As some of you may already know, STA travelbuzz is on Facebook. The page is dedicated to what we get up to in the name of travel, and if you scoot down the wall posts you’ll get a flavour of exactly that.

It features the blog posts, meet-up information, updates from our delicious feed, any activity on Flickr as well as travel articles we think are interesting. At the moment it’s mostly populated by us, but we’re keen to spread the love and make it more of a hub for the STA travelbuzz gang; a place to share tales of wandering goodness. Also we’ll be moving our event organisation away from meetup.com and putting it all onto the Facebook page.

The above will see us asking our STA Explorers and fans of the page to share photos, links, videos and other travel related fare relevant to the tribe. So if you’re keen then leave us a post on the wall.

First things first though, come on over and join the community!

Travelling to Latin America? Even just thinking of visiting? Or would you simply like to know more? If the answer is yes to any of the above then our next meet-up is for you. And if that isn’t enough to tempt you, it’ll also be the second installment of our STA Travel Masterclass which will give you some top tips to help capture video footage while travelling.

The meet-up is happening on the evening of 17th June and will be taking place in the STA Travel Victoria store. The staff will be giving a presentation on Latin America, imparting their expert knowledge to all gathered. If you know the area we’d love for you to share your experiences (our meet-ups are always an open forum), and if you haven’t visited the region it’ll be a great chance to learn a little about it, especially if you’re planning a trip.

The presentation will then be followed by the second of our 2010 STA Travel Masterclasses, which will be hosted by professional videographer Benny Crime. This session will be interactive and should have you improving your skills at an unparalleled rate!

A more detailed itinerary will be arriving shortly, but if you’re interested in coming along then don’t wait! Let us know below, send us an email or tweet @statravelbuzz and we’ll add you to the guest list right away. They’ll be some drinks and nibbles as usual, along with a whole load of travel related chat of the highest calibre.

We look forward to meeting you!

#STAMasterclass

Ok, ok, it is undeniably Wednesday, and late on Wednesday. However, I refuse to leave these guys until next week for a weekly shout out. So, this weeks STA travelbuzz Travel Tuesday post fist bumps (was that a bit late 90s?) the Urban Travel Blog!

The blog is populated by a collective of travel writers from different locations and backgrounds, some bios that are indeed more intriguing than others…

“A productive member of society by day, Michael moonlights as a gambler, ball-room dancer, keen biker and, occasionally, travel writer.”

Despite Michael’s status of ‘occasional’ when it comes to travel writing there is more than enough content being contributed from different corners of the globe to sink your teeth into. For more about the blog you can read the fittingly titled ‘About Us’ page. One feature I like about the site is their ‘The Juice’ entries which they describe as,

“[…] lovingly-compiled city guides to all our favourite destinations.”

Which such a diverse group contributing the output is as regular, varied, and interesting as you’d hope. I should also add that the photos illustrating the articles are great too, such as those contained in this entry on the bikes of Paris.

To see all of what they’re up to click the following highlighted text: Urban Travel Blog and get involved. Or if you like you can introduce yourself to them via Twitter @UrbanTravelBlog. Urban Travel Guide you are the great and the good!

#traveltuesday

The subject of this weeks Travel Tuesday is foXnoMad, the travel smarter website. It’s all the work of Anil, and managed by his more than capable and extremely well-travelled hands,

“I’ve spent my entire life traveling, studying cultures, and picking up tricks along the way. I created foXnoMad to connect with other travelers, discover their world, and share what I’ve learned about mine.”

In the beginning foXnoMad wasn’t what it is now. And the history is documented here, along with a few links to early posts, some of which had only tenuous ties to the world of travel, such as examples of lewd French words for example.

Today however foXnoMad is a different beast, with travel content bursting through its virtual seams. A quick dip into Anil’s Twitter activity reveals that this year he’s aiming to visit six continents – seriously, just go for the seven . His micro-blogging has also seen him mentioning that he’s off to Africa in two weeks; talk about practice what you preach.

In regard to the blog based stuff, you’re just in time to get involved with the second round of The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2010. Head to link and vote on who think should win each of the 16 match-ups… New York vs. Dubrovnik?! Tough.

As you can probably tell we’ve barely scratched the surface of what Anil gets up to at foXnoMad, so I strongly suggest you take a virtual trip to see it all for yourself…

Anil – a hearty handshake from us to you, good work!

Myself, Fran & Siobhan spent Saturday immersed in all things travel related at the Adventure Travel Show Live. After presenting to a diverse audience our STA Explorer programme and the World Traveller Internship (WTI) we had a few chats and gave out our goody bags to excited, budding nomads hoping to apply for the WTI and become STA Explorers.

After, Fran went and saw some of the talks and spread the STA travelbuzz word, whilst Siobhan and I went to check out the different travel stalls. First off was drinking Kava, the traditional Fijian drink, with Ben Keene from Tribe Wanted and Dylan (@travellingeditor). The Kava was mixed together by a very authentic looking Fijian and we all had to clap before we received our drink and then clap again after. It was hard to do so when we were almost gagging from the taste (think trees mixed with mud). However, after 3 cups of that and a very numb mouth, we set off giggling like school girls to chat to the STA Travel team who were all working hard giving out information on various deals and offers currently on while answering any questions people had about specific destinations.

We also spoke to the guy on the Mali counter, who taught us about classic Mali music before we made our way to the Healthy Travel talk with Jane Wilson. She taught us how to successfully remove a tick (grab it by the teeth and yank it out). The appropriate clothing to wear (tie trousers at the bottom over your boots to avoid bites and leeches). And how to get over a bout of diarrhea (LOTS of water and eat if you feel hungry).

From there we met Toni, our newest explorer, and we chatted all about her up coming travels. The previous evening had seen her meet a bunch of people to discuss her trip and she has already arranged to meet people while travelling and partake in a little couch-surfing!

All in all a great day!

Laura has witnessed the majesty of the Whitsunday Islands, and all from aboard the Camira. Although intent on Having a Ball from NZ to SE Asia, there is a budget and it had to be considered when touring the Whitsundays,

“We wanted to do an overnight sailing trip round the Whitsundays but they were quite expensive so we decided to just do a day trip instead. Our boat was called the Camira (means ’strong winds’ in aboriginal) and was a massive purple sailing catamaran.”

The day trip wasn’t so bad though, free drinks all day which saw Jamie (Laura’s boyfriend) ‘cracking open the beer’ at 11am. And despite the onset of what Laura referred to as a ‘monsoon’ the weather cleared up plenty, allowing for a trip to Whitehaven Beach and an ‘amazing BBQ lunch’ on the boat.

Laura and Jamie also spent some time in Airlie. The weather was hot, so the couple spent most of their time in the man made lagoon, a must due to the sea being full of Jellyfish. And, as the friendly types they are, the evening saw them back with some of the guys they’d shared the Camira with for some good old fashioned disco-dancing,

“Went to the bar at Beaches hostel which had a guy singing live, but that closed at 12 […] so we went on to a club called Evolution. The music there was pretty rubbish, loads of techno electro stuff, but was fun anyway.”

Ok, I admit that I have no concrete evidence of disco-dancing, but you’d like to think that was part of the deal, right?

When it comes to booking your trip, STA Explorer Tim (Gadget Boy Goes Global) took a slightly different slant than most.

His latest post on Random Projects is titled I made a book, which is exactly what he has done. The book is full of imagery from the time he spent travelling around Iceland and when describing the venture he is modest as ever,

“Just for me and family, but if anyone wants to take a look here it is (it’s a big’un though so might take a while to load). You can even buy it, but I wouldn’t suggest it unless you want to buy pics of me for some strange reason!”

I’ve had a look through The Physics of Outdoor Bean Cookery and Other Icelandic Images (that’s the title of Tim’s publication) and it is full of remarkable photographs. Producing a book in this way is an amazing way to keep a record of your travel and, maybe not an option while on the hoof, it is certainly a fantastic way to relive your adventure once you’ve returned. And the result is the ultimate coffee table accessory – a book about you!

If this is something you think you’d like to have a go at, then have a look at these applications and give it a go; Lulu, WeBook, Blurb and Qoop. Also get in touch with Tim either through Random Projects or his Twitter @timminter, I’m sure he’d be happy to offer you some tips.