Touring
I’m not a flop-by-the-pool-and-do-nothing kind of girl. For me, the great joy of
travel is experiencing new cultures, however different - or similar - they are to
our own. I remember touring India once, and watching people offer coconuts to exotic
gods at a temple, a wonderfully alien practice to me. Yet only hours later, the
behaviour of spectators at a local football match couldn’t have been more familiar
- jumping up as the striker kicked, sinking back with a grown, head in hands, as
the ball ricocheted off the crossbar. The more I can see, hear, taste, experience,
do while I’m away the better. Why stay in one place when there’s a whole world out
there to explore? For anyone who, like me, wants to make the most of every day and
thoroughly get to know a chosen destination, touring has to be the way to go. But
putting your itinerary together yourself has pitfalls, not least the faff of researching
luxury accommodation for the whole route, hire cars, internal flights, ferries,
et al. In addition, where do you start when deciding which towns and cities, sights
and experiences to include? Purgatory for me is to return from a great trip somewhere
new and exciting - then discover that I have missed something really special. Imagine
going to Sydney and not seeing the Opera House; to India without gazing in wonder
at the fabulous Taj Mahal.
Leave it to the professionals, I say, who will suggest an itinerary based on local
knowledge of what’s good, whether that’s a world-renowned landmark such as Uluru,
aka Ayers Rock, in awesome Australia, or a bike ride through the villages and rice
fields of Bali; great wineries to pop into as you wind your way round South Africa’s
Garden Route, or the very best lodges to book into in glorious New Zealand. Have
a grand tour.
Wendy Gomersall