Best Blogs of the Week & What in the World?

Best Blogs of the Week

I read a lot of travel blogs every week. Every day, even. Since I’m constantly coming across good reads, I’ve decided to highlight some of the best and most interesting posts, photos, videos and general blogging gems from all over the web that I’ve discovered in the past week.

Though I try to read a diverse sampling of things, there’s no way that I can possibly get to it all. So, if you have an interesting post that you’d like me to check out and consider for next week, please let me know in the comments! Who knows? Maybe I’ll fall in love with it. At the very least, I’ll leave you my two cents in a comment.

What I’m Reading

Living abroad: it’s a hard-knock expat life at C’est Christine

Christine seems to be on a roll lately with posts that I am absolutely in love with. Like this one about the truths about living as an expat. If you’ve never lived abroad long-term, you may be of the opinion that it’s like an extended vacation, with no responsibilities; where everyday is perfect and carefree. But the reality, as Christine explains, is very different. Living the expat life has its ups, but it also has its downs. In this post, she describes some of those “downs” she’s experienced while living abroad — from homesickness to falling into a “humdrum” routine.

The chi of travel at Travel Freak

If you haven’t discovered Jeremy’s blog yet, this is the perfect post to do it on. Not only do his writing skills shine through here, but the topic is also a great one, and one that many long-term travelers deal with. In this post, Jeremy tackles the “why do we travel?” question. He’s been struggling with what to do “next” with his life, and turned to some friends and family members for guidance. He uses their words of wisdom to help define travel, and to give a lot of good advice.

Book Inspired Destinations at Journey Jottings

Travel inspiration can come in many different forms. I’ve previously written about the necklace that once acted as my travel motivation, and put together a list of movies that make me long for adventures abroad. Linda has come up with another unique form of travel inspiration — books. This post is a compilation of Facebook responses to the question, “Have you read a book and said, ‘I’ve got to go there’?” It’s fun to read about the stories and authors that have inspired others to travel, and to think about the ones who have instilled a bit of wanderlust in me, too.

What to do in Kiev at Sophie’s World

I love reading city guides, especially if they’re about cities that seem exotic to me. Not very many people seem to travel through the former Soviet countries and blog about it, so posts about that region are always interesting to me. This guide to Kiev is great, and seems to include a lot of interesting spots — along with some great photos. I had no idea Ukraine had such cool architecture. It looks like a place that definitely could be worth getting lost in.

5 Things I Hate About Travel at Some Sojourns

No matter how much we all love travel, there are always going to be those little things about it that rub us the wrong way. In this post, Kelsi lists five things that she doesn’t love about travel — from getting sick on the road to sweating her face off. This is a quick, entertaining read, and I’m sure most travelers can identify with at least one thing that Kelsi hates.

What in the World?

Here’s a look at what’s going on around the world this week:

The U.S.

The crazy weather continues, with flooding still being the largest problem across great swaths of the country. Almost every city along the Missouri River is under a flood watch, and the North Dakota town of Minot was nearly washed away by floodwaters this past weekend. Thousands of people completely lost their homes as the waters rose. In Nebraska, flood waters are threatening a nuclear plant. Meanwhile, out West, wildfires continue to be a problem, and many dry states have banned the use of fireworks this coming weekend.

Speaking of this coming weekend, it’s almost Independence Day! Families across the U.S. will be breaking out their red, white and blue, having picnics, attending parades, and watching fireworks on the 4th of July.

Will YOU be celebrating? Perhaps with a bit of travel?

The Middle East

On Monday, the International Criminal Court ordered the arrest of Moammar Gadhafi, Libya‘s embattled leader who has been waging war with his own people for months. The news brought joy to the Libyans rebelling against Gadhafi, but the reality is that, while the Court has called for his capture, it doesn’t actually have a police force of its own to bring him in. Seems kind of silly, doesn’t it?

Europe

Today marks the beginning of a two-day strike in Greece, as well as an uptick in protests against proposed austerity measures there. Already things are turning violent on the first day, with protesters throwing rocks at security forces and riot police firing tear gas back at them. Just in Athens, about 3,000 police officers have been deployed on the streets to try and maintain calm.

Oceania

This year, the South Pacific island nation of Samoa is going to lose a day — quite literally. December 30, 2011, will not exist for the country, as it is going to skip right from Dec. 29 to Dec. 31. Why, you ask? Well, it’s going to change it’s time zone, that’s why. Samoa is located only 20 miles from the International Dateline (you know, the one that makes us either lose or gain a day when we fly across it), and for decades has operated 11 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (or 3 hours behind Pacific Time in LA). The thinking behind this was that Samoa would do most of its business with America. But it turns out that Samoa has actually started doing more business with Australia — which operates roughly 21 hours ahead of Samoa. Yeah, 21 hours ahead — almost a full day! That makes business dealings tough, especially around the weekend. So, this year, Samoa is going to skip a day on the calendar so it can jump ahead — and be only 3 hours ahead of Sydney. Kinda cool, right?

And remember that lost Emperor penguin who had found his way to New Zealand last week? Well he’s now being cared for at the Wellington Zoo. Though he appeared healthy when he first arrived on a North Island beach, the bird began eating large amounts of sand and twigs, probably mistaking the gritty stuff for snow. (And, who can blame it? The poor thing has probably never seen sand before.) It became overheated and lethargic, and wildlife officials finally stepped in a transferred “Happy Feet,” as he’s been nicknamed, to the zoo in an icebox. There, the penguin’s stomach has been flushed out of most of the sand, and it will be looked after until someone can figure out what to do with it. If the bird can’t be returned to Antarctica, a few zoos (including one in California) have expressed interest in Happy Feet.

WTF News of the Week

In Ohio this week, a woman has been charged for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct after spraying police officers with breast milk. From her own breast. … You can’t possibly make this shit up.

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As always, if you have a post or news item you’d like me to consider featuring next time, leave your link in the comments below!

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