Teenage Thai trip was quite an experience
TRAVEL has always been in my blood so A Place In The Sun is a dream job for me.
I’ve been lucky to visit lots of places, although still not nearly as many as I want to.
As soon as I was old enough to go on my own I was off – and it was a trip I’ll never forget.
When I left school at 17 I was quite gutsy and went to Thailand.
I decided I was going to do it and flew out the next week.
The reason my mum and dad let me was that I was supposed to be volunteering. But when I arrived I felt it was a bit of a scam because we were volunteering at places that really didn’t need help.
So I packed my bag and travelled round helping at places I did think needed it.
I got myself in quite a few sticky situations.
One time I got on a bus where I was the only non-local. This big guy sat down next to me and tried to grope me. When we came to a pit-stop I started shouting at him but we were in the middle of nowhere and no one really understood me.
At our destination I called the parents of a school friend out there and made them come and get me.
But the place that our whole family has revisited so often is Matala on Crete.
It’s the sort of place you only find out about through word-of-mouth.
But if you’ve been once you tend to go back and whenever any of the family can get away, we’ll go there.
It used to be known for its hippy markets in the 1960s and there’s still a hippy-ish feel.
There’s a beach with amazing red sands that I really love which you can only get to by walking over a hill or taking a boat.