Pretty sure I don’t know what the scoop is on the “New” Greyhound, but after looking at the fares, I’m now a fan of any new or old Greyhound. I’m not the most qualified to speak on Bus Fare History in the U.S. but I think Greyhound was getting a bad rap (justified or not) in the 80’s and 90’s when Airline Travel was the chosen method of travel. So reinventing the “new” Greyhound must be a ploy to get back all those travellers that ditched them for airlines. I remember the stock price of Greyhound soaring shortly after 9/11. Personally, I think a lot of middle class Americans are afraid or skeptic of Greyhound because of their lower class clients. But now, as Airlines continue to stick it to the public, any travel I take from now on, I’m looking here first. The fares are incredibly cheap considering gas prices. Perhaps the only downfall is the layover times as waits can be up to 3-4 hours. Similar to the airlines you can save money by riding Monday - Thursday, as weekend prices are higer. With Greyhound, book at least 14 days in advance otherwise the ticket price about doubles.

Practically every page you visit on Patagonia’s website has some mention about giving back or environmentalism. Which is why I can justify spending $29 on one of their sweet Travel Tees. Check out their Artist’s T-Shirts and I would guess they will have something you like there. Patagonia started as an alpine company making tools for outdoors enthusiasts. Now they have a pretty big catalog for apparel as well.

It’s May 15th, 2008. A day in which Bloggers Unite. This day we hope to throw support to Amnesty International (Unite for Human Rights) Specifically, the Crisis in Darfur, Human Rights in China, and the teardown of Detentions at Guantanamo Bay. While so many people are taking the “out of sight, out of mind” approach, it’s nice to see Amnesty International caring. Travellers and Backpackers generally know about what is going in the world. Most likely you’ve encountered some form of it on the road. Sooooo…educate yourself and have a look if you haven’t already.

One of Lonely Planet’s newest items in the guide book collection are their Encounter Guides. I counted 26 cities for which they created an encounter guide. The difference between these guides and normal travel guide books are that these are pretty much purely about local knowledge and hotspots, not hotels and tourist warnings. They are pocket sized and they do come with a pullout map. Can’t wait to actually put one in use.

Pretty sure I was happy to find out a popular TrendSpotting site has picked IzunoTravel.com for an Editors Choice. We are right in there with EnGadget, Apartment Therapy, Gizmodo, NotCot, CoolHunting and a lot more. Some of these blogs I personally have bookmarked, so obviously I was stoked. Cheap shameless plug coming….Check it out and be sure to vote for your favorite site….and mine.

What to look for in the next few months: I’m back and forth on switching over to a popular blog system called wordpress. I realize this site has grown and needs to keep up. However I don’t like the limitations with wordpress. Right now I’m leaning toward the switch, it will be a pain in the ass, but worth it in the end. That means you can be on the lookout for an entire site redesign, new tagging system, and the ability to leave comments. Hopefully I’ll figure out a better search method as well. But as far as the posts and updates, it will be the same.

Jytte is the proud producer of some of the most unique and well-designed beanies you can find online. They have light-weight and mid-weight beanies depending on how warm you want to be. But why I really like this company is explained on their “About” page. If you will be travelling somewhere cold soon, pick one up. I’m wondering if all my readers even call a stocking hat a “beanie?” I’ve heard them called Tuk’s, Tabogins, and skull-caps. Anyways….Jytte is prounounced You-Tay if you were wondering.

This is good. This is why I appreciate the Internet. Take 3 minutes out of your life and head over to findheman.com. Somebody created a site dedicated to this New York City urban dweller who wonders about the city without a shirt on. They have named him He-man due to the resemblance of the 80’s character. Anybody who sees him can make a post on the site. My favorite “APRIL 28 - PATRICIA spotted He-Man inside a Quiznos on 23rd st. He was trying to convince the staff to let him toast a sedated saber toothed tiger he had captured.”

Swiss Engineered Water Bottles. SIGG is the producer of some of the best water bottles for travel…or just daily life. Their bottles are designed to be lightweight, very strong, and are lined with a special coating to make it very easy to clean and safe to reuse. All in all, the perfect water bottle. After that, the company seems to be on a mission to run environmentally unfriendly plastic water bottles out of production. The cost may seem high at first $19-$21, but considering the strong design and your choice of bottle cap, it’s very reasonable.

This ad is from Wal-Mart…my favorite company in the whole wide world….ya right. Actually, not one day goes by I don’t think about all the crap wal-mart pulls. And now, they have taken the “Green” theme that I once was a fan of, and turned it into some distorted pungent marketing scheme. They aren’t alone, Chevy bit hard (which I think is just so funny it’s sad), and so did numerous other companies.

Here’s the thing. Sun Chips says it purchases enough “Green Energy Credits” to match the electricity used to produce Sun Chips Snacks. Well…it doesn’t take a lot of energy to produce a bag since they are doing it on a mass scale. And second…what the hell is a “green energy credit”…whatever it is, and whoever they write the check to, I bet they get to deduct it. And what about all the gas used to transport the bags to the stores. And if every wal-mart drone did actually purchase a bag, then they would be making more money, using more energy to restock and so on. Basically, it’s not a good thing what they are trying to sell. Sun Chips also said that they support renewable energy and that one of their plants installed solar collectors to help power the plant. 1 plant out of 8…and they just began this in 2008?. What a bunch of jokers. Talk to me again when you’re not dishing out complete b.s.

Today we have Wooster Collective. The Street Art Blog. “The Wooster Collective was founded in 2001. This site is dedicated to showcasing and celebrating ephemeral art placed on streets in cities around the world.” - Woostercollective.com. My favorite recent video they posted was Nick Walker, by the end of his stunt, there is a cheering crowd.