This area contains the experiences and tips of those of you who been travelling and want to share your thoughts with those thinking of jetting off themselves!

We'd love to hear from you too. If you want to share your experiences, email us with your contribution here. Remember to tell us whether you wish to be named and feel free to include any photos of your tripif you wish.

The views and comments contained within these submissions are entirely those of the author. The Lucie Blackman Trust takes no responsibility for any actions or damages arising from the content of these submissions or by following any advice given. The Lucie Blackman Trust does however view each submission and some editing may take place.

"I saw an interview on TV with news about the trust and decided that I would like to share some ideas in case they can help someone else. When I left university I wanted to go travelling but couldn’t afford it and had no one to go with me. After working for some years I could afford to go travelling but had no one that could take time off work to go travelling with me. I decided against going alone and therefore decided to go with an organised trip, which allowed me to have somewhere safe to stay and meet other people. I went with a company called Cross Cultural Solutions who put me in a volunteer placement and were really good. They helped us find out about the area and gave us a small laminated map that we could keep in a purse that showed where we were staying and was in English on one side and in Thai on the other.

I think that travelling through an organised trip is much safer and more people should do it. However when I was planning on going and was trying to check the credentials of the company because they were American based it was really difficult. I think some sort of vetting process for these types of companies and then a national register so that people can look up companies that are safe to go with would be really useful.

I also found that knowing the customs before you go to a country and even a few words of the language is really useful.

It is also important to always look both ways on the roads as sometimes the legislation on road safety is not the same as in the UK and some times drivers drive the wrong way down the road (one of the girls got run over).

Another thing that happened was that reception at the hotel told me the room number quite loudly and a guy who was in the reception ended up picking up on this and sending flowers to my room which was really creepy. It is important to identify who is in reception and also hold your keys so that the number is not on show.

When asked I always told people that I was on a business trip, that I travel frequently and was flying onto meet my colleagues, that way I didn’t appear to be a tourist travelling alone.

Anyway I just thought I would share those tips with you in case they may help someone else."