Moustache Ride Photos: mrflip Feature Photo: matthewspiel

Mo is for moustache. You can register here to get sponsored to grow your own for Movember.

What is Movember?

Movember is the month for you to put away your razor to raise awareness for prostate cancer, and if you’ve watched the above video, kick some ass. Anytime someone remarks on your new whiskers, you can open a door to conversation about the cause. Join as part of a team or by yourself. You’ve still got time.

In South Africa, New Zealand, Europe, the US, and Canada there are officially sanctioned costume parties and events and you can apply to host your own party. Participants dress for the moustache they’ve grown. Pirate? Motorcycle cop? Luigi? Moustache Ride, perhaps? Just because Halloween is over does not mean you need to give up costume parties for the year.

No matter where you are in the world, you can still raise awareness for the cause and, if you’re testosterone endowed, grow a moustache yourself. Check it out on Facebook and watch the summary video below.

Community Connection

All about raising awareness for cancer? Check out this piece about raising breast cancer awareness.

Matador Member – LittleRaven525

Photos by LittleRaven525

About me:
I will sometimes travel light with minimum supplies but I typically like to work seasonal jobs in amazing places. 8 months here. 7 months there. There is nothing like being able to go climb a mountain and go back to your cabin all in the same day. I don’t like to just pass through.

Be sure to check out LittleRaven525’s Matador profile.

Favorite books: Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat’s Cradle, Brave New World.

Photo courtesy of Johan Larsson

Laptops may still be number one for most travel writers, but apps like these make it more doable to accomplish some pretty thorough work from your iPhone or Touch.

iPhone Apps for Writing and Editing

TextGuru

According to Brancipater Software, TextGuru is an “advanced, desktop class, multi-function text editor.” With this app, you can read and edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint docs, as well as PDF files, in landscape and portrait mode. TextGuru features cut, copy, and paste, find and replace, autosave, a search funtion, web previews, and email capabilities.

Price: $4.99

Photo by motoyen

My Writing Nook

This free web app and $1.99 iPhone app use Google’s App Engine infrastructure to allow writers to write and edit documents anyplace with Internet access. The concept is pretty much like Google Docs: just sign in with your Google account and start writing.

Both apps allow you to email the document, or save to your computer as an RTF. They even include a dictionary/thesaurus feature. And with the iPhone app, you can type in landscape mode, putting your thumbs to good use.

While most people, myself included, don’t like typing much more than a text message on a phone, I’ve found this to be a really great way to sneak in a little bit of writing when I have a few minutes to spare. Those little sessions add up to a decent word count at the end of the day!

Web app: Free

iPhone app: $1.99

NumberKey

When I got my first ever laptop – a clunky Compaq – I remember buying an external numeric keypad because not having one drove me nuts.

Photo by Balmuda Design

But NumberKey by Balmuda Design turns your iPhone into a keypad! The app uses wi-fi to function as a numeric keypad for your laptop – no USB or other connections necessary, just set your iPhone next to your laptop and you’re ready to go!

Before using, you need to download NumberKey Connect. Pretty cool app, particularly for use with spreadsheets and budget docs.

Price: $1.99

iPhone Apps for Blogging

Those who blog regularly know that short and sweet posts are essential; hardly anyone writes an long essay every day for their blog. And usually the best ideas for those quick posts come while your out. These apps for bloggers help you get a post up while you’re out, including pictures.

Wordpress

For bloggers using Wordpress, this free app works great. You can enter several blogs to manage, then post, add pics, and manage all pages and comments right on your iPhone.

The Wordpress app allows you to enter all parts of a post, including tags and categories. There are two versions available, Wordpress and Wordpress 2. I tried the first, and it worked just fine. However, the second didn’t recognize my blog and crashed on me.

Judging from the reviews, a lot of folks who switched from the first to the second had this problem. However, I’d recommend giving it a try – they’re both free, and the second seems to have a lot of great updates if you can get it to work!

Price: Free

Photo by Titanas

BlogPress

This app works with several blog platforms, including WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, and Joomla. For the price, you get the ability to upload video from your YourTube account to your blog, uses a visual editor, and lets you send one post to multiple blogs, even on different platforms. A little higher price, but likely worthwhile.

Price: $2.99

iPhone Apps for Printing and Exporting Docs

Print n Share

This app is a great example of something that works exactly as promised. Within minutes of downloading Print n Share, I printed an email off of my iPhone onto a printer that my laptop wasn’t even connected to in the first place.

In order to work, you need to download WePrint helper software onto your computer, which is free. Once it’s installed, you can use Print n Share to print any files, emails, web pages, contacts, and images from your iPhone. I use this one frequently – it’s incredibly easy and super helpful.

Price: $6.99

Photo by philcampbell

Google Export

Another freebie that writers who use Google Docs have no reason not to download! Simply put, Google Export lets you browse and export your Google Docs as an email attachment. It’s free. It works. Not much else to say – if you’re a big Docs user, this is one to get!

Price: Free

iPhone apps for Notes and Research

iTalk Recorder

All writers know the rule; inspiration hits when you’ve got nothing to write with. Many learn to carry a little notebook around at all times, and Notes on the iPhone works well for jotting things down. But if it’s a big idea, sometimes those thumbs just don’t type fast enough!

iTalk Recorder is an easy-to-use voice recorder for vocal notes or interviews. Download the free iTalk Sync, and you can drag and drop them as AIFF files on your laptop. There are two versions available – try the Lite for free and see how it works for you!

Lite: Free

Premium: $1.99

Wikipanion

Yes, I know – Wikipedia doesn’t count as research. But I do use it, and often, and Wikipanion is a great way to navigate the site from my Touch. With the free version, you can bookmark (including individual sections), view history, and save images to your Photo library.

Price: Free

Know of any other iPhone apps freelance writers are missing out on? Share your favorites in the comments section!

Community Connection

Photo: gadl

It’s a tough day for travelers who like to explore outside of “acceptable” countries, as Iran charged the three American backpackers detained in July with espionage. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with them.

So I was glad to come across something a bit positive happening in the world.

Project Explorer, who provides free cultural education programming for kids and teens, is posing the question, “What does it mean to be a global citizen?” They are asking that people make and upload a video answering this question with their own thoughts or experiences.

So far, the likes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Russell Simmons, and Ziggy Marley have posted their answers. Also, many other lesser known – but just as important activists – such as Scott Harrison of charity: water and John and Charles of…well, Chelsea, add their two cents on “possibility and action” and the importance “being nice.”

Find more videos like this on ProjectExplorer.org’s Good Global Citizen

Now comes your turn. We’re challenging BNT readers to make a video and add their own take on what it means to be a global citizen.

Where To Go For Answers

Need some inspiration? Beginning with desire in the form of a journal entry or a video can ultimately lead us to answers. As Valerie Ng explained in her article, Why I Disobeyed My Family and Traveled the World:

I documented my grand plans for international travel in a Spanish essay in high school…[after traveling abroad] it became increasingly apparent that the world was a fascinating place, and I wanted to acquaint myself with the myriad of cultures inhabiting the earth.

Or, look no further than Daniel Harbecke’s piece, How Travel Will Save The World. In it, he explains, “The belief that humanity is encompassed within a single community is called cosmopolitanism…[it] has come to mean “worldly” or “sophisticated,” but in the original sense meant a universal love for all people that rejects borders.”

And, if you have kids in tow, or plan having them in the future and hope to make them a global citizen, check out Karen Banes’ piece, The Educational Value of Long Term Travel with Kids. In it, she notes:

Kids on the road learn naturally. They learn about physical and human geography, world history, religion (although not just the dominant one in their country of birth), wildlife, nature, environmental issues, campcraft, cooking, art and science. They also learn manners, tolerance, and respect for other cultures. They learn to make friends, and say goodbye.

After you make the video and upload it to Project Explorer site, be sure to post the link in the comments section below.

Photo: jsgphoto

And once the bottle is open, you know what to do.

Once you’re finished, you can recycle the bottle or get creative. Here are 10 ways to reuse wine bottles:

1. Turn it into a candle holder.
Every cheesy Italian restaurant you’ve ever visited has the red and white checked oilcloth, topped with a Chianti bottle that’s living its second life as a candle holder. This DIY project requires zero skills: buy a taper candle, shove it in the bottle. There, that was easy.

2. Use it as a flower vase.
This one falls into the super-easy category, too. Scrape off the label (soak in warm, soapy water first) and voila, you have a ready made vase, perfect for a single long-stemmed flower, like a Gerber daisy.

3. Make a dish soap dispenser.
All you need to do for this project is buy a pour spout and pop it into the bottle’s mouth. You can buy a pour stop at any kitchen supply store.

4. Store olive oil, vinegar, simple syrup, or salad dressing.
If you buy a couple of those pour spouts, you can reuse your wine bottles for all sorts of kitchen purposes.

5. Create a garden path.
If you’ve got lots of old wine bottles, you can turn them upside down and “plant” them in the dirt to turn them into a pretty garden path.

Photo: Francisco Collazo

6. Make some windchimes.
Wine bottles can be melted and flattened into wind chimes. The Flat Bottle Company can take your bottles and flatten them, giving the bottles new life.

7. Let it water plants.
Fill the bottle, tip it upside down, and stick it into your potted plants at an angle. The slow drop will keep your plants hydrated.

8. Channel your creative side.
Turn a bunch of bottles into a folk art piece, like this curious bottle tree, found in a garden in Mississippi.

9. Make a lamp.
Using the wine bottle as a base, buy a lamp kit and turn the bottle into a DIY light source.

10. And don’t throw out the corks!
You can make bulletin boards and photo holders out of the corks.

Community Connection:

Reduce, reuse, recycle. What about upcycling? Learn all about it here.

Perhaps, being a traveler (or someone at least vaguely interested in travel), you are as obsessed with maps as I am.

I find old maps nostalgic and achingly beautiful. They seem to bring up a swirl of memories, subterranean memories about exploration, fear, fascination, curiosity. The delicate borders of continents like the veins of leaves, and place names in fine print emanating the smells and sensations and mysteries held within their borders. Brazil, China.

It is hard to find the vinyl-ish film and gaudy greens and yellows of modern maps as romantic, but I still love a good map, before, during, and after a trip. A map, arguably, brings a trip into tangibility – you start with the anticipation and the plans, tracing lines on the map, pointing at dots, and then, at some point, the lines become rivers you’ve walked and the dots a city you’ve wandered and slept in. Maps are the most concrete and primitive artifacts of a journey – I was here.

Maps are also, of course, somewhat relative. Early cartographers drew their dragons and monsters on distant seas and used images to suggest the native flora and fauna that might be found in a place. Colonial maps tend to reflect the interests of the colonizer, electing colonial place names and highlighting material resources of importance.

Aerial photography greatly altered map-making to suit the interests of colonial powers at the turn of the century – once resources could be mapped from above, maps could be constructed solely for the purpose of showing where the loot was. A cynical perspective, but one that certainly aided in the colonial mission.

So maps are powerful, subjective tools, which got me thinking that as travelers, how would we construct maps of the places we’ve visited or would like to visit? What would our maps reveal about what interests us in a trip?

There is this beautiful gastro map of India, for example, for the traveler who discovers place through food. Then there’s the brilliant Worldmapper, creating cartograms of the world and individual countries according to criteria ranging from female literacy to radio usage. A really useful way of understanding a country through terms other than physical boundaries and topography.

Maybe you’d map the world by mountain ranges, maybe by deserts – the idea is, all maps are, to a certain degree, subjective in travel, and the way we interpret and use maps depends on the places and ideas that interest us.

To start us off, I think my maps would include a gastro map of Mexico, with a detailed guide to street-side taco stands. And then, perhaps, a careful map of Andean villages tucked between peaks, and a map of small, out of the way passenger train routes in Japan.

So tell us, travelers, what maps would you draw?

Graphic by Kate Sedgwick. Feature image by dagpic.

Circulation stats:

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL — 2,024,269 — 0.61%
USA TODAY — 1,900,116 — (-17.15%)
THE NEW YORK TIMES — 927,851 — (-7.28%)
LOS ANGELES TIMES — 657,467 — (-11.05%)
THE WASHINGTON POST — 582,844 — (-6.40%)

DAILY NEWS (NEW YORK) — 544,167 — (-13.98%)
NEW YORK POST — 508,042 — (-18.77%)
CHICAGO TRIBUNE — 465,892 — (-9.72%)
HOUSTON CHRONICLE — 384,419 — (-14.24%)
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER — 361,480 — N/A

NEWSDAY — 357,124 — (-5.40%)
THE DENVER POST — 340,949 — N/A
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC — 316,874 — (-12.30%)
STAR TRIBUNE, MINNEAPOLIS — 304,543 — (-5.53%)
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES — 275,641 — (-11.98%)

The PLAIN DEALER, CLEVELAND — 271,180 — (-11.24%)
DETROIT FREE PRESS (e) — 269,729 — (-9.56%)
THE BOSTON GLOBE — 264,105 — (-18.48%)
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS — 263,810 — (-22.16%)
THE SEATTLE TIMES — 263,588 — N/A

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE — 251,782 — (-25.82%)
THE OREGONIAN — 249,163 — (-12.06%)
THE STAR-LEDGER, NEWARK — 246,006 — (-22.22%)
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE — 242,705 — (-10.05%)
ST. PETERSBURG (FLA.) TIMES — 240,147 — (-10.70%)

Traffic stats*:

Wall Street Journal 22.50%
USA Today 26.83%
NY Times 71.96%
LA Times 22.50%
Washington Post 6.16%
Daily News 111.54%
New York Post 4.94%
Chicago Tribune 28.06%
Houston Chronicle 6.64%
The Philadelphia Inquirer N/A
Newsday 0.0498 -39.76%
The Denver Post 17.37%
The Arizona Repulic N/A
Star Tribune 62.50%
Chicago Sun-Times 22.22%
The Plain Dealer, CLeveland 920.00%
Detroit Free Press -33.33%
The BOston Globe 5 -28.57%
The Dallas Morning News 5.00%
The Seattle Times 18.46%
San Francisco Chronicle 26.00%
The Oregonian 140.00%
The Star-Ledger, Newark N/A
San Diego Union – Tribune 1060.00%
St. Petersburg FL Times 5.00%

*Data based on Alexa.com traffic over the last 3 months.

Community Connection

How do you read the paper? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo: Cessna 206

Trips has already introduced you to America’s Most Dangerous Neighborhoods, rankings that were based on crime statistics.

Sometimes, though, people don’t need to go out of their way to imperil the lives of those around them. Mother Nature’s pretty good at that, too.

Popularmechanics.com takes up the issue with 8 of the Most Dangerous Places (To Live) on the Planet — human habitations facing very real threats from volcanoes, killer storms, desertification, and more.

Here’s what they got:

Photo: ctsnow

Mt. Merapi, Java

This active volcano’s constant smoke belching is a tipoff — it’s averaged 12 eruptions per century over the last 500 years. Still, 200,000 people live within an ominously short four miles of “Fire Mountain.”

And they’re not alone. The article claims as many as 120 million Javanese reside inside the danger zones of the island’s 22 active volcanoes.

Central Africa’s Lake Kivu is on the list as well due to the region’s seismic-volcanic instability that threatens to unleash trillions of cubic feet of poison gases trapped beneath the lakebed.

This phenomenon isn’t confined to Asia, either. For months in 2008-9, southern Chile’s Chaitén volcano blew its top. Residents of nearby Esquel, Argentina, where I volunteered earlier this year, tell of a months-long period of ash-mud raining from the sky and the necessity of HazMat suits whenever stepping outside.

Still, a handful of residents in the town of Chaitén have refused to leave.

Maldives

With an elevation peak of six feet above sea level, the 1,190 islands of the Maldives are demonstrating the effects of climate change today.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami rendered 10% of the nation’s land area uninhabitable, and since then local leaders have been hammering out plans to relocate the entire Maldivian population.

The Maldives / Photo: notsogoodphotography

The islands are still considered a beach-bum hot spot, but you’d better hurry if you want to catch a glimpse before they literally vanish.

The Caymans

Other potential casualties of global climate change are places already at high risk of violent storms.

That obviously includes the Cayman Islands, otherwise known as the “hurricane capital of the world.”

For proof, you need look no further back than 2004, when Hurricane Ivan destroyed 70% of the buildings on Grand Cayman and left 40,000 residents with zero power and clean water.

The Haitian city of Gonaïves also makes the list for its recent streak of hurricane bad luck, and Oklahoma’s I-44 “tornado corridor” gets a nod as well.

Verkhoyansk, Siberia

Long-time favorite exile spot for Russian czars and Soviet premiers alike, the Arctic town of Verkhoyansk is officially the world’s coldest, a distinction that carries its own terminology: the “Pole of Cold.”

The record-low temperature was mercuried over 100 years ago (long before meteorologists thought up the concept of wind chill): -90F/-68C.

Photo: Kiwi Mikex

Minqin County, China

Drought, water diversion, and a position directly between the encroaching Tengger and Badain Jaran Deserts likely spells annihilation for this section of China’s Gansu province.

The national government has been making efforts to relocate farmers to greener pastures, but the area’s population is swelling, now at 2+ million.

Have you been to any of these or other “days-are-numbered” destinations? Did you get any insight into why their inhabitants continue to live where they do? Share your stories in the comments.

Community Connection

Here are some more titles for your “most dangerous” fix:

Top 10 Most Dangerous Waves in the World

The World’s Most Dangerous Hike?

Food for Thought – the Most dangerous Cities in the Americas?

11 Most Dangerous Mountains in the World for Climbers

The Best, Strangest, and Most Dangerous Roads in the World

All photos: Mei-Ling McNamara

Each of the Matador community’s more than 10,000 members is well-traveled, whether in body or soul. But some of them really get around.

Meet Mei-Ling McNamara.

Currently based in London, she’s worked as a volunteer on projects in Thailand. At present, she’s researching a new travel guide to Senegal.

And she also happens to be our destination expert on Madagascar:

I lived in Southern Madagascar for over three years (2003-2006), working primarily in radio development and travel guidebook writing. Any queries relating to travel or volunteer work in Madagascar can be answered as best as possible!

Here’s a bit more about Mei-Ling, which you can also find on her community profile:

About me: My Chinese mother and Irish father are the opposing, complementary forces that harmonize my life. I believe that every experience, and how you react to it, changes and creates who you are, bringing a distinct energy to the world.

I’m fired up on: Local projects that empower communities; writing that snares an elusive, fleeting moment; waking to the desert at dawn; watching the Sahara at dusk; seeing the faces of my family and friends after a long journey; arriving in a new place with no plans and a wide, open mind.

I felt the most immersed in a foreign culture when: I rode on a bush taxi with eighty people across Madagascar for 72 hours non-stop. No sleep, no real food, and a lot of Celine Dion blasting out of two broken speakers. Our truck overturned into a ravine once, and we had to crawl out of the window.

Most recently, Mei-Ling was announced as the winner of Matador’s Discover Dominica contest, scoring a trip for two to the untouched Caribbean island of Dominica.

She’s also written for us, producing articles like:

10 Tips For Safe Travel as a Single Woman

Tips for staying healthy while volunteering abroad

A passion for people: Owen Beaton and The Tandroy Conservation Trust

Hands of the Child: the Diola Drummers of Casamance

I could go on. But all you need to know is this: If you have questions on Madagascar you’d like answered, you know who to ask. Help is just a click and a private message away.

Community Connection

Curious about a different destination? Chances are we have an expert for you. Find them here.

With their first DVD only out this week, Be-Dom is making a fast name for themselves in Portugal. The six members of this Porto based group mix performance art with music composed entirely on instruments made of found materials. Here’s a peek at three of their frenetic, feel-good performances.

Community Connection

Want to hear about more interesting musicians? Meet Aaron Appleton (currently on a worldwide quest to mix anthropology with world music) and Jamie Catto, one half of the ultimate world music project 1 Giant Leap.