10 people who travelled with us

1. Anthony Bourdain
Television Presenter, September 2007

What is the vilest thing you’ve ever eaten — that is, apart from sheep testicles in Morocco, ants’ eggs in Mexico, a raw seal eyeball as part of a traditional Inuit seal hunt and a whole cobra in Vietnam?

The fermented shark in Iceland was really, really unpleasant. They take shark meat and rot it underground for six months. I didn’t like that. Uzbekistan was not my favourite culinary destination either. But the best (or worst) example is the live octopus in Korea. It grabs hold of your tongue and tries to cling to the side of your mouth as you’re chewing it. That was a little challenging.

2. Patrick French
Writer, April 2003 

Best travel memory?

Having sex on a Delhi-Ajmer train, with discretion.

3. Jane Goodall

Primatologist, February 2007

You’ve travelled all over the world. Any trips that stand out?

One of my favourite trips was to the Goualougo Triangle in Congo—we spent many days walking through the swamps among gorillas and chimpanzees. I also loved my trip to Yellowstone—that’s the first time I saw bears. Another trip I did in the US a couple of months ago was fantastic—it was part of a project to teach a flock of captive-bred whooping cranes a new migration route. So I went up in a microlight dressed up as a crane, and had a whole flock of cranes flying beside me. It was beautiful…

4. Vishwanathan Anand

Chess Player, October 2006

Your favourite destination?

For the ultimate experience, I would say Iceland. It is so untouched. You just open your window and the splendour surrounds you. Then there are the places I’ve always wanted to see. I’ve been to Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. Now I’d like to visit Machu Picchu, Patagonia and New Zealand. But my dream is to swim with the elephants in the Andamans.

5. Ramchandra Guha

Writer, September 2008

Your most memorable holiday?

A week’s drive, c. 1977, from Dehradun to Gangotri and back, with a friend called Sanjay (Junior) Chatterjee, whose father was a forest officer, courtesy whom we halted each night at a resthouse with views, and with access to fresh fish from the Bhagirathi flowing beneath us. Without the father’s knowledge, we also rubbed ourselves some grass from the cannabis growing along the riverbanks!

6. Paul Theroux

Writer, April 2008

You have travelled through India and Asia several times, including long train journeys. Could you tell us about your most unusual experiences?

I live and travel in the hope that I will meet someone—a trader, a desperate youth, an enigmatic woman, an Ancient Mariner, who will fix me with a glittering eye and say, “A strange thing once happened to me…” My travel books are full of such encounters. A man in Cambodia said to me last year, as an opening, “I did something in Siem Reap that I’ve never done before in my life…” See my new book, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, for the whole story.

7. Alexander Frater
Writer, October 2007

When and where did you first meet the monsoon?

When I actually went in search of it. I’d been to India before but never during the monsoon. I was in Trivandrum when it came steaming in and, for as long as I live, I’ll never forget the excitement and exhilaration of that day. It was brilliant.

8. Mike Pandey
Wildlife Filmmaker, August 2005

Your most interesting travel experience?

Being charged by a lion at the Ngorongoro crater in Tanzania. I was saved by a female elephant who thought the lion was charging at her baby.

9. Louiz Banks
Jazz Musician, November 2008

A travel destination you miss?

Oh, how I miss the mountains, the cold climate and Darjeeling tea! And I can never get over Darjeeling’s dallo khursani (round chillies). I would devour eight to ten of these plump chillies every day to survive the cold. And mind you, Darjeeling chillies are potent! Unfortunately, I’ve had to discontinue for health reasons. I also miss the culture of Kolkata. No one talks money there. It’s just art and music. I yearn for its kathi rolls. Whenever my tours take me there, I bring back a whole bunch of them.

10. Rakesh Sharma
Astronaut, November 2010

Was space the ultimate travel experience for you? And what was the visual experience of the journey like?

Well, it was certainly very different. Although I must say, I had had some pretty exciting and adrenaline-filled journeys while serving in the air force. Visually, it was spectacular. If only there had been a little more time to absorb it all but, just as it was in training, every minute was accounted for on the flight itself. So, there really was no time to sit and gawk or savour the experience. It was all work.