Travel

British Airways, Virgin and Emirates are among the airlines offering seasonal treats to passengers over the Christmas period. The festive food ranges from mince pies and chocolates to full turkey dinners with all of the trimmings. Pictured clockwise from top left: The Christmas dinner in Emirates' economy, the festive meal in Emirates' first class cabins, the puddings in Emirates' business lounge, the three-bird Christmas roast in first class on Singapore Airlines and inset the festive pavlova in Qantas' airport lounges.

Over 60,000 members of a lounge access club have rated the best airport lounges in each global region with the Plaza Premium Lounge at London Heathrow, Terminal 2, crowned the world’s best (bottom left). The regional winners were; VIP Lounge, Guadalajara Miguel Hidalgo International (top left and centre) Petra Lounge, Amman Queen Alia International (top right); Asiana Lounge, Seoul Incheon International (bottom right); and The Club, San Jose CA Mineta International.

Vibrant turquoise waters, lush forests and endless white beaches – while the locations featured in the latest Disney adventure, Moana (inset), may be fictional they were inspired by the Pacific region’s other-worldly beauty. If this thrilling tale of a Polynesian princess' voyage across the ocean has unleashed your wanderlust, MailOnline Travel has just the thing - a selection of holiday destinations in Oceania for you to live out your paradise island fantasies. They include, clockwise from top left: The Brando in Tetiaroa; the Four Seasons Bora Bora; Sunset Paradise in Tahiti; and Fafa Island Resort in Tonga.

Earlier this week snow fell in the Sahara desert (top left) for the second time in living memory - with the last occasion being in February 1979. MailOnline Travel has rounded up a selection of other occasions weird weather has struck our planet's toasty destinations over the last few years. Also pictured are big freezes in Hawaii, Cyprus and the Grand Canyon.

'Going to the toilet wasn't easy and I suffered from hallucinations,' pro sea explorer Olly Hicks (pictured far left and bottom right) reveals as he details his latest gruelling adventure, which saw him kayak more than 1,200 miles from Greenland to Scotland. The 34-year-old from Suffolk, who developed a passion for the water from an early age, completed the extreme paddling trip in September with the help of fellow explorer George Bullard (main, pictured right). He admits that the two-month-long expedition was pretty tough, with bathroom breaks and sleeping being a little tricky. 'The kayak was adapted slightly and extended to give us enough room to lay down and it had inflatable buoys (bottom right) to keep things steady while we slept,' Hicks - a good friend of Prince William - explained during a talk at the South Kensington Club in London.

Tourists in Japan are being educated on how best to wipe their bottoms and use bidets thanks to a new tongue-in-cheek video. The short tutorial shows a man in a suit demonstrating the correct bathroom etiquette, from wiping motions to sitting poses. A narrator informs viewers that there are two type of toilets in Japan, the traditional squatting kind and the western seated style. She then reveals the wiping moves that can be performed on a traditional loo, while the suited man performs corresponding movements. Next the demonstration moves to bidets. 

MailOnline Travel's Sadie Whitelocks visited the infinity pool at Hotel Villa Honegg in Switzerland, which gained worldwide attention in September after a video of it - entitled the Stairway to Heaven - went viral with millions of views. And after taking a dip in the steaming aquamarine waters, Sadie says it's 'pretty easy to see why it is such a celebrated site'. From top left clockwise to centre: The pool's vista, MailOnline Travel's Sadie Whitelocks, the pool by night, the indoor spa and an exterior of Hotel Honegg.

With bright eyes and wagging tails, a pack of 14-week-old cheetah sextuplets made their public debut at a zoo in the Netherlands today. Staying close to their mother, the six fuzzy-haired cats were filmed as they warily investigated their outdoor pen in Burgers' Zoo in Arnhem. The six cubs, four female and two male, were born on September 14 this year to mother Nadie. The new mother was also born at the zoo in 2010. It is relatively rare for cheetahs to give birth to sextuplets, it only occurs around 5 per cent of the time.

Aloha Wanderwell from Winnipeg, Canada, began touring the world aged 16 after answering an advert for an expedition driver in a French newspaper. She went on to travel 380,000 miles during the 1920s. Pictured clockwise from top left: Aloha with her Ford Model-T, Aloha at the pyramids in Egypt, Aloha's name in lights at a screening on one of her documentaries, Aloha with a snake charmer in India and, inset, Aloha with her husband, Captain Walter Wanderwell.

When you think of skiing, you're most likely to envisage a snowy peak nestled in an alpine landscape. But three extreme athletes decided to turn that traditional image on its head and took to the desert in Iran for a spot of sandy slope action. Austrian Fabian Lentsch, 24, and his friends were filmed as they tackled a near-vertical peak in their skis. It was so hot, one of the men wore shorts in lieu of thermals for the stunt.

From the Isle of Skye’s epic landscape (bottom left) to a tightrope walker perched above a rainbow and waterfall in Brazil (bottom right), a collection of award-winning photographs capture amazing voyages of discovery. More than 500 images taken by shutterbugs from around the world were entered into The Society of International Travel and Tourism Photographers' 'My Voyage of Discovery' competition. The winning snap (main) captures a Buddhist monk being paddled across a river in Bangladesh.

Dave Zdanowicz is an award-winning landscape and portrait photographer from Bradford in Yorkshire, who mainly captures images from the countryside in the north of England. Pictured clockwise from top left: Lady Bower Reservoir in Derbyshire, the seaside town of Staithes, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Winnat's Pass and night time in Malham.

Wedged in the side of an Alpine mountain like a jagged crystal (right), the incredible concept design is the brainchild of Dubai-based Andrii Rozhko. He said the futuristic design is inspired by the topography of the Alps (centre). Inside the hotel there will be different private floors, connected with an elevator and it will have a helipad on top so guests can arrive and depart in style (left).

Picky eaters beware - we have found some of the most bizarre delicacies from around the world. From duck embryos in Asia to sheep heads in Norway, these meals may just turn your stomach. Pictured clockwise from top left: Tarantula snacks in Cambodia, snake and scorpion wine in Vietnam, duck embryos in south-east Asia and a Guinea pig and potatoes in Peru.

Some of the most picturesque beaches in the United States are slowly disappearing. The Outer Banks are a 200-mile barrier island chain on the North Carolina coast and are a major tourist destination, with tourists flocking there to enjoy fresh seafood and beautiful beaches. However, major portions of the island-chain, which starts in southern Virginia and stretches nearly the entire North Carolina coastline, are collapsing. Stanley Riggs, a coastal geologist at East Carolina University in Greenville, said that the damage is the result of tropical storms, beach-front development and sea-level rise.

The traditional Christmas walk slashes family arguments by half, according to new research by the National Trust. The charity has revealed 12 top locations across Britain to take a festive stroll. They include Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire (top right), Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden in North Yorkshire (bottom right), Stowe in Buckinghamshire (bottom left) and Mam Tor in the Peak District (top left).

From the vibrant mountains of Germany to the rugged wilds of Scotland, MailOnline Travel has rounded up the incredible castles where you can live like a king or queen for the day. Pictured clockwise from top left: the 19th century Bavarian castle of Neuschwanstein, Chateau de Chambord in the Loire Valley which began its life in 1535, 13th-century Scottish landmark Eilean Donan and the imposing Conwy Castle in North Wales.

The £4 million bridge is designed to blend perfectly into its spectacular surroundings in China's Hunan province. The transparent bridge connects two peaks in the mountains that inspired the Hollywood blockbuster Avatar. Thrill seekers will also be able to sleep there. It will be built using mirrored stainless steel and the floor will be made of black stone that becomes reflective when wet. The idea is that the structure mirrors the environment and gives the optical illusion of blending into thin air -definitely making it unsuitable for those scared of heights.

A charming collection of 100 vintage ski posters depicting the halcyon days of European winter holidays is tipped to sell at auction for a whopping £550,000. The superb selection features early lithograph prints of advertising posters for glamorous resorts including Chamonix in France, Davos, St Moritz and Gstaad in Switzerland. Highlights include a lithograph of Gstaad (right) expected to fetch £30,000, an image of Alpse & Jura (centre) estimated to sell for £5,000 and a bold St Moritz poster (left) said to be worth £8,000.

Holidaymakers were left shocked at an airport in Africa, when a passenger checked in wearing nothing but his swimming trunks. Dressed in a tight pair of speedos and a pair of flip flops, the man was spotted checking in to a South African Airways flight at a Malawi airport. The flyer, Greig Bannatyne, had been taking part in a charity swim across Lake Malawi but forgot to bring a change of clothes to travel home in.

Love hearts, flowers and intricate patterns are being created out of foliage in a trend known as 'fallen leaves art' or 'ochiba' in Japan. This celebration of the vibrant shades of autumn has seen artistic locals craft staggering designs of characters such as Winnie the Pooh, Hello Kitty and Pikachu made completely out of leaves. Photos of the lively street art have flooded Instagram.

From a snow-streaked Manhattan street to a donkey caravan snaking across Ethiopia’s desert – the breath-taking winning entries of the Travel Photographer of the Year 2016 (TPOTY) competition have been revealed. They were taken by photographers hailing from 20 countries including India, the US and China in categories spanning cities and architecture, people and culture, wildlife and nature. Winners include a Ghanaian fisherman (main), New York's flatiron building in a snowstorm (bottom left) and a windswept fox on a New Jersey beach (bottom right).

Wroclaw in Poland is home to 163 small bronze dwarves - and that's just the official figure. Some think there may be as many as 350 of the cheeky foot-tall dwarf statues dotted round the city. Called 'krasnale' in Polish, the dwarves first appeared on the streets of Wroclaw in 2005. They are actually a symbol of anti-communist movement Orange Alternative, which began in the 1980s as a peaceful protest against the government.

Depicting Moscow like something straight out of a fairytale, Russian photographer Kristina Makeeva has taken a series of spell-binding, snow-streaked winter images across the city. Boasting an Instagram following of 178,000 fans, Ms Makeeva said she has taken the images to reveal how magical the city can be at this time of year, despite the biting temperatures.

Christmas is coming and many shoppers are still stumped for ideas. If any of your nearest and dearest fall into the category of a globetrotter, the world is your oyster in terms of suitable presents. MailOnline Travel has put together a catalogue of more than 50 gift options to suit every budget. Highlights include a travel change box (top left), a swimsuit you can tan through (top centre), travel edition Monopoly (top right), a temple spa gift set (bottom right), a personalised travel pouch (bottom centre) and a Christmas edition Swiss army knife (bottom left).