My holidays: Megan Singleton

Travel blogger Megan Singleton.

What was your greatest holiday?

The time I took my sister on a cruise around the Caribbean and we laughed until we cried at least once a day at anything and everything.

And the worst?

The time my family booked a dodgy, filthy and broken private home on the VRBO website and escaped to a hotel before the owner came to collect our money.

If we bump into you on holiday, what are you most likely to be doing?

Taking photos, browsing shops, drinking a cocktail at sunset. It's hard work being a travel blogger!

If we could teleport you to one place in NZ for a week-long holiday, where would it be?

Nelson/Tasman. Haven't been since I was a kid and it's on my Teleport List.

How about for a dream holiday internationally?
Send me to Santorini! I was there for a day on a cruise ship visit last year, but to stay for a few days when the cruisers have sailed away would be magic.

What's the dumbest thing you've ever done when travelling?

I once left my luggage in the baggage hall and waltzed through customs with just my cabin bag and Duty-Free. It took about an hour for security to go find it, scan it and release it to me out a side door.

Aisle seat or window seat?

Window. That way I can make a little nest and get some sleep.

What can't you travel without?

My iPhone. It's pretty much all I need. Photos, internet, social media, notes for writing up stories later. Even making phone calls, although that rarely happens.

What's the best travel tip you've been given?

Take a prescription sleeping tablet on a long haul flight and another one the first night you arrive and you've locked in the time zone straight away.

What's the best thing you've brought back from a trip?

I bought an amazing oil still life from Paris that I have framed above of a cabinet of crystal decanters, but I would possibly choose the figurine I had shipped from Santorini. She's tall and elegant, and stands demurely under a lamp in the lounge.

Favourite airport to land at?

Auckland. It means I'm home.

What's the next trip you've got planned?

I'm taking a small group tour to Houston and New Orleans in March. We're going to see Steven Adams and the OKC Thunder play the Houston Rockets, plus spend a few days in the French Quarter at one of my favourite hotels for some jazz and great food, plus a night in a lavishly restored plantation home on the Mississippi, before three days in Houston to visit Nasa, watch the basketball and eat Texas ribs.

Megan Singleton is hosting a tour of the American South in March. For details, go to bloggeratlarge.com