Since leaving his position as Global Travel Editor at Lonely Planet, Don George has continued to pursue his career as an award-winning travel journalist and unquenchable traveler. Luckily for the rest of us, he also maintains a travel blog full of great advice from one of the great travelers of the world.

Recent posts include thoughtful advice about things to consider when taking your kids on vacation (I love his idea of introducing them to new cuisine before you go — if you’re going to Thailand, take them to a Thai restaurant, and so on), and how to choose and prepare for a “summer adventure.” Don’s packing tip — lay out everything you think you’ll need, then put away half — is a not-so-well-known standby that can save many people broken backs and excess weight charges. It always works.

But speaking of excess weight charges, his advice of trying to stick with carry-on only is unfortunately not always feasible. And it’s probably only going to become less so. Why? Because countries like the UK are becoming more strict about the size, weight, and amount of carry-on luggage. Anyone transferring through the UK or ending their journey there is allowed only ONE carry-on item, which means your purse or laptop had better fit inside it, and it in turn had better fit inside the little size-rack provided for people to say, “Oh, bugger” when they look at it and the handy-dandy roller bag in their hand that just won’t quite fit. And I’ve known business travelers, who are past masters at packing light and quick, to be forced to check their hand luggage with Virgin Airways because it was 2 pounds overweight (despite the fact that they had absolutely no other luggage with them).

I usually fly British Airways, and was informed on my last Heathrow transfer that, starting from September 30th, weight limits on checked luggage itself will decrease from 32 kg (70 pounds) to 23 kg (51 pounds). Not only that, but, unless you’re traveling to or from the U.S., you will only be allowed one checked bag in regular economy class (U.S. routes will still allow two per passenger — that says something about the way we Americans live, doesn’t it?).

In other words, pop on over to Don’s blog and look at some of his packing advice. Because you’re probably going to need it.

UPDATE: Paul from cheapflights.co.uk has added an extra-useful comment regarding forthcoming European baggage restrictions. Here’s an excerpt:

“Each airline’s baggage limits can be hard to find on their websites so I have put together a list of links that go directly to each airline’s baggage page. There are over 40 European airlines on the list so it should help a lot of people this summer.

The page can be found here:
http://www.allcheapflights.co.uk/Travel-Guides/6/Airline-Luggage-Allowance

Hope this helps some people.”

That’s some useful information! Thanks, Paul.

Talking of in-depth intellectual coverage, I have to make a quick foray back to the Guardian Unlimited Travel site, which is encyclopaedic – covering many destinations you just wouldn’t find anywhere else in print, or on the web.

When casting around for islands for Unforgettable Islands To Escape to Before You Die some of the decisions were made just by looking at an atlas and seeing which looked interesting! Yes, it is possible to judge an interesting island from an atlas – I believe that much of the British Empire was picked with such a strategy, and I have heard rumours that GW’s foreign policy follows similar lines. Once I had found an interesting looking candidate, I would then do a quick search in Google to see what the place was like. On one notable instance, I just typed ‘Island +Ganges’ into Google and discover the ancient and fascinating Indian festival – the Ganga Sagar Mela, but maybe more of this on a later posting.

One of these fascinating looking islands was Socotra off the coast of the Yemen. A Google search found pretty little, in general, but on the Guardian Unlimited site there were two recent features: The Galapagos of Arabia and The Land That Time Forgot

Ignoring the cliched and dopey hyperbole of the titles, Socotra is a largely untouched cultural and ecological haven. Steeped in the very best traditions of Arabic hospitality, it is humbling and gratifying to know that places like this still exist in such a crowded, busy and facile world – a bit of a metaphor for the Guardian Unlimited Travel site itself.

It is not just the travel site that will educate about Socotra. Plant Crossing on the Education site talks of the threats to the diversity of the island.

Interestingly, bearing in mind my Ethiopian story on the Perceptive Travel Site there is also a disappointingly inconclusive exploration into the paralell claims of being the birthplace of the Queen of Sheba by Yemen and Ethiopia in Mystery of an African Queen

Images and words © Steve Davey 2007

Last year I found myself on Rapa Nui – the island formally known as Easter Island. Not that you really find yourself on Rapa Nui – as the most isolated inhabited island on the planet, it does take some concerted effort to get to.

Rapa Nui is one of the most stunning places I have ever been to. Even without the giant stone Moai statues it would be an amazing place to visit. A rugged volcanic island, fringed with black rocks and dashed by waves that get to take a run-up of thousands of kilometres. The countryside is peppered with volcanic cones and there are two complete craters: one massive and virtually complete and the other where the Moai were quarried.

Whilst I was on the island, I got talking to a retired US military man, who was on a brief holiday with his wife. Retired, but apparently still with lots of contacts in the military, when he heard I was photographing a book for the BBC he took me to task over Iraq. The BBC it seems were biased and left wing. They were helping to cause trouble in Iraq by only showing bad news. Things weren’t so bad on the ground, it was all exaggerated, or so his military contacts had told him. Yeah – right!

Not just because they were in effect paying for me to be on Easter Island, I have to say that the BBC is probably the most studiously impartial news organisation in the world. It is even a part of their very remit – the charter under which the organisation was formed.

The BBC even (albeit at my suggestion) recently forced the publishers of the Chinese translation of my first book Unforgettable Place To See Before You Die to recall and pulp the entire print run, as they printed the Tibet chapter without permission, moving it back into China and taking all mention of the invasion by the People’s Army in the 1950s.

The news coverage on the BBC website is exemplary: extensive, impartial and intelligent. Take some recent links from the Tibet section. You can find pictures of the controversial new Tibet railway, and enlightening articles about Fathoming Tibet’s Political Future and even the life of the Han Chinese migrants to Tibet. Some pages are just harrowing, such as Surviving a Tibetan Gulag and Fleeing a Tibetan Monastery.

I defy anyone to read all of these links and not learn something about Tibet – or to look forward to the Beijing Olympics. But if you want unbiased – maybe try Fox News, or ask the Military.

Images and words © Steve Davey 2007

Well, when I originally wrote this post in my handy little Moleskine notebook (how I love those things), it was a rant. So thanks to Sheila for giving me a laugh through her “Top 5″ links and making me lighten up a little bit.

I am currently in Lisbon, Portugal, partly working and partly playing, and unfortunately spending a lot of time surrounded with people who, while they’ve traveled a fair bit, have a shocking (to me, since I can’t imagine living any other way) lack of curiosity about the world. Long story short, I’m accompanying my spouse for a week-long conference where he gets to hobnob with accountants (despite my previous post on the wonderful lack of sameness we maintain in an increasingly linked world, I gotta say that corporate accountants are surprisingly alike, whether they’re from Pakistan or Philadelphia), and I get to spend a lot of time with people whose idea of experiencing the local cuisine is to have the concierge make a reservation (at an Italian place down the road, full of tourists) and call a cab.

I promised not to rant. I wish I could pass this advice along to the people who need it, rather than the Perceptive Travelers our readers are, but here are my Top 5 words and phrases you really ought to memorize (and use!) in the language of whatever country you’re in:

Please
Thank you
Excuse me, do you speak — [language]?
Good morning/day/afternoon/evening/night
Where is the bathroom?

And learn to smile at people, wave your arms around for emphasis (not because it works, but because it pleases people — they think you’re trying), laugh at yourself, throw most dietary restrictions out the window (unless medically necessary), go for a walk without consulting a map, and brave the local public transport just once. Expect nothing from others, expect everything from the experience, and give your all.

Look, this Problogger Group Writing Project has decapitated me, and it’s only the second day. 

Darren says that he received 242 submissions on top of the 132 that already came in, so he’s already surpassed previous totals for a Project.  Yes, OK, some of them are not so great, just people totally looking for link love.  On the other hand, some are a fun read, and thanks to linking, the halls of Perceptive Travel Blog have been positively tramping with the feet of new readers.

I gave you a few highlights yesterday, from across the topic spectrum (I tried to look for just travel-related blogs but kept coming back to look at Joe Satriani’s guitar from this post, which led me to Van Halen videos on YouTube….well, it just gets embarrassing from there….)

It took two cups of coffee, and I tried to keep mostly to travel themes, but here’s Day Two:

Jackie Chan’s Greatest Fight Scenes by Chris  (reminded me of Hong Kong.)

Top 5 Great Birding Moments by Trevor Hampel  (all over Australia)

5 Top Myths Foreigners Have About Ukraine by Alexander Radich

5 Top Things I Miss About Harare, Zimbabwe by Sharon

What Are Your Top 5 Travel Dreams? by Stacy

5 Reasons Queen’s Market Must Be Saved by Jon Tillman (an East Londoner’s point of view)

Top 5 DC Things To Do This Summer by Francoise Galleto  (Washington, DC) 

I’m a stranger here myself by Jul  (an expat sees her home with new eyes)

5 best places to go while visiting Acadia National Park by Norman Sargent  (a popular US park in Maine)

Top 5 Australian beach locations for the IT commuter by Vincent McBurney  (finding that life balance)

My Five Most Awestruck Travel Experiences by Steve Madsen 

Top 5 most entertaining foreign films of the last decade by Jithin Jerald

Top Five Strategies For Travelling Light by Graham Barker

and finally, Top 5 Monkey Songs by Martin Breton  (Obvious travel tie-in, right?)

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