When travelling, the first port of call (excuse the pun) when it comes to social media interaction is to get your photographs ‘up’. They need to be online and there for friends, family and all to see, but it’s a realtively simple process, requiring none of the dedication, commitment and brilliance of a blog post (the pressure to be witty, interesting and profound can be a bit of a burden). And thanks to Pikchur, my latest travel tool recommendation, there’s really no excuse.

Pikchur allows you to share your photographs while on the go. Once you’ve created an account you’re all set. Take a snap and then choose to post the image via phone, mms, email or upload. Pikchur then will send it far and wide to whichever online accounts you’ve synced with the service. This means each active profile you have on Facebook, Jaiku, Twitter, Pownce, tumblr, friendfeed, identi.ca, plurk and rejaw will be updated with the pic.

So whether you want to update a host of pals across a host of services with the latest image of you in front of a famous monument in a distant land, or just plop some photos on Facebook while away from a computer, Pikchur could help you out.

Some people go on holiday to get away from it all, laze by the pool and sip leisurely from a delicately mixed Mojito, calmy gazing as the world meanders its way past. Those people should stop reading immediately!

That’s because this next post is one strictly for the adrenaline junkies amongst you – as it’s primarily about chucking oneself out of a plane and catching what must be the most breathtaking views possible. These daring/crazy (delete as appropriate) skydiving types have clearly loved every minute.

“Wow. I don’t even know where to begin! That was absolutely the craziest, most insane thing I have ever done”

gushes Maria of her experiences in Italy, and goes on to expand on her excitable statement.

“For moments at a time I would just float along, looking around at the mountains, water, and farmland spreading out beneath me. And then all of a sudden I would remember again that I was literally flying.”

Meanwhile, Becky and Laura have had similar experiences in New Zealand, trying out not just sky diving, but zorbing too. Of the former, it sounds like they had a similarly breathtaking experience to Maria,

“Once you get used to the idea that you’re falling through the air at 200 km/hr you start to take in the scenery and you can see for miles. You get a great view of Taupo Lake. The force is so strong you can barely move you arms. Then at 5,000 ft the parachute opens and you finally catch your breath and realise you not going to die!”

I’m sold! I need to get up in the air right about now!

Oh and if you’ve done a little skydiving before (especially the antipodean amongst you) get involved in this thread over on lonelyplanet.com, discussing the best place to skydive in Australia.

Image courtesy of GoGap’s flickr stream

As blogs continue to score mentions across the mainstream media as a way to spread news/rumours/gossip about politicians and celebrities, it’s easy to forget that they have a far humbler, if more universally relevant purpose. I’m talking about the ability to record your life and experiences, not just for yourself, but for family, friends and anyone else who shares your interests but who you might otherwise never meet.

Really, all you need to get blogging is to find a starting point. Take Marja and Jereon, for example. This couple began their blog as they started their journey to Las Vegas to get married. This particularly special event is followed by their continuing travels across North America as part of an extended honeymoon. I’m hoping they’ll continue to update the blog following their return home, but even if they chose to keep it as a short record of one time in their life, you have to admit it’s a far more sensible option than a tattoo.

Christopher Moreton’s plan for an ambitious cycling tour of South America was thwarted by the weather recently, trapping him in Santiago and leaving him practicing the “Art of South American Patience”.

The adventurous cyclist intended to take a bus over the Andes to the Argentinean city of Mendoza, where he was going to start his bike-ride to the north. Unfortunately, the type of weather that would make Britain proud meant he was stuck amongst the protesting students and ‘completo’ hot dogs of the Chilean capital.

Eventually, he was able to start his journey proper and you can follow his progress on his travel blog. A cycling holiday can be an ambitious yet rewarding adventure, so, if you’re tempted, use Chris’ experiences to help encourage your enthusiasm!

Yet more travellers are in need of friendly, sage advice meaning another edition of Show and Tell. We show you questions from confused would-be voyagers from across the net and you tell them the answers. It’s like a symbiotic relationship worthy of some sort of parasitic worm and a human stomach. Except this is more about travel.

If you have something to offer, don’t be afraid to jump across to the conversation and join in. Or, if you have a similar question, follow the links below to see answers from others.

More USA visa confusion – Most of the questions we happen across here at STA travelbuzz are visa-related. These are so common that many get overlooked in busy discussion forums. Do your bit for Matt23 and help him out with some conflicting information he’s received from the US embassy – click here.

Lone female seeks volunteer work – A question from Yahoo Answers from a young, graduate woman who is considering volunteering/teaching abroad as a safer alternative to lone travel. If you have any advice, share it here.

Hopping on the bus from Bolivia to Venezeula – Pelican is wondering whether it’s possible to travel from Santa Cruz, Bolivia to Caracas, Venezuela by bus. Answer here.

Travelling to Tanzania for Migration – Wats231’s off to Tanzania in July to see the migration and need sound advice for some good operators in the area. If you have any experience in this, head over this way.

It is something of a male rite of passage that at some point in your life you feel an overwhelming desire to cruise around the world on a back of a motorbike, Che Guevara-style. Few of us ever realise this dream; too many of us settle for more realistic aims, some of us pursue a different direction as a famous footballer with a page three model girlfriend, while I’m reserving all my hope for a radioactive spider to bite me. Regardless, there’s still something intrinsically inspiring about a trans-national motorbike tour, whatever waits for you at the end of your own private rainbow.

This is why I point you towards Nick Sanders, who’s cruising across Africa on the back of a Yamaha. His well-written, insightful blog paints a vivid picture of the nations he passes through, comparing the environmental, economical and political shifts as he traverses the second biggest continent in the world.

For Nick’s view on socialist Tanzania, rev your engines and power through this link.

Travelcasting is the hot topic on Vagabondish, the “Travelzine for Today’s Vagabond”. Now, this may or may not be an incomprehensible collection of words to you, but visit the site and your best guess will probably be proven right.

In a feature titled, Travelcasting: Lighten Your Backpack, Load Up Your iPod, Drew Leifheit explores the world of travel podcasts (aka, travelcasting) and recommends the medium as a burden-lifting alternative to guide books.

Drew tells you how to find your feet in the world of travelcasting, and comes with a list of the ten best ones around for you to start with. Featuring in this list is STA Travel’s World Traveller Student Series travelcasts, which is such an impressively exciting and long-winded name it can only be American. STA Travel UK offers the far snappier Travelcasts on the Go, a series of downloadable audio files giving you advice on all sorts of destinations and themes.

Download STA Travel travelcasts to your MP3 player