"I travelled around the world sixteen years ago and it was an amazing experience. When I was given the Travel Memoir as a gift I was very excited about the project. I dug out my old travel diaries and letters and sorted through the photos. Reading the diaries took some time but it brought all the fond memories back to me and I decided which parts of the trip I wanted to include in the book. The interviews simply involved me sharing my memories over the phone as I referred to my notes.

When I got the printed copy of my book I thought it looked fabulous. I love taking it off the bookshelf and just browsing through it. It's so compact and always to hand - unlike the diaries which were hidden away in the cupboard. Some people who read it have said they never realised I had been on such an adventure. I have two young children and it will be fun to watch them reading about some of the things I got up to."

Elaine Frattasi - London

In 2001 backpacked around Asia, Australia, Africa and Europe. I always wanted to do it and decided that I had to bite the bullet so I took a year off work. It was an incredible adventure and boy do I miss travelling. I kept an online diary which is a nice record of my adventure but I was looking for a better way of putting an overview of my trip together.

When I saw The Travel Memoir it struck me as ideal because there’s nothing better than sitting down and reading through a book and getting engrossed in it. I spoke to Everyday Biographies on the phone a few times and told them about the background to my trip and then shared the memories of all my adventures. I forwarded my favourite photographs and my online diary and within a few weeks they sent me back a draft of my book, fully illustrated with all the photographs. I love it. It looks amazing. I’ve given it to a few friends to read and for the first time they seemed genuinely envious about my trip – the book really brought it to life for them.

I got married last year and when we have kids it’ll be lovely to give them the book to read some day.

David Crawford – New York