He Tangata: Phil Wyndham of Adventure South

Cycling in Croatia with UTracks.

Elisabeth Easther talks to Phil Wyndham of Adventure South.

Mum and dad really valued travel, seeing new places and meeting new people and they passed on their passion for travel. They were reasonably intrepid, taking us to places such as Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Bali, which were all quite exotic 35 years ago. My first big trip by myself was to Nepal. As a kid I remember buying a book about climbing Everest at a garage sale and it had always been in my head that I had to get to Nepal. I was a real travel nerd, and because there was no internet, I'd cut out articles from National Geographic and newspapers and collect them in a folder. Anything about destinations I wanted to travel to, Mum did the same and it was a pretty impressive folder.

That first trip, I flew to Kathmandu and ended up walking with two Russians across high passes in the Everest region. One spoke perfect English and the other had none and we had the most fascinating time. I made lots of mistakes, things I subsequently learnt could be dangerous. I remember being up over 5300 metres and rolling over in my sleeping bag, my heart was going about 100 miles an hour, and I had to tell myself to calm down and relax. The body's under a fair bit of pressure that high.

Phil Wyndham.

When I was 21, I volunteered at a Nepalese school and we went to Chitwan National Park, on the border between Nepal and India. It's a tiger and elephant reserve, the old kings' hunting ground. My school group was doing a walking trip looking for Bengal tigers and rhinos. Lo and behold, we came around a corner where a mother rhino was protecting her calf. We had two Nepalese guides with big sticks, the standard safety tool and, when the mother charged us, they both headed for the hills. One of the students was unfortunately killed. Rupak was a lovely kid, a great all-rounder. But because the guides disappeared, the finger was pointed at me, and I remember my dad asking if I should leave the country when the conversation became heated with the authorities. The parents were distraught and the police needed to be seen to be doing something. Fortunately I wasn't blamed, but it had a massive effect on me.

I've always been drawn to Asia. I love the chaos, and the history; the friendly people and the food. I love a good market and everything's so cheap. Cycling from Hanoi down to Ho Chi Minh City, following the length of Vietnam, that's a beautiful ride. The food is spectacular, an interesting mix of French and Vietnamese, Indo-Chinese and Chinese influences and an abundance of fresh ingredients. The trip took two weeks, from the central highlands, to the coast, it's incredibly hilly with every conceivable type of plant growing. Learning about the history of the American War — as they refer to it — and the French occupation, was fascinating.

My eldest daughter Poppy is 10, she's proudly been to 13 countries, and her goal is to travel to more countries than she has years. She was 7 months old when she first went to Thailand, and 5 when we went to Europe for a month on a self-guided cycling trip. We did eight days in Provence with UTracks. I had 11-month old Ivy in a trailer and Poppy was on a connector bike behind my wife and it was magic. And we're just back from three months in Europe, more walking and cycling with UTracks. We went to Greece, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. We rode from Bolzano to Venice, it's about 420km and Poppy rode with Ivy on a connector — we saw countless adults doing the same on e-bikes.

I reckon, if you're thinking about travelling, just to do it. So much fear is misplaced and once you're committed to a trip, you've booked your flights or paid the deposit, that's when the fun starts, because the planning and pre-travel can be as enjoyable as the holiday. Travel has taught me to go with the flow, that not everything goes to plan and it's given me an understanding of other people and cultures. What humanity needs right now is for people to appreciate each other's differences and accept them.
Further information: see adventuresouth.co.nz