My Holidays: Paul Button of Canopy Tours

Paul Button of Canopy Tours.

Paul Button is general manager of Canopy Tours, in Rotorua.

What was your greatest holiday?
Exploring Central America. I flew into Honduras and travelled all the way down to Panama, then headed north by bus and car back to Canada.

And the worst?
I don't think there's such a thing as a bad holiday.

If we bump into you on holiday, what are you most likely to be doing?
Having fun with my two kids.

If we could teleport you to one place in New Zealand for a week-long holiday, where would it be?
Somewhere mountainous in the South Island to do a couple of the great walks around Queenstown, Milford and the Routeburn.

How about for a dream holiday internationally?
Somewhere tropical in Southeast Asia.

What's the dumbest thing you've ever done when travelling?
Flying into Honduras for an eight-month holiday without speaking a lick of Spanish. I realised the magnitude of my mistake, when I went to the tourist information desk at the airport and the people working there didn't speak a word of English.

Aisle seat or window seat?
Window seat every time.

Complete this sentence: I can't travel without ... My beautiful family.

What's the best travel tip you've ever been given?
I was told "keep your backpack with you in a taxi in Central America". I didn't follow that advice once in Managua. The driver insisted I put it in the boot and tried to steal it. I managed to negotiate it back for US$1.

What was the most memorable meal you've had while travelling?
Eating a meal while camping on Lake Superior, Canada. There was an incredible display of Northern Lights.

What's the best thing you've brought back from a trip?
A plain blue T-shirt with an embroidered NYPD logo. I was given it after a 17-day Colorado River rafting trip in the Grand Canyon from a New Yorker who owned his own construction company. He received it alongside his crew as commemorative T-shirts for volunteering in the 9/11 Twin Towers tragedy, supplying the first team with machinery to search the wreckage for survivors. At the end of the rafting trip, he shook my hand, handed me the shirt, and with a tear in his eye said, "This is for you, for being a real cool Kiwi."

Favourite airport to land at?
Vancouver. You fly in with views of the mountains, rivers and the ocean.

What's the next trip you've got planned?
To find that tropical beach I mentioned earlier.