OK admit it, who’s been watching Spy in the Huddle on BBC One over the past few weeks and is now hastily planning a tour of all the penguin hotspots of the world? Me too!

There are more places to get up close to penguins than you might think, so I’m counting down seven of the best spots around the world where you can pay a visit and make like the paparazzi for some pretty incredible, and very cute, holiday snaps.

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What is the one thing you need to know if you’re booking a round the world trip? How do you get a job after gaining a TEFL qualification? What’s they best way to travel across America? How long do you need to take part in a volunteering project?

When it comes to planning your own big trip, whatever that may be, there’s one thing that you’ll have in common with everyone else planning theirs – questions. And lots of them.

This month and next, our STA Travel stores will be open late to host our ‘Your Big Trip’ travel talks. A series of nights aimed at sharing advice, tips, important information and inspiring ideas you haven’t even considered, straight from the mouths of our own Travel Experts but also from some very knowledgeable and experienced special guests.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, you could win one of a whole heap of prizes, from bus passes to hotel nights, just for turning up! (Oh, and there’ll probably be a free beer or two too, as if you needed any more convincing).

If you’re planning on heading off on your own trip of a lifetime anytime soon, you can’t afford to miss it, and best of all – they’re totally free! Just make sure you reserve your place as soon as possible because places are filling up fast.

So, that’s the ‘why’s’ taken care of, here’s all the info on the ‘when’ and ‘where’s’.

Thousands of excited would be travellers take inspiration from out travel talks every year.

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Hostels are great. As a traveller, they provide us with a base that’s comfortable, sociable and fun (hostels are the best place to meet other travellers) and, almost always, centrally located right next to the very things we’ve come to see. Best of all; they’re cheap. Happy days.

I’ve met some of my best travelling pals in hostel dorms, and as anyone who’s ever stayed in university halls will tell you, sometimes you can meet the people who will go on to become your best friends, simply by being thrown together.

However, lets not gloss over the fact that sometimes hostel living can be testing. Drunken screeching at 3am, strangers snoring and farting, other peoples smelly trekking boots at the end of your bed, but hey, it’s all part of the backpacking experience and you wouldn’t change it for the world right?

Here’s our guide to making friends when staying in hostels, and more importantly, keeping them!

Hostel Living: The Do’s and Don’ts!

I opened up the subject to our ever vocal Twitter community, and I couldn’t help but get the feeling that this was a subject that got us all a little stirred up.

Below are my own top tips for being the perfect hostel dorm mate followed by some of the best from Twitter. If you’ve got any tips of your own – share them below!

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There are so many places to travel, so many reasons to explore and so many things to leave you awestruck in the world that you will never be done – there’s just too much to see.

You’re definitely interested in travel. It’s the very reason you’re here reading this blog post right now, so there’s not really a more appropriate reason to count down a list of ways in which our planet is blooming awesome.

Keeping it to just 22 is going to prove tricky, which is where you come in…. Share your own examples below and let’s celebrate all the incredible sights out there and hopefully inspire others to experience some of your own recommendations.

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This week on the blog we’re introducing you to the lovely staff in another one of our UK stores, and this week is ladies week, as we meet the girls doing a sterling job of making travel dreams come true in Reading.

We’ve grilled them to find out their best travel tips, what they think of each other and what’s on their own their own travel ‘to do’ list. Oh, and we also found out a few, rather funny, secrets about them along the way.

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