Am I the only person who would love to go back to the days when wherever you travelled you got a stamp on your passport when arriving at your destination. Call me a geek but I love my stamps from travels to Malaysia and Australia, but my travels through Europe feel fake without a stamp.

Anyone agree with me?

I’d love to travel the world and blog on my travels. I’m 34, and I have another 31 years before I am supposed to officially retire and the thought of working for an employer for the rest of the working life is quite depressing.

I don’t have any kids, or wife, I rent an apartment, but the problem is that I have worked for the same company for 17 years [some call that madness, some call it dedication] and I am on £30k a year, in a secure job.

I’m interested to hear from people who have given in work to travel and what your experiences were, was it worth it? What did you do for work whilst travelling? Maybe I am going through a mid-life crisis [ha-ha] but I am sat here wishing I was somewhere else.

Obviously I love travel and I spend a lot of time online. Over the coming month I will be publishing my travel lists for 2007, but I want to be a little unique, so add me to your favourite social bookmarking site or subscribe to my RSS feed.

Here is my first list – 2007 travel favourites:

Travel community

Runner Up: TravBuddy
Winner: Travellerspoint

There are thousands of travel community sites providing travellers with a platform to ask questions and write about their own travel experiences. I chose Travellerspoint because of the obvious passion for travel and the very useful wikitravel guide and travel maps.

Travel in the Media

Runner Up: Guardian
Winner: The Times

I visit both of these sites daily, without fail, but the Times won it for me because of their excellent layout, and easy to use travel search. I could spend hours on this site; listening to the podcasts, reading the latest travel news and information on green travel.

Travel Inspiration

Runner Up: Wikitravel
Winner: Lonely Planet

Whenever I am looking for inspiration on my next travel destinations I take a visit to Lonely Planet. I spend way too much time on this site reading travel guides and articles. You can now download sections of the famous lonely planet travel guides and print them out for your travels.

Holiday/Hotel Reviews

Runner Up: Holiday Watchdog
Winner: Trip Advisor

Whenever I speak to someone about planning their travels I mention Trip Advisor. I feel confident that the reviews I am reading are from real travellers and are not fabricated from hotel owners. To be honest I use both of these sites when searching for hotels or apartments to get the ‘bigger picture’

Travel Search

Runner Up: Sidestep
Winner: Travel Supermarket

Whilst I’d like to see more travel operators / agencies adding their holidays to Travel Supermarket I love this site for it’s ease of use, and that I can search for the best deals on package holidays, hotels or flights. Like Trip advisor it has a useful travel community where you can ask travel related questions.

Travel Best on the Web

Runner Up: Sky Scanner
Winner: Trip Advisor

Trip Advisor is my travel bible, whenever I fancy going on holiday I visit this site for inspiration, to read reviews of hotels and then visit the forum to ask any question I may have about the destination or hotel and in return I receive responses from travellers who have first hand experience.

Please feel free to discuss on the comments section and let me know what you think of this list.

Let me set the scene; I visit a travel agency and I want to go to the Caribbean, it’s my first time visiting this part of the World and I want to go the first week in July. The agent goes through my options and I book a two week beach holiday in the Bahamas.

Just two days into the holiday, the island is hit with a hurricane, and I have to spend four days of my luxury holiday in a shelter laid on a mattress on the floor. My holiday is a nightmare, and no one told me that it’s hurricane season.

Is the travel agency responsible for divulging this information or should the consumer be responsible for researching their holiday destination?

I’m not having a rant at travel agents but it’s my personal opinion that the travel agent should mention important information so that the consumer can make an educated decision if they want to take the risk or not.

Not everyone is internet savvy, or have access to the internet and many book a holiday with a travel agency because of their knowledge, and experience. I’d be interested to hear opinions from both travel companies and consumers.

I’ve lost count the number of emails I have received from consumers asking questions about passports, and according to the Post Office, a fifth of us Brits have no idea when their passport expires, while 30 per cent of UK travellers have experienced a ‘passport nightmare’

I cannot understand how anyone could possibly leave their passport at home, and it makes me laugh when I watch programmes like Airline, where the passenger realises when they get to the check-in desk that they have left their passport. Incredible!

So here are some quick tips to make sure your holiday does not turn into a passport nightmare.

• Check your passport expiry date prior to booking your holiday
• If the passport expires six months from your departure then you will need to renew it.
• Children under the age of 16 now need to have their own passport which is valid for five years
• A passport can take up to three weeks depending on the service you choose
• Report your lost / stolen passport to the police and to the British Embassy of the country you are in

Did you know?

That gradually through 2007 the Identity and Passport Service are introducing passport interviews for those applying for an adult passport for the first time. You only need to be interviewed if you are contacted by the IPS.

Young people aged 16 or 17 will be able to apply for a passport without parental consent with effect from 10 December 2007 and for tons more information on applying or renewing your passport visit the Identity and Passport Service website.