It’s Friday! So you know what that means? It’s Ask the Experts time, woohoo! Haven’t swung by this way before? Come in, take a seat – you’re in for a treat, my friend.

Every week, a panel of our finest Travel Experts are right here to answer your burning travel questions. This week, Claire from our store down in Brighton and Amy from the Leeds Vicar Lane store who are here to field your questions and get you one step further to making your travel dreams come true.

Got a question for the Experts? Drop us an email, and the Experts will answer it right here on the blog.

This week’s question is from Helen up in Manchester – hi Helen! Let’s hear what she’s got to ask…

I have 3 weeks annual leave left and I want to head to Latin America in March time next year. I want to focus on one country – where do you recommend for a solo female traveller who likes an adventure? Helen in Manchester

We get loads of enquiries from solo travellers who are eager to hit the road and don’t want to hang around until their friends are ready to go with them. So what advice do Claire and Amy have to offer adventurous travellers like Helen? Let’s find out…

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When I first found out I was heading to volunteer in Borneo for a week, one word sprang to mind: ORANGUTANS! Images of me holding hands and frolicking in the jungle with these furry little apes filled my happy head…

Then I found out I wasn’t going to meet an orangutan. It couldn’t be fit into my itinerary. Damn! So what on earth was I going to do with my week?! What does volunteering in Borneo actually involve? Well, it turns out you can make a big difference by spending some time at Camp Borneo…

My first stop was Camp Mantanani, situated on the beautiful island of Mantanani and just a 45 minute boat ride from Sabah’s west coast.

Mantanani. Is. Paradise. Yes, it’s a cliché to describe a tropical island as paradise, but it just was! Just look at the picture below…

My home for a few days

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Over the past few weeks we have bought you numerous tales from our hard working group of eager young STA Travel apprentices, and today sees the final installment of the series.

Yasmin Siloy is 20 and works in our Reading branch. She joined STA Travel as someone who had no experience working in travel before, but had heaps to offer in terms of her drive and passion for helping others realise their travel ambitions.

She has now become a valued and successful member of the STA Travel family with a promising future in the travel industry ahead of her.

She’s here to share the details of her role as one of our fantastic apprentices and to explain why she loves, not only her job, but all things travel in general.

Say hello to Yasmin!

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This week we continue our My Australia series with travel blogger Isabelle’s story of her time visiting Litchfield National Park, in the beautiful Northern Territory.

Densely green, and crammed full of the incredible nature that Australia is so famous for, Litchfield has a huge amount to offer and provides some of the most beautiful sights in Australia, although unfortunately it sometimes gets over looked in favour of some of the more famous sights of the Northern Territory.

Luckily for us, Isabelle is here to explain why she treasures the time she spent exploring the wilderness of Australia’s most unique and exquisite state, and why she believe’s Litchfield National Park is one of the territories best kept secrets.

Isabelle's here to tell us why she loves Australia's Northern Territory

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The nights are drawing in. The clocks have gone back. You know what that means? It’s almost time for one of my favourite celebrations: it can only be Halloween. Ever since I was 8 years old and forced my dad to make me a coffin costume out of two bits of cardboard (seriously), I’ve been hooked on this annual excuse to dress up and have a merry old time of it.

The great thing about Halloween is that it’s celebrated all over the western world; even the east has its own variants – check out the Yu Lan (or Hungry Ghost) festival in Hong Kong, and Teng Chieh in China.

So what better excuse to do a bit of travelling than to go and join in the All Hallows Eve celebrations in some other countries and cultures?

A reveller celebrates at Mexico's Day of the Dead festivities | Image courtesy of Mclein

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