This is one of the more useful articles I have written for ezinearticles.com and thought I would share it with my readers.

When you pack your bags and head off around the world with only a backpack and a few essential belongings, you become more aware of what you are leaving behind. You forfeit frequent contact with friends and family, miss social events and can feel isolated. With thanks to the World Wide Web, technology has bridged the gap and we are now able to communicate, upload photos and create blogs to share experiences with loved ones from any where on the globe, but how easy is it to find cheap access to the web.

Well this depends on where you are. Having navigated the globe myself, I always kept an eye out looking for Internet access to keep my blogs going, photos up to date, and to book the next stages of my journey online. It was clear how the ease of Internet access varied from one destination to the next and found myself planning my time online.

The USA was flooded with wireless access points in the cities and many hostels offered free access to those blessed with a laptop, something which grated on my nerves when I was sat ploughing dollar bills into the wired terminal. Hostels in New Zealand and Australia seemed also to grant free wireless access to people carrying laptops and yet charged those that did not. I came to the conclusion that people with laptops carried the burden of having to be extra security conscious with their expensive equipment while I travelled for months without the worry. The best free wired spots I found in “The Western World” were local libraries which seem obliged to offer free access even if you are not a member. It is always worth checking where the nearest library as the Internet does drain your wallet if you seek frequent access. Wireless points on the other hand seem to be all over in major cities and very common in airports, budget hotels, hostels and you can even use any house hold connection if people are foolish enough to leave it unsecured.

In South East Asia offered access at the cheapest rates but Internet cafes were slightly harder to find the further from main cities you ventured and free wireless access was unheard of in hostels. This was true for Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia but the number of Internet cafes improved in Malaysia and further again into Singapore. Most towns boasted at least one terminal to burn CDs and a couple with Skype facilities whereas larger towns and cities have plenty. Skype incidentally is a great way to make international calls for the price of the Internet connection time. Be sure to set up an account for yourself and your other party at home before you leave in order to take advantage.

The most expensive access I found was in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. You may be thinking why would I want to go on the Internet in location so beautiful. Well, there is not a lot to do beside sunbathe and swim in the sea, and if you get caught in an afternoon downpour, playing cards soon loose their appeal. The charge was over 4 pounds an hour for rather slow access. Others in the hostel told of how they had spent 10 pounds for an hour on the neighbouring islands of Fiji.

I would recommend if you are going more to “The Western World” on your travels to buy one of these cheap, small, lightweight, low spec laptops (or notebooks) as you will save big bucks on access, and would be good for backing up photos. These are being sold for as little as £150 from manufacturers such as Acer and ASUS commonly with 4GB of flash storage. Alternatively you could invest in an iPod Touch which can act as a web browser, video and music player and general entertainment system all in one.

It is also important not to be glued to a computer screen for your entire journey as there are far more brilliant things to see and do outdoors. After all, you did not decide to travel the world to go web surfing!

On my travels I have been to quite a few cities in several continents, but I have recently decided that none of them top the one on my own doorstep. Now this may sound pig headed but from the ones I have seen, London has the greatest variety of activities, modern attractions, history, and entertainment of them all.

Before I start with London I will say that other cities I have visited have been a nice change. I enjoyed Paris as a city because there are lots of sights, churches, a good atmosphere and great food, and Rome for similar reasons and additionally the ancient history. Cities further away such as Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur each left me with a good vibe because they were busy, hectic and so very different from what I had previously known.

I feel that London has brilliant choice and can satisfy people searching for different things. If you are into history then you can visit the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge or one of the many superb (and free) museums. If history is not what makes you tick then you can catch a show in the west end, party at a gig at the o2 arena, or browse the National art Gallery for free. Kids can also be entertained at London Zoo, the Aquarium, on the London Eye Ferris Wheel, at the London Dungeons Experience, Madame Tussauds or the Science Museum. Furthermore, the city flaunts some of the best shopping and night life around. At the risk of this post turning into a tourist’s guide to London, it is fair to say that the variety is immense, and I did not find this was true for a lot of other cities around the world. The USA, particularly New York, did have a lot to see and do but lacked the history as it is a relatively new nation. Auckland seemed very small in comparison and could not compete on the same level but is good for a short break. Sydney was another of my favourites because after you have seen the sights you can head out of the city on an excursion to the bush, and Tokyo was a crazy place, very busy but certainly not for everyone. I found the language barrier quite hard to get on board with through no fault of its own.

I am by no means knocking any other city; I would never do that until I tried it. They are all different which is great and how it should be, but am I being narrow minded? Despite travelling the globe am I still blinded by my love for my own city? Let me know if you prefer your own city or share my love for London.

When you think of the Statue of Liberty your mind immediately turns to New York City and the towering statue off the coast of Manhattan. However, this is not the only place in the world you can see this famous monument. Before I took the ferry out to climb the statue I had already seen it twice before on my travels in two other countries. Can you guess where they were?

The first one I saw was standing in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. I caught a glimpse of it while traveling past on the Metro and have since learnt there is another in Paris on an island in the Seine called the Île des Cygnes. It was given to France as a gift in return for the original built and placed in New York to commemorate 100 years of American independence, and as recognition of their new government. They are both relatively small compared to the monster in the USA but still worth a photo.

The second one I spotted took me a bit by surprise. It was standing in Tokyo on the riverside near to the Rainbow Bridge. It was placed there in commemoration of “The French year in Japan” in the late 1990’s and has stood there ever since (see the photo on the left). Apparently this is one of the larger replicas overshadowing those in Norway, Peru, Argentina and Oklahoma.

Another interesting fact is that the reason why you cannot climb right to the top of the Statue of Liberty in New York is because of fire regulations. Apparently to adhere to the regulations only 5 people would be able to climb every hour and it would not be profitable to maintain or provide support staff for this experience. According to the security guard it will never be climbed by a tourist again.

Let me know if you have seen any other replicas by leaving a comment below.

I took a number of internal flights in the states with Delta, South West and Jet Blue last year to prevent long Greyhound bus journeys and because the difference in price was marginal. A flight from Las Vegas to San Francisco only cost me $30 more than the equivalent bus ride, which left me asking why are more people not flying. The only advantage of the Greyhound buses I can see is that the terminals are in the centre of town reducing transfer fees from out of town airports. Anyway, I was surprised to see that many of my internal flights were half empty and we were able to spread out across entire rows.

The term for this phenomenon is “ghost flight”. Now there is nothing spooky about a ghost flight as the name may suggest, but in recent years they have sparked anger from environmentalists and in the past week have irritated people stranded in Bangkok where flights are taking off without passengers. It is estimated that if a Boeing 747 flew from London to Chicago, London to Hong Kong and then London to Australia, it would emit the same amount of carbon dioxide as 300 motorists do in a year. This is clearly an unacceptable statistic and as a consequence the Aviation Environmental Federation stepped in late last year. They enforced an environmental tax of up to £80 per available ticket rather than a flat rate per aircraft. In my opinion this was a brilliant move and a great incentive for airlines to fill their seats and reduce half filled flights.

From what I can see, America’s problem stems from budget airlines being run like buses. Although passengers are sometimes asked to spill over to later flights if theirs is not full, it is more often the case that the flight goes half empty perhaps to retain good customer relations in a competitive market. Airlines will have to fill seats and merge flights but also balance this with keeping customers loyal to their service.

As I do not fly internally on budget airlines often, I invite you to leave some comments as to whether you have seen a reduction in the number of ghost flights over the past year as a result of this new taxing policy.

I don’t suppose many people have heard of tubing. Those who travel to South East Asia usually take on this activity if it is offered as it is a little bit different, and can be a lot of fun in a group. All you need to go tubing is the inner tube from a tractor tyre and a river. The concept, as you may have guessed, is floating down the river on the tube with your friends and seeing where you end up. Normally you are taken out by locals who know the river and arrange for a vehicle to pick you up when you reach the end point, or are forced to before you sail over a waterfall (probably not as fun as it sounds).

When I was in Khao Sok National Park in Thailand, tubing was one of the activities on the agenda. I did know what this was beforehand as a friend had told me what I should expect. I was not really looking forward to the experience because when he went the water was dark brown and had excrement floating along. He recalled positioning himself on the tube in such a way that none of his body touched the water; this does not sound like a comfortable ride. However, I was not deterred by this and was prepared to try anything once. The rest of the tour group and I dragged our inner tubes to the waters edge and waded to the middle of the river (which was brown but excrement free). We were told that there were a lot of eels in the river but once we were under way we laid back and took it all in. Unfortunately it was tipping down with rain for the entire time in Khao Sok but as we were sitting in a river this did not matter. We cruised for about 30 minutes in total and were followed by monkeys in the tree tops the majority of the way which was pretty special. There were a few hairy moments when the current took us off track into the bushes on the banks but the locals were experienced and eventually got you back on route.

The only downside of tubing is that you cannot take photos unless you have a water proof camera. I did not and so the only memories I have are in my head. It is not recommended to do this in the UK or under your own esteem because tides and currents can be unpredictable. Keep and eye out for tubing as I can see it catching on as a leisure activity in other tourist hot spots if it hasn’t already. Has anybody else “tubed”? Leave me a comment and let me know.