If the same old family holiday in the UK felt just a bit dull this year, you might want to start thinking about ideas for a trip in December 2009. Click on the custardy coloured bits below to find out just how much fellow STA travellers enjoyed their Christmases and New Years:

Relaxing on a white sand beach in Bermuda…

Visiting an orphanage in Phnom Penh…

Splashing in the pool on top of Mount Isa…

Ripping it up in Dublin… or

Coughing from the pollution in Kathmandu Valley…

… and don’t be afraid to leave comments or questions for our Explorers on their blogs to get further advice and opinion about how they found their festive time abroad.

… and Isobel Jones is definitely on a journey that is both, as she studies Buddhism in Nepal. Further to last week’s post about her witnessing the enthronement of Tulku Urgyen Yangsi Rinpoche, our STA Explorer has uploaded 37 new photos of the seminal experience, explained in detail how the ceremony works, and reflected a little more on how it has affected her:

people came from all over the world and from all over the valley to be there…my reaction seems infused with a different quality to how I might have reacted even a few scant months ago…this is not to say that I understand that much more or have advanced more, just that I feel different. Which is the purpose of travel after all…

To read more about how travel really can broaden your spirit as well as your mind, click here…

Depending on your knowledge of Buddhism, you may or may not realise: this is a seriously massive deal. A once in a lifetime opportunity, in fact, which thousands of believers come to witness from across the world.

Based in Boudhanath, STA Explorer Isobel is perfectly placed to get an insider’s impression of the 4-day enthronement ceremony of the reincarnated seven year old Rinpoche, whose antecedent built the very monastery where she is studying, and has obviously been profoundly moved:

As for me, although I am billed by those nice STA Explorer people as ‘The Budding Buddhist in Nepal’, I have until now somewhat resisted going on about the inner aspect of what is happening out here in my own life… However, the power of events in the past few days is inescapable and I have to say that I feel myself to be a different person from the one who wrote the last blog

She posts 39 beautiful photos of the event, with promises of more of her impressions in the next few days. This really is a remarkable opportunity to see a seminal event through an ordinary traveller’s eyes so head over to Isobel’s blog and ask her any questions or share your own thoughts on this amazing experience.

Whether you’re the sort who eases back and relaxes come Friday, or just an all out weekend warrior, we all need a little bit of tranquility at the end of a hard week. This moment of peace can be either a gateway to a lazy couple of days or merely the calm before the storm. And for this instant Friday harmony? Look no further than STA Explorer the Budding Buddhist in Nepal, Isobel.

The post in question is simply titled ‘Mountains‘. And that would be right. The Himalayas to be exact. Sit back, take a moment and enjoy the view… *happy sigh*,  cheers Isobel.

So as not to leave you, our fond readers, in a post deprived lurch here is a quick link to our Budding Buddhist in Nepal’s follow up to Festival and Essays Part One – yup, Festival and Essays Part Two.

Our STA Explorer Isobel follows part one by including some visuals (see above) and more details on the levels of partying that pervades Nepal:

“I have also been experiencing the delights of a full-on Hindi rave going on right next to where I am staying every night for the last four nights.

No problem the first night, there was some good music and I even danced around a bit on the porch to some pretty decent Hindi / Nepali Hip-Hop. And, not tooooo bad the second night, but last night it was VASTLY loud. And by this I mean it was even louder than the lads near where I used to live in North London with their car sound-systems fully cranked up at three in the morning.

Louder and almost fully distorted.”

To hear about night number four, involving a DJ with a particularly short attention span, and many other celebrations including Tika, just click through…

Nepal dwelling STA Explorer Isobel has been discussing her most recent adventures on her weblog. These involve mostly festivals and a little bit of essay, well that seems to be the way the post is weighted.

It is, however, understandable. Even the most harrowing of essays is, unlike most of the Nepalese jaunts, not going involve the sacrifice, yes, death, of goats. Nepal has, as Isobel, or by her STA Explorer name Budding Buddhist in Nepal explains, a year full of festivals. In fact they’re more than the amount of days available.

“We’ve had a festival this month (so far), Tihar, which lasts 5 days (more on this one later). Then last month we had a festival called Dasain, which went on for about 10 days (and there was power ALL day EVERY day – yey!). And I think there’s more to come.  Phew!”

Unfortunately Isobel isn’t exactly into the sacrifice scene and spent some considerable time hatching a plan to save a goat secured by her neighbours. Read about her festival experiences and the plan here…

When we launched our STA Explorers scheme, we had no idea the level of commitment our explorers would display. For, given the choice between using her rationed hours of power in Nepal for cooking her dinner or accessing the internet to share her tips and tales, Isobel Jones has admirable (if rather unusual) priorities.

Currently living amongst buddhist monks in Nepal, Isobel has posted a lovely review of why she’s become an STA Explorer:

Being a bit of a geek I thought it would be interesting to access a wider range of online media than I have to date and also to do so in foreign climes. I also am keen to explore ways of keeping in touch with people back home too, so win-win.

There’s also a rather complimentary summary of her experiences and opinions about STA Travel so far. So if you want to hear some independent, opinionated word of mouth straight from a customer’s mouth, jump over to her blog.

STA Explorer health warning: it’s so addictive, you may starve to death.