Last year saw Alienware launch their annual Alienware Backpacking Challenge, where four e-sports and gaming enthusiasts indulged their wanderlust in the hope of winning a $5000 prize and a brand new M11x laptop.

This time it's back and applications are open for anyone wanting to experience this rare opportunity. If you're in any doubt as to what it meant to previous applicants, the winner, Livia Teernstra, explains it in her own words.

She said of her own experience:

I am so fortunate to have participated in last year's Alienware Backpacking Challenge. Through the challenges, I ended up doing things I never would have imagined, like getting in a ring with an MMA fighter! I had an unforgettable, adventurous summer and got to see so many different places and meet so many awesome people. It was definitely the experience of a lifetime. And winning the $5,000 and the M11x was certainly a bonus too.

The brief is outlined on the Alienware Backpacking Challenge website:

Welcome to the 2011 edition of the Alienware Backpacking Challenge. Kitted out with an Alienware M11x laptop, a video camera, and a set of camping equipment, four lucky participants will blog their way over mountains and seas, crossing borders and time zones, completing challenges before going up against each other in a weekly public vote, hosted on the official Alienware Backpacking Challenge website. The winner will walk away with $5,000 and an Alienware M11x laptop, whilst the other contenders will have to make due with a free holiday, an M11x and the experience of their lifetimes.

This year the Alienware Backpacking Challenge will start in London and will end at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. It will feature an adventure packed five week campaign across Europe where YOU get to decide where you want to go and what you want to do. Supplied with a limited budget, you will have to complete challenges to gather more resources for your epic trip across Europe. During your travels you will have to blog, vlog, tweet and update your friends and followers via Facebook to gather votes.

Are you a good blogger and up for an adventure? Are you 18 or older and want a shot at fame and $5,000? Are you fully available from from July 22nd until August 24th 2011? Then sign up now using the application form and fire it over to apply@alienwarechallenge.com . You have until June 30th 2011 to apply.

More information about the challenge can be found on the Alienware Backpacking Challenge home page.