The latest issue of my travel magazine Shoestring is now online! Check out the entire magazine on Shoestring Travel Magazine

I have a favour to ask.

As you might know, I'm busy planning my travel magazine Shoestring, and I am still looking for contributors.

I have designed for Shoestring and would really appreciate it if you could print them and distribute them around university notice boards, halls, student bars or community centres. One of the flyers is in English (below), the other is in German (above). Although the magazine is based in the UK (due to me living here), the authors can come from around the world and talk about every country on earth.

If you have read this blog before, chances are you've heard about my final project, travel magazine Shoestring.

I have decided to continue it as a proper online magazine, bigger, better and for a wider audience.

To achieve this, I am currently looking for travel savvy writers who would like to contribute.

Shoestring is a travel magazine aimed at the 18-30 year old student and gap year travel market. Next to experiences and suggestions for the next trip, I want it to cover advice as well. This can include everything from photo tipps to the best backpacks.

I want to introduce an "as the locals see it" section, where twenty-somethings introduce their hometowns and suggest hip places to hang out, cheap thrills, beauty spots, the coolest new bars - that sort of thing. So if you want to introduce a city that you know well, get in touch! At the moment I'm looking for such places like Barcelona, Milan, Rome, New York, London, Sydney, Cape Town and Auckland but I'm open to suggestions. I'm also always looking for simple (and I mean fool-proof), tasty recipes from around the world.

Shoestring should also feature outdoor stories, active stories, including extreme sports - but on a travelling angle. This could for example include travelling to New Zealand to bungee jump from the bridge where the sport was invented or crossing China on a pushbike. There are no real limits, as long as it has to do with travelling and is of interest to the target readership. Stories exploring different cultures are also welcome!

Have you recently read a really good (factual) travel book? Seen a great documentary? Tried a new travel app on your phone? If so, I'm looking for short reviews.

As you see, Shoestring is still in the planning stage, but I want it to be a one-stop kind of magazine, that offers all the info relevant and of interest to the readers.

So if you have stories you want to share with like-minded travellers, please get in touch with me at Kaufmann.cornelia@gmail.com or leave a comment on this blog. I can't offer any money but your story will be published under your own name, so this could be a great way to extend your portfolio. If you know anyone who might also be interested in contributing, please spread the word any way you see fit!

My Final Project SHOESTRING MAGAZINE went to print today!!



Shoestring is a magzine for backpackers aged 18 - 30, who enjoy outdoor activities, exploring cultures and might even be thinking or taking a Gap Year or Sabbatical to volunteer or work somewhere. Exploring the world on a budget - it's exactly what it says on the tin. Students with itchy feet might not know about all the possibilities open to them, and I'd like to help there. My motto is: "Where you have been is not half as important as where you are going! Meet you there!" and I mean it.

Just like Mark Twain once said "Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." I do believe that you should take your chance to travel while you can, and even though the world has been explored many times over, there are still so many hidden gems and experiences to discover!

For now, Shoestring is a 12-page magazine, but if I get enough encouraging feedback, I will turn it into a regular online publication, with more sections (i.e. city breaks, what gear, etc.) and more pages. As this issue of Shoestring is an assessment and counts towards my degree, there will only be a limited number of hard copies, mainly for those who contributed to it (printing is expensive, if you don't print in bulk). But the good news is: you can read it online either here on Conny's Corner or on issuu.com, download it, print it and hopefully in the future even subscribe to it.

Click on the magazine above, and it will open in full screen modus. If you click on the page then, it will zoom in, so you can read it properly. I only ask you not to distribute it further once you downloaded it and not to pass it off as your own.

Last but not least I want to thank David Simister, Laura Heisig, Skye Macdonald, Luise Görlitz, all the photographers and everyone I interviewed for their big help!

I have just written 50 applications to various travel-related companies. From tour operators such as Acacia Africa, Gap Year advice staff like Gapforce to the Caribbean Tourism Organisation and travel publications such as Jungle Drums, I've covered everything and will apply for positions as Reporter, as well as Press Officer.

My B.A. (Hons) Travel Journalism degree is coming to an end, and it's time I looked for a job. I want to write, and I want to work in the tourism industry, so I figured I should hand out my applications and CVs at the Destinations Travel Show in London this weekend. This way, I can introduce myself in person, get contact names and numbers and leave the CV for their consideration. I know the applications are speculative, but I am hoping to do work experience with the magazines, and hopefully they'll remember me when a position opens up. Although I am not looking for work experience as a Press Officer at the moment, I did state in my application that I will be available from the end of June onwards.

Next to all of this, I have also printed out some self-designed business cards, as well as some extra CVs. Since the Destinations website does not include addresses or contact details for all exhibitors, I thought it would be wise to take some along, to hand out on the spot.

My other half is accompanying me to London, and it will be a long and rushed day. We will get there just past 10am and have to leave again at 5pm, which gives us just 5 hours. It might seem like a long time, but talking to 50 companies about job offers will take some time.

Anyway, keep your fingers crossed!

World Nomads and National Geographic offer budding travel photographers the chance to win a scholarship to Antarctica.



You will be accompanying National Geographic on-assignment photographer Jason Edwards for a 11-day photo shoot on board M/S Expedition around the South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula from 22nd November until 2nd December 2009. Competition ends 4th October.

This competition is open to all non-professional photogarphers from all over the world and you need to submit a maximum of 5 shots telling a story about a place.

For more information, visit the WorldNomads website! Good luck, everyone!