Going wild for Spring Break is a long standing rite of passage for hundreds of college students across America. After all, what could be better after a long, cold, snowy winter than to head for the beach and immerse yourself in good music, beer, and friends.

But for many students, going wild at the beach simply doesn’t cut it. Instead, they plan on heading for the hills where getting wild and dirty doesn’t revolve around binge drinking and becoming part of a MTV reality video.

Known as the Alternative Spring Break, it’s a chance for students to take time away from the books and get out and do some good by volunteering for community and environmental projects.

Some students are trading their swimming trunks for tool belts and volunteering to help United Way of South Mississippi in their efforts to help rebuild the Mississippi Gold Coast.  Or spending a week house building with a local Habitat for Humanity affiliate.

Others are trading in the swimming suit for hiking boots and camping gear and signing on for a American Hiking Society’s Volunteer Vacation where they will spend the week helping to build and maintain National Park and Forest hiking trails throughout the country.

It’s probably too late to sign on to these projects now, but students still looking for Alternative Spring Break options might want to have a read of Alternative Spring Break Ideas in 2010.

The sun is shining, the coffee is hot, and the computer screen is lit up with the latest edition of Perceptive Travel webzine. Could life be any better?                                                       

With a click of the mouse, head off to Bali to experience a pig roasting with Zora O’Neill  (warning: this one’s not for the faint of heart). In her essay, Eating a Personal Pig, Zora vividly addresses the ambivalence that many of us have to eating meat.

Then it’s on to Morroco with  Jim Johnston. In his essay, Morocco: Give Me the Simple Life, Jim takes us to Tannant, a small Moroccan village where his 85 year old mother works as a Peace Corp volunteer.

Back in the States, Bruce Northam writes about the annual Madri Gras….in Burlington, Vermont. That’s right. Believe it or not, Vermont also has a Madri Gras. It‘s no where near as rowdy and not so exposed, but it’s a colorful Madri Gras all the same.

Joshua Berman is onboard with this month’s travel book reviews and Tim Leffel has, as usual, has an eclectic selection of world music reviews.

Plus there’s the the monthly giveaway…

…Frommer’s travel blanket and pillow combo from Lug. Available in four snuggly colors and with a pocket for your music player, this will allow you to say “Screw you!” when an airline tries to charge you for a blanket or pillow.

All Perceptive Travel newsletter subscriber are in with a chance.

Not yet a subscriber? Then simply click here and you soon will be.

Having read a survey that ‘claimed the ordinary Kiwi bloke was about to turn up the toes of his gumboots…’ and move to the city, Polly Evans decided to take a motorbike trip around New Zealand to find out for herself if this was true. Her quest – to find out if the ordinary Kiwi bloke had all but disappeared ?

So it was with great interested that I started reading Kiwis Might Fly.

What evolves is a laid back, laugh out loud road trip through the cities and countryside of New Zealand as Polly invites us to join her as she learns to master the beast (the motorcycle) and search out the nearly extinct Kiwi bloke.

Polly, it turns out, is quite adventurous.

How many of us, after all, would attempt to ride a powerful (650 cc) motorcycle around an unfamiliar country after only a few lessons at home on a much smaller (125 cc) motorcycle?

Not me!

As I had visited most of the places Polly stopped off at, it was interesting to see it from her perspective. She had done her research well, with the book covering not only the scenery but also the historic, cultural and social history of New Zealand’s towns and countryside.

Along the way, from Auckland to Stewart island, we meet a cast of characters engaged in traditional New Zealand activities – shearing, milking, woodcarving. And Polly wasn‘t afraid to get in and give it a go. But at the end of the trip, Polly had not found anyone who could display all the characteristics of the traditional Kiwi bloke. Still, it was fun looking.

It’s not quite the Oscars but for travel writers winning a NATJA (North American Travel Journalist Association) award is big. Focusing on travel writing, photography and travel promotion submitted by travel journalists, travel magazines, public relations agencies and destination marketing organizations from the around, obviously, the North American countries of Canada, Mexico and the United States, the NATJA Awards honors the “best of the best”.

This year we were thrilled to learn that our own Tim Leffel, editor of Perceptive Travel magazine and guiding light for the Perceptive Travel blog, won a First Prize Award in the category of Travel Writing on the Internet.

His winning entry – Unbalanced in the Sinking City – a story published in the April ’09 edition of Perceptive Travel magazine. Check it out and see for yourself why it is awarding winning travel writing.

This isn’t the first time Tim has picked up NATJA for his travel writing and I’m sure it won’t be his last.

Tim, by the way, is in the process of writing a book on travel writing, hopefully sharing many of his tips on how not only how to create great travel writing but also how to get it published. I, for one, can’t wait to get a copy to read.

And while Tim is busy winning awards, fellow Perceptive Travel blogger Alison Stein Wellner has been busy polishing up an excerpt of her The Heat Seeker story (originally published on World Hum) for Traveler’s Tales Best Women’s Travel Writing 2010 anthology due out this month.

Congrats Tim and Allison.

Can you hear me clapping and cheering all the way from New Zealand?

Have you had a chance to check out the winning photographs from the third annual Remarkable Photo Contest yet? 

While the contest attracted over 300 entries from perceptive travelers around the world, it appears that the top photographic hotspot is Calcutta, with photographers from this location coming in first and second.

First prize went to Sudip Roychoudhury, a  34-year-old award winning freelancer who started shooting photos in high school. 

Woman praying at the ghat of Varanasi, India 

Sudipto Das, who works for the daily The Times of India, won second prize with this photographer of intergenerational interaction.

Old and Young in Rural West Bengal

Third prize was awarded to Bill Norman,  a contract writer/photographer from Tucson, AZ, for his colorful portrayal of a wedding in Trinidad.

Cuba Wedding

To find out more about the annual Remarkable Photo Contest and see more of the winning photographers, click here.