HE SAID... We were making our way northeast from Santa Elena to Tikal today, and we had an early start. We took a couple of sunrise photos over the lake surrounding Flores (Lago de Peten Itza) before leaving Hotel Maya Internacional at 6am. We stopped to pick up our pre-ordered breakfast bags at a small roadside shop (El Arbol) on the way to Tikal National Park. The bags included sandwiches (egg and bacon; ham and cheese), ramon seed biscuits, fresh juice and green oranges. The food was fantastic, especially the homemade bread and biscuits. We arrived at the Tikal National Park entrance at 7am and met Juan, our guide for the tour of the Maya ruins. We made our way to the visitor centre and started walking into overgrown jungle in the searing heat – it ... read more

HE SAID... We woke early again, thanks to the overly enthusiastic rooster that had set himself off at 3am every morning since we had been in Antigua. We made our way out of the Antiguan valley at 5am in bright moonlight and descended into Guatemala City with a blood red sun rising over the sprawling city. We were meant to be travelling to Semuc Champey, but political unrest in that part of the country had made it unsafe for travel, so we were venturing instead to Rio Dulce, close to the Caribbean coast. We had a six hour drive ahead of us, so we had stocked up on provisions. As I stared out the window of our minibus, the settlements on the outskirts of Guatemala City were a stark reminder of the extent of poverty that ... read more

HE SAID... The lead up to this holiday was fairly hectic, with tenders to be lodged and deadlines to be met. The last week was particularly tiring, with long work days interspersed with sporadic holiday organising. Still, we made it in the end. The night before we left was incredibly quiet without Jasper, Oliver and Mia, but we were able to relax. With good planning and an early night, we were wide awake at 3am on the morning of our long-haul flight from Hobart to Antigua (Guatemala) via Sydney and Dallas. We are covering three countries in this trip – Guatemala, Belize and Mexico. It’s a part of the world we have not yet traversed, and by careful design and planning on Ren’s part, we’ll be in Mexico City for my 50th birthday. This is a ... read more

HE SAID... While it’s hard to paraphrase a month of adventure into a small reflective epilogue, there are a few standout memories that I’ve collated below. The Food: The food in India was sensational. Regardless of where it was cooked (or who it was cooked by), the food was always a highlight of our travel days. While it’s difficult to pick some meals over others, the following were absolute standouts: • Mushroom vindaloo and aubergine curry in Fort Kochi (our first meal in India) • Kerala fish curry in Fort Kochi • ‘South Indian Meal’ in Coimbatore (the best all-you-can-eat thali for $AUD1.70) • Potato and cauliflower curry wherever we stopped, with particularly memorable versions in Ooty, Mysore, Madurai, Thekkady, Ranthambhore, Fort Madhogarh and Pushkar • Roast chicken and baby potatoes in Masinagudi • Fish curry ... read more

HE SAID... We arrived in Delhi at 5.30am after leaving Pushkar the previous evening in an overnight train. We jumped off the train, negotiated the platform masses, traversed the overpass, evaded the rickshaw touts and finally found our taxi in the dark surrounds outside New Delhi station. We made our way through the backstreets of Delhi to Hotel Gulnar in Karol Bagh. We checked into a temporary day room, showered and then wandered the backstreets around our hotel until our room was ready. We had a masala chai (spiced sweet milky tea) from our favourite local street restaurant just across the road from the hotel, and we also stumbled upon a cricket match in a small dusty park area. We decided to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant, so we sat down to cornflakes with hot ... read more