"I'll be avoiding the euro travellers' cheque," says Petra Shepherd, head of research for the cable and satellite station Travel Channel "For a start, I think they'll take a long time to catch on. The euro cheques could take a while to catch on when there is little perceived advantage. Sterling will continue to float against the whole raft of currencies just as it does at the moment - but if the Deutschmark appreciates by 10 per cent against the pound, you can be sure that everything else from the Irish punt to the Finnish markka has, too.One way to hedge against an effective devaluation of Sterling is to purchase euro travellers' cheques - but you could just buy a consignment of French francs, or any other currency. The 11 national currencies will be locked in to the rate, and therefore will be fixed against each other. The euro that comes into effect on 1 January will be an intangible concept; notes and coins do not arrive for another three years. As for the old European coins, I'll take them to the bank where they can be given to charity."Roy's change will be of value to him for at least the next three years. I'll just go to the bank like I always do, order, say, pounds 50 worth of French currency, and if they ask me whether I'd rather have euros than francs, I'll probably say yes just for the fun of it.

"I travel at too short notice to think much about the currency I use. "The trouble is, we won't know what they're worth." That is the problem facing not just the foreign exchange industry, but the British travelling public in January. A survey for BBC2's Money Programme revealed that fewer than half of the respondents know what the single European currency is called. People within the travel industry are rather more clued up about the euro - but are still undecided about the benefits when it comes into being in 11 countries on Friday. "It won't even occur to me to use the euro until it's really in full swing," says the travel photographer Geoffrey Roy. "WE'RE NOT allowed to start selling them until the start of January," the helpful lady at Thomas Cook's head office told me when I tried to buy some euro travellers' cheques this week. Its Ivory Coast and, indeed, much of the west, is very unexplored and, on the east coast, the Bazaruto Islands off Mozambique are particularly beautiful."Dawn Howell, PR and promotions manager of STA Travel"Sabaudia, a tiny town south of Rome, was my discovery of 1998 - a Fascist architecture holiday resort."My travel tip for 1999 is don't go to Sabaudia (I want to save it for myself)."Stephen Wood, skiing correspondent of `The Independent'.

It is generally visited as part of a joint trip, along with Vietnam and Cambodia."For 1999 we would recommend Africa as the destination for the young, independent traveller. We had always known it was an up-and-coming destination, but this year its status was confirmed by a substantial increase in the number of bookings to go there. I shall be in search of the black grasswren, a bird found in western Australia."Keith Betton, the Association of British Travel Agents"In 1998 STA's best travel discovery was Laos. I travelled there by car from Namibia's capital, Windhook, drove down the strip itself and went south into Botswana. It was an expectation-plus- one experience, and particularly great for a birdwatcher like me."The trip for me in 1999 will be another drive, this time from Australia's northern territories to its southern ones: from Darwin to Broome It is a wonderfully wild drive which involves much planning.

It contains a community tourism directory which highlights those places around the world where local and, frequently, poor people are managing to own and to control their own tourism when they lack the facilities to market it themselves."Patricia Barnett, Tourism Concern"My discovery of 1998 was the Caprivi Strip in the north-east corner of Namibia It used to be a no-go zone between Angola and South Africa. The service, which operates all over the UK, exists for those people living in areas where other forms of public transport aren't available."My travel tip for 1999 would be to take a look at the ever-expanding Tourism Concern website ( www.gn.apc \ tourismconcern). It was just a wonderful experience going into the lost and hidden places of Scotland and meeting en route the brilliant post-women who run post offices from their garden sheds. It's also a great base from which to see the South, or the Third Coast as they like to call it down there."Tim Perry, author of `Rock & Roll Traveller UK and USA'"My favourite discovery of 1998 was the Postbus in Scotland. Between them these cater for everything from hard-core country & western to alternative punk. I'd only dabbled with it before."My tip for 1999 is go to the American South, especially Austin, Texas, the best city in America besides the big ones.