Volunteer teacher Sara Bathum finds the strength to stretch God’s rules in Sister Thomasina’s Ethiopian empire.

James Wrighton goes beyond the Amazon and down the small Rio Juma tributary to find his stilted home in a patch of unspoiled rainforest.

A short trip to Moscow gets shorter when Zoie Clift finds she needs a visa to get the train through Belarus. Persistence pays, however, and she finds her feet in the Russian capital. 

Paddling Thailand’s Maekok River proves an educational experience for Antonio Graceffo, who finds the local hilltribes hold the secrets to staying afloat. 

Though known as ‘Ships of the Desert’, even camels break a sweat carrying Denni Schnapp and all her dive gear to an Egyptian coral reef.

For a serious drink, there are few better places than Temple Bar, Dublin. But it’s also quite a good place to get your coat stolen. Jim Marquez finds not all the locals welcome his breezy approach to life.

It’s not unknown for travellers to become extras in Indian films. But rarely do they get offered lead roles. Colin Todhunter hits the big time in Chennai.

I always worry, climbing volcanoes, whether they’re about to go off once more. Not Cameron Martindell, who charges up the side of Mount St Helens.

In New Zealand’s South Island, Lucia Appleby explores its first private tramping trail, the Banks Track, and finds it perfectly feeds her hiking habit.

When Daniel Wallace wants to learn Sichuan cooking, he doesn’t opt for standard tourist classes. Deep in west China his students hope he’ll use his culinary skills to help with any upcoming war with Japan. And he thought Chinese food was meant to taste that way.

In a Mexican stretch of the Caribbean Sea, Matt Scott finds swimming with the world’s largest fish an awe-inspiring experience. 

Ty Nelson’s night train to Toledo comes off the rails in spectacular style when it hits a herd of sheep.

Southampton’s trying to redevelop its waterfront. Will a stay in its newest five-star hotel persuade Jack Barker to linger?

Travelling through northern Syria, Iain Morris amiably overqualified shopkeepers, ancient Hittite ruins and the occasional, inevitable cup of tea. His attempts to introduce British cuisine, however, prove a cultural step too far.

Robert Wyss finds tears and tragedy as Tibet’s monasteries struggle to survive under Chinese occupation.

Sarah Swain travels to Italy with half-remembered school-standard French. But she finds Siena’s sunny climate and a plate of pasta thaws her language barrier, and starts to go native.

Chris Thompson gets well off the tourist trail when be boards a train from the coast through inland Dalmatia.

What do you do when it’s -30 C outside, the sun sets at 3 pm, and you’re in Helsinki? You get drunk, of course, says Satu Rommi.

Big winds don’t blow Cameron Martindell off-course in a San Francisco yacht race.

Glossy print travel magazines don’t do it for Colin Todhunter, who finds the best travel writing online, and free.

When New Zealander Justin Brown makes a bet he can’t busk his way round Britain to raise his airfare home, he loses. But he somehow succeeds in getting a book commission. In this excerpt he hits the mean streets of Harlington.

It’s a brave man who walks, alone, through the paths and tracks that lead to Sierra Leone’s diamond mines. Matt Brown does it, with his camera, and reports on the hidden source of some of the world’s dirtiest money.

Tourists have tried to rank relative wealth by the worldwide cost of hamburgers. But Thu-Tam Doan has developed a more useful index on the cost of coconuts against average local income. Almost.

Not many people have ever heard of Shumen, Bulgaria. Even the inhabitants seem to prefer it from a distance. But to Matt Pointon, writing on the train to Varna, it’s the country’s highlight. 

Nick Walton finds Hong Kong’s Victoria Peak a fine place to reflect on his grandparents’ colonial lifestyle.

Irwin Loy finds one particular travel book adds a whole new dimension to his experience of Syria.

Unusually for visitors to Vang Vien, Nick Mistretta gets up early one morning. This means he discovers bugs big enough to cast shadows, and one of Laos’ most secretive caves.

Country Music’s big worldwide. Cara Frost Sharratt finds Australia’s Tamworth Festival brings the Dollys, gowns and stetsons to the outback.