Photo by Eva Holland

Ahhh, Europe.

Sometimes I think I could spend the rest of my life lounging on a bench in a Venetian campo, or wandering the coastal paths of south west England, and not get bored.

Of course, boredom probably wouldn’t be my first problem; bankruptcy would be!

In honor of the almighty Euro (and the powerful British Pound), this week Matador Pulse brings you the best of the Matador Network’s advice for cheaper travel in Europe.

For some general advice to get started, try Brave New Traveler’s 8 Budget Travel Tips to Make Europe Cheap Again and 5 Budget Friendly Ways to Get Around Europe.

Over at The Traveler’s Notebook, check out the Top 10 Hostels in Europe and the Top 10 Websites for Finding a Cheap Place to Stay.

Getting down to specific destinations, check the Notebook again for a podcast on the Top 5 European Travels for a Falling US Dollar. Headed to the British Isles? Browse through Brave New Traveler’s Budget Travel Tips for Great Britain.

Finally, Matador Trips has kicked off a whole series on cheap European travel with two great articles about France: How to Travel in France For Less Than $100 a Day and How to Enjoy Paris On $100 a Day.

Enjoy! And stay tuned for lots more cheap Europe advice from Matador Trips!

Community Connections:

Lots of Matador members have been traveling around Europe and posting fantastic blogs about their experiences. Here’s a small sample: jgbrandt’s Crashing at James Joyce’s House, Adam’s The Old Front, or Valerie’s No Looking Back.

Join Matador today and start your own travel blog!

Photo by jillclardy (Creative Commons)

Everyone knows that the world’s landfills are piled high with empty bottles of Dasani, Evian, Aquafina, and the rest.

But there’s more to the impact of our bottled water obsession than the heaps of plastic empties.

The good folks at Environmental Graffiti break down the true cost of bottled water - factoring in everything from the bottle manufacturing process to the oil burned in transport.

Of course, in many parts of the world the tap water isn’t safe - for travelers or locals. Matador member Josh Kearns is on the case: check out his ground-breaking research into safe and affordable water filtration systems at Aqueous Solutions.

How do you handle water concerns when you travel? Let us know in the comments!

Photo by androog (Creative Commons)

An unlikely coalition of activists is warning travelers to think twice about the data on their laptops before crossing the U.S. border.

Thirty-four diverse groups - including the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, the American Association of University Professors, the Muslim Advocates and the Republican Liberty Caucus - have banded together to protest “suspicionless digital border inspections.”

Dropping the legal lingo, what they’re fighting against is the right of border guards and security agents to search the contents of your hard drive randomly, for no specific reason, and have anything they find be usable as evidence against you. (And yes, that includes those pics of you getting stoned last Fourth of July.)

“In a free country, the government cannot have unlimited power to read, seize, store and use all information on any electronic device carried by any traveler entering or leaving the nation,” the groups stated in an open letter.

Security Focus has the details. The story also has some info on encrypting your laptop to protect against random searches.

Photo by bfick (Creative Commons)

Most cities are strategizing ways to cut down on urban traffic, but few cities are relying upon bicycles as the centerpiece of their transportation initiatives. Washington, D.C., however, is willing to be a trendsetter.

This month, D.C. is scheduled to launch SmartBike DC, touted as the nation’s “first self-service bike rental program.” The idea is a variation on the business model pioneered by the company ZipCar, which is a car sharing program that has been successful in the Northeast and on the West Coast.

For a $39.99 annual subscription, SmartBike DC members will be able to pick up a bike at any of the 10 docking locations around the city. When they’re done, members return the bike to the docking location. All transactions are made with the swipe of the SmartBike DC membership card. Get pedaling, D.C.!

Community Connections: Lots of Matador members are passionate about pedaling and our blogs are full of great cycling guides and resources. Check out Hal Amen’s 8 Steps for Successful Self-Supported Bicycle Tours. And for a great travel narrative about a different kind of bike, check out Nicholas Gill’s “The Motorcycle Diaries: North India,” from Traverse.

Being paralyzingly afraid of heights (well, it’s more the falling that scares me), this fantastic video is as close as I’ll ever get to an icy stroll along a cliff face in China. Check it out!

Photo by SlapBcn

As U.S. airlines seem to get worse and worse (when was the last time you had a meal on a plane?) and increasing awareness of the environmental impact of air travel grows, more travelers headed for domestic destinations are trading planes for trains.

To stimulate interest in train travel, Amtrak is sponsoring the first National Train Day today, May 10. Musical performances and appearances by special guests are scheduled for stations in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, D.C.

Community Connection: New Matador member Tina Kafka loves traveling by train, and is planning a Trans Siberian Railway trip this year.

Here at Matador, we work hard to put together high-quality online resources for travelers. But we’re just getting started, and we’re lucky to have a few longstanding models to look up to; Transitions Abroad is one of those models.

For more than thirty years (mostly in print, and more recently on the web), Transitions Abroad has been an invaluable source of information on long-term travel, cultural immersion, study abroad, work abroad, and more.

Transitions Abroad also runs travel writing contests, and has published and nurtured a lot of young writers who’ve gone on to great travel writing careers.

As the Mission Statement says, the goal of Transitions Abroad is to “enable travelers to actually meet the people of other countries, to learn about their culture, to speak their language, and to ‘transition’ to a new level of understanding and appreciation for our fascinating world.”

Be sure to check it out.

Community Connection: Transitions Abroad point man Gregory Hubbs is also a Matador member.

Plan to be in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, or Rio de Janeiro on May 10? (Yes, that’s tomorrow!)

If so, be sure to check out Pangea Day festivities in these cities that are asserting the power of community through massive public events. On May 10, live performances, inspiring speakers, and 24 short films will be shown in public venues–all with the purpose of “helping people see themselves in others.”

Conceived of by filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, the Pangea Day festivities are intended to be a catalyst for year-round community-building activities that link the citizens of the world in creative and inspiring ways.

Talk to us! What creative community building events are happening in your community? Leave a comment below.

If you’ve been to New York City lately and wondered why the Crown Vic cabs of old seem to be disappearing, replaced by a fleet of Toyota Highlanders and Priuses and even Lexus RX 400hs, the reason is simple: NYC doesn’t just want to pimp your ride, it wants you to ride green.

According to a recent article in The New York Times , “all of New York’s…taxis will have to get at least 30 miles a gallon…” by 2012. At present, just 7.8% of cabs meet that target, but a glance at the city’s streets confirms the fleet is changing quickly.

Incredibly, almost everyone is happy with the new law: drivers say gas costs about $25 less per day; the Taxi and Limousine Commission says the hybrids are performing better on inspections than non-hybrids; and passengers are happy they can ride green.

Talk to us! Tell us about the taxis in your favorite town!

Photo: k.kopach

When music critic Jane Dark named M.I.A.’s Kala his 2007 album of the year, he noted that it earned the distinction in part because “it is the soundtrack of a world turned upside down.”

He goes on:

For decades, “world music” has basically been reggae. Not in the sense of accent on the three, but as a structure of feeling: songs of freedom punctuated by melancholy domestic plaints, built on a foundation of rhythm guitar and percussive lilt, with a sense of patient endurance and occasional exhortation. A liberal-progressive politics of hope with a beat you can nod along to, convivial both to doobie and dinner party. That in fact describes the other current hero of world music, Manu Chao; you’ll notice that his international breakthrough, Proxima Estacion: Esperanza, is practically named “Politics of Hope.” Manu Chao is excellent, and he is also reggae — sometimes in fact, and always in feeling. He released an album this year with stacks of cred and critical air support and it tanked. And for all its particular failings and delights, it tanked because it required the fantasy of reggae: that the world out there is going to love us into changing; is going to be stalwart and righteous til we get it; that we’re moving forward together, especially if we’re cool and progressive and down; that a better world is not only possible but is seven hugs and four joints away. This was never true; the “world music” we liked sure helped us pretend it was anyway. No more.

Whether you agree with Jane’s somewhat cynical world view or not, it’s a compelling way to describe “world music”.

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