Yes It’s time for us to wheel out another another example of travel blog excellence to encourage us poor lumpen plebs to transform our pedestrian travel journals into things of sparkling splendour.

The new entry into our coveted Hall of Fame is Old World Wandering. In 1997, Iain Manley and Claire van den Heever travelled overland from London to Shangai, passing through the UK, Western Europe, India and South East Asia, covering a foot-blistering number of famous cities as well as smaller towns and rural villages, and recording their journey here. It’s quite simply the most beautifully written travel blog we’ve found so far- evocative, thoughtful and entertaining, peppered with quotations, anecdotes and an incredible level of detail - the portraits of the locals they meet along the way are particularly powerful.

The design is elegant and easy to search, with a map of their journey and professional-standard photos illustrating each destination. Most importantly, it is clean and uncluttered, leaving the fantastic writing to be the focus of the blog, with each piece prompting plenty of comments from fellow travellers.

And Claire shows that blogging isn’t just important for sharing stories with others, but encourages a much more switched-on approach to adventuring: ‘a habit of writing about my travels will hopefully unlock the thoughts that may otherwise dissolve in my head.’

Who could ask for better reason to become a travel blogger?

Kate Good has noticed STA offering a ‘road to Kathmandu’ excursion and is asking if anyone on the EuroTrip forums has been on one: ‘I have only ever travelled on my own up to now, so not really sure what to expect’.

Profound cultural revelations? Hallucinations and blisters? Silly hats and lots of eye-spy? As you can tell, I haven’t partaken myself, so I need some friendly online travellers to give some advice instead. Whether you met ‘pilgrims, villagers, sadhus and shopkeepers’ on the 15-day Delhi to Kathmandu tour or experienced any of the STA Nepal excursions, visit the forum thread and tell Kate if it was a bum, or the bomb. I found a couple of old - although admittedly enthusaistic and detailed - blog entries from STA travellers doing the Nepalese tours here and here, but it would be nice to hear from someone who’s been a bit more recently.

The replies on Kate’s thread so far are mainly warning about the dangers of Maoists and altitude sickness, so I’m hoping someone somewhere has had a nice time on one, preferably in a silly hat.

Jullay! is a must-read blog for anyone interested in volunteering in India. Bennett is teaching geology, doing odd jobs and recording the local culture in Ladakh, a small northern Indian region in the Himalayas. As much as he’s teaching, he’s also learning ‘flexibility, patience, and persistence’ as he adjusts to a life where a hot shower is the height of luxury.

Trekking from Likir to Temisgam, Bennett describes the touching hospitality of Ladakhi families as he eats and talks with them in their homes. His extensive detail about their food and customs gives an real insight into their everyday lives. Threaded through with observations on larger issues, such as water shortages, poverty and the frustrations of bureaucacy, Bennett’s eloquent posts and dramatic photos make me want to get off my arse and go make a difference, however corny that might sound.