During a week of swine flu travel news, and May Day, there have been other tidbits of interest. Here at Gadling, Catherine Bodry is back to blog some more. In her first post after her year hiatus she shares her #1 item she won't leave home without when she travels.

Along with Catherine's return, there are a number of posts to entice the thinking, sensitive traveler.

• It's not too late to win the copy of Step Back from the Baggage Claim. Book author Jason Barger traveled to seven airports across the U.S. to test his idea that if we could change airport behavior, we could change the world.
• Roadmonkey, a company that mixes do-good projects with adventure travel offers experiences in Vietnam and Dar Es Salaam among other places. Kudos to Kraig for finding this gem.
• Expats might be a more creative than most people according to a research study. The results are in this month's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Tom also includes an experiment question for you to test your creativity mettle.
• Regardless of your guidebook preference, Brenda's comparison of various guidebooks based on her recent Cuba travel is one way find a fit when you guidebook shop.
• Even Mike, who's our Sky Mall Monday funny guy, got serious and sensitive when wondering about the life of the modern day Maori's in New Zealand. It's a thought provoking read.

Filed under: Cuba, New Zealand, Books