By Emily Rycroft

This summer we’ll once again be helping you find the easiest ways to Do It In Public on the festival circuit, ditching the car and taking public transport instead for the ultimate festival experience. Here comes T in the Park, which takes place in Scotland from July 8-10…

The festival
Global Cool has spent a lot of time at T in the Park in recent years catching up with all our celebrity friends and finding out just how they like to Do It In Public. We adore the variety of the festival whether you want to chill on the grass with your mates or grab some nice food from Healthy T, which offers free water, massage stations and yummy local food.  There is also the legendary Ceilidh tent and a funfair for all you thrill seekers out there.

Thursday night is cinema night at the campsite where three classic movies chosen by festival goers. Don’t forget Fancy Dress Friday, a legendary event at T in the Park, with an 80s retro theme this year. Don those leg warmers, dig out those Top Gun aviators, grab a brush and get backcombing!

Getting there
The easiest way to get to T in the Park  is by train to Glasgow, Edinburgh or Perth and then take the Park Citylink shuttle bus straight to the festival. For times and bookings please visit the Citylink website. To save you the hassle check out Tennent’s Be Chilled service where you can pre-order your lager for collection on the campsite. Register here and you’ll receive an email reminder from Tennent’s when Be Chilled 2011 opens for orders.

Travel light tip
Finding it hard to pick what to pack? Take a trip to the Eco Village and find The Oxfam Festival Shop for some great bargains. Here you will find every type of attire from ponchos to smart suits and also all the festival essentials whatever the weather: knitted blankets, sleeping bags, raincoats, wellies, sunglasses and dresses too.

Grooving while you’re moving
What better way to Do It In Public on the way to T in the Park than with our playlist of 50 of the best tracks from some of the biggest acts – Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, The Strokes, Beyonce, Pulp, The Script, My Chemical Romance, Plan B and Bruno Mars. Subscribe to our T In The Park Spotify playlist to get grooving while you’re moving.

Heading to T in the Park? Let us know in the comments box below or on Twitter @global_cool…

We’re always on the look out for the good, the bad and the ugly in celebsville. But unlike most of the celebrity rags, we’re more concerned with who’s using their canvas bag at the supermarket than who’s been spending a little bit too much quality time with the botox needle. And what better way to put them to rights than by playing our favourite TV show, Snog Marry Avoid…

Snog
OMG! He is hunky and one of the sexiest men alive! You can see him playing the superhero in Green Lantern and being generally irresistible in The Prososal. We are talking about hotty Ryan Reynolds who just teamed up with Nissan to promote their electric car, Nissan Leaf, and healthy ways of living (running, cycling, yoga). Anyone volunteers to cuddle our green superhero?!

Marry
She’s attractive and beautiful. She’s one of the most famous and glamourous actresses in Hollywood. Cate Blanchett has played everyone from Queen Elizabeth to Bob Dylan (!) onscreen, but her biggest role yet is as an environmentalist. She  installed solar power rooftops at her theatre company (The Sydney Theatre Company) and has proposed reusing rainwater, just like she does at home. She’s now campaigning to promote taxing big polluters in Australia. She also raises awareness of global poverty.

Avoid
It’s Trump time again… the guy who failed the run to become American president and who loves golf at all costs, even putting the natural animal life in danger! We just found out that the dunes and beaches where he’s going to build a golf resort is home to  Scotland’s rarest birds, some are even endangered species. Locals are up in arms but the Scottish government doesn’t seem worried at all!

Thoughts? There’s a comments box below…

Donald Trump – American business magnate, author and television personality – played his, er, Trump card when he bullied his way into Scotland.

“The Donald”, a potential US Presidential candidate, is the main character of indie filmmaker Anthony Baxter’s documentary “You’ve Been Trumped”, which had its world premiere at Toronto’s Hot Docs filmfest. “You’ve Been Trumped” explores the controversy surrounding Trump’s plans to build a huge golf course on a unique spot of land in rural Scotland.

The plan for the massive development were originally rejected due to environmental concerns, but the Scottish government gave it the go-ahead. Apparently the economic advantages were just too tempting to give up. The plans would clearly destroy the ecosystem around the UK’s last remaining sand dunes, but no matter – Trump wants to have a luxurious place for him and his uber-wealthy cronies to golf.

Fast-forward a few years and the project is well on its way. Not only has the land been brutalised, but the project now has the potential to force some local residents out of their homes. The movie shows Trump bullying and harassing rural residents because he doesn’t want anyone playing a round on the course to have his or her view disturbed by looking at a working farm. The saddest part of all this is that Donald Trump basically wins. He tells lies about protecting the environment whilst simultaneously destroying it.

For the love of God don’t let this man anywhere near the White House… or the nuclear button for that matter!

Watch the trailer and you will understand why Trump is one of our Global Tools…

Have you been Trumped? Leave your comments below…

Fancy a festival but don’t fancy a weekend in a tent in a waterlogged field? If you head to Edinburgh this month, you’ll be able to immerse yourself in all the festivals that are happening.

We think the best way to reach Edinburgh and get lost in the festival fun is to Do It In Public and take the train. It’s super easy to reach Edinburgh Waverley station from all over the UK. You can use our journey planner at the bottom of the page to prepare your root.

Here are some comedy highlights from Edinburgh festivals past and present to get you in the mood…

QI regular Rich Hall won the Perrier award in 2000 for his act as his uncle, Otis Lee Crenshaw…

The abstract style of the Mighty Boosh won the Perrier Award back in 1998 for best newcomer, and we think it’s fab that they’re still around now.

The League of Gentlemen made it out of Royston Vasey to win the Perrier award in 1997…

Lee Evans won the Perrier Comedy Award back in 1993. We love his observational comedy…

Michael McIntyre’s 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival show was the fastest selling show of 2008…

Ones to watch…

They’re still newbies to the mainstream comedy scene, but we think Jon Bishop and Russell Kane are going to be huge. Tell us what you think in the comments below…

Plan your journey to the Edinburgh festival here…

Here’s five ways to escape the squabbling politicians and the newspapers telling you how rubbish everything is…

1. Party with the Pope
What better way to escape the grind of democracy than by, well… escaping democracy altogether? Vatican City is tiny, home to the holy and run without recourse to parliamentary democracy. You could say it’s the antithesis of election fever – and you can reach it by train from the UK by connecting in Paris. You can use our Rail Europe journey planner here.

2. Play it cool in Iceland
The quirky land of plane-grounding super volcanoes is also home to the Althing, the world’s most ancient parliament, meeting continuously since 930AD. As Brown, Cam, and Clegg intensify their campaigns, why not escape on a cruise to the land of fire and ice? Taking the Eurostar to Brussels, connecting on a Thalys high-speed train to Denmark and then sailing on a Smyrilline cruiser to Iceland, this is an incredible adventure waiting to happen. See http://www.smyrilline.com for sailing times.

3. Surfing like a Viking
So maybe you’re desperate to get away, but don’t want to flex your passport? Your options are wide, and you don’t get spaces more wide than those at Thurso, the UK’s most northerly railway station. Thurso lies as far north as the Alaskan state capital of Juneau, and offers picture-postcard scenery and long, long evenings on the Scandinavian level. Not surprising, it was run by Vikings until 1230. This surprising little town even boasts a massive surf scene (pictured) – with 20-second long waves being ridden that have been compared to the surf at Hawaii. We’re not sure quite how the rest of the place measures up to the Pacific islands, though. Get a train all the way, and remember to pack your surfboard.

4. Have an eggsellent time (just don’t mention the war)
Devon Riviera town Torquay might not be the first choice of holiday for many of you. It’s come a long way since the days of Fawlty Towers, however – and if you’re looking to escape the political din, it’s officially the quietest town in the UK, according to a survey by Widex. You can get there on the train to relax away from the cut and thrust of political campaigning. D-Cam has already passed through this way, fresh from his recent egging in Plymouth. It’s a fair bet that you won’t see his co-runners within 20 miles. As commentator Tanya Gold said in The Telegraph: “It’s hard to wander around Devon waving at people without looking ridiculous.”

5.  Toss your caber in splendid isolation
If you really, really want to escape, there’s only one place you can go. It’s so secret it doesn’t have a name, just co-ordinates. Grid reference NH02020 77000 is officially the most remote place in the UK. Near Carnmore in the Scottish Highlands, at an elevation of 2,000 feet, you’re more likely to be shot by a deer stalker than petitioned for your voting intentions. Ordnance Survey measure remoteness by distance from the nearest road, and this spot tops anywhere in the country. Nearly six and a half miles from the closest thoroughfare, the best way to get there is by train to Garve (Garve, Highland, IV23 2QF, 0845 601 5929?). From there, you can hike it cross-country and, of course, camp where you like thanks to Scotland’s awesome wild camping laws. Sometimes it’s sweeter to be under canvas, not getting canvassed.

Find out more about flight-free holidays here

Pic: jack spellingbacon

In case you’re in any doubt as to which way to travel is best, one visit to the Global Cool bus and you’ll see that there’s a heck of a lot more fun to be had when you and your mates don’t have to drive the vehicle yourselves.  Just like our first festival of the summer, Download, the goodies on offer at the GC bus kept everyone happy – giant jenga and Connect 4, Lego, dominoes, acoustic guitars, hammocks, videos, sweets and exclusive Bluetooth content of Klaxons, Mystery Jets and Groove Armada were all on offer.  Hundreds of festival-goers also helped us make the Global Cool bus the best looking thing on the road by signing the outside and writing their messages alongside those that their festival-going brethren at Download had left.

And if you’re not already following us on Twitter or Facebook, then it’s definitely time to get your Tweet on.  After one quick message from Global Cool, some lucky Twitterati and Facebookers had a last minute bonus for their weekend, as they were quickest to respond to our “Get Yer Free Wireless Tickets Here” messages.  We just love to give!

Several of the weekend’s other performers came and checked out the Global Cool bus, including Mpho, The Hosts, Master Shortie, Zarif and Steve Appleton.  Of course, we didn’t let them get away without sharing their favourite journey stories with us, and signing a t-shirt as well as putting their own mark on the bus itself.  Special mention goes to New York’s gorgeous Mpho for having with her some special Mpho travelcard holders, and to the uber-cool Zarif for getting to Wireless on the tube – that’s what we like!  We also bagged interviews and signed tees from Sneaky Sound System and Skint & Demoralised.

But you don’t have to be famous for us to want to know your cool journey stories, and if we interviewed you at Wireless, check out our Facebook and Myspace pages soon and you’ll have some video of yourself to forward to everyone you’ve ever met.

So make sure you visit globalcool.org or catch up with us on Myspace, Facebook and Twitter to catch the next round of competitions as well as all the new Global Cool videos and interviews.

And if you weren’t at Wireless, don’t worry because there are still two more chances to come and visit the Global Cool bus this summer.  Next stop will be Scotland’s legendary T In The Park festival (10-12 July) followed by the awesome V Festival (Chelmsford site, 22-23 August).

Visit the Global Cool bus this summer and see how much fun you could be having when you let someone else do the driving.

Matt Wheeler