Cape Town remains one of my favourite cities in the world.  A place where the carefree notion of coastal living and the determined drive of a bustling capital work hand in hand.  The city has a dynamic vibe, full of creatives and some of the best restaurants in the world.  Whilst everywhere you look you get stunning, panoramic views of that iconic mountain, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Egypt. Where else can you get 4,500 years of history just a five flight from the UK?

I first travelled to this fascinating country in 1991. Aged 21, it was the start of my year-long travels around the world. I peaked at the first hurdle in terms of amazing sights and didn’t really appreciate what I saw. So 31 years later, I felt it was time to return.

I am often asked where’s the one place I’ve visited that has totally blown me away and, I have to say, that’s a tough question to answer. I have seen so many wonderful places and each has its own special memories. But in terms of one country where I felt totally privileged to experience its remote isolation, where I got access to a traditional way of life not many people get to see and where I travelled through pristine landscapes, it has to be the Kingdom of Bhutan.

I certainly felt very lucky when I arrived on the island of St Barth.  Firstly, my propeller plane had landed safely after a near vertical dive over mountainous terrain onto the infamous short runway, the wing tip almost touching the turquoise waters of St Jean Bay.  And secondly, I was ticking off a place that had been on my bucket list for a very long time.

Even the 5:30am call to prayer by the muezzin at the nearby mosque didn’t ruin the wonderful feeling of waking up in an exotic location a mere 2½ hour flight from the UK. Grabbing a coffee, I climbed to the rooftop and watched the sun rise over Tangier and the Strait of Gibraltar, where the inky Mediterranean Sea and the azure Atlantic Ocean meet. 

The scene is hypnotic with rhododendron trees in early bloom, their vibrant red flowers contrasting against the snow-capped Himalayan peaks, whilst neon green terraces dotted with tiny villages cascade down vertigo inducing valleys. 

Ask someone to pin Madagascar on a map and there’s a slim chance they’ll manage to locate it.  But, lying some 400km off the east coast of Africa, it is the Indian Ocean’s largest island. Having broken free from the Continent many millions of years ago, it evolved in its own individual way and is one of the most biodiverse countries with, astonishingly, around 80% of its flora and fauna (of which there are around 250,000 species) found nowhere else on earth.