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Ashgabat is the capital city of Turkmenistan but tourist attractions are thin on the ground. It does have a theme park though. Tom Coote visits – and lives to regret it.

When Ben Cook decides to study shamanism he does it properly. He flies down to South America and visits faith healers in the Andes and Amazon. Will his sturdy scepticism stay the course?

Iain Miller says that P&O Cruises are the best way to immerse yourselves in Europe’s ancient cultures, with comforts onboard your floating hotel.

When Landon Spencer’s circus act is brought to a halt by a broken arm she decides to heal in Brussels. She doesn’t get to see the city’s brochure sights, as her mind is drawn more to Bosnia.

Athens was once considered the centre of the ancient world. Roger Norum finds that despite Greece’s economic travails the city still seems pretty central now. He tastes life in the capital and then heads out to the Saronic Islands.

Most of us just look in awe at Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the European Alps, or – if feeling energetic – buy a postcard of its snowy heights. Rachel Berkowitz ropes up for the climb to the summit.

On a Nepalese trek Anna Greenwood captures a magic moment where life seems perfect. Love, chocolate, honey and company come together in the mountains: who could ask for more?

On the island of Amantani Brendan van Son finds that tourism has been gently harnessed to benefit the local community.

When Eric Whitehead flies into Europe he uses the latest satnav technology as well as traditional maps. These don’t, strangely, help, and he gets thoroughly misled on a tour that turned out more epic than expected.

Of all the resort hotels on Egypt’s Red Sea coast, Iain Miller declares that the Four Seasons is the best.

The Guajira Peninsula on Colombia’s northern coast is known for one thing. Contraband. But when Adam Page is told the people who live at Puerto Estrella are also ‘crazy, savage, and drunk all day’ he scents the chance of a duty-free dram.

The after-effects of America’s crazed war against communism live on in Vietnam. But there’s an Aussie ex-journalist working to help, one cow at a time. David Calleja describes a wholesome and helpful charity at work.

On her first day in Morocco, Tara Donaldson is momentarily taken aback by the speed and determination with which the locals seek to part her from her freshly-changed dollars.

After a year on the road, there’s one place that stands out in Catherine Thomson’s memory as the best place she’s visited. Squished between the rainforest and the Barrier Reef, it’s the small town of Port Douglas.

The ‘Just Married Special’ from Mamaison Hotels & Residences provides an unforgettable hotel stay for newlyweds, says Anette Siehl, in the exciting capitals of the ‘New’ Europe.

New roads don’t always mean improvements for the mountain villages of Nepal. Norma Sherratt follows a traditional trekking route now bypassed by tarmac and finds pain in progress.

There’s more to Florida than Disney World. Zoe Shaw books a luxury holiday villa, fires up her Buick and starts exploring.

To fund their backpacker lifestyle Christa McDermott lands her shy boyfriend an acting gig and tells him he’s only an extra. Little does he know that he’s expected to perform.

Georgie Klein’s university, in its wisdom, decided in 2008 to send her to the town of Yaroslavl, 150 miles out of Moscow, and leave her there for a year. I don’t know what they expected, but this is what she found.

Northeastern Brazil, and the sweltering city of Recife provides a vivid setting for James Young’s subtle insight into a society where rich and poor rarely mingle. In the tropical heat generations blend.

Matt Coughlan gives this practical guide to touring the great Scottish malt distilleries, complete with postcodes. That’s something to hand to your chauffeur.

It is snowing, and fabled freeloader Kris Mole doesn’t even have a coat. That doesn’t stop him hitch-hiking from Lithuania to Latvia. Once again, the kindness of strangers means that – 11 hours after he started – the final lift delivers him to his door.

Monkey Bay, Malawi, and Stefanie Giglio decides to travel like a local on a black, Chinese bike. But – like many things in Africa – buying a bicycle is not a simple process. First she has to hire a mechanic…

It might be logical to break a flight downunder with a few days in Tahiti, but it’s not such a good plan when you’re couch-surfing on a budget. Alicia Harney finds the South Pacific idyll is priced out of her reach.

It’s increasingly hard to get permits to climb the Inca Trail. But the famous route to Machu Picchu isn’t the only historic mountain route in Peru. Brendan van Son treks the Andean paths of Choquequiroa and finds they are just as steep.