appetite for dietary fibre.

Is my trip to Europe going to involve very little except medicating, reviving and hydrating Mum, eating bland bran-based food and washing tired legs?

This sounds worse than travelling with a squalling brat.

Have you ever travelled with an older parent? Was it fun, or an ordeal?

Larry O’Leary