You have posted tips from literally all over the world. First off - what brought you to Ottawa? And then how did you enjoy the city?
As with quite a few of my trips, Ottawa was for a conference (I'm a PhD student). I absolutely loved it - I was there in summer, the weather was balmy and (as Brits always seem to say about Canada) it's so very clean. And no shortage of good places to eat and drink, which is obviously important.

Where is your hometown? Can you describe a perfect day there?
I live near Stroud in Gloucestershire. A perfect lazy day would start with a nice long walk over the hills, making sure to end up in one of my favourite cafes for lunch. After that, a little shopping (Cheltenham is the best place locally for interesting shops) and coffee and cake with a friend. In the evening, depending on the season, it's time to either curl up in front of the fire to watch a film, or sit out in the garden with a gin and tonic.

From your blog (http://rachelcotterill.blogspot.com/) you givethe impression that you're quite an outdoorsy person? Is this a character of your travelling too?
The evidence for this is that in 2006 I spent six weeks in Iceland with my husband and we cycled around the ring road there. I rode over 1000 miles that trip! That is an extreme example, but even in a city I'd rather be out in the streets than holed up in a museum or gallery for hours on end.

Tell us about Russia! Where did you stay? What was it like?
Our visit to Russia was as part of the trip which we took for our honeymoon, on the transmongolian railway. We stayed in St Petersburg at the Hotel Rinaldi at Glinki, right by the Mariinsky theatre; in Moscow at the Hotel Maxima Zarya; and in a wooden cabin in Listvyanka overlooking Lake Baikal. The thing that surprised me most about Russia was how safe it felt - there are policemen literally on every corner, and in every underpass, so it feels a lot safer than London from that perspective. I also noticed that not many people spoke English (except in the hotels), so my broken Russian was tested to the limit.

Do you have any trips lined up in the next few months? And indeed, have
you already been on your dream trip or if not, where would it be?
I'm planning to go back to Iceland in summer, and other possibilities are Singapore and New York (but those are slightly dependent on conferences).

My lifelong dream was to do the transmongolian railway, which is why we picked that particular journey for our honeymoon, but I have a lot of unfulfilled dreams left to follow. I want to see the rock churches in Ethiopia, to visit Greenland and the Faroes, and closer to home there are some European cities like Amsterdam and Venice which are obvious gaps in my travel history.

Are you quite a lonesome traveller?
Not at all - in fact I've never actually travelled alone! And I enjoy talking to strangers when I'm travelling. But I've never booked package holidays or travelled with tour groups, I do love to plan things for myself, so in that sense I'm very independent.

Where were you when you last looked out at a great view and went 'yep, this is it, this is what it's all about.'?!
At home, this morning and every day, because I'm lucky enough to have a house with spectacular views of rolling Cotswold hills. But from a travel perspective, the last time was when we were standing on the Great Wall of China; that was very emotional because it really dwarfs you.

What do you like to come home with after a trip away?
Memories, photographs, and new friends. Occasional other things if I find a genuine bargain, but I travel 'hand luggage only' unless I'm camping so I don't tend to do a lot of shopping.

When was the last time you felt culture shock?
In Beijing last September. It's such a noisy city - every conversation seems to happen at shouting volume - and there's a lot of pushing and spitting in the streets. As a Brit, that's a massive shock, and after a week there I was actually glad to come home. It was a fascinating place, but exhausting.

What is the first thing you do when you reach a new place?
Find a nice looking cafe, get out a decent map, and make a plan. Then be prepared to change all plans when something more exciting comes along: in Cuba, we'd intended to drive the whole island, but we cut off one corner because we got an opportunity instead to go and visit some isolated mountain villages which don't even have road access, and talk to the people who lived there, which really made the holiday for us.

Biggest lesson you've learnt from travel is?
To make things happen. Interesting holidays don't create themselves - and I'm starting to apply that principle to my daily life as well.

Favourite place you've been so far?
Would have to be Iceland - I've never been anywhere else with so much variety of scenery. Glaciers and icebergs, geysirs and bubbling mud, lava fields and Europe's largest desert, surrounded by an amazing coastline of fjords ... it's simply unique.
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