Here on Inside the Travel Lab, I pride myself on bringing you thought-provoking, thoroughly researched, inspirational stories from around the world.

But today, I’m doing away with all of that and showing you some cool sunset photos instead.

There’s a moment when this seems like the most graceless activity imaginable. Spitting onto someone else’s property and clamping your teeth onto oversized rubber. Then there’s the waddle with the flippers (sorry fins) before a tumble over the edge of the boat into the water…

There are some things in life that I’m not very good at. Many, actually, but some of them are more obvious than others. Some go unnoticed for a long while, thanks to my strategy of quietly sloping away any time anyone wants to play cards or starts brandishing a microphone and talking about karaoke.

Others…

Ever since I heard the words Galapagos Islands in a biology lesson many years ago, I have longed to visit them. Being the science geek and travel enthusiast that I am, they sounded perfect. Then, a few days ago, it looked as though my wish just may come true this summer. Until I hear for sure, I’m keeping my fingers crossed…

Surfers have a reputation for being cool, laid back and sexy. I’m talking, of course, about the professional ones with their seamless suntans and freshly squeezed physiques rather than, well, the rest of us. Those whose very act of lashing a surfboard to our ankles transforms it from an uber-cool sporting accessory into an oversized, [...]

I’ve arrived in Sydney, a little dazed, a little confused. Apparently that’s jetlag and it’s something to do with circadian rhythms, cortisol surges and melatonin…although right now I can’t quite remember my name and could easily believe that jetlag’s caused by blue-edged tomatoes and overripe watermelon and comes with an easy cure of standing upside [...]

The sand I’m standing on is soft and bleached, the type that squeaks beneath your soles if you walk too fast. The type that snuggles between your toes and presses footprints across the beach, then scatters…

Raindrops decorated most of my days in the Seychelles, the days passing beneath skies streaked with charcoal, while I huddled like an over-protective mother over my-definitely-not-waterproof camera gear. I made footprints in the sand and cycled along the wet earth, feeling…

Dust rose from the ground as the horse thundered past and the sun began its ablutions. It painted pinks and pomegranates, amber, pistachio, charcoal and soft apricot rust across the walls of Petra before calling it a day and turning in for an early night…

Canyoning. Turning a noun into a sport and a canyon into a playground.

This time last year, I’d…