World surfer, world traveller
Making it on to the World Championship Surf Tour (the WCT) would be on a par with the sporting highlights of Lydia Ko or Stephen Adams, but not everyone has heard of Paige Hareb. At 28 she has been surfing professionally for 10 years, starting in 2009, and has just requalified for the CT for second time. The female world surf tour each year goes to 10 official destinations and in the weeks between the surfers will often find locations close by or somewhere where they can keep focused on their skill base and fitness. This makes for a very hectic travel schedule and after 10 years Paige has been around the world many times. We caught up with her and asked her about the upcoming year and how she copes with so much travelling
Have you ever worked out how many miles you have travel in one year? Air New Zealand actually sent me an email at the end of 2018 saying I had flown over 144,000kms with them, so I’d hate to add up all the other airlines too and that’s just in one year! I would be well into the millions of kms over my lifetime. I remember last year Air New Zealand had worked out that I had spent over 6 days sitting on their planes. Starting in January 2018 can you give us the guided tour of all the places you travelled
last year? I started the year mid January in Florida then most of the Australian summer, up until April traveling around the Gold Coast, Newcastle, Manly (Sydney), Bells Beach, Torquey (Melbourne) and Margaret River, WA. Then I think I went from there to Kelly Slaters Surf Ranch in Lemoore, California then to Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in May. June I went to Mexico for another contest but ended up breaking my ribs surfing, missed the contest and had to get flown home for 5 weeks of rehab. End of July I made it back for a comp in Oceanside, California and the US Open at Huntington Beach. August I was in Anglet, France and Pantin, Galicia, Spain. September I was back at the Surf Ranch for the World Championship tour event then had to fly straight back to Europe to South of France, Hossegor. Then back to Australia at Birubi Beach, Port Stephens before finally finishing the year at Honolua Bay in Maui, Hawaii. People look at traveling as glamourous – has that worn off for you yet? I think people think it’s glamorous, especially these days with instagram, most of the time they only see the good photos of sunny white beaches and you having fun. They don’t really get to see you dragging 6ft board bags through airports, getting charged big bucks to take them and they definitely don’t see the times that you’re sick or tired or the amount of time you spend on planes and in airports. I think it’s like everything in life, all in moderation. The more airports you go through, the more you appreciate the place you get to as well. I don’t think it’s glamorous but it’s definitely a cool lifestyle but maybe I’m just saying that because I’m so used to it now. I know people that do one flight and they are complaining about their body or their health. I get home for a couple of days and get itchy feet and am like, “ok I’m ready to go again, where am I going next?” I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of Adventure! What’s the best and worst of travelling a lot? I absolutely love experiencing new places, cultures and food but I equally like going back to some of my favourite places around the world because they are like my second home and I feel so comfortable at them. Worst thing about travelling would be the amount of time in airports and on planes and getting charged for surfboards or being overweight. What is your most common destination and why? I think it would have to be the Gold Coast, Coolangatta to be specific. Because my longtime board shaper and sponsor are based there so it’s nice to be close to them working on my equipment. I also love the weather and temperature there all year round and it’s got the famous surf break Snapper Rocks which kicks the World Championship Tour off every year.
What’s the most fun place? That’s a hard question! Depends what you’re in to. My top five places to just hang out with good food, people and surf would be: 1. Gold Coast 2. California 3. France 4. Bali 5. New Zealand Then when I’m being a tourist, best hiking place I’ve been to would be Yosemite and best city I’ve been to would be New York, I loved Times Square and all the Broadway shows. What’s the most beautiful? Yosemite National Park, I’d definitely go there again, I recommend it to everyone. Just amazingly huge natural beauty. Surfing location wise I think Tahiti and Hawaii are pretty beautiful.
Where are the people the nicest? Japan! I don’t think any place will ever beat Japan for the nicest people. Actually, Japan is quickly becoming one of my favourite all round Countries! Is it better to travel alone or with someone else and why? Depends who you’re traveling with haha. It’s nice and fun to travel with someone sometimes but if there’s too many of you or the person you’re with is slow then to me it just becomes annoying haha. I have my customs and
X-ray process down pat so I’m in and out just like that and straight to the lounge. I don’t like going to the airport too early so I dislike traveling with people that worry or stress. Most amazing travel experience and what
made it amazing? Travelling by bus, plane and boat through central America on a 4week surf trip starting from Mexico then catching a local bus to Guatemala (check Semuc Champey out if you ever get there). Having to run across the border of Mexico/Guatemala to get on the bus again at 2am was pretty dodgy but I’m still here! Then flew Guatemala to Nicaragua, then boated from there passed Hondurus to El Salvador (we could see three countries at one time from the boat) ending the trip by scoring some amazing waves in El Salvador at Punta Rocas and Punta Mango. Still to this day I had my longest wipeout there. Snapped my board and got dragged down the beach 1km and swam for 20mins with 1ft of surfboard left trying to wave it high enough for my friends on the jetski to see me. I think the whole trip was amazing because a lot of the places I went to were new for me so that always makes it exciting. Travelling through those countries just two girls is risky but also exciting and to top it off we did some amazing sightseeing and scored wave wise! Worst experience and why? 1. Thinking I had Swine flu and flying two days home spewing the whole way on planes and in airports. 2. Flying out of Mexico, looking out the window and seeing my whole board bag with 6 boards in it left on the tarmac and not seeing it for a further 6 weeks! 3. Being stuck in Sao Paulo, Brazil with no working phone or credit card or food, thinking I was going to be stuck there for 3 days until the next flight so started trying to sell my watch and surfboards in the airport to get enough cash to catch a flight out of there to Peru. How many times have you lost your passport? Haha never! But I have travelled with a few people that have. My passport is my life so I’m OCD about that and always keep it in the same spot. The funny thing is, the people that are worried about losing it are usually the people that lose it. They like to put it in those silly little hotel locker boxes then forget about them there! (eye-roll)
"In 2018 I had flown over 144,000km with Air New Zealand alone."
Longest destination to get to? From New Zealand it’s Lisbon, Portugal. If you drilled a hole from New Zealand straight through the World, you would hit Portugal. Literally the other side of the World! Most amazing things you have ever
seen? A tribe/family up a random river in Mentawaiis where they were all naked and tattooed by bamboo and lived in a shack above their pet pigs. They also had a big beetle hanging up to get drunk off the juice I think, haha. They didn’t speak English. The kids were mesmerized by my blonde hair and I don’t think they had ever seen sunglasses before either. It was like going back in time! Most amazing thing you have ever done? There’re too many cool things, from swimming with stingrays and sharks to being in an open helicopter flying up and down the Mountains in Hawaii where Jurassic park was filmed. Every experience is amazing in its own right. Do you always have the lamb and never the fish or chicken on a plane? Haha no I usually eat whatever, some people get so caught up in plane food but if you’re hungry, you’re hungry. I worry more about my diet once I’m on land again. Have you learnt special abilities to get the tin foil caps off the little orange juice containers, so you do get it all over yourself? Slow and steady or just drink water! Do you have a blow-up neck cushion or one with beads? No nothing like that, I’m a deep sleeper and can sleep anywhere! I even sleep on the 30min flight between my home town New Plymouth to Auckland. It’s great for traveling but I have slept through a fire alarm before. What has extensive travelling taught you? Everyone is different and when checking your bags in I swear it doesn’t matter what the rules are, it just depends on the person behind the counter and whether they like you or not or if they are having a good or bad day. Don’t trust anyone and being very independent is one of the biggest things I appreciate in life. What’s your go to gadget to travel with? Apart from my phone, I would say my Kaiser Baas action camera to caption all the memories in and out of the water. I also love my drone.