• TRAVEL MASCOTS

(See the world through the eyes of a mascot. Take photos of the mascot in front of every location and make it look like you were never tagging along.)

• WORLD's BIGGEST THINGS

(Find a list of the "big" things that you will pass along the way. For instance, the "Big Banana" and the "Big Pineapple". Take photos of all of them for a scrapbook. Conversely, find as many "little" things as you can.)

• BACKPACK AT HOME

(Make up a whole new persona. Give yourself a different name, a different nationality. Pack a backpack, dress in T-shirt and Jeans and give yourself only a small budget to spend. Stay the weekend in a youth hostel and see your home town through the eyes of a tourist.)

• WEIRD MUSEUMS

(Find as many unusual museums as you can and visit them all. Examples are The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices and The Icelandic Phallological Museum.)

• COLLECT SOMETHING

(Pick something to collect in every location. Mine is magnets and I like to choose ones that really represent each place. Postcards is another idea or you could challenge yourself and make it something that is more difficult to find. How about a copy of your favourite novel from each destination? I saw a guy on the television who collected bits of plastic he had found on the ground during all of his travels.)

• YELLOW ARROW

(From 'yellowarrow.net'. Find a place that you think is interesting. Place one of the yellow arrows there and SMS the code on the arrow. Write a message about the place for people to read, take a photo of it and post it on the Yellow Arrow site. When people find your arrow they SMS the number and read your message. Find other people's yellow arrows on your own travels.)

• PICTURE COLLECTION

(Choose a particular thing or theme to photograph and find it at every destination. My thing is 'interesting toilets' but I've also thought about doing a collection of lost gloves and socks.)

• GEOCACHING

(From 'geocaching.com' or 'waymarking.com'. Use a GPS to follow co-ordinates from the website to where a cache is hidden. Sometimes it might be an interesting location, other times a physical cache with a notebook and goodies inside. Add yourself to the notebook and choose whether to take something from the cache, replacing the item with another item of your own. Even better, create your own cache and leave it somewhere interesting for people to find.)

• UNUSUAL HOTELS

(Stay somewhere unusual and unique, like an underwater hotel, treehouse hotel or a hotel made if ice. Alternatively, try hotels with a theme, choosing a different theme each time.)

• BOOKCROSSING

From 'bookcrossing.com'. Choose a favourite book, register it at the web site and take it with you on your travels. Leave the book somewhere interesting--it could be a place you like, somewhere that has something to do with the book or just a place you think the literary type might hang out, and leave the book there. Someone is supposed to find it, read it and find it on the site, where they can write a review of the book. Try and find books left by other people.)