The joys of shooting cans and dodging coral snakes
CONTINUING our series featuring the holiday memories of famous people, this week broadcaster
FRANK GARDNER, 56, recalls his lifetime of adventures…
First holiday I can remember:
We drove to Switzerland when I was seven. We were living in the pan-flat Netherlands at the time and I had never seen mountains or snow. The Alps provided both, and I will never forget the thrill of peering out of my room and watching a golden eagle glide past.
First time abroad:
Our family moved to The Hague when I was six. My dad loaded up the car and we drove to Harwich, from where we took a car ferry, the Avalon. In the morning I woke up in another country with a strange language and great pancakes. The first town we drove through was called Monster.
First school trip:
Lydd Ranges in Kent. When I was ten I managed to get myself on to the school rifleshooting team. We slept in tents on the coast near Dungeness, frying up sausages beneath the moon, chucking cans up in the air and trying to hit them with air rifles. For a boy at boarding school, this was unprecedented freedom.
My honeymoon:
Amanda and I went to the Maldives. We loved the late afternoons where we would sit on the warm sand with our toes in the water, drinks in our hands, and watch the fish chase each other through the shallows.
Worst ever trip:
I went biathlon ski training in Austria with the British Army’s Physical Training Corps. It was a wet winter that year in Steiermark so instead of skiing across pristine snow fields, we ended up having to run up mountains in the rain while a Royal Marine yelled insults at us. Not fun.
My dream destination:
Patagonia. All those soaring Andean peaks wreathed in cloud, and patrolled by giant condors and prowling pumas. I can’t believe I haven’t been there yet.
My favourite place:
Despite all its recent commercialisation, it still has to be Thailand. For the food, for the scenery, the wildlife and the people. A university mate and I first went backpacking in the Golden Triangle in 1981. Since then our family has had brilliant holidays there.
Perfect holiday companion:
I trekked deep into the Ecuadorian Amazon with my mate James Maughan and a guide, hacking down foliage to sleep in makeshift shelters at night and trying not to think about deadly coral snakes. On another trip we hiked for days in the Colombian cloudforest.
The first thing I pack:
My old Army bivvy bag is brilliant for keeping the crawlies out. Otherwise an Arabic scarf called a shemagh, which keeps you cool in the mountains or you can drape it over your head to keep out the sun.