That’s it, really. Hope you’re having a great time, whether you’re already somwhere enviably exotic and deeply exciting or stuck in the UK.  Remember: travelling is for life, not just for Christmas, so if you’re already feeling fed up with a home-bound holiday, sandwiched on the sofa between your drunk gran and your sugar-happy little bro, just sit back and dream about how you can save up your silver for a trip in 2009.

As ever, we’d love to see any blog posts, microblogs, photos, videos -hell, even songs - about your festive travel escapades at home or abroad, so spread some social media festive spirit and share your links.

(Oh, and I’ve heard that Santa booked his round the world ticket with STA, but it’s just a rumour, mind you…)

Our STA Explorer Richard Milburn may have returned from his 3 month adventure in Kenya a couple of months ago, but the impact of his journey lingers still. His latest post finds him back in York with his housemates and a broken boiler - which leads him to go back to his African ways and cook himself up a Kenyan-style bucket shower.

Richard explains how easy it can be to take mod cons for granted after being back for a short time - and how good it is to be reminded not to forget the lessons learnt on the road…

Despite barely progressing past a snow plough (that is a technical term you know), I have been fortunate enough to have experienced the skiing holiday - messing about on the piste, not understanding a word of my instructor’s instructions due to an impossibly thick French accent and drinking hot alcoholic beverages as a matter of course.

Does that sound like a good way to spend some winter downtime? If so then look no further than a fill of STA snow based travel (obviously I can’t guarantee the French instructor or hot alcoholic beverages, but you get my drift - ouch, ropey snow pun).

“It’s dark, it’s cold and it’s well and truly time to book in your next skiing or boarding trip.”

They’ve got a point. Follow this link and see if you can’t find something at a snipped price to tickle your snow loving fancy from Whistler to Meribel.

Regular readers may remember STA Explorer George - aka The Australian Adventurer - who blogged so brilliantly about her eventful 9 week trip down under. Well, she’s back, and off on a three night trip with 5 other girl friends to Dublin for the new year. As poor students, they’ve opted for the The Oliver St. John Gogarty`s Hostel, with a good location and a great price, and ideas for activities so far include the Temple Bar, the Guinness factory and an open top bus ride.

But George’s also calling out for fellow STA travellers to send her more advice about top places to go and things to do - so come on, channel a bit of that festive generosity, and give the gift of your wisdom, here…

On the whole I love what I do, but during the UK’s wet and miserable winter, it can be a tiny bit painful reading about the adventures our STA Explorers are having all over the world - climbing mountains, say, or drinking cocktails in the sun, when I’ve just been stuck on the tube for an hour.

However, I do love Christmas at home. If there’s one thing we do well, it’s that pseudo-Dickensian, cuddle in front of the fire, Love Actually hot chocolate in Portobello sort of crap. I couldn’t imagine being abroad for the festive season, even though our Explorers will be spending their Christmases in enviably weird and wonderful places doing exciting things.

So, are there any STA travellers out there who will be spending their first Christmas abroad this year? How do you feel? Or maybe you’ve found the perfect location for yuletide in the course of your past travels? Post your links below, and tell us whether you’re a holiday homebody or a lover of the nomadic Noel.

There’s another hefty update from Matt at Escape to South America full of the good and great when it comes to sliding around the big expanse of America beneath the North and Central sections.

Titled Sunshine, Wine and Bicycles you know the sort of things you’ll be getting should you decide to dive in and see what he’s been up to. Including finding himself on a tour of the city of Mendoza conducted entirely in Spanish, something that despite the language barrier was ‘remarkably interesting’, to use his own words.

There are also details of a traveller’s game of Aussie rules footy that ended up being time spent:

“…drinking a few beers, eating a few sandwiches and soaking up the sunshine. Old habits die hard!”

Find out why here…

Over on the Muse messageboards, SpecialK has fallen out with her mum, who thinks she is too young for a solo trip, despite being 22 and living alone for 2 years:

This comming from the same mum that allowed me at 16 to wander around india for 2 weeks with 1 teacher and 6 other 16 year olds, but protests at me going to Japan with STA travel on a very secure and safe holiday.

It seems a pretty extreme reaction considering she’s 22, but it does raise an interesting point. Although STA cater for all ages, the majority of the online conversations we see are about their under-26 deals. Has the growth in safe group tours and holidays for this age group made us embark on epic solo journeys at a younger age? Have we become complacent about young travellers being able to cope, or is travelling a useful education at any age? Send us the links if you’ve had any experiences travelling young with STA.