At the TravellersPoint, in amongst the Asia forum Matt, who is looking to spend a month in Thailand has asked when the best time to go is. Presumably an thorough fellow he has also tagged on the end a note wondering how much money he’ll need to see him through a four week tour.

Im looking at my next trip for next year and I was thinking about Thailand for a month. Could someone please tell me when is best to go there, Im planning on going to the islands, phuket probably land in Bankok so spend a few days there. I was wondering when most travellers tend to go over.
Also how much money would you recommend I need, im not planning on living the high life in 5* hotels, more hostels etc try and possible experience how they live out there.

Cheers, Matt

There have been a couple of responses offering Matt details about the best time to go, and now we’ve got Jen of STA do divulge some travel gems of information regarding where and how much.

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Andrew has some interesting priorities for his round the world trip packing. Our latest STA Explorer, who will be using social media to share the tips and tales of his travels with us over the next 7 months, will be visiting India, Mongolia, China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru - so some serious preparation is in order.

His first post outlines how he decided on his itinerary and sorted out his visas and insurance with help from the Kensington branch of STA Travel - useful reading for anyone considering a similar jaunt. However, he has also been stocking up on some essential equipment, and with 5 days before departure he decides to do a test run:

I took all of my new gear to Keswick at the weekend to test it out. The mosquito spray was useless, as was the penknife. I sprayed a badger and knifed a squirrel but they were never real threats to my safety. The best thing I took by far was the head torch. Mainly for the fun factor. You feel like you’re in a swot team, when all you’re really doing is annoying people.

Oh dear me. It sounds like this is going to be a very interesting trip indeed. May the outraged comments on his blog from the Squirrel Protection Society commence.

There is nothing like being prepared and that is exactly what our STA Explorer Gadget Boy Goes Global is doing.

He may have only 14 days to go before he departs and he is yet to get a ruck sack, sell his car or retrieve his passport from the Vietnamese embassy, but the leaving bash is primed and ready to go.

As he says,

“…at least we’ve got nibbles.”

Partying aside, planning is really beginning to take up his time and some may feel that so much forethought and organisation just can’t be worth it. I’d say, yeah right! On  Christmas day, he’ll be sunning it up on the Bond villain-esque island pictured above! Lucky, lucky man.

Now, there are blog posts and there are blog posts, and Flynn Lund’s latest update on her adventures in Asia is one mother of an interesting, informative insight into Vietnam. Packing in over 3,000 words worth of hints and highlights, Flynn’s post is essential reading for anyone interested in visiting the historic region.

In UNESCO heritage town Hoi An she finds a local tailor to whip her up a stunning coat, blouse and silk dress before hitting some culture in the form of the ‘My Son’ temples and sampling the magical, lantern-strewn evening ambience.

Stopping off for a spot of yoga in Hue, Flynn and her travel buddy Chloe head on to the capital Hanoi, exploring the labyrinthine back streets of the ‘truly cryptic’ Old Town. A cruise through Halong Bay is a particular highlight, as is the Ho Chi Mind Museum and a memorable meal of snake!

Flynn also coins a brilliant term for some of the manky student travellers they meet on their way:

the blinking ‘Bearded Brigade’. What, what?? I hear you cry! Yes, this is a new species of male that we have encountered on our travels. Hairy, dirty and generally disgusting….Honestly, STA travel ought to provide a ‘how to stay clean on your travels’ kit for boys - complete with a razor and foot scrubber.

Most, most excellent idea. I’ll suggest it to them. So, if you’re a clean, curious culture vulture with a passion for the east, follow Flynn for more in-depth blogging as she heads into China.

Get into the spirit of Yellow cabs and steaming man hole covers with entries from the blogs of Danny, a Lancastrian fellow hanging out on the east coast and Dave, who’s been embedding himself in The Big Apple.

Dave is accompanied in New York by Erin, who takes the liberty of assuming control of this post and giving us the NYC vibe in an instant:

“WOW what a day! My first subway ride, hula-hooping in Central Park, my first trip to Time Square and to finish..my first blog entry. Luckily Dave has been there to keep me from walking into traffic several times as I was too busy people watching or trying to take a picture.”

If only we all had a Dave to stop us being totalled by oncoming traffic as we stare at sky scrapers with our jaw on the floor. When not directing vehicles around a wandering Erin, Dave was able to post on the reason why we all love NYC - the shopping.

Danny has also been sampling the New York (Nuyorcian?) experience by following a ritual and taken part in the more cultural pursuits, including a visit to the The Met.

Away from NYC, Danny has visited Washington DC and Philadelphia, where he mooched and shopped for souveniers as well as checking in on a couple of the sights.

New STA Explorer Alison descirbes herself as an ‘organised, structured lass’. Good thing really, as she’s facing some serious upheaval as she moves from London back to her homeland Australia - and visits eight countries in four months along the way.

As she writes in On The Road Home, the blog she’s created to chronicle her experiences, the cornerstone of her trip planning has been The Spreadsheet, a colour-coded masterpiece ‘that lısted where and when I wanted to travel, which tours wıth which companies I’d chosen and how much İ thought it all would cost’. Deciding to plan and book her journey with STA Travel, Alison initially found sterling support from Beth in the Ealing Broadway branch, who

relentlessly worked on my itınerary, working and reworking the order of things to get me the best price on flights that she could find. She even took a moment wıth me to grieve the loss of Mongolia when that proved to be a country too far for my budget. She was there to have a little clap when İ paid for the trip and hold my hand through all manner of creative debit/credit card management.

However, she got an unwelcome shock when she returned to the branch to find that Beth had disappeared. Her laid-back successor Saxon has done his best to get to grips with her repeated questions and crises (such as her passport being held hostage by the Uzbekistan Embassy), and thankfully Alison’s organisation paid off as she’s ‘finally lıvıng The Damn Spreadsheet.’

Her first stop is beautiful Istanbul, where she is staying in a basic hostel but has loved the Topkapi Palace and Grand Bazaar. She’s moving onto central Asia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand and Malaysia over the next months, promising to review the many adventure tours she’s booked along the way with STA, and uploading photos onto her Flickr account. So follow her blog and get involved by leaving a comment. If it’s a thorough and as opinionated as her travel planning, you’d be mad to miss it.

Embarking on a travel adventure is a significant event in the lives of many who decide that treading far off paths is for them. StevO is feeling this and decided to literally mark his departure with something he’d never forget - a tattoo.

The one half of the Globetrotting Guys titled his post describing the experience I shouldn’t… but I did. I’d say not to worry StevO.  And as you, our readers, can see, the tattoo is neat, tidy and, even if I say so myself, rather fetching. There was thankfully no negative reaction from his folks and StevO has long wanted some ink work, so what better time than now.

Would you do the same? Have you done the same? Let us know. In fact, let StevO know…