Newspaper websites often have online travel sections featuring first-hand accounts of their writers’ travels. An example is the Telegraph’s travel section, which includes this guide to saving money while on a city break. The Guardian’s travel section is also full of informative and entertaining travel articles, and helpfully allows you to explore travel options by place or by the type of trip you want to go on.

Once you have an idea of where you’d like to go, why not check out the area via online maps? Typing the name of a potential destination to Google Maps could help you see how far your potential hotel might be from the city centre, for example. For an alternative overview of countries around the world, you could also visit Worldmapper, which shows you “the world as you’ve never seen it before,” with maps that are adjusted to show you factors such as population, land mass and internet usage.

If you really want to take a look at a place before you visit, the internet makes it very easy to look at live webcams around major cities and towns. EarthCam is a live network of webcams, featuring live streams of streets and landmarks around the world, including Niagara Falls and  the Eiffel Tower. It even has a live video of the Abbey Road pedestrian crossing in London, made famous by The Beatles.

One important factor to consider before you travel is safety. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a page on their website which enables you to check on travel advice by country. It gives you an idea of when hazardous weather conditions could occur, how safe the country is and even the threat of terrorism. There’s also a site from Directgov about protecting yourself from medical bills when you’re away, through travel insurance and when you’re holidaying in Europe, through the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).

If you have a disability, Disabled Travel Advice has lots of useful advice articles divided into categories such as Activity Holidays and Air Travel. Meanwhile, Tourism For All is a charity site that features advice for disabled travellers, a forum and regular news items.

These are just a few of the sites I found that will help you plan that well-earned break. Happy exploring, and above all, enjoy your travels!

Charlie is a journalist and scriptwriter specialising in articles and films featuring deaf culture and sign language. He has written for the Guardian online and has contributed to programmes for Radio 4, while his films have won international awards. He also works in the arts, helping to make theatre accessible for deaf people.

There's no doubting the huge level of excitement surrounding the men's 100 metres final, with over 1 million people applying for tickets for the race. Other events that I'll personally be looking out for include diving, the marathon, and of course the football.

But as the official 2012 site shows, the Olympics are about far more than the headline races and events. There's a total of 26 sports and 39 disciplines to choose from. So here are the pick of the niche events you may not have heard of - and where on the web you can find out all about them.

One event that's always intrigued me personally is fencing, where competitors engage in competitive (but safe!) swordfighting. And the official 2012 site has loads of interesting info – for instance, the names for the swords include the epée, foil and sabre. As well as demystifying jargon, the site tells us the basics of the sport, its history, and even features a neat video showing just how dramatic a bout can be. Other useful fencing sites include BBC Sport's own fencing site, which has all the lastest swashbuckling news.

When you think of wrestling, what's imagined (in my mind at least) are muscle-bound, perma-tanned men in garish costumes throwing each other around a ring in front of a baying crowd. But that version of wrestling is very different to what you'll see at the Olympics, even if the competitors still wear a lot of lycra. Olympic wrestling is otherwise known as 'freestyle wrestling' and involves a lot of more technical grappling on a mat. You can find out all the latest news at the FILA Wrestling website and even more on BBC Sport's own wrestling section.

A sport that's massively popular abroad but is barely known on these shores is handball - which at first glance looks like a cross between football and basketball. To get started, go to the European Handball Federation site which includes a section on the basics of Handball, and as before, the main 2012 site features a great video showing just how entertaining the sport is. If you'd like to see how the British teams are shaping, up head to the British Handball Association site, or check out BBC Sport's handball coverage.

An event I'll be keenly checking the schedules for is the BMX cycling, and in particular, the fortunes of cyclist Shanaze Reade, who came incredibly close to winning the gold for the UK in Beijing, before crashing out in the final. The London Olympics will be only the second time the event has featured at the games. You can find out more about BMX cycling at the British Cycling site, including a series of features called 'The Road to Beijing', or get a taster for the sport with this video of the final of last year's BMX final at the Youth Games.

That's just four of the lesser known events that will be gracing this country next summer. There were so many others I could have included, from the Canoe Slalom to the Modern Pentathlon, not to mention the Trampoline! For the latest news on those or any of the other niche sports, check out the main BBC Sport - London 2012 page for all the newest info. Happy browsing!

Charlie is a journalist and scriptwriter specialising in articles and films featuring deaf culture and sign language. He has written for the Guardian online and has contributed to programmes for Radio 4, while his films have won international awards. He also works in the arts, helping to make theatre accessible for deaf people.

So if you're interested in keeping up with the latest book releases, reading reviews or even finding new ways to share your books – whether you prefer old-fashioned paper or hand held devices - there's something for every avid reader on the web. Here are just a few sites to help you explore the world of books online.

Previously, you'd have to sneakily scan your friends bookshelves to find out what they liked reading. Now you can be nosy online – with sites like Shelfari (which is owned by Amazon) that aims to introduce readers to a global community of book lovers, or BookRabbit which connects readers, authors and publishers through the books they own. Meanwhile, Goodreads aims to recommend new books for you to read based on what other members with similar tastes enjoyed.

Lovereading is a UK based internet bookshop that aims to help you choose your next book, even giving you free extracts of all their featured books. The site has been running since 2005 (an age in internet terms) and does look a bit dated, but has features, fiction and non-fiction sections, where you can browse books for teenagers, debut novels of the year and even receive daily dose of literary trivia.

The websites of national newspapers have great book sections. The Guardian is an excellent example with news and reviews of the latest books, a weekly podcast and an interesting blog. The site also has an area dedicated to ebooks. The Telegraph and The Independent also have great, if smaller, book sites.

Would you like to join a book group? Bookgroup has a monthly newsletter, directory of book groups nationwide, plus a section for advice on setting up a book group. The site also regularly interviews authors for its readers, with authors like Hilary Mantel and Cormac McCarthy.

If you believe books should be shared, the most ingenious site I've found is BookCrossing, which calls itself 'the library of the world' and enables users to pass on their books to people across the globe. You sign up and give your book a unique ID. Then you share your book either by giving it away or releasing it into the wild (maybe just by leaving it on a bench!). Afterwards, you can follow your book's adventures wherever it goes, through the book's readers logging on. As the site says: 'it's where books get a new life.'

For people who are blind or have visual impairments and struggle to read the print in books, the RNIB run a Talking Books service which enables readers to listen to books on a CD. You can borrow up to six books at a time, and it's an on-demand service which means you don't have to wait for other users to return their CDs. And if you are deaf or hard of hearing (as I am) or simply have an interest in deaf culture, Forest Books – a site dedicated to selling books and resources about sign language and deaf issues is an option.

We all have a different taste in books. My own book collection varies from sporting biographies to Paul Auster novels, though with two young daughters, more often than not, I'm reading beautifully illustrated childrens' books of an evening. No matter your taste, the websites above will help you find a new way of finding your next book, sharing your taste, or passing on a treasured read to another grateful reader.

Charlie is a journalist and scriptwriter specialising in articles and films featuring deaf culture and sign language. He has written for the Guardian online and has contributed to programmes for Radio 4, while his films have won international awards. He also works in the arts, helping to make theatre accessible for deaf people.

But when I think back to three years ago, when my wife was pregnant, the idea of becoming a dad was scary. I knew next to nothing about how parenting would work. While my wife had a host of magazines, books and friends offering advice, the most I seemed to get was dark mutterings from other men telling me that my life "was over." They were joking. I think.

I ended up learning on the job, which worked out well, but I wish I'd realised back then just how many websites there are out there aimed specifically at dads. It would have helped a lot in those early days. Whether you're about to become a father for the first time, or you need some extra tips for looking after the children you've already got, there's plenty of resources you can find at the click of a mouse. Here's just a few of them.

Dad.info is a great site sponsored by the Fatherhood Institute, with a range of sections dedicated to areas like work, money, kids, relationships and much more. The site is incredibly positive about what dads have to offer - one comment article I read sought to dispel some myths about fathers not being good with babies. The articles are informative and easy to read, often making complex information like the law and fathers' rights much easier to understand. Best of all, Dad.info is designed in an attractive yet clear way. An invaluable site for dads at any stage in the process.

Before I became a dad I had no idea that there was a magazine out there just for us. It's called FQ magazine and its website even has a problem page called 'Dear Dad' which looks to solve issues dads are facing, and there's a lot of fun to be had in the top ten dads section, whether you're a sporting dad, a cartoon dad or a funny dad.

Stay at Home Dads aims "to provide some advice, information and chill-out time for all stay at home dads everywhere." There's a great top tips article for house husbands like myself, advising you not only about consistency in parenting but also how to maintain a sense of your own identity, which isn't easy for mums or dads. There are news, advice and money sections and also a great page of links to other sites for dads.

The BBC has a pregnancy website which also features some tips for dads in the lead up to the big day. You can find out how to prepare to become a dad, how to balance work and home life, and what to do when you first take your baby home.

Finally, Contact a Family is a fantastic site for parents who have a child with a disability. You can get medical information, advice about benefits, and most important of all, get in touch with other families for support. There's fact pages and the chance to find out about resources in your local area, and there's a dedicated Dad section.

Being a father can be exhausting but the truth is, bringing up your child (or children!) is the best job in the world, and you're always learning new things. I hope the sites I found have given you some advice and tips that you've found useful - they've certainly helped me.

Charlie is a journalist and scriptwriter specialising in articles and films featuring deaf culture and sign language. He has written for the Guardian online and has contributed to programmes for Radio 4, while his films have won international awards. He also works in the arts, helping to make theatre accessible for deaf people.

However, the basics of the game are pretty simple - and if there was ever a time to learn more about the gentleman's sport, it's now. After winning the recent series against India 4-0, England have just been named the world's number one Test side. That's right - England are now officially the best team in the world! So if you'd like to get started in this most British of games, here are the sites that can help.

First of all, why not get an idea of the rules? This section of the BBC Sport site has a fantastic overview, and I suggest you start with this page which outlines the aim of the game. The site explains what an innings is (each time a team bats) and how a team wins a game of cricket (basically, score more than the other team!). You can find out why players need to protect their wicket, how batsmen get called 'out' and how players score sixes and fours (or a single, for that matter) to tot up runs which can win them the game. There's also this useful page from America's ABC News.

To follow the latest cricket results, the BBC's Cricket site is a great start. Whether you'd like to follow international cricket or the county game, the site has the latest scores, fixtures and even offers the chance to listen to the Test Match Special podcast - which offers wit and analysis from Jonathan Agnew and Geoffrey Boycott.

There's other great sites too. Sky Sports has a cricket section which gives you great videos, feature articles and expert columns from greats of the game, like former England captain Mike Atherton. There's also the official website of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), and the very good cricket sections of newspaper websites such as The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Independent.

Following the game is one thing, but to really understand cricket and fall in love with it, why not pick up a bat and actually play? The ECB's Play Cricket bills itself as the "official source of all information and statistics on club cricket for all cricketers and supporters." By going into the directory search on the left side of the page, you can either search for a specific club (if you know who your nearest club is) or search for the contact details for your local county board (mine is Middlesex) who can tell you who your nearest club is.

I hope this gives you a great start in a game that's not only synonymous with the sound of leather on willow, long summer days and the ideal of sportsmanship, but also a game that right now, we seem to be pretty good at - and it's not often you can say that!

Read Charlie's pick of footballing websites.
Watch cricket training videos from GCSE Bitesize.
Play the Last Man Standing game from BBC Sport.

Charlie is a journalist and scriptwriter specialising in articles and films featuring deaf culture and sign language. He has written for The Guardian online and has contributed to programmes for Radio 4, while his films have won international awards. He also works in the arts, helping to make theatre accessible for deaf people.

Now, the first and most important thing you need to think about when starting out in DIY is safety. DIY Extra has a great safety section with subsections dealing with areas like electrical safety, safety while using a ladder, and some more general tips for any situation. There's also this useful page from Health Challenge Wales.

Getting started on the nitty gritty of DIY, the Which? website has some really useful tips which focus on home repairs, including a list of the Eight essential home repairs which even rates certain repairs by how easy they are. Bleeding a radiator rates 1 on the Easy DIY scale, while repointing a patio is a 3, much harder!

DIY Doctor is a really comprehensive site site which features a blog, a forum, tutorials, a DIY Dictionary, and best of all, DIY videos, broken up by subject area. I went into the Gardening section and watched a video about how to put up a shed. I'm now dreaming of constructing the writer's den I've always dreamed of!

A carpenter using an electric screwdriver - one day this could be you!

A site with a personal touch is Dave's DIY Tips. The site is designed in a clear, attractive way and each section has diagrams showing how to get those vital jobs done. Fitting a kitchen is broken down into six sections - but if that seems ambitious, you might want to focus on simpler tasks first, like repairing wall plaster.

The most attractively designed DIY site I found belongs to Reader's Digest. Their page on constructing a patio is easy to follow with plenty of photographs that help it all make sense.

Handyman Know How is firmly pitched at DIY beginners and is run by Steve Venus, who's been a handyman for years. His site had the clearest explanation of how to put up shelves I found, and is even broken up by type of shelving. If you also look at the article on drilling you'll be able to put the two together, and get those bookshelves put up once and for all!

If none of those sites throw up the DIY advice you're looking for, you could always try searching for the DIY activity you want to do through search engines or on video sharing websites. Try searching for 'putting up shelves' in Google or in YouTube, and you'll soon see a range of useful pages or videos, depending on what you'd prefer.

Hopefully these links will help you create the DIY projects of your dreams. Remember to keep safe, and if you're finding a task tricky, or if there's any risk or danger at all, contact a professional for their experienced advice, but if you can, have a go and see how you get on.

Good luck!

Watch BBC DIY and gardening programmes online with the iPlayer.

Charlie is a journalist and scriptwriter specialising in articles and films featuring deaf culture and sign language. He has written for The Guardian online and has contributed to programmes for Radio 4, while his films have won international awards. He also works in the arts, helping to make theatre accessible for deaf people.

1. The Guardian

For me, this is the best football site going. The Guardian's football section consistently breaks the latest stories, marrying them with in-depth analysis of the game's latest twists and turns. There's live minute-by-minute reports on games as they are happening, along with The Fiver, a daily email that takes an irreverent look at the stories of the day.

Then there's a football blog, a fixtures and statistics section, a weekly round up of the best sporting YouTube videos, and best of all, the (free!) Football Weekly podcast, presented by James Richardson (who you may remember from Channel 4's cult classic show, Football Italia). The most recent addition is a weekly column from 'The Secret Footballer', a real player giving us a refreshingly honest view on the state of the sport. Outstanding.

2. BBC Football

The BBC's site is filled with video and audio clips, not only of interviews with managers and players; but also actual goals and highlights of games. You can also click through to programmes like Match of the Day and The Football League Show on iPlayer. Then there's the latest news, results and fixtures, and a great gossip section. If you're interested in playing the game as well as following it, you can also check out the comprehensive Skills section showing you all the techniques top pros use, including how to bend a ball like Beckham!

3. Football Filter

Football Filter is an amazing site that strangely offers very little of its own content. It shows you, at a glance, all the latest stories from a multitude of sites at once, broken down into one line descriptions in sections such as: 'broadsheets', 'tabloids', 'top journos' 'blogs', 'broadcasters' and 'podcasts.' It's simple and easy to use, almost as if the the site is a middle-man helping you on your way to the stories that most interest you.

4. Football 365

For a more opinionated take on the latest comings and goings in the footy world, check out Football 365. The site is full of fresh takes on the latest results and trends in football, and the Mediawatch section is just hilarious. The one downside of the site is that it's full of adverts and feels 'busier' than the other sites. But it's more down to earth than the BBC's or the Guardian's sites - it feels more like you're reading the thoughts (and occasionally, rants) of the football expert in the pub rather than the considered analysis of paid journalists. Which is always fun.

5. When Saturday Comes

If Football 365 feels like you're getting the views of the man in the pub, When Saturday Comes feels like you're getting the views of a football scholar who's just reclined into his armchair, lit his pipe and told you his considered, if random thoughts on the beautiful game. WSC describes itself as 'Britain's leading independent football magazine' and has just celebrated its 25th anniversary.

The website replicates the magazine's alternative feel, taking a real joy in the minor yet (to supporters at least) important details of the game. For example, there's a weekly email called The Weekly Howl that details, among other things, favourite old football strips and team badges. Meanwhile, daily features find a fresh angle on the game that you won't find anywhere else. A Guardian article about the magazine's 25 years said it provides us with 'the voice of the fans', and that sounds just about right.

Charlie is a journalist and scriptwriter specialising in articles and films featuring deaf culture and sign language. He has written for The Guardian online and has contributed to programmes for Radio 4, while his films have won international awards. He also works in the arts, helping to make theatre accessible for deaf people.

It's only in the last few years that I’ve become more aware of different disabilities, and of news, arts and sport from a disability perspective. Here’s a few of the websites that have given me an insight into a rich and vibrant world I’m still getting to know.

Let's start with Channel 4's Paralympics site. The broadcaster has the broadcasting rights for the 2012 games along with a great website that provides athletes’ video diaries, news items and inside stories. You can filter information by sport or by athlete, narrowing it down to the bits you’re interested in. There are also features on the history of the Paralympic Games, which is rarely covered in the mainstream press.

Additionally, the BBC has an excellent disability sport site which will also help you find out who the key individuals are in the run up to 2012.

With blogs, opinion pieces, disability news and message boards, the BBC’s Ouch! blog has covered disability with humour, honesty and a fresh perspective ever since editor Damon Rose thought of the name for the site while taking a shower!

Regular columnists have their own unique take on disabled life, while the highlight of the site is the award-winning podcast, which is presented by comedian Liz Carr, and regularly manages to pull off the trick of being hilarious and informative at the same time.

There are two other disability sites I really enjoy. Able Magazine’s website has a range of sections for all tastes, covering a wide range of areas including travel, the arts and even motoring. There are some great columnists - look out for opinion pieces by Lorraine Hershon and Jane Muir in particular.

Disability Now, meanwhile, is the website for Scope’s magazine, with news items, features and content from the magazine, balancing a focus on lifestyle with a strong sense of disability politics. I really enjoy the readers’ letters - which give a real insight into their views.

For people who are visually impaired, the BBC’s In Touch site features “news views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted,” catering for people who would benefit from listening to programmes.

Another area of disability that has come to the fore in recent years is disability arts, with many artists across different media going on to achieve international renown.

Disability Arts Online features reviews of plays, films, music and exhibitions by disabled artists. There are also artist profiles and blogs (I enjoyed posts by Penny Pepper and Jon Adams), news, listings and an opportunity section that can help you get involved yourself!

Most importantly, the site gives you an idea of the newest work, with an insight into the thinking behind it. Sign up for their monthly newsletter to keep fully up to date.

If it’s theatre you’re interested in, Graeae are perhaps the best known disability theatre company, having worked with a range of disabled actors, writers and directors on a range of high-profile productions since they were founded in 1980.

Another prominent company is Mind the Gap, a touring theatre company focusing on actors with learning disabilities. Then there’s Deafinitely Theatre, who produce plays presented in BSL (British Sign Language) and English, from a deaf cultural perspective. With all three companies, their sites help you find out about their current productions and where to see them (with performances in London and across the country) as well as the training, support and opportunities they offer.

I hope the sites I’ve mentioned here give you a great start in finding out all about disability and particularly about disability sport before the Paralympics. Most of the sites also have a range of further links to other sites with even more information! So have a browse and explore a whole new world.

Charlie is a journalist and scriptwriter specialising in articles and films featuring deaf culture and sign language. He has written for the Guardian online and has contributed to programmes for Radio 4, while his films have won international awards. He also works in the arts, helping to make theatre accessible for deaf people.

Nowadays, you don't even need to own a camcorder as many mobile phones have a video recording feature. So it's relatively easy to get some friends together and get shooting. After collecting your footage, you can cut it together using editing software that now comes built in to most computers or laptops. Then you can upload it to a video-sharing website, and find out what the world thinks of it!

So where to start? First, you need to get inspired. The best way is simple: watch plenty of films! So look through video-sharing websites like YouTube, Vimeo, or check out the BBC's Film Network, which has a host of fantastic shorts by up and coming directors (I especially loved this one, Conversation Piece). Another great website, that does exactly what it says on the tin, is Short of the Week.

Before shooting, it helps if you write a script, even if it's some notes outlining what will happen in your film. The BBC's Writers Room website is chock full of tips and scripts, including this useful page on how to write short films. You can also find straightforward advice from websites like Wikihow.com. To keep costs low, think about stories that could be told in just one location, with only a few characters, saving the more ambitious stories (featuring explosive action sequences, or that all important dinosaur shot perhaps) for later in your career!

Once you've got a story, it's time to choose the actors. You could get a group of your friends together, giving them the roles they seem most suited to. Or you could go further than that. Raindance have a really useful site full of tips for indie filmmakers.

Once you're shooting, how do you choose the best angles for filming a scene? Microfilmmaker magazine has good advice on how to get 'coverage'– which means filming different angles and shots (such 'close ups') so that when you come to edit, you can create an interesting-looking scene.

Once you've got all your footage, download it to your computer before importing it into your computer's editing programme and start editing. Windows computers have Windows Movie Maker built in as standard, while Apple computers contain iMovie. Both programmes are easy to use, and once you've given them a try, you could look to invest in more advanced editing software.

Once you've finished editing your film, it's time to upload! You'll need to convert (or 'export') it into a file type that your video-sharing website accepts, often MPEG4, .AVI or .MOV files. If in doubt, look at the site's 'help' or 'support' sections. Then give your film a snappy title, add some 'tags' to describe what it's about, and you're ready to send it out into the great unknown!

To help more people see your work, you could add a link to your film on your Facebook or Twitter page, email the link to your friends, or post it to an internet message board!

It's worth remembering that you don't have to make a film that tells a conventional story with a beginning, middle and end. You could make anything at all. For example, one YouTube user made a film where he demonstrates 41 different facial expressions!

Once you've got some experience, you might be interested in more advanced filmmaking advice. Vimeo have just launched an online film school covering all kinds of filmmaking techniques. The New York Video School is also useful, with a range of videos covering every aspect of filmmaking.

You might be interested in getting further training, and if so, this BBC Film Network page has a host of useful links to training organisations, courses and film schools.

Making films isn't easy - there's a lot to think about. But once you break each aspect of filmmaking down, it gets simpler and you can find a way through the process. Don't be afraid to make mistakes, and learn from them. Good luck, and if you win an Oscar one day, don't forget to mention you read this article!

Charlie is a journalist and scriptwriter specialising in articles and films featuring deaf culture and sign language. He has written for the Guardian online and has contributed to programmes for Radio 4, while his films have won international awards. He also works in the arts, helping to make theatre accessible for deaf people.