Explore a wide variety of countries in the company of charismatic Lonely Planet guidebook authors who are determined to blaze a trail, encounter new people and uncover fantastic destinations.

Morocco: Travel writer John Vlahides embarks on a journey down the spine of central Morocco, taking in the labyrinthine medina of Fez, road testing African skiing in the Atlas Mountains and joining a family of Berber nomads in the dunes of the Sahara.

Colombia: Lonely Planet photographer Dominic Bonuccelli sets out for South America's most electrifying country – Colombia. Braving army roadblocks, kidnap warnings and gunslinging cowboys, he explores the glaciers of the Andes, has his soul cleansed in a remote Indian village and puts on his dancing shoes for the world's second-biggest Carnival.

Laos: Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler is back in Laos thirty-five years after he wrote the seminal backpacker guide to South East Asia. Taking in elephant beauty contests, underground rivers and the enigmatic ‘indigo people’, Tony treks, kayaks, caves and motorbikes the backblocks of northwest Laos.