I’m headed back to Amsterdam today for the second time in a month. Whenever I tell someone that I’m going to Amsterdam their eyes get this wild look. I found the city a pretty and lively place, but nothing matching the description in Jacques Brel’s song nor the sorted dionystic paradise people seem to think I’m wandering into.

Still, very much looking forward to it. I’ll be back to regular blogging Tuesday.

Other than being awesome adventurers, one of the biggest things my parents did to feed my wanderlust as a kid was to keep around a giant National Geographic Atlas. I would spend hours just flipping through that thing realizing just how much world there is to explore.

National Geographic is still putting out their atlas, but in the days of Google Earth, I’m sure it doesn’t sell as well as it once did. So now they’ve put it online as well. It will remind you of Google Maps, but it loads very quickly and marks neighborhoods and landmarks without lots of other clutter. Well worth checking out.

Though really, I prefer the old book to this system. If I ever have kids, you can bet your boots that they’ll have a National Geographic Atlas.

h/t Adventure Blog via Intelligent Travel

I have a Canon Rebel XTi, an entry level digital SLR, with which I have been having ever more fun. I especially enjoyed some of the shots that I took on this last trip to Cornwall. Not only can I take higher quality photos than my point and shoot allows, but I can slap on the telephoto and get shots like the one above of St. Michael’s Mount as viewed from Penzance. The problem is that it’s freakin huge.

I like to travel as light as possible. For weekend jaunts I take a bag barely big enough to carry a bicycle helmet. If I take my camera bag, I’m carrying a larger, heavier bag, and there isn’t as much space for the rest of my kit. I suppose this isn’t too different from my dilemma about needed a laptop to blog a trip, except that if I blog late I still blog, but if I don’t take my SLR I’ll never get those good pictures.

I guess I’ll just have to decide on a case by case basis. So…was this post simply an excuse to post another picture from Cornwall? You decide!

Hopefully we all want to have a net positive impact on this world. However, in the hustle and bustle of life, it can be easy to put good works on a back burner, or forget to do them entirely. That’s where charity traveling comes in.

I started this post because I stumbled across Classic Tours, which combines the popularity of charity fundraising challenges and adventure travel. At first I thought this was a novel approach as I was only familiar with volunteer travel programs. As it turns out, there is a massive charity travel industry catering to that need to have a positive impact. Google can give you a large menu of noble and valuable volunteer travel options, so I’ll point out a couple I found different and interesting.

Classic Tours runs some real adventures, like biking in Vietnam and Cambodia raising money for great charities here in the UK. If the charity marathon is a little bit to cliché for you, check out what they have to offer.

Earth Watch Institute offers a range of trips where you’re supposed helping with research projects. While I have my doubts that you’ll actually get to be a substantive help on an archeological dig, it is a cool idea.

Eco Volunteer runs programs to preserve endangered species. You pick what species you want to help, including what I would imagine to be less popular options like Wild African Hunting Dogs, and work protecting with local communities on preservation.

Finally, this might be a bit of a bastard thing to say on a travel blog, but consider volunteering locally too. In fact, consider that first. Traveling somewhere to volunteer for a week or two is a good thing. But dedicating yourself to local volunteer service allows you to remain well involved for the long haul, introduces you to a new side of your community, and gives you a chance to involve your broader social network in your volunteer efforts over time.

Look into refugee settlement programs, affordable housing construction, neighborhood clean up, or tutoring at risk kids. The overhead for getting involved is almost normally just your time, and you can see your work go beyond the few days that you have to give to a vacation.

I love outdoor gear. On Facebook it’s my second listed interest right behind travel. So clicking through Outside’s 08 Winter Gear Guide gets me good and giddy, imagining all the fun I can have with said gear. Which reminds me, wasn’t I planning on buying skis this year?