Young STA Explorer Emma  is travelling the world all by herself, so she knows better than most the need to be prepared and deal quickly with any difficulties that crop up along the way.

So she needed her wits about her when she found herself:

in singapore. I’m in my hostel. I can’t get into my hostel room though because the STA branch didn’t give me a copy of my voucher…and they won’t accept any other proof of payment

Emma describes how she solved the dilemma, phoning round until she found a branch open in Glasgow, where she explained the situation and got the voicher emailed to her. But it’s a good reminder to ask an STA agent to double check they’ve given you all the relevant vouchers and documents before you set off, and store them safely and sequentially. Evidently, if you’ve pre-booked a hostel, it could be the only way to be sure you’ll get in.

Emma’s now having a blast in Chiang Mai, so head to her LiveJournal to get inspired to go solo in Thailand.

STA Explorer Emma updated her LiveJournal earlier today with a short post letting us know that she’s safely arrived at Monkey Mia, Western Australia - despite the best efforts of a drowsy driver…

Monkey Mia is a popular tourist resort famous for the bottle-nosed dolphins that gather daily to feed. As the picture in the top-left hand corner of this post shows, the friendly flipper-kin come incredibly close to the shore providing an unmissable opportunity to see these increasingly rare animals up close. As Emma would say: joygasms all round…

The adventurous Emma (aka Tea Dragon and STA Explorer the Lone Ranger) has been on her round the world expedition for almost a month now and has already moved on to the second continent of her grand tour, Australia. Her fantastic LiveJournal, however, is still operating on New York time (mostly anyway) and Emma does a superb job describing her experiences of the Big (and understandably intimidating) Apple.

Despite Emma’s STA Explorer name (The Lone Ranger for those who haven’t got it yet), when you go travelling you’re never likely to be alone for long. Strangely enough, I had this conversation recently with a taxi driver who also happens to be lead singer in an Oxford-based reggae band; as he said, you’ll make more friends with weird and wonderful personalities than you could have thought possible. As much as Emma’s journal is about the sights, tastes and crazy drivers of NYC, it’s also about the fellow travellers she meets.

Catch up with what Emma’s been getting up to in New York before she dives into her Antipodean adventures (can we officially dump that bit of alliteration into the overused cliché dump yet?). The Lone Ranger’s journal is absolutely packed with personality and she paints New York City to be almost as charming as she is!

Emma, aka The Tea Dragon, is prepped and, as of the 11^th August she is officially in a state of:

“zomg – I’M GOING AROUND THE WULRD”

As you have probably figured from the name we’ve attributed to her, Emma is undertaking her world tour in a status of solitude. That said, we’re not talking Superman Fortress of Solitude proportions here, I’m sure she’ll find more than enough fellow treaders of the globe to share some time with, nevertheless it’s a hell of trip.

The schedule takes in a fair amount and we’re only privy to the brief version, and as she points out the realisation that the world is much bigger than oneself can be a daunting prospect. I’d suggest though that this is also a particularly exciting prospect. What can be more exciting than the prospect of the unknown!

At time of writing Emma still had a little to do:

“Things I need to do:
* Go to STA George Street and give them a photo of myself for my Student Card for super dooper discounts (if I don’t get my discounts, I’ll be complaining!)
* Go to STA George Street and fret to them about how the world is falling apart.
* Book my flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mae and inform STA who’ll kindly inform Intrepid.”

Once these are achieved and the 16^th August rolls around though Emma will be on a plane heading to The Big Apple! It really will be a case of hi ho Silver, and our very own Lone Ranger will be away and you’ll be able to follow her adventure right here.