KEY POINTS:
I am a 61-year-old male and would like to see some active volcanoes. I would be travelling on my own and have read that the best one to see in our part of the world is on Tanna Island, Vanuatu. Is it safe to travel there (ie muggings,
theft)? What other active volcanoes would you recommend for someone in my age group? - John O'Shea, by email
Mt Yasur on Tanna Island is one of the great attractions in Vanuatu and is said to be the most accessible live volcano in the world. And active it is. Spewing out lava and smoke, this volcano does erupt more substantially from time to time.
The best time to view it is at night, of course, when the orange fireworks are truly spectacular.
Depending on the activity status, you can walk right to the rim and actually peer down into its molten middle. There are guides there to stop people getting fatally close (as has happened a few times), so listen to them. Sometimes there are warnings to stay away altogether and access is cut off.
We have never heard any reports of muggings on the way up the mountain, but wherever you are in the world it always pays to be careful and alert to your personal safety and possessions.
There are many agencies in Vanuatu offering tours to Tanna Island and Mt Yasur. Book one when you arrive in Port Vila.
If you're keen on visiting active volcanoes, then think Pacific Rim.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island is home to two active volcanoes. The landscape here is phenomenal, with dozens of craters and cinder cones, hills piled high with pumice and hardened oceans of lava.
Kilauea Volcano has been erupting since 1983, destroying everything in its path. Rather than spewing lava, this volcano oozes gradually and, depending on the lava flows and your vantage point, you'll most likely see ribbons of lava pouring into the sea and steam clouds billowing smoke.
Conditions this year are said to be some of the best ever for viewing this volcano.
Another great destination for volcano enthusiasts is Indonesia, thanks to the fact that it lies on a significant segment of the Pacific "Ring of Fire". Merapi Volcano on Java is one of the world's most active and also one of the most dangerous. Its lava dome regularly produces pyroclastic flows, with its last major eruption in July 2004.
Yogyakarta travel agencies sell night trips for drive-in views of the lava flows and, if you're up to it, you can climb to the summit. Depending on activity, however, access can be greatly restricted.
You can also get some great volcano action in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomons and Japan. Real volcano nuts should go to vulcanologist John Seach's excellent website at www.volcanolive.com.
In researching your trip, be sure to check on current activity levels of the volcanoes, and to read the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade's travel advisories for the countries you're likely to visit at www.safetravel.govt.nz.
We are looking at visiting Europe in late 2008 and would like to visit the Christmas markets in and around Germany and then go to Spain to do an organised tour visiting Spain, Morocco and Portugal. What are our options to get from Germany to Spain? We probably only have about seven or eight days but would like to see some sights on the way. - Philip Keenan, by email
Germany's Christmas markets are a magical highlight of any wintertime trip to the Northern Hemisphere, with twinkling lights, traditional handicrafts, mulled gluhwein and the promise of snow.
The best markets include Augsburg, one of the oldest; Bamberg, with its nativity scenes; Cologne, with six markets to visit; Dresden, the oldest market; Kempten, in the Alps; Leipzig, with the worlds biggest advent calendar; Munich's market on Marienplatz; Nuremberg, with its unbeatable setting; and the atmospheric market at Wuerzberg.
Have a look at the Christmas Markets on Germany website (www.germany-christmas-market. org.uk) for details.
To travel from Germany to Spain, why not continue the theme and visit some of the best Christmas markets in Austria, Switzerland and France? Austria's major markets are held in Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck; in Switzerland you could head to Zurich, Basel, Bern, Montreux or Geneva; and in France there are brilliant Christmas markets in Strasbourg, Dijon and Avignon.
A rough itinerary could cover: Days 1 and 2: Vienna and/or Salzburg; Days 3 and 4: Zurich and/or Bern; Days 5 and 6: Strasbourg and/or Dijon; Day 7: Avignon.
You'll be able to get around quite easily by train and a cut-price rail pass is available for passengers travelling in groups of two to five people (15-day minimum pass).
A 15-day Eurail Global Pass Saver (www.raileurope.com) costs $805 for first class travel. To work out train schedules, have a look at the peerless website hosted by Germany's Die Bahn (http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de).
My family (two adults and two children, aged 10 and 12) is planning a trip to Europe, particularly Eastern Europe, during December 2007 and January 2008. We heard about the ice hotel in Sweden and have read that there is also an ice hotel in Romania, but I have found it very difficult to get any information about the Romanian one. Do you know if it will be rebuilt this winter? Is it possible to get there with public transport? - Amanda Bartlett, by email
Staying a night at an ice hotel is a very Northern Hemisphere experience, and the novelty factor is proving very popular indeed.
Currently there are ice hotels in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Greenland, Canada, Japan and, yes, Romania.
Launched in 2006, southern Transylvania's Lake Balea Hotel (www.icehotel.ro/icehotel/en-cazare.htm) sits between Brasov and Sibiu in the dramatic peaks of the Fagaras Mountains.
It is Eastern Europe's first ice hotel and it's tiny, with only eight double rooms. Everything in the hotel, right down to the glass holding your shot of plum brandy, is made of ice. Indoor temperatures span a balmy 2C to - 2C, depending on the number of vacancies and your neighbours' body temperatures. Doubles, warmly draped in animal fur, cost around $130 on weeknights and $167 on weekends.
Bathroom facilities are a short walk away at the nearby Balea Lake Chalet.
The hotel operates between early January and the end of April, though temperatures here are near zero year-round. The 2007 incarnation included an ice chapel, bar, restaurant and reception area.
Reservations can also be made online through Meridian Travel (www.ice.hotel.balea.lac.meridiantourism.com).
The hotel's glacial location is remote indeed and the area is not served by public transport. It's linked to civilisation only by cable car from Balea Cascade, just off the incredibly zigzagging, precipice-hugging Transfagarasan Road, the highest asphalted thoroughfare in the country. The closest hubs, Brasov and Sibiu, have train connections to the town of Fagaras, around 55km from Lake Balea.