ARNO CARSTENS

Globe-trotting comes with the territory for this rocker, but a trip to Antarctica ‘before it melts’ would top it all

I have a montage of memories of childhood holidays: family chaos and early dinners in small-town caravan parks from Ceres to Stilbaai; camels and palm trees in Namibia [pictured above]; the steam from the hot springs around Goudini Spa; running around and hanging from trees like a little Tarzan in the forest at Citrusdal hot springs; waking up in the dunes of the West Coast with penguins and springbok grazing in the morning mist; and the most beautiful, brightest stars I’ve ever seen on Van Rhynshoek farm in Calvinia.

My first trip abroad was with the Springbok Nude Girls in the early ’90s playing a bunch of club shows around London. I remember crazy shows with equally crazy afterparties. Our first trip to Belgium knocked my socks off. I couldn’t believe how many beautiful blonde women there were who could all “understand Afrikaans”. Fact of the day: Flemish is basically Afrikaans.

The most difficult destination I’ve ever been to was when we made it our mission to find the (mythical) Loch Ness Monster in Scotland. My wife and I had to ask the locals to point us in the right direction, which was difficult thanks to the different accents. In Italy we had a faulty GPS that gave directions in drawn-out Italian. When we stopped to sort it out, the car on the GPS kept moving forward even though we were standing still. We had been following this faulty GPS for ages and just going around in circles.

My favourite city in SA is Cape Town. It reminds me of New York. It’s very multicultural and very often has three seasons in a day. You can lie on the windless beach in Clifton [pictured above] while someone else is kite-surfing in howling gales in Blouberg. You can drive for an hour in any direction and you’ll find yourself feeling like you’ve travelled to a different world.

I lean towards pampering when I am travelling but good company trumps all luxuries. I also think it’s very much about what luxury means to a person. For me, lying in a hammock outside a simple bungalow in Zanzibar [below], for example, listening to the warm waves washing up onto the beach with a good book and my family around me would trump the finest five-star hotel in a big city.

My worst travel experience was when we were travelling from London to Paris on the Eurostar and got our departure time wrong. We checked out of our hotel and arrived at St Pancras seven hours before we were supposed to board. The train was then also delayed by three hours. We spent 10 hours sitting in the station on my wife’s yoga mat trying to keep Hayden (our then-five-year-old son) entertained.

I have three favourite international destinations: Venice, New York and Zanzibar. Venice [Carstens is pictured there, left, with his wife Mel] is surreal in its uniqueness. The gondolas, the water taxis and the floating visual opulence drench the senses. New York has a pace that pulsates. And Zanzibar is the complete opposite. You can be awake but feel asleep. It’s like living inside a daydream.

The oddest thing I’ve experienced while travelling happened in a karaoke bar in the Reeperbahn (major red-light district) in Hamburg. It was full of off-duty Thai ladies and we were entertained by band member and musician extraordinaire Brendan Jury’s impromptu performance singing Frank Sinatra. It was overwhelming. I’ve not heard women scream like that since Elvis. It was fantastic.

I am an adventurous eater when I travel. I’ve tried Haggis in Scotland, it was love at first bite. But whale meat in Norway tops my list of the worst things to eat.

Must-have plane items for me are a mild sleeping pill, a neck support, snacks, water and earplugs .

A place I really want to go to some day is Antarctica before it all melts.