Seasoned Traveller

Cendrine Saville is my old flatmate, the most adventurous traveller I know and most importantly a dear friend. She has been kind enough to share some of her travel tales and exquisite photographs of places I know I'll never go.

Where is your hometown and where do you live now?

My hometown is Auckland, New Zealand and I now live in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The last holiday you had?

My last holiday was to Mongolia, I spent 3 weeks camping and traveling from the capital Ulaan Baatar heading South through the Gobi desert and then North up to the Siberian border....in a bus. It was an incredible experience, especially when we got snowed in and the bus broke down. We would travel until mid afternoon and then search for a nomadic family camped out in their Ger to ask for whatever milk or yoghurt they had , usually camel, yak, goat or sheep and then we source a river or well to camp for the night. A bottle of vodka was usually consumed every night by the camp fire and our Mongolian  guides would recount tales of Genghis Khan and wild horses. I have never met such hardy yet warm people as the Mongolians.

The next holiday is where?

Nepal. There is a peak in the Himalayas called Island Peak standing just over 20,000ft which has my name on it. It is mainly trekking to reach the summit however a 300ft ice/snow wall needs to be accomplished before reaching the bitter end. I'm liking the challenge of coming face to face to the risk of altitude sickness, avalanche, death and standing in front of a herd of Yaows on a single rickety bridge swinging 100 meters above a raging torrent.......and what is a Yaow? These are what I call the animals found in this area which a caught between the shape of a yak and the size of a cow!

Your travel essentials are?

Duct tape, wet wipes, safety pins, blister packs, sweets, bottle opener, Ipod for travelling long distances, basic translator book so you can find out why everyone is laughing at you and a seriously good attitude  for everything that can go wrong!

Dream destination?

Antarctica and Patagonia......wow.

Travel is to you?

Its the only way you can really open your eyes to life and experiences and how to live outside the box. You may spend your whole life never knowing that boiled ox tongue is your favourite dish, until you give it a go!

I hope this has inspired some of you to think outside the box and plan a holiday off the beaten track.

Thankyou Cendrine, you do enough adventure travel for the both of us. I'll stick to meeting you for a coffee in Paris!