The Travel Gauntlet returns for another week of grilling two top travellers. If this is your first time entering the Travel Gauntlet – welcome! And if you’re a regular reader – a bit of a refresh never hurt anyone. So here’s how it works: we ask one of our loyal staff members and a member of our travel-loving online community five questions. Not any five quesions, mind. These five questions will put our unsuspecting participants’ travel knowledge, experience and opinions to the ultimate test.
Sound like something you’d like to do? Hurrah! Drop us an email and we’ll see if you meet our high standards. Or maybe we’ll just send you five questions to answer. Either way, be prepared!
So, let’s see who these week’s brave contenders are…
Running The Gauntlet this week, it’s…
Travel Expert Charles Knights from STA Travel Bath! Here he is at the Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal, the 10th highest mountain on earth, don’tchaknow.
Charles practises his leap frog skills in Nepal
Up against Charles is travel lover Sophie Williams from Bristol! Here’s Sophie having a whale of a time in Sydney.
Sophie having a laugh Down Under
Step into the Travel Gauntlet
All that’s left to say is, Charles, Sophie – step into the Travel Gauntlet!
| Charles Knights, Travel Expert at STA Travel Bath | Travel lover Sophie Williams | |
|---|---|---|
| Where’s next on your travel wishlist? | Central Asia and the roads less travelled. I’m thinking of flying into Tashkent, Uzbekistan and spend some time travelling the old silk road route, into Tajikistan for some trekking in the high Pamirs and then finishing in Kyrgyzstan for some more travelling and trekking, hopefully a few nights in a yurt with some nomads along the shores of Song Kul. | I really want to go to Taiwan which I have heard is really beautiful. |
| Where’s your perfect weekend destination? | A weekend of climbing in the Lake district followed by a well deserved pint by a log fire in a cosy pub….or camping out having a surf trip somewhere along the coast – tough decision! | My perfect weekend destination would be Oslo. It’s such a small and beautiful city. When it snows it looks stunning – it’s the best time to go. You can wrap up warm and head out in search of a hot chocolate by the bay area and look at all of the frozen fjords. |
| Backpacker or flashpacker? | Backpacker all the way, the lighter the better. | Backpacker for sure. In China last year it felt great to not care about what you looked like, carrying as little as possible and heading out on a great train ride with a couple of books, meeting lots of new people and sharing experiences. |
| Which stamp in your passport is your favourite? | The Chinese visa, it has the Great Wall sweeping in the background. | Probably Thailand because there was one point where I thought I wasn’t going to make the flight. It was a relief when we landed and I was through customs. |
| Flying solo, as a two, or a crew? | Solo as you can go and do as you want, travelling as a two does have it’s perks though, particularly for accommodation and taxis whereby the cost is halved – Awesome! | Travelling in a crew is great however the best times I’ve had travelling have been when we have been as a crew and then separated into twos or threes. It’s nice to share an adventure but sometimes groups can get a little bit too much. |
I think it’s safe to say that Charles and Sophie both made it through the Travel Gauntlet alive. Great travel knowledge, guys! Thanks for taking part.
