It’s time for the new issue of Perceptive Travel, home to the best travel stories from wandering book authors.

This month we’ve got another eclectic batch from multiple continents, plus some reviews of travel books and world music.

Jillian Dickens makes her debut with a tale about her own olive tree in Italy. Becky Garrison contrasts two sides of the Jordan River in Israel and Jordan. And I travel to Las Vegas to find out if a cheapskate from the 99 percent can still find joy in a place increasingly marketing to the remaining 1 percent. (Hint, it helps if you surf for Vegas discounts, go mid-week, and gamble downtown instead of on the strip.)

Susan Griffith returns to highlight two new and noteworthy travel books and one to be avoided. Laurence Michell is back to spin some new world music worth checking out.

This month our gear giveaway is a pair of Ecco hiking boots with Gore-tex, retailing for over $200. The only way to get a shot at them is to be a newsletter subscriber or a follower on Facebook. See how to do both, and see a picture of the boots, on the Perceptive Travel home page.

Have you seen our new blog design over there? It’s a pretty snazzy new suit we’ve put on in celebration of the blog’s 4th anniversary. Go check it out: Perceptive Travel Blog.

Happy 2012. Will the world end this year?

Probably not, but we’ve got a review of the Moon Handbook Maya 2012 and a Mundo Maya story about Tikal from the author in the January issue of Perceptive Travel. Known as the home of the best travel stories from book authors on the move, Perceptive Travel comes out monthly, edited by yours truly, and we’re celebrating our 5th birthday this month!

I was so happy about this milestone that I got my butt in gear and contributed a feature of my own. It’s about an organized guided tour in Mexico that was neither guided nor organized: My Chiapas Misadventure.

Jessica Lee, author of many guidebooks on places everyone is scared to visit right now, gets out of the Middle East to tell us a story about religion, acronyms, and bus preachers in Kenya: Not the One in the Bible.

Plus we’ve got world music reviews from Graham Reid.

Last month we gave away two backpacks to newsletter subscribers and Facebook followers who were paying attention and took a few minutes to enter. This month we’re giving away what may be the toughest travel pants the world has ever seen. See the Perceptive Travel home page for details. The newsletter has already gone out, so you’ll have to follow us on Facebook to get in on the action.

I’m proud to join in the Passports with Purpose effort for a third year. If you’re not familiar with this campaign already, you can go read about it here. The short version is that 100+ bloggers talk up this event, get sponsors to participate with prizes, and send 100% of the money raised to a project that will make a huge impact somewhere.

Two years ago we built a school in Cambodia and staffed it with almost $30,000 from generous readers. The school, built through our partnership with American Assistance for Cambodia is now complete. In 2011 we doubled that and raised $64,128, enough to build an entire village in India. Construction is now underway.

This year we’re banding together to build two libraries in Zambia, Africa through Room to Read. By helping the cause, you can truly change children’s lives and give them a shot at a brighter future.

The best part is, you don’t have to just kick in money out of the goodness of your heart. You’re welcome to, but this is set up as a raffle system where each donation of $10 and above gets you in the running for a prize you choose. Donate more among various prizes and you’ll have more chances. (I’ve personally won something three times. Last year it was a $200 car service ride from Groundlink. Sweet!)

You could get this bag for a $10 donation

I’m proud to say my sponsor is a company near and dear to travelers trying to keep their valuables away from thieves: Pacsafe. This company makes a lot of cool bags and gadgets that put multiple hurdles in front of people trying to get their fingers on your goods. For Passports with Purpose, Pacsafe is giving away one of their cool VentureSafe 200 daypacks. This is an anti-theft day bag that features slash-proof mesh built in, locking buckles, and lots of small features that will frustrate bad guys looking for an easy score. (There’s a video demo at that link.)

Add up all the value of all the electronics you’re carrying around when sightseeing and you’ll probably see why you could use this. It holds 20 liters worth of stuff and will give you years of hard-core use. Their products come with a two-year warranty and I’ve got items that still work like new after five years of travel.

Follow this link to make a donation, either choosing this Pacsafe bag or going for one of the many other great prizes: gear, hotels, gadgets, and more. This one’s open to anyone on the globe as the sponsor has agreed to ship internationally to the winner.

Thanks in advance for your generosity!

It’s a new month and time for a new issue of Perceptive Travel, home to the best travel stories from book authors on the move.

No one will ever accuse us of pandering to the masses by featuring stories about the world’s most popular destinations. Sure, getting to Chattanooga is not all that hard, but how about parts of Colombia where the FARC used to rein and the northernmost point of dirt-road Australia?

Lisa TE Sonne makes her debut recalling the voices inside her head fighting over whether she should take to the air and go hang gliding off Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. Richard McColl, author of a guidebook on Colombia, takes a true adventure journey through an area that was not too long ago known more for coke production and where rebels held kidnap victims—not tourism. Graham Reid often reviews world music for Perceptive Travel, but this time he’s bumping along remote parts of the Outback in North Queensland, Australia, where you can still manage to find a pub.

Susan Griffith returns to cover three travel books, which range widely in subject and quality, then Laurence Mitchell is back with world music reviews—including one with the great title Rock the Tabla.

We always give away something cool to one of our newsletter subscribers and Facebook followers who enter the monthly giveaway. Last month Stacey W. of Arizona won a great laptop tote from Overland Equipment. September’s prize is a $200 value WS4 Carabiner Watch from Timex. It will tell you where you’re going, how high you are, and what the weather is like. Oh, and what time it is.

See the Perceptive Travel home page for details or go straight to the new issue.

Want some free travel gear? NOW CLOSED – See gear winners list at the end.

I moved back from Mexico recently and unloaded all the stuff that was crammed into our storage facility. I’m talking all the things that were formerly occupying a good-sized house before we left with just a few suitcases.

After living a simpler life, an American house crammed with possessions has been a strange change. I have too much stuff. I’m not a pack rat, but I get a lot of gear to review because I run Practical Travel Gear and once in a while I need to purge. My pain could be your gain.

To get any of the items below, send your preference to the e-mail address that follows, along with the proof of one of the actions listed at the bottom. None take much effort, so this could be an easy score.

1) Eagle Creek convertible laptop bag

I like this Eagle Creek Global Commuter bag pictured at the top and I wrote a nice review of it (follow that link), but after trying it out on two trips I put it away and haven’t used it since. That’s just because of personal preference: I like keeping my laptop in a backpack because I can carry all my other stuff in there as well and I’m not advertising my wealth in cheap countries.

This one is really nice though, so chime in if it’s your style. It can be carried by hand, as a backpack, or as a messenger bag. It’s checkpoint-friendly, so you can just zip it open for the security theater at the airport.

2) Collector’s item laptop sleeve from Woolrich

This is a rare laptop sleeve made in signature thick Woolrich red and black patterned wool. Again, I like this, but I just don’t use it. A PR person from Woolrich gave it to me at a trade show and it would really make a statement to pull this wool laptop sleeve out in a coffee shop in Burlington, Montreal, or Seattle. But for the foreseeable future I’m living in warm and sunny places…

You can’t buy this sleeve in a store. It’s something they made special in the factory for a giveaway. It fits 13-inch laptops and netbooks.

3) Briggs & Riley Excursion Field Bag for the iPad

Think of this Excursion Field Bag as the modern version of the man purse, a quality item for carrying around your iPad, tablet, or Kindle, plus a phone, pocket camera, some pens, and other items. This is a great flashpacker daypack with a lot of cool features, guaranteed for life as all Briggs & Riley products are. I’ve got nothing bad to say about this tote except that I don’t have an iPad and don’t intend to buy one. Yeah okay, if I win one somewhere maybe I’ll start pining for this bag I gave away, but sometimes you’ve gotta let go.

4) Eagle Creek Tailfeather

My review of this Eagle Creek Tailfeather tote said “don’t call it a fanny pack,” because those words didn’t appear in any of the marketing material or tags. But let’s face it, there are two kinds of people in this world: those who like these carriers and those who don’t. I’m all for logic and practicality, but I haven’t pulled this back out since I first wrote about it, so it’s all yours if you want to give it a good home. It would be great for biking, hiking, or other pursuits where you need your hands and a should strap isn’t practical.

5) PodFlex Pro Flexible iPhone, iPod, Touch holder

This flexible smart Touch/iPhone stand is cool and it works well (see the full review and photos here: PodFlex Pro), but I don’t really watch videos on a tiny screen ever. If you do, you can use this on an airplane tray table, in the seat pocket, or on a nightstand, leaving your hands free.

How to get your free sh*t

I want engaged readers to get these rewards, so do one of the following you haven’t done already, then forward me the e-mail confirmation or the screen shot to prove you did. Send it to beach (at) perceptivetravel.com and include your shipping address. U.S. addresses only—sorry! I have to pay to send all this and don’t want to deal with customs.

- Subscribe to the RSS feed of this blog OR

- Subscribe to the RSS feed of PracticalTravelGear.com OR

- Follow PracticalTravelGear.com on Facebook

If you’re the rare creature that’s done all three already, then show me that. Send it to beach (at) perceptivetravel.com.

Deadline for entries is August 26, 2011 at midnight EST because I need to get this stuff out of my cluttered office. When there’s more than one request for an item, the winner will be picked at random. Items will ship by whatever method will get them there the cheapest after I notify winners the following week.

Update, August 29: We have winners! The following were picked at random from the requests for specific items. One item got no entries and has been re-gifted to a relative. You don’t enter, you can’t score!

1) Eagle Creek Global Commuter laptop bag – Brian Bruenderman of Kentucky
2) Woolrich wool laptop sleeve – Tom Hamann of Colorado
3) Briggs & Riley Excursion Field Bag – Warren Robinson of Maryland
4) PodFlex Pro iPhone/Touch stand – Kim Sanders of Pennsylvania

I’m notifying everyone by e-mail and sending out packages this week. Don’t forget, we do a gear giveaway every month at Perceptive Travel. So go sign up for the newsletter.