Right now, I miss nothing. My focus is on how humanity will behave once the enforced slow-down imposed by the pandemic lifts. Before Covid-19, global travel had gone out of control – for too many, just a selfie-collecting, superficial fashion accessory, contributing significantly to environmental destruction, while landing ever-more "own goals" in terms of the quality and authenticity of the travel experience itself.
What are your strongest memories from the first overseas trip you ever took?
At 26 years old, the durian I tried in downtown Jakarta, as I got over the dawn call to prayer blasted from the loudspeaker outside my bedroom window, really made me feel the foreignness of where I was – it was intoxicating.
What was a standard family holiday like when growing up?
Mostly visits to a family bach at Waikanae beach. Swimming, tennis, barbecues, sunburn.
Who has most inspired your travels?
My grandfather, Ed, who will turn 103 in January. He travelled the world with work in the 1960s and 70s, then kept going independently into his 80s.
What is the greatest trip you've ever been on?
The most significant was my first to Khumbu in Nepal in 1988. That captivated me more than any other experience in my life.
And the worst?
Budget backpack travel can be brutal at times. In 1988 I arrived in Calcutta with a full-blown bout of dysentery and without a visa. The officials confiscated my passport, and made me buy a one-way ticket to Dhaka in Bangladesh. The next 24 hours battling corruption and illness while trying to get a visa and return ticket nearly did me in. After eventually making it back to Calcutta (40C and 100 percent humidity) a taxi driver with fiendish eyes drove so crazily that it seemed he wanted to finish what the Dhaka experience hadn't quite managed to.
What's your approach to packing for a big trip?
Less is more – if you pack it you have to lug it.
What is the destination that most surprised you?
Khumbu in Nepal, gateway to Mount Everest and home to the Sherpa people. Why? Read my book!
What's the first thing you do when you get home from a long trip?
Unpack, dirty stuff into the washing machine, download and filename my photos while everything is fresh in my memory.
What do you miss most about home when you travel?
My close family mostly. And perhaps cold lamb and tomato in Freya's soy and linseed bread sandwiches.
Photographer Peter Laurenson. Photo / Peter Laurenson
Where is the one destination you must see in your lifetime?
There is no destination I now must still visit. However, I'd like to take my partner Cathy to Khumbu, so she can finally meet my Sherpa friends Nima and Pasang Dorje and their kids.
What's your favourite thing about travel?
Authenticity, discovery and adventure, and capturing this through photography.
Peter Laurenson is the author of Khumbu: Gateway to Mount Everest, Pathways to Kinship, on sale now
