Ask Joan

I am planning on taking a year out before starting a masters degree in 2015 and would love to travel for a month or two, either around Asia or Australia and New Zealand. I don't have anyone to travel with, but don't want this to hold me back. Are there any travel agencies or groups which join up solo travellers, as I find the idea of travelling alone as a young woman a little daunting? – RL, Dublin

There are companies that arrange holidays for people travelling alone. Solosholidays.co.uk is one, but its trips to Asia are quite expensive: the Indo China tour costs from £3,359 for 15 nights.

Friendshiptravel. com, based in Northern Ireland, has a Cambodia trip over 13 days which costs from €2,595.

It might be better value to join guided tours run by companies such as Intrepidtravel.com. The prices are good and they usually have a number of styles of trips, ie comfort, luxury, budget etc.

Gadventures.com has a huge range of tours. The Yolo brand is for young travellers: an Asia tour beginning in Bangkok for 30 days would cost about €2,200 plus flights. This blog for women travellers has good ideas and advice: solotravelerblog.com.

We have a five-year-old boy who is crazy about Thomas the Tank Engine and we'd like to bring him to Thomas Land near Birmingham. Would it be best to fly or get the ferry? We would be travelling from Kerry in September. Where would we stay? There is a hotel on the grounds but it seems expensive. – VC, Kerry

Thomas Land is at Drayton Park near Staffordshire and you have a couple of options to get there. Stenaline.ie has a good price option which includes the ferry and a hotel for two nights from €267 for the three of you with the car. You would have to factor in the cost of petrol and time driving to Rosslare and from Fishguard to Thomas Land.

Flying from Kerry Airport to Luton is quicker. Flights in September will cost less than €150. Watch out for the timings: they vary. Drayton Manor is about and hour and a half from there. Expect car hire to be under €100. There are a number of Holiday Inn Express properties near Drayton Manor and prices will be from £45-£65 per night, hiexpress.com.

I am in the very earliest stages of planning a family trip to Russia. We intend to go there sometime next summer with our two Russian adopted children. It will be costly as we want to visit cities in the North Caucasus and western Siberia, Moscow and maybe St Petersburg. I need help with the logistics, so we can get a handle on the costs before making decisions and doing detailed planning. Do you know of any company that could help us organise our travel? – SP, Cork

The Russian carrier S7.ru operates a direct service on Saturdays from Dublin to Moscow during the summer. If you were to take a flight to your furthest city in Siberia, it would be about €600 return. S7 allows stopovers and is the best domestic carrier in Russia.

However, the city you mention in the Caucasus, Vladikavkaz is in a military zone and extremely difficult to get a permit to visit. You may have to rethink visiting there for the present.

Sky Tours travel agency at 75 Talbot Street, Dublin has a Russian consultant who can help with planning the trip. Tatiana Sukhanova can be contacted on 01-8772519 and Tatiana@skytours.ie.

Send your travel queries to jscales@irishtimes.com