INDIA Bannister, a student at King’s College, Taunton, spent a week on work experience at the County Gazette. The 16-year-old hopes to break into travel journalism and has had a go at writing a travel piece for her busy summer plans.

Adventures are a frequent occurrence for me, and I’m incredibly lucky for it.

Alongside school and studying for my GCSEs, which I’ve just completed, I’ve been here, there and almost everywhere.

This summer I’m embarking on two trips of a lifetime.

The first is with a small number of King’s College students and teachers, trekking up Mount Kilimanjaro, which should take us six nights.

In extreme conditions this mountain can go from 32°C to -26°C, so as you can imagine I’ve been armed with decent kit and plenty of malaria tablets.

We should reach the summit on the fifth day and my aim is to see the sunrise at 6.35am.

My second trip this summer will see me ride my trusty steed (or, in this case, road bike), the length of Great Britain from John O’Groats to Land’s End.

This will be done in the company of my older brother and my fair bit older dad.

We’re hoping to complete the challenge in two weeks, cycling an average of over 100km a day.

This will provide plenty of time to make up for lost time together as I only get to see my father an average of three times a year due to his telecommunications job which takes him to Third World countries, and when he’s not there he lives in Stockholm.

We’ve been looking forward to the trip since I can remember and it’s the perfect opportunity for me to raise money for the ‘Born Free Foundation’, which helps to protect threatened species and stop individual suffering among all animals.

Animals can’t speak for themselves, and while I was torn between many different charities, the Born Free Foundations is the one that grabbed my attention.

Finally, on August 24, I will be taking part in the Youth Triathlon in Stockholm, doing a good 400m swim, a 10k bike ride and, to finish it off, a 2.5k run.

You can sponsor me and help the good work the charity does by visiting www.justgiving.com/victoria-bannister2/ and if you’d like to read up on my frequent updates visit my blog on www.blogger.com/victoriabannister/