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We are very delight to present to the TrekCafe Community a small part of the Journals of none other than Christopher Columbus:

Sunday, September 16^th, 1492

Hello Dear Readers,

I just thought to keep you up to date into our voyage across the Atlantic. I’m not entirely sure where we were each day (you see I was in the middle of a Guitar Hero Tournament and as you may know, it could get pretty addictive), but I’ve been keeping track of the distances vigilantly. We’ve stopped for supplies about ten days ago in the harbour of Gomera, and someone mentioned that he saw three Portuguese ships sailing not far from us.

He suggested they came to capture us – probably because the King was feeling envious of us. I decided we should sail to Tenerife, where the sun is shining, and Bikinis are mandatory. I figured after all this time with nothing but men on the ship we all needed to see some girls. Lately some of the sailors are giving me the “I would love to row your boat” kind of look, if you know what I mean…

The sea was good those days, but a few days later, the wind picked up and the sea became stormy.

I decided that I did not want to scare the sailors in case the voyage was to get longer than expected, so I… lied to them. Whenever we went sixty leagues, I told them we only did forty-eight. Considering none of them graduated 4^th grade, it’s shouldn’t be too hard to get away with.

A few uneventful days passed, but on the 14^th, the people on the caravel Nina gave me happy news:

They said they saw a jay and a ring-tail, two kinds of birds that never go out for more than 25 leagues away from shore (Who knew watching “Animal Planet” would actually turn out to be useful…). Happy news indeed! I could feel we are getting closer by the second.

The weather has turned beautiful, like April in Andalusia (if you find yourself scratching your head with uncertainty – it’s good weather dummy). To make things better, there’s a lot of green grass floating on the sea, and as everybody knows, where there’s grass, there’s land (and a few very high individuals, but that’s another story). I don’t think we made it across yet, there’s still a long way to go, but this is so great!

That’s all I have for now, I’m afraid, but don’t worry, I shall endeavour to keep you posted.

Enjoy the sea, for now, and the sun.

I’ll see you later.

Chris.

The Travel Toolbar includes tools travelers need before and during thier Trip and allows you to perform most of TrekCafe functions in a fast and easy way.

The Toolbar includes:

• Fast search for Backpacking and Travel information
• Travel Partners Search 
• Quick Cheap Booking links to Flights, Hostels and Car Rental
• Travel Tips links
• Travel Guides links
• Quick Login link to TrekCafe
• And more

Trekcafe Travel Toolbar

It’s 100% Free of course!

Installation guide: Just click the link below, download the file or simply open it from your browser. Follow a few simple steps and in LESS than 10 seconds, TrekCafe Travel Toolbar will be up and running!
 

Download LInk: Trekcafe Travel Toolbar

Travel Passionately,

TrekCafe Team

www.TrekCafe.com

Notice: TrekCafe Toolbar is currently supports Internet Explorer versions only.
Toolbar PAD File link (XML): PAD_FILE.XML

iGuide, www.iguide.travel, is an Interactive Travel Guide which aims to provide travelers much of the information they need to plan their next trip, by mashing-up the best travel information from across the web. The site provides different types of information, such as: travel guides, videos, photos, and flight and hotel information.

The homepage of iGuide is a world map with icons of different destinations, from them you can choose and zoom in to reveal even more destinations (out of an impressive 7 million available world places).

iGuide also offers a helpful travel booking tool which will link you with major booking sites suited to your itinerary.

Whether you have a specific destination in mind or are interested in discovering a new place, iGuide, www.iguide.travel, can help you plan your travels well.

Visit the site: iGuide, the Interactive Travel Guide (http://iguide.travel)

With TrekCafe advanced search you can easily find the perfect Travel mate for your next Trek or your next Travel destination.

TrekCafe allows you to search a Travel Mate by his\her Nationality, Age, Gender, Current Location, and more, So you can easily find a travel mate according to your preferences.

Just click the advanced search button (which is located in the grey search bar of every TrekCafe Page), fill in the details of the Travel Partner you are looking for and hit search.

A few search examples:

• You can search for German women, between ages 20-26, which are currently traveling in the same city as you.
• You can search for Men (from all nationalities), between ages 30-33, that are currently traveling in Buenos Aires.
• You can search for every traveler that is currently in Sydney.
• You can even search for Women called Jane which are currently traveling in France…

Just be creative

If you still couldn’t find your perfect Travel Partner, just post a message in our Travel Partners message board and wait for other travelers to contact you.

Travel passionately!

TrekCafe Team 

We gathered a set of tools travelers regularly use during their trip, and placed them all in TrekCafe homepage, under the ToolBox.

So, from now on, instead of wasting your precious trip time on searching and surfing a bunch of sites, just surf to TrekCafe.com and use these tools in a fast and easy way.

The ToolBox includes the following tools:

• Booking - Quick Booking center for your Flight, low budget Hostel or Car rental.
• Travel Gear store - Order Travel and backpacking gear online from TrekCafe Gear store.
• Weather - Displays the weather in your current Travel location.
• Currency - Convert any amount from one currency to another.
• Flight Status - Lets you easily check if your flight is going to depart or arrive on time.
• News - Automatically displays the latest news in your current Travel location.

If you have any more ideas or requests of other tools which you would like to see in the ToolBox, don’t hesitate to send them to us through our suggest a feature page – we love getting E-mails!

Travel Passionately!

TrekCafe Team

Yesterday we launched our new Facebook Application - Most Beautiful Travel Locations

In this app you can rate the most beautiful travel locations around the world and upload your best travel photos for everyone to see.

The winner, or the most beautiful location, will be announced each month here - Most Beautiful Travel Location

Direct link to the application - http://apps.facebook.com/trekcafe/

Enjoy,

TrekCafe Team

1. Hiking Shoes: The difference between good hiking shoes and poor ones could easily be the difference between a great trip and a leg/back/knee fiasco. All your equipment and the rough terrain are creating enormous amount of pressure on your feet and without the proper support sprained ankles sore feet, and a bad back are just a matter of time. Get yourself good hiking shoes, preferably water resistant – this is not the place to be cheap.
   A good tip for trekkers with new shoes: walk around with the shoes a little while before you go on long treks. Let the foot and the shoe get used to one another. This will help you avoid that “new shoe” sores you sometimes get during your first few long treks.
   Sports Sandals: So useful it’s simply a must have. Great for hikes, casual walks, can be used as a substitute flip flop and is basically the only other foot accessory you really need.
2. Flip flops: comfortable and handy, but takes up room in your already crowded pack. If you have sandals and not much room, just leave them at home. Besides, since this is usually not a very expensive product, if you must you can always get a pair during your trip.
3. Sneakers/Formal Shoes: Unless you have a really good reason to take them (”My sister is getting married on the top of the Kilimanjaro”) – leave them at home. Your going on a trip, not a formal dance.
4. Waterproofing Wax: Guards your shoe and keeps it from getting wet. Not too expensive and it’s worth it.
5. Orthopedic foot support: Not only for those with problems. The more support your foot has, the better. Can help lower the pressure and give you better posture.
   Tip: Should you decide to get additional foot support, do it before you get your shoes and try your new shoes with the support surface inside the shoe to insure maximum comfort while walking.
6. Socks: Usually regular socks are ok, but if you fear your feet will get cold or tire you can also get some hiking socks. Nice to have, but if you don’t want to spend more than you already have, don’t feel bad about not getting the best socks in the world, just make sure they have no holes… J

1. Eat lots of garlic and vitamin B1 – Same as your boy/girlfriend, mosquitoes are reluctant to kiss you should you smell like garlic. So if you’re a garlic person, you now have a very good excuse to make your food as stinky as you like. For all you people with romantic plans, you can use store bought garlic/B1 tablets availablr in your nearest drugstore.
2. Do not stay next to standing water sources – Mosquitoes love lakes, puddles and other places where the water isn’t moving. If possible, don’t camp out next to such places.
3. Wear loose, long-sleeved shirts and long pants when outdoors – Remember: A mosquito can’t bite what it can’t see J).To complete your protection perimeter, Clothing may also be sprayed with repellent.
4. Wear Light colored cloths – Many mosquitoes use their vision to locate targets from a distance; dark clothing and rich foliage are excellent attractants.
5. Put some rosemary or sage on hot coals – Once the smell starts spreading around the fire, you will be mosquito free at last.
6. Always sleep with a mosquito net – Don’t forget to check for holes regularly.
7. Don’t eat salty foods – Eating salty foods can cause you to produce higher-than-normal amounts of lactic acid, which is basically like shouting “Hey mosquitoes! Lunch is ready, come and get it…”
8. Use any of the following natural plant oils as natural mosquito repellents: Lemon Eucalyptus Oil, Citronella Oil, Cinnamon Oil, Rosemary Oil, Peppermint Oil
9. Wipe off perspiration on a regular basis – Perspiration attracts mosquitoes via the chemicals contained within. Perspiration increases the humidity around your body, which also attracts mosquitoes.
10. Keep your body heat low while outdoors – Mosquitoes are attracted to heat. As long as your cooler then your partners, you’re more likely to be the one no one understands how they never get bitten…

Nowadays we are working on creating a new look for TrekCafe - it will allow you to reach all the tools and information on the site quickly and easily (and of course it will also look better J).
The new design is suppose to be ready in about a month.

Along with the new design we will also have a shiny new content system with lots of travel information on different backpacking destinations across the globe. We trust this information will be very useful for all you travelers out there and also for the ones who are just in their trip planning phase.

Have an exciting Trek!
TrekCafe Team