The Destinations Travel Clinic

Thursday 4 February

Theatre 2
Time: 2.00pm
Title: Expert Panel Session: The Destinations Travel Clinic
Hosted By: Adrian Phillips, Bradt Travel Guides
Featuring: 
Andy Turner, Rough Guides
Lauren Mackay, Gap Year For Grown Ups
Jo Bearcroft, I-To-I

This is your opportunity to ask the experts any questions you have to prepare yourself for your trip abroad – from vaccinations and visas to best destinations, must-sees and locations to avoid, key cultural insights  and even what and how to pack!

Adrian Phillips is Publishing Director at Bradt Travel Guides, which he joined after completing a PhD in English Literature. Beyond his ‘day job’, Adrian is the author of several guidebooks – he was voted Guidebook Writer of the Year in 2006 – and writes regularly for newspapers and magazines (including the Independent on Sunday and The Express). He is a judge for the Bradt-Independent on Sunday travel-writing competition, and speaks frequently about travel at seminars, shows and on radio.

Andy Turner - Senior Editor at Rough Guides. He has also written travel pieces for the Guardian, Observer and various websites, covering destinations from Denmark to Australia.

Jo Bearcroft, Travel Support Manager from i-to-i, is the true travel guru when it comes to overseas adventures. Having visited Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Nepal, India, China, Russia, Mongolia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, most of Europe and the USA, let’s just say she has tons of travel experience! Jo’s many adventures have included volunteering, organised tours and independent escapades around the globe. With such a great passion for travel, she joined a travel organisation so she could share her wisdom with other travellers. So, what’s her #1 advice for you? Don’t forget to pack your smile, as nothing will ever go to plan…but hey, that’s part of the fun! 

Lauren Mackay, Gap Year for Grown Ups
Lauren Mackay is the marketing manager for the UK’s leading gap year provider - Real Gap and Gap Year for Grown Ups. Specialising in life changing time out, they send gappers and career breakers to over 45 destinations around the world to take part in volunteer projects, adventure travel, paid work, sports, expeditions and much more.

Lauren initially spent a year travelling after graduating with a degree in Human Geography from Reading University in 2003.  She spent five months in South East Asia, first completing over-land the Thailand-Cambodia-Vietnam-Laos-Thailand loop, and then travelling through Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Australia was home for the next four months, followed by two months in New Zealand - an ultimate highlight of the trip, ending the year with three weeks island hopping in Fiji. Since working for Real Gap, Lauren has returned to Australia twice, travelled through Costa Rica visiting volunteer projects (as well as holidaying) and most recently explored Sabah in Borneo, to visit a new project before the arrival of the first group of volunteers and then holidayed in Borneo’s jungle and islands!

Back to timetable