Photo by Wit www.flickr.com/photos/-wit-/

You’re stuck at home. The sun is shining. You want to do something. You need to get away. You don’t want to spend May Day stuck in your living room or garden counting the tiles or writing inane comments on facebook. Seize the moment – check out our suggestions for a Last Minute May Day Getaway!

There’s plenty of classic May Day options available – from the traditional to the political. For instance you could cheer on an ’Obby ’Oss in Padstow surrounded by locals dressed in white during a 4000 year old celebration; sing ‘cuckoo’ as you dance around a maypole in Downton; be draped in garlands of flowers in Hawaii; make crosses from flowers in Spain; cross a scarecrow in England; set fire to a horse in Italy; bury a fish; get involved in some green morris dancing; or rock with the workers in Belgium.

There’s more than 140 other events you could attend this May Day. Let Joobili help you escape…

1. Smell flowers in Holland
2. Cover yourself in green leaves and go morris dancing
3. Throw yourself off a tower
4. Watch turtles
5. Pretend to be a pirate

There’s something truly captivating about hot air ballooning. Of course it’s not as adrenaline packed as some air displays, nor does it have the latest technological advancements like many other air shows. Rather, what makes hot air ballooning perennially popular is the grand elegance and simple beauty of seeing our fellow humans stroke the sky with such softness.

So what marks out one of these wonderful events from another?  Some claim their event is the largest on earth, others urge competitors to battle it out amongst mountains, whilst others still like to spice things up with live music, fireworks and formation skydiving.

And what do these big balls of air represent? Maybe (little) Saxony? Or is it (slightly bigger) Europe? No, it’s the biggest one of all – freedom itself!

Come float away on a timely travel trip with Joobili.

Whilst food and travel have been intimately linked since the advent of mass tourism, the proliferation of international cuisine might lead you to conclude that the furthest you need to travel for some exotic grub is your local town centre. But such thinking is wrong on two counts. Firstly, local ingredients matter: if your tomatoes haven’t been grown in volcanic soil on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, then your Margarita pizza is always going to fall short of what’s on offer in the winding streets of Naples. Secondly – at this is where Joobili comes in – timing is everything. There’s no point in turning up in such exotic locations as Prague or Barnsley just after they’ve cleared away the froth from the latest beer festival, you’ll be sick to the bottom of your stomach if miss out on a 500 year old festival in celebration of ham whilst on a gastronomically-inspired jaunt through  France, and your tongue will never forgive you if you don’t give it the pleasure of wallowing in some delicious red juices during the Strawberry Fair in Malta.

Yes folks, there is a world of food and drink inspired travel out there.

For some, food is yet one more arena for competition. It’s about gaining international fame through helping yourself to humongous helpings of hotdogs, about dazzling village folk through your potato peeling prowess at the World Dumplings Championship, or about having the largest avocado.

For others, food and drink are about celebrating local specialities whether it be great British cheese, the pumpkin pies, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin burgers, pumpkin chili and pumpkin ice creams of Circleville, or the horse semen shots (yes, you read that correctly) of New Zealand.

Finally, for some travellers, being abroad means letting go, forgetting the diet, and pigging out. And where better in the world to eat like our pink curly-tailed cousins than at Pig Out In The Park?

Plan your foodie travel in a timely fashion with Joobili.

You can drum harder than a Duracell bunny; see a procession of thrones in Seville; shop in Easter markets in the most beautiful square in Europe; enjoy the best of Beethoven at a special Passion Week festival; (if you’re a woman) get covered in water by mischievous Hungarian village boys;  explore the beautifully decorated streets of Braga; blow stuff up in Italy;  or dance with death in Spain.

And that’s just the tip of the Easter Egg.  Skip this way for more little bunny.

For instance the best tossers in the land gather for the World Nurdling Championship, people happily lose fingernails at the World Conker Championships, they show their skills as expert trainers at the World Snail Racing Championship, reveal their blowing prowess at the World Pea Shooting Championship, practice being ugly at the World Gurning Competition, set their dinner free at the World Hen Racing Championship, get splattered at the World Egg Throwing Championship, lose their marbles at the World Marble Championship, throw sticks off a bridge at the World Pooh Sticks Championship and waggle their tootsies at the World Toe Wrestling Championship (in fact the proud English man George Burgess invented this championship just so England could be world champions of something, only for a Canadian to turn up and win the inaugural event).

Some people might worry that England’s continued demise on the international stage and the perpetual inability to play well at international football tournaments, has given English people the need to prove themselves to the world. A desire to be world champions of something! Well, now they are. They are World Champions of Quirk!

(as decided by Joobili)

There’s a lot going on in Leeds throughout the year and in this post I thought I would mention five of the more popular festivals that the city puts on every year. We love our festivals – and there really is something for everyone including festivals for foodies, music lovers and film buffs.

Leeds Waterfront Festival: This is one of my favourite festivals. The waterfront festival takes place in July at Granary Wharf, Clarence Dock and Brewery Wharf. Live local artists and bands playing anything from Jazz to Rock and classical music. Watch local artists painting and drawing while you’re sat by the riverside and relaxing. The festival is fun for all of the family.

Leeds Festival: The most talked about Festival in the city, with over 80,000 people descending on the city from all around the country for the bank holiday weekend of music in August. The world’s best bands and artists take to the stage at Bramham Park. Bands that have played at the Leeds Festival include Guns and Roses, Stereophonics and local band Kaiser Chiefs.

Leeds Loves Food Festival: Heaven for foodies the Leeds Loves Food festival takes place in July at various venues and restaurants around the city. Learn how to cook, and sample culinary delights from across the globe in well run workshops. Watch demonstrations and the food surgery presented by celebrity chefs.

Party & Opera in the Park: A weekend of music spread over a Saturday and Sunday in July at Temple Newsam. Party and Opera in the Park features the latest pop and opera artists. Both concerts are free, but tickets go up for grabs in June at various city centre locations. Previous artists include JLS, Pixie Lott and soprano Natasha Marsh.

Leeds Film Festival: Combine a trip to the Leeds Film Festival with a Christmas shopping trip. The Film festival takes place at various venue’s across Leeds including the Town Hall and Hyde Park Cinema. You will find a wide selection of movies for all ages. The festival takes place every year in November.

Darren Cronian is the editor of My Life in Leeds, a guide written by local people for locals and tourists. Find out about upcoming events in Leeds. You’ll find a plethora of events through-out the year, from beer festivals to art and craft markets.

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This transatlantic dissemination of pumpkin-love has meant there are more great events we can attend in our part of the world, as businesses and organisations have latched onto the possibilities of Halloween related fun.

There’s events that scare adults and kids the whole month long in the birthplace of Shakespeare, events at which you can carve pumpkins, events where you can see hundreds of ghosts floating around an island and events where you can discover the old Celtic traditions behind the celebration.

But that’s just the tip of the pumpkin. There’s plenty more ghostly stuff where that came from, and not just in the UK, but at parades in Ireland, with real witches in France and amongst vampires in Romania .