The one year anniversary of the first date I ever had with my girlfriend recently snuck up on me – resulting in a hasty trip to HMV for some lame gifts. Despite my lapse in gift-giving extravagance, I can remember the date enough to know it involved a romantic walk by the river and some time spent sitting beneath the setting sun amidst some spectacular, old English ruins.

Ahh, it was a great moment. And definitely worth more than the couple of DVDs I bought her. Still, it is with this recollection of romantic ruins, and ignoring my obvious failings as a boyfriend, that I introduce another Show and Tell. An opportunity for us to show you some travellers in need and you to tell them what they need to know.

This time, the question comes from Onejungle in the AardvarkTravel.net forum. Onejungle’s looking for ‘extraordinary’ ruins to visit during a tour of the Yucatan – if you have any great advice, let him know here…

Browsing Lonely Planet forums today, I came across a brilliant thread: poor old MadJockMcPherson has been dumped by his girlfriend and made redundant, but rather than get drunk and broke in the casino, he’s ‘decided to do the RTW trip before it is to late!’ The forums are always buzzing with people asking for advice as they go for that trip of a lifetime, and they’re not shy about recommending STA.

pricklyleaf advises MadJock that ‘if you are Under 26, then I can’t recomend STA travel enough’. Last week on this Boards.IE thread on the best value RTW tickets, cashback was saying he’d

Just booked with STA travel and was at least 300e cheaper than any irish companies. Cost me 2076e. It’s worth giving them a ring.

Our global STA Explorers Neil and Megan have found their STA itinerary and tours to be fantastic so far. And on Money Saving Expert I saw Mum_of_3 recommend it for non-students too: My sister & her friends used STA to book an 18-month round the world trip a few years back.

[My sister] said they were fab, they gave them loads of help planning where to go, when and how to go about sorting visas for variuos countries. Her friends were students but she wasn’t.

Who do you reckon gives the best overall experience and deal when you’re booking round the world? Have you compared a number of different agencies and sites? What have your experiences been with STA? When people are shelling out time and money for their dream trips, they want frank first-hand opinions.

The amazing photos circulating this morning of an uncontacted tribe discovered on the border between Brazil and Peru provoke mixed feelings; the government claims they are proving their existence to protect their land from the threat of logging, but the flyover plane has obviously already begun their rude awakening to our all-conquering modern ways.

In the hope that the indigenous red-painted warriors will be left without Gap sponsorship and their own reality TV show, we’re focusing on bloggers’ other favourite discoveries from Brazil.

Sean and Dawn are spending a month in Rio and Sean has fallen hard for the beauty-boosting acai berries, especially enjoying them as a slighty-less-healthy ice cream shake smothered with nuts and honey. He’s also discovered some great live Brazilian bus theatre but remains determined not to adopt the ‘butt-floss and banana hammock’ swimwear look at 35, for which we commend him highly.

Lorie, an American living in Brazil, has also discovered that the climb to the top of the Cathedral is ‘well worth it for the amazing view. There are no covers on those little windows. It is all open air and you can see for miles’ - although she recommends not attempting it in heels!

Are you planning a trip to Brazil? What bits of local culture are you most looking forward to exploring?

The forums seem to buzzing at the moment with spontaneous types who want a big dollop of flexibility with their travel plans, and STA Travel are often recommended for their flexible itineraries - but we’d like to hear if you’ve put that reputation to the test.

In Football365 Forum, SuzyQ is travelling alone for the first time and wants help in planning her journey. Dropped the bat recommends that ‘STA travel…is flexible so that you can change dates for a small admin fee if you decide to stay somewhere longer’ and spare_goal agrees that

I got an open ticket for a year to rio and back from buenos aires for about 500 quid using the youth thing at sta travel. You can then plan your travel and what you do when you’re there, because whatever you plan now, I guarantee it will change once you’re actually there

In Lonely Planet forums, oceanhighs is soon off to Thailand but has found that ‘my dates are extremely flexible, so its frustrating punching in all of these dates to see if I can find a cheap flight in these search systems’. Isobel has found STA ‘very flexible’ and yasmira agrees that:

I’d like to second STA travel. I planned my trip for two years and had checked multiple websites each day for months for the lowest available fare. The day I walked into STA they found me a better date for $100 less than the best fare I’d found on my own. In other words, I was no newbie to the fare search and they did good.

So far, so good - but it would be great to hear more details from anyone who’s had to alter their plans mid-trip. How easy did you really find it to be?

Interesting news today that, after a decade of silence, Taiwan has agreed to reopen bilateral talks with China in Beijing on June 11th, focusing on tourism and charter flights. So in the spirit of the agreement I sought out a few blogs which can help any traveller enjoy this notoriously insular country.

Navigating public transport abroad can be tricky, so Wanderus blog have a useful post about Taiwan’s High Speed Rail (THSR) with details of route, prices and links to the online virtual tour.

Steven Crook has written an article about exploring Taiwan with children in tow, which manages to be both practical and inspiring and includes some little gems of advice from locals.

And over at TravelBlog, Jenny Reynan is teaching English in Taiwan for a year, so her journal is full of insights about Taiwanese culture and how and where to explore.

…well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad. And hot dancing girls are way overrated, anyway.

So, as much as Si and I like to wax lyrical about finding all the advice and first-hand travel tales you need on the web, we admit that sometimes you just want to speak to an expert, face to face - especially if you’re planning a big global trip and want to be sure you’ve covered all contigencies and got the most for your moolah.

So our lovely STA insider Tom has told us about an upcoming series of STA Travel Talks taking place in the evening at STA Travel branches across the UK, where you can get advice from staff, talk to experienced travellers who have been all over the world, and importantly nab some exclusive discounts for your trip. The talks are:

• 4th June 7pm in Southampton: Round the world travel
• 9th June 7pm in Aberdeen: Latin America
• 11th June 7.30pm in London Victoria: Latin America
• 24th June 7pm in Kingston: Round the world travel

Go here for more details and to book your place via email. We’d particularly like a few bloggers and forum members to go along and record how they get on, either on video or just by taking some photos and blogging about the event, so let us know if you might be able to make it (and we might throw in a can-can girl for free).

Our intrepid round the world STA Explorers Neil and Megan have posted about a real highlight of their trip: watching sunset over Kata-Tjuta, and sunrise over Uluru - and they recommend shelling out a bit extra for the experience:

Whilst in England we booked our outback tour through STA Travel so this is something that has been planned and we’ve been looking forward to for a long time…I’m glad we paid a little extra and went on a proper tour than a cheap, budget backpacker one. We didn’t have to worry about anything but enjoying the amazing experience of exploring Uluru and Kata-Tjuta.

Their two-day safari in the Australian national park, meaning ‘many heads’ for its distinctive rock formations, gave them a chance to explore ‘how it was formed, wildlife and aboriginal beliefs’ from their tour guide. It’s true that such awesome natural experiences are difficult to describe without sounding like a hysterical idiot or a greeting card - as Neil says, ‘what we saw is difficult to put into words’ - but it’s worth visiting the post as he gives it a damn good try, and you do get a sense that it’s ‘an incredible feeling to stand and watch something so famous across the world for myself’.

And if you’re interested in travelling in Oz in general check their previous posts for tales from Sydney, Tasmania, Cataract Gorge, Alice Springs and ‘A Perfect Day in Melbourne.’