February E-Zine

Welcome to the St Christophers E-zine

Editor's Note - February 2009

February’s E-zine has more Go Go than George Michael’s rendition of the Wham classic – Wake Me Up Before You . . . Topping the bill this month is our continuing support of the charity HOPE.

HOPE work very hard to help disadvantaged children around the world and to help them out, we’re backing a fundraising hitch hike from London to the St Christopher’s Hostel in Amsterdam, which you can support and read all about in Ethical Travel!

Also in Amsterdam this month you guys can enjoy our mind blowing monthly event guide, a special focus on the Flying Pig Beach Hostel, a one off, lucid, fact file - guide to sex, drugs and rock and roll in the city of sin, and two competitions to win free accommodation at St Christopher’s and The Flying Pig Uptown!

Moving on from the Dutch, our city guides for the month ahead are stronger than ever with previews of what’s coming up in Bruges, Berlin, Brighton, Edinburgh and Paris, where our new French ear to ground - Lisa is making her profound, travel writing debut!

The Top 10 this month is also pretty prolific with a focus on what you should know about President Barack Obama, while the Top Five Reads on the road break down the best travel books around. Topping off the travel literature section is an exclusive interview with culinary travel writer John Barlow and a completely free extract from the Rough Guide to Walks in London and Southeast England.

Last but by no means least, this edition of your backpacker resource is packing some heat with a guide to staying in shape on the road from our resident fitness instructor in Backpacker Bites, Beauty Terrorist is making you pretty from the inside out and Music Mashup is being good for your soul with the top new sounds around.

Until the daylight saving days of March, Adiós.

- Rob Savage

Thank you to the E-zine team and all the contributers who helped to put this month's issue together. For a full list of the people behind the magic click here

Top Ten Tips

We jump on the fantastic Obama-mania band wagon with the Top 10 Things You Should Know about the new President.

If you've got a great Top 10 fill us in. The world is full of travellers looking for the next big adventure so give them a helping hand. To submit your ideas EMAIL US.

Write Around the World

This month we crown Tor Hands as our travel writing champion with her take on traversing India.

Try your hand at travel writing, send us your submission and if we publish it you get two free nights in a St. Christopher's hostel. To submit your storys EMAIL US.

Beauty Terrorist

The female backpacker’s best friend is back with a no holds barred account of what your Body Mass Index means, the ever popular topic of Super Foods, some Complimentary Exercise and a few body enhancing beauty tips.

Got any suggestions for upcoming articles? To submit your ideas EMAIL US.

Travel Book - Guide to Walking in London and Southeast England

Click through for a free chunk of The Rough Guide to Walks in London and Southeast England by Helena Smith.

What book would'nt you leave home without? To submit your top recommendations EMAIL US.

Podcast

Rob and Eoin are back with a bigger and better Podcast than ever before. There's travel competitions, great reads, events guides and much more so plug in now.

Have you been somewhere worth spreading the word about? To submit your ideas EMAIL US.

Music Mashup

DJ Michelle makes a triumphant return and with her she brings the best musical tit bits on Manu Chao at The Forum, OneTaste in Holborn and all that’s musically cool in February 2009.

Expand our musical vocabulary by sharing your top tune tips. EMAIL US.

Backpacker Bites

Fitness Instructor David Haw returns with his advice about staying in shape on the road. This month we have Dynamic Stretches, Good Static, the Right Technique and much more!

Got a health related question, comment or smart remark? To submit your ideas EMAIL US.

Europe's Famous Hostel

Celebrate our Flying Pig friends in Amsterdam and their exciting quest to find a new name for their Uptown venue! You can even win free accommodation there just by having a quick read!

Have you been to London theatre worth spreading the word about?EMAIL US.

Ethical Travel

This month we take a look at the charity HOPE and a rather special hitch hike fundraiser from London to Amsterdam, on behalf of children who need a helping hand, all over the world.

We're here to listen about the charities that matter to you so EMAIL US.

Interview Time

We have a chat with travel author John Barlow about his book – Everything But The Squeal. This great travel title, due out in May documents how you can eat pretty much every part of a pig!

Let us know who you want to talk to and we'll try to pin them down.To submit your ideas EMAIL US.

Pre-Paid Gap Year Card

This Chip & Pin pre-paid Mastercard is a masterpiece for the international backpacker and it gives you great travel offers, discounts, emergency transfer capabilities & fraud protection. www.gapyearcard.com

Credits:

Editor-in-Chief - Robert Savage, Graphic Design and Layout - Eoin Norton / Tuguldur Baatar

Feature Writers:

Amsterdam and Brighton Columnist - Johnny Lee, Berlin and Edinburgh Columnist - Kristin Kendle, Bruges Columnist - James Garnett , Music Mashup – Michelle Mangal, Paris Columnist – Lisa Buros, Write For A Night – Tor Hands

Thank you to:

The Travel Writing Team, The Rough Guides, Summersdale, Lonely Planet, Spectre, John Barlow, The Flying Pigs, Hope, LSE, and Europe's Famous Hostels.

We NEED YOU

Got a burning question, some succulent travel tips or just feeling lonely on your round the world trek? Then e-mail us now and we'll do our best to interact with you!

Send in your submissions to submissions@st-christophers.co.uk