How did you get involved in travel writing?

Working on Woman magazine as Beauty Editor and then as Editor of Successful Slimming, at IPC, I had to arrange and lead photo trips, with a photographer, models and hairdresser, many months ahead in order to get suitable pictures for our summer issues. This involved going abroad during the British winter to places such as Antigua, Jamaica, India, Australia and Mauritius and also writing features on them.

What is the oddest place you visited?

A shaman’s compound in Northern Peru where the ceremony involved him, his followers and us taking mouthfuls of eau de cologne as he read the bones and chanted.

Where would you never want to go again?

Blackpool, because as a child and teenager in Manchester I had to go there each year with my parents until the age of 16, when I refused to accompany them again.

What's the best travel advice you've ever been given?

Have curd (local natural yogurt) every morning for breakfast when in India because it helps to prevent Delhi-belly.

Which travel destination has taken you most by surprise?

The Antarctic. I never realised that icebergs could be so beautiful with the sunlight shining through them or that thousands of penguins nesting on the rocks together would smell so awful.