But, like the majority of travellers, this is being almost entirely negated by an eagerness to get to the places that make up his, and Ady’s, itinerary. As you may or may not know, StevO and Ady are part of our growing army of STA Explorers, codenamed (actually just named) The Globe-trotting Guys.

Whenever the nerves start to rise however, StevO thinks of New York:

“Do we have enough money? probably not… Are our plans thought out enough? Nope.. Luckily the excitement of seeing places like New York are throwing any doubts right out the window!”

They set off September 6th and their blog, around the world… with StevO and Ady will be the place to follow all that they choose to blog about. Such as the further easing of worries by securing a bed for the nights they arrive in new territories:

“One thing that has helped ease my over active mind is that we’ve began to book hostels in every city for our arrival nights, therefore helping to guarantee that we won’t be sleeping on the streets.”

As StevO says, if you’re in Broadway Hotel & Hostel come September, give them a shout. Also let them know if you’ve had any experiences with the services and products listed in this post, they’re eager for some discount action. I mean, who isn’t?

I’ve previously touched on Poland in the post with arguably the worst title in STA travelbuzz history; in fact I refuse to reiterate it. But, to the point, this concoction of words crafted into blog post format is dedicated wholly to Poland.

The first of two posts I want to pay due care and attention to comes courtesy of Modern Renaissance, maintained by Stephanie, who offers cocktails and snacks to her readers besides confessing to a love of shoes. Only yesterday she was in Krakow, one of Poland’s oldest cities, something she discusses in Wednesday World Travel – Krakow, Poland.

She takes time to mention the Dragon’s Den at Wawel Hill. Wawel Hill is believed to be the first settlement that was established in the area that now houses an art gallery, royal residences, gardens, cathedrals and tombs.

“My favorite spot at Wawel Hill is the Dragon’s Den. Legend has it that a dragon once lived in the cavern below the castle. The king’s son, Krakus, fed him breakfast of sulfur hidden in cattle skins to rid the kingdom of the beast.”

On that description I think it is a definite front runner to be my favourite spot at Wawel Hill too.

The second load of info coming this way on Poland is from Chocolates and More Chocolates, a site run by Joy. Less enraptured with monuments and places of interest, Joy nevertheless keeps me entirely entertained in her post on FAQs she has decided to deal with about her time away from Singapore.

Kokosanka, as mentioned in the title, is a coconut biscuit and Joy has been trying many culinary treats from pork knuckles boiled in beer and honey to KFC, yes KFC, five times. She’s also met some cute boys and played a lot of Sudoku between the volunteer work she has been doing on a daily basis with 15-21 year-olds in a alcohol and drug rehabilitation home. These youths arranged a surprise party for her 20^th birthday. Nice.

I think leaving the last word to Joy about her time in Poland is an inevitable:

“I am proud to say that I have learnt a few lessons about life here. I think that is what matters most in such an experience. For yourself to grow and learn how to be a better person (:”

This morning I spotted this query in the BUG backpacker forums from Irish lass Rachel who’s looking to spend a year in Australia. When fellow member Romy recommends STA Travel’s tickets and working visa as ‘the cheapest by far’, Rachel wonders:

Do they have sta travel in ireland?

They do (there’s a branch in Belfast) - but we seem to hear very little opinion about the company, their deals and services from our friends over on the Emerald Isle, Wales (there’s a Cardiff branch) or Scotland, where they have a presence in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. Funny thing is, STA are quite well known over in the States for eco-friendly tours of the celtic countries and they operate plenty of flights out of them too.

Are these admittedly great regions so rich and diverse that no-one wants to leave? Hmmm. If you’re an Irish STA traveller, hop over and tell Rachel what you think of the Belfast branch. And if there are any other celtic bods with experience of STA out there, hook up with us via Twitter or FriendFeed - we’d love to see your blogs, videos, and photos about your own travelling tales.

Apparently Sleeping Beauty’s castle isn’t actually in Disney world, it is in fact located near Hohenschwangau and Füssen in Southern Germany and is called Neuschwanstein Castle. And the best thing about it (apart from the architectural brilliance)? Alison Schneider has visited it and blogged about it on her Travel Blog.

Ben has also been hanging out in Southern Germany, along with a few other places of interest that are all detailed on his blogspot bit of the internet. Also having spent a bit of time in Germany are the students whose travel nuggets on the country are archived at the Best Travel Blog Evar. Beer, seems popular.

Finally there is Joe and Sarah who have toured Europe and taken in a fair few Germany cities on the way. For instance if you go here you can read about their rich and textured Berlin experience, or you could go here and see, among other things, the beautiful St. Michael’s church in Hamburg.

Not a word wasted, I feel…

For the purpose of this post, Mexico is all about cooked flesh.

The poultry in the first instance that comes from the dramatically titled Los Banditos post on the blog of Chris and Lorna doesn’t actually get eaten, just buried. After a smoking and neck breaking that is. Are you thinking Baron Samedi too? Anyway this ritual was performed by what Chris describes as,

“…sort of Catholics, but with extra smoke, candles and some remainder beliefs from the Mayan religions, and minus the priests.”

And after the chicken burying they break eggs on themselves and drink rum and coke, which, rids them of all ills. Sounds voodoo-tastic!

Next up is DC Curry of DC’s Blog, who has been leading a troupe of teenagers across Mexico, volunteering as and when is appropriate. This involved taking some kids for a day out splashing around in a pool before eating steak. Be sure to never swim on a full stomach. The nosh was enjoyed by all, especially DC himself,

“Steak Taco’s make me happy.”

Finally, I’m sure with the recent heat wave across the UK, or brief split in cloud cover as most are calling it, you’ll have attended a barbecue. So what better way to finish, than with a Mexican open air grill, in fact a whole market dedicated to them? Enjoyed for around 12 hours by Chrsitine of Yobosayo, the next 24 were less pleasurable (eugh), and unfortunately there is no word on whether it was worth it…

Do you think the Tour De France plays a major role in promoting tourism in France? That was the question asked on AardvarkTravel by someone who has clearly never had the fortune of lining the legendary race’s route.

The Tour de France follows an outstandingly beautiful course through the best of the majestic French countryside, gorgeous rural villages, and glorious cities. In answer to the above question, Le Tour attracts visitors by the thousands who gather en masse at key points of the race with their folding chairs and drinks coolers, all to get a relatively brief glimpse of a sweating swarm of stout-hearted cyclists speeding swiftly past. I’ve been one of those people and know how surprisingly fun the TDF is to watch, but I will leave it up to Carl to explain the excitement felt as he does so most effectively on his travel blog.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of watching it live and in person (while taking in the surrounding scenery, of course), get a taste of the experience courtesy of these photo albums from the BikeZone forums and Paris Daily Photo (be sure to follow the link there to see what it really looks like!).

Of course, the race is over now, the last of the participants have crossed the finish line and the last of the related blog posts have been published. For those who couldn’t get enough of it however, you might want to check out the last of Martyn Jones’ blog entries detailing what it’s like to actually take part in the gruelling event and the closing commentary about a similarly taxing obsession, the Tour de France Knitalong.

Alternatively, if you hate cycling and cyclists in general, you may find this link more appealing….

Scandinavia is more than just ski jumpers, Vikings and that advert for a bank featuring, ‘Finland’.

To prove this I have pulled together a selection of globe rovers who have recently been meandering through Norway, which, in case you didn’t know, is actually a Kingdom.

Meandering may not be an accurate description for Neil’s escapades documented on his blog, especially bearing in mind he spent eight hours intermittently (phantom traffic jams and road works) careering 320 miles by motorcycle to get home. Nevertheless his thoughts on the country:

“Norway was fantastic, sadly it was a bit internet inaccessible… incredibly expensive… and terribly fun.”

Team Little Kiss or Chelsea and David, depending most likely on familiarity found the locals friendly, managing to halt a bus full of them to try and get directions to the Norwegian Folk Museum and Viking Ship Museum (so Scandinavia is partly about Vikings at least) in Oslo!

Should you be stuck for ideas of how to spend your time in Norway’s capital, then head into these two posts, one from Vacation, Vakantie and the other courtesy of Travel blog. Both offer more than enough to keep you busy