Apart from aspirin, Alka-Seltzer and Imodium with a bit of luck you are going to make your entire trip without need of any medical provisions at all. It is always smart to be prepared though. Top of the list in preparation should be a good insurance policy but then you already know that. Right?

Travel health is a major priority when planning your Round the World flight. Researching your travel destination beforehand is essential to find out the vaccination requirements as well as health advice regarding safe drinking, food, STDs, insect borne diseases and other travel related health issues.  Before setting off on your gap year travels, it's worth spending some time getting fit by walking, running, swimming and any number of different sports. Although travelling will make you fit and walking for long distances will seem quite normal after some time, exercising and eating healthily before you go will help prepare you for the journey ahead.

Travelling alone as a female is a rich and rewarding experience, and something I’d recommend every chica doing at least once in their life. Being a girl and travelling alone can be daunting, and the more you experience different cultures, the more you realise gender counts. There are many ways you can make your RTW a little more comfortable if you’re a solo female traveller.  Just consider:

I had two numbers written in thick black marker across my wrist, and I was not happy about it. The thick marker had the type of ink that stains for days; the type of marker preferred by graffiti artists and people marking boxes when moving house; the type of marker hostel-grade soap and hand sanitiser couldn’t budge for the next few days.

You can try and pretend otherwise, but frankly there’s no way of making a long flight to the other side of the world enjoyable. Unless you’re sat at the front of the plane bathing in a pile of your own £50 notes, then you’re likely to be cramped up in a small seat for longer than you’d really like to be. That said, it is possible to alleviate some of the misery, make the journey more tolerable and fight the jetlag...

If you’re going away on a big trip, one of the greatest fears (for your parents if not yourself) is how safe you’re going to be. Unfortunately, you can never guarantee that everything will run smoothly. Muggers strike in unexpected areas, buses crash and earthquakes are largely unpredictable. But the chances of misfortune striking you are greatly reduced if you take a few simple precautions and apply common sense. Here’s a ten step plan for cutting the risks.

This is the story of two couples setting out on the road on a round the world trip. Both started their journey at roughly the same time, travelling through Asia, Australia, South America, before eventually meeting for the first time on their 10 week African safari tour from Cape Town to Nairobi.  It was uncanny. Both couples were the same age and had been together three and a half years; came from the same background, same jobs and were devoted to their relationships. At the end of the trip in Africa, one couple flew home engaged, the fairy tale ending to an incredible, once in a lifetime journey.