It’s time to wrap up the week now with our favourite links from around the web.

Steve Jackson weighs in on the downside of voluntourism, sparking an interesting debate, answered here and further explored here.

Rolf Potts shares an enlightening discussion with Tim Ferris, author of The Four Hour Work Week, on how to free yourself from the daily grind.

John Rosenthal asks the hard question most of us would rather not confront: is travel destroying the planet?

Zen Habits dishes up what we’ve all been looking for, A Guide to Escaping Materialism and Finding Happiness.

Dumb Little Man believes we all need reminders on Ways to Live, and Not Merely Exist.

Finally, Frank Bures takes aim at the Western world’s continued attempt to turn Africa, the second largest continent in the world, which has 53 countries and nearly a billion people of every variety and situation, into one giant crisis.

In the same vein, don’t miss another brilliant essay, How to write about Africa.

Happy Canada Day!

I usually don’t buy coffee from a shop. I buy it from the local IGA and brew it at home; or rather, my wife makes it before I wake up in the morning.

But today was different. Today, I stood in line and ordered the only type of coffee I knew how to pronounce, “regular,” and fished some change out of my wallet. Inbetween my fumbling, I noticed a tiny cup next to the cash register labeled Karma Cup.

I wondered what would happen if I failed to feed it my pennies. Would I walk out of the coffee shop and trip on the sidewalk? Would I cross the street and get hit by a speeding SUV?

Or worse, would I get home and find my house burned to the ground? “Meh,” I shrugged and paid the barista, keeping the change for myself. But secretly, I continued to wonder.

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Often more than writing, video can paint a picture of a destination guaranteed to inspire rabid wanderlust. For this reason, we’ll be incorporating more video clips into our mix.

Courtesy of Travelistic, here’s their top viewed travel videos from the week (including Japanese Meal above):

• Bali Spa & Massage
• Guide To Havana, Cuba
• Diving With The Sharks
• The Map in Jost Van Dyke

Any brilliant travel clips you’ve seen lately?

Another great find over on VideoJug.com, this film showcases a few in-flight exercises that will have you stretched and creeping out your seat neighbours in no time.

Any of your own stretches you would add to the mix?

A lot of people ask me about my frequent travels and how I do it.

Before I was 21 I hadn’t even left New Zealand; now I’ve been lucky enough to see (and live in) a lot of countries.

Travel has changed so much in the past few decades and even since I started at the end of the last millennium.

If I could pass on my top 10 travel lessons to newbies or people considering taking time out from the 9-5 slog to travel, this is what I’d say:

1. Travel doesn’t have to be expensive.

Especially if you go to cheaper countries in Asia or South America. Particularly if you are traveling on a strong(er) currency. Check out free things to do in the area and avoid the long museum queues. Wandering is usually free.

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These days, everyone seems to agree the planet is warming up. What we don’t agree on are the reasons why: human caused or natural?

Personally, I figured the resounding consensus among the world’s scientists fingering humanity as the cause was reason enough, but what do I know?

Anyway, the short video above aims to silence this largely irrelevant debate in favour of the more pressing issue: what are the consequences if we choose a course of action…and we’re wrong?

This week we take a turn to the dark side with hard-hitting, emotional and provocative travel narratives from Iran, Iraq, rural Thailand, and the Caribbean islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

If these stories “make your head explode with dark forebodings,” I also threw in a light-hearted tale from the legendary Pink Palace, where my older brother Andrew Patterson once set a record for ‘most plates broken over one’s head at a time.’

1) “Dark Side of the Moon in Iran” by Rory MacLean

Rory MacLean arrives in Isfahan, Iran hoping to experience the same emotion the great travel writer Robert Byron expressed after his visit to Isfahan – a “rare moment of absolute peace, when the body is loose, the mind asks no questions, and the world is a triumph.”

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Where there’s jungle, there’s nasty creepy crawly creatures lurking to sting, bite, or paralyze you.

Or at least that’s what we’re led to believe when listening to local guides with a macabre sense of humour.

During my travels, I’ve survived encounters with deadly Fijian sea snakes, tarantulas in Australia’s Outback, and even a face-to-face stare down with some local Vancouver deer.

So I suppose it was only the universe balancing itself out when it decided to hide a wayward scorpion in my T-shirt on my Costa Rica honeymoon.

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