You long to experience new places - see the sights, hear the sounds and taste the...whoa! Not so fast. Whether it’s for ethical or health reasons, you might find the national dish of Tajikistan hard to swallow. O’sh! It’s tough to travel on a vegan (no animal products at all), vegetarian (no meat or fish) or raw food diet (strictly living food: uncooked, processed as little as possible and usually vegan). But there are many resources out there to help you along your natural way. Here are a few challenges that may arise and how to prepare for them.

If sci-fi is anything to go by we are meant to have flying cars by now, but instead the most advanced form of travel is the lowly Segway. Transport and travel have certainly not lived up to the lofty expectations of science fiction, but in the spirit of optimism we've decided to compile a list of our favourite travel gadgets from sci-fi. A nerd can but dream of one day hopping onto a podracer to beat traffic or redo that embarrassing night out in the TARDIS.

Whether you're delaying the start of university or just taking a well-deserved break between jobs, the gap year is the best way to get breathing space to relax, reflect and find your bearings before making the leap. One of the best guides to planning your gap year is the gap-year guidebook. Essential Travel got a chance to catch up with Emily Cotton, from John Catt Educational, to take us through the twentieth edition of the gap-year guidebook.

If you’re going to be flying today, you may be in for a surprise and if you’re lucky, your surprise may include a bit of extra arm rest space and even an empty seat next to you to stretch out on: the reason for this? Well it’s Friday the 13^th of course and airlines have reported a drop in bookings, as some superstitious passengers are preferring not to tempt the gods of fate and are staying safely at home instead. According to the Daily Mail, one travel comparison website noted a 27% drop in bookings.

Nothing is quite as cool as wearing a snazzy pair of shades; just ask Horatio from CSI: Miami; but on the slopes goggles are a must-have accessory for all wintersports enthusiasts - that they may look cool is just an added bonus. As part of our Use Your Head campaign we've teamed up with The Snowboard Shop to give away this fashionable pair of Dragon APX Snowboard Goggles worth £130.To find out how to enter read on.