Growing up in a village in sunny West Yorkshire, I was always torn between travel and design when it came to deciding my future. I went down the travel route and after ten years working in the industry, I decided to scratch that design itch, and headed to Devon where I spent a year living in a campervan, working in a remote workshop, studying furniture design and craftsmanship. Though it was one of the best times of my life, I found myself being drawn back into the travel industry and moved to Bristol.

I was lucky enough to travel as a child with my family but fell in love with the mountains when I went skiing on a school trip. That turned into working in Chamonix, France, and later spent a ski season in Banff, Canada, as a snowboard instructor. When it comes to travel, rugged natural landscapes and mountains are my go-to.

I’ve travelled a fair bit, but Iceland is still ‘the one’. I always wanted to travel there for as long as I can remember and ended up booking a trip for a week, but once there I ended up staying for the best part of a month. It was everything I expected and more. I’d never experienced anywhere like that, somewhere so bleak and beautiful at the same time; I don’t think there are many places in the world like that – especially not within three hours of the UK. ‘Otherworldly’ is definitely the word.

Following that trip, I visited Japan for a month, which again was incredible but didn’t compare to Iceland. Returning to Iceland with Regent this year I thought it may be different or possibly spoil my memories of it, but it didn’t at all - it’s still my favourite.

I road-tripped through the country both times. Pitching a tent in the dark one night and waking up to realise we were just alongside Jokulsarlon Glacial Lagoon was just spectacular. On my next visit, I’m going to head to the north-west and explore the northern regions deeper, as well as taking a 4x4 out to discover the remote highlands in the summer.

I’ve finally ticked the last country in Scandinavia off the list, having now just returned from Southern Finland, exploring Helsinki and some of the countryside and towns in the south, and have previously visited Norway and Sweden.

Greenland is the next one on the list; I love anywhere vast, cold and remote, so it’s the natural next step from Iceland. With Regent, I’m heading to Southern Greenland this summer – the greenest part of the frozen country, where I’ll be immersing myself in Inuit culture, kayaking through the fjord systems and floating past immense icebergs under my own steam. I absolutely cannot wait!

I’ve been working in the travel industry since I got my first ‘proper job’ in the late 1990’s. I figured that if I don’t have the money to travel then perhaps somebody might pay me to do so! The reality wasn’t quite like that but over the years I have used every available opportunity to visit all sorts of areas and try new adventures that I might not have otherwise considered; I have watched Beach Volleyball during the Sydney Olympics, climbed the highest peaks in Africa, followed Bradley Wiggins on my bike in the Tour de France and sailed a tall ship down the Brazilian coast. Since joining Regent in 2012 my focus has been on Russia and Eastern Europe with recent visits to Moscow and St Petersburg as well as a short spell leading our tour to Moldova. This tiny, and very friendly, republic is my new favourite country with loads to offer the experienced traveller and can easily be combined with a tour down to the Crimea in Southern Ukraine.

Read more about my travel to Regent Holiday's destinations in my blog or click here to explore our Ukraine, Moldova or Russia holidays. 

Carl has been with Regent holidays since 2004 and is one of our leading experts on the Caucasus and North and South Korea.  He has led dozens of tours, and knows some of our more uncommon destinations like no one else. With 20 plus trips to North Korea alone under his belt, Carl is regularly called upon by the BBC, The Times and other media outlets to comment on the country.

From Carl: I joined Regent in 2004 after two years living in Mongolia. From Bosnia to Burma, I have always enjoyed more unusual destinations - and that’s why I love leading tours for Regent. In my time here I have had enough weird, wonderful and memorable experiences to fill a lifetime; whether posing as a scientist to get our inaugural Chernobyl tour group into “the zone,” being given a private train carriage for the 9000km journey all the way from Pyongyang to Moscow or being followed by the Turkmen KGB. My tours are always an adventure.

My true labour of love is developing our North Korea tours and I have had the opportunity to visit this unique, propaganda-filled country more than 20 times. In many cases, we have been the first ever western tours into certain cities and regions.

One of my favourite tours at the moment is our pioneering North Korea tour – exactly for that reason – we’re visiting regions and cities very few people get to see. Our trip up to the provincial capital of Chongjin is especially rare, while the chance to visit an everyday market in Rajin is completely unique. If you want to see North Korea beyond Pyongyang, this is the tour to take.

I have also worked on creating a pioneering tour that travels through Abkhazia, a forgotten, ex-soviet breakaway state in the Caucasus that offers visitors the opportunity to watch as a region unofficially recognised as a country begins to flourish following a turbulent past few decades.