Our STA Explorer, Seven Months Twelve Countries is on his way and his blog Nice To Meet You is gathering pace. Currently Andrew is fleeing Mumbai, heading to the mountains in the North for some peace and quiet after the hectic start to his journey in the most populated city in the world, 13 millions stories my friend.

His latest post describes the Mumbai experience, titled Mumbai Madness you get a good impression of what he made of it. Be sure not to imagine that madness though as the ‘rave’ sort, its more the:

“Noise, hassle, taxis, drowning elephant gods in the sea.”

In fact it might even be fair to say that his time in Mumbai was not the best:

“I’ve been ripped off numerous times, stood in plenty of cow poos and had a drunken taxi driver crash over a central reservation - the only central reservation in Mumbai, it possibly threw him.”

Don’t let this put you off though, as Andrew says himself, when reading back his post it does sound as if his time in Mumbai was an entirely negative period in his life. There were, however, mitigating circumstances…

Alison or by her STA Explorer name, The Long Way Home, is on her way and populating her travel blog On The Way Home like a supreme blog being. Although only at the beginning of her travel-venture the journey is well underway.

Currently in Turkey she has been recently struggling with her pronunciation. It is around the name Ergirdir, a location on the shore of a lake by the same name. The post Ergirdir … try pronouncing that explains the issue:

“I thought it was pretty straight forward, ‘Erg-a-dear,’ but everywhere I went, people just looked at me blankly.  I gave up and permanently carried the name written on a piece of paper.”

As a true traveller working for the good of the community, Alison has paved a path for those following her route by creating two posts recommending and reviewing. The first of these passes on the details that you’d be keen to know about the Caretta Pension in Patara, such as being

“…up a steep hill with some calf-testing steps, but it is spotless and spacious.”

The second covers the Lale Guesthouse which was recommended to Al and she took up residence in a dormitory with four beds,

“For the price (about 7 pounds/night) it was reasonable, but I longed to be in the private rooms which looked a lot better serviced and more comfortable (and had air con!!)!  However, my room was a stones throw from the lake edge and excellent swimming.”

Al’s latest entry is all about Konya, The Birthplace of the Whirling Dervish. That is the claim to fame and she admits that there is little more to do than visit the tomb of the poet Mevlana Rumi. Nevertheless her post is enlightening, and Konya provided some interaction with English speakers. Two Scottish ‘lads’ who she said goodbye to the day after, leaving them leaning from their hotel window smoking and sipping on a cold one. As Al says herself,

“Nice!”

One memory card is much like another, right? Wrong. Oh so wrong. The thing is, if you’re a gadget-happy traveller like STA Explorer Tim, the memory card is a key piece of kit, which has to be able to hold all the photos, videos and other creative content he’s planning on recording to document his 9 month, 18 country round the world trip.

As Tim notes, it may not matter much if you’re using a simple compact camera, but:

it would definitely matter on professional digital SLRs but could also definitely matter on your more standard DSLR like I have or the new compacts capable of recording HD TV video… going off a big trip like this one, it’s going to be a real arse if I get somewhere and I’ve either run out of cards because I bought too few because they were too expensive or bought the cheapest biggest cards and missed that amaaazing shot because the camera couldn’t write the last picture fast enough

So he’s posted an excellent comparison of all the best memory cards out there to help fellow travellers make an informed choice. He’s also posted a picture of the rucksack he chose after extensive research, and passed on a top tip from a mate just returned from Everest Base Camp - that merino wool pants are the ultimate travel essential.

This man’s a mine of information for the global traveller. Leave him a question or suggestion yourself.

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.

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…