Matt and Emily, fondly known as the Budget Backpackers, admit that has been a while, but we’re just glad to have them back! And by the sound of it they’ve been working pretty hard!

Mostly working in the ‘Rish’, an Irish club, come weekends – ‘interesting’ is the term of choice used to describe the experience of serving beer-hungry patrons until the small hours. They’ve also been putting in the hours at another bar, the Overlander, and are looking forward to payday.

Matt also recently celebrated the passing of another year,

“My birthday was good too. Went out for a few drinks with Emily, a Canadian guy called Steve and a couple of local girls who happened to be drinking up at the Overlander in the daytime! Not an average birthday but a surprisingly good one!”

Superb; and more updates soon, notably on whether the road to Townsville remains passable…

Then look no further than this splendid page pieced together by STA on exactly the subject at hand – The ‘Round the World’ trip.

They’ve helpfully put together some of what they consider to be the best routes and there is even an interactive planner. If the human touch is more your thing though, then why not attend a Round the World travel talk.

Although there are many variations available, STA have hooked up with Qantas to give peeps eager to circumnavigate the globe a three stop over option – land here for prices. And if you’re the adventurous type, the trips come with the added bonus of a £50 voucher toward tours for the fearless.

So what are you waiting for…

Well, when I say Explorers I’m referring to two in particular – Our Taipan Doing Asia and Gadget Boy Going Global. Both are refining their social media presences and activity…

Gadget Boy Goes Global has gone GPS so you can his progress up until the 26^th of December – it’s visually represented at Random Projects and also available in more detail at Every Trail. Maybe you fancy getting some location-based action into your own travels, if so drop Tim a comment.

Following up is the Taipan who is going to be taking full control of The Taipan’s Travel Blog From Around SE Asia by shifting domain names. He’s been away for the keyboard for a bit, but once the next step is complete and he’s bedded the blog into its new location he’ll be updating with posts on Indonesia…

At Digital-Forums, contributor Lukese is finalising his April trip to Thailand. After reading the information available to him from the community he has decided to split his break;

“…reading posts on here it seems best to split the holiday up, my plan so far is to fly to Bangkok and probably stay over there for a night then jump straight back on a plane and head to the full moon party …”

Although he has secured direct flights with STA, he’s not entirely sure of what his movements are going to be whilst on the ground so is welcoming any advice, of which there is plenty. Evilsatan suggests an elephant sanctuary and Dalboy ticks the box at the other end of the spectrum with

“Check out Tiger Club - best club on earth trust me!”

Sounds ominous… Got any insights for Lukese, jump in here and let him know.

While travelling and taking in new cultures and seeing new sights why not add to your skill-set by making your holiday one of learning.

If you go here you can search a variety options that include flamenco guitar (my personal favourite), yoga and dance or something based around expanding your culinary repertoire. The options are not limited to these, as a quick scroll through the STA Travel Facebook wall revealed,

“Hey, just got back from a language course in France that I booked with STA, I would highly recommend it!!! You if are travelling to Europe or South America (where I hope to do a Spanish course) you should try it out.”

The words of a happy, and now talent increased, Jennifer Carey.

I always fancied learning to surf in the south of France – anyone else got such desires for making their CV a little bit longer while dancing their merry way around the globe?

Only yesterday we updated you on Jane, our latest STA Explorer, who has been given the handle of Young, Fit and Adventurous. Her blog titled Jane’s Wanderings has been updated again - she’s now in Hue!

Riding a sleeper coach to the former imperial capital of the Nguy?n Dynasty, Jane makes note of how since on the embarkation of this trip the art of catching 40 winks has become easier whilst on the move than if she were in a stationary bed. She also sends some love to the British service station after a toilet stop during the journey.

“I love, love, love British service stations. We don’t appreciate them enough. When I come back to England I will get excited about random things, I prepare you now.”

I can sympathise with this after a stop in America while roving around a remote area of the Midwest during a Bikers, Blues and BBQ weekend…

After passing on visiting tombs with her travel pals, Jane decided to discover Hue for herself. A good choice it would seem, discovering Dong Ba market, cute boats and guys who loved her tattoo…

For more adventure follow the link.

Time for our first update from Young, Fit and Adventurous, or Jane – who is heading round the world in seven months? Well, good news is her journey has set down in Hanoi, and although she’s been a little ill in recent days - it hasn’t stopped her exploring the capital of Vietnam.

And how has she found it? Well, rather noisy by all accounts by the sound of it,

“Everywhere is ‘beep beep beep beep beep’ and ‘hello motorbike’ and ‘madam, you want buy’”

Not to mention rather sad when it comes to purchasing meat.

“Everything is sold on the street (literally) and everything is fresh. This is very nice when it’s fruit and vegetables but not so nice when it’s meat”.

In and amongst these social discoveries (which really should be viewed in their purest form on Jane’s blog) have been a Giant Tortoise, frisky motorbike rides and more. Go take a look now, and keep an eye on the blog for news on the Vietnamese Water Puppet show (which I can personally recommend Jane). It’s all happening in Hanoi!