Latest Headlines

Thailand’s capital has plenty to offer even the most seasoned traveller, says Iain Miller.

While East Africa’s National Parks teem with tourists, Tim Woods discovers a different side of Kenya in a trek through the Loita Hills: a true taste of the Great Rift Valley.

For anyone at a loose end Canada, or more precisely in the north of British Columbia, Curtis Sagmeister suggests visiting a Haisla First Nations community village is a worthwhile way to pass a day. He takes his dog.

Tasked with taking rock samples from a remote Polish lake, geologist Peter Morgan finds Europe’s Ice-Age past forms an ancient backdrop to today’s patchwork of small towns and charming villages.

Philosophy student Conrad Clevlen wangles himself a semester abroad in Surfer’s Paradise. Not much work gets done but his surfing comes on leaps and bounds.

Couchsurfing takes trust. This web-based service links hospitable locals with free-spirited visitors and relies on the kindness of strangers and the inherent goodness of people. In Los Angeles, Sonia Szamocki finds it brilliant.

In the era of ‘The Great Game’ two British Explorers tried to expand the British Empire into the secretive world of Western China. One hundred and forty years on, and using their diaries, Mohammed Khuram retraced their steps.

Adrian Harman-Bishop packs too much into his backpack. You need to be self-sufficient to hike through New Zealand’s remote wilderness regions, but there’s a limit to how much you can safely carry across precarious rope bridges.

Some competitions grab endless rights and the prizes are small. But this one, from Pure Travel and Geographical magazine, wants 350-500 words that catch a moment in time, with a cash prize of £1,500. Act soon: it closes mid-October 2010.

Carol Driver volunteers to teach children in Cambodia. But her gesture of charity is converted, by a class of obedient, willing children, into a humbling lesson in surviving adversity.

Eric Whitehead takes a leisurely tour though the Atlas Mountains, forsaking his riad and car for a camel and tent.

On the Indonesian island of Lembata whale-hunting lives on. Carlos and Vicente Ortí Hernandez find brave sailors setting out in small boats to do battle with the world’s most powerful mammals.

Nicolas Cage’s film ‘Bad Lieutenant’ is just one of many to have been shot in New Orleans post-Katrina, as part of the city’s attempts to rebuild. Many have been facilitated by Jennifer Day of Louisiana’s film department: Stu Frith runs her through a quick q&a.

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.