He Tangata: Mandy Page

Mandy Page: ‘I was once offered sheep’s eyeballs at a Nubian wedding in Egypt. That wasn’t great.’ off while working. So I take them on holiday and make sure there’s no hassle, that they have lots of fun and time to play. They get to the airport and there’s the transfer, they get to the hotel and the keys are ready — it’s so nice not to muck around. My groups are usually quite social, gin and tonic every night at 6pm. We call it “soft adventure”. We’re not staying in dumps. We’re active every day. We keep people busy so they’re not just sitting on a bus. I did a trip last year, we were in Lithuania, and we looked out the window and saw hot air balloons and the next day we did that because we allow time to be spontaneous. I’ve been to probably 90 countries and I do four or five overseas trips a year. If you do too much travel, you’re just tired and that’s no good for the clients. There’s something wonderful about walking through the countryside, slowing down your life. You never know what’s around the corner. My dream itinerary? Can we zig and zag across? Well, then we’d go from Iceland to Greenland via the Galapagos for the wildlife. Slovenia is the most beautiful little country, we’d go to Bhutan just for the people alone, and the backblocks of Myanmar, those people are extraordinarily kind. And maybe we’d end up in Antarctica after which we’d warm up by going to Iguazu Falls. I’m a vegetarian and in lots of these places they think that’s a bit odd. Often when my meal comes and I explain I don’t eat meat, they just take the dish back to the kitchen and scrape the meat off. I was once offered sheep’s eyeballs at a Nubian wedding in Egypt. That wasn’t great. I was in a Michelin-starred restaurant once, with a very dear passenger who wasn’t feeling very well, so I tried to take her outside and she collapsed on the floor with her eyes rolled back. And the waiter came up all concerned and I said, “Get me some water.” And he said, “Still or sparkling?” But she was fine, just dehydrated. My best travel advice? Keep your sense of humour.