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!

Travel has always been my passion and there is no better feeling than fulfilling someone’s dream to travel on a day to day basis at Regent Holidays.

Having worked in the travel industry now for a number of years, I have been extremely fortunate to have visited many incredible countries and for me the Iceland & the Arctic region is my favourite. A career highlight has to be my trip to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in 2014, where I was lucky enough to photograph Polar Bears and their cubs in their natural habitat. This incredible region in the Arctic North boasts huge glaciers, icebergs, ice fields, snow-capped peaks and more polar bears than people – hopefully I will get back there soon!

I have recently returned from a fly-drive in Iceland where I travelled from bustling Reykjavik up to the beautiful North of Iceland. On this drive I visited the remote man-made Ice Cave of Langjokull, Iceland’s second largest ice cap. It was simply breathtaking and an experience I will never forget!

Growing up in the rolling Cotswold hills and enjoying walking holidays to the Brecon Beacons, Lake District and Munroe-bagging in Scotland it seems inevitable that when I started exploring the wider world my hiking boots would be one of the first things to get packed whenever venturing abroad.

When it comes to trying to pick a favourite destination or travel experience, I'm a bit stumped. It’s hard to pick out just one because setting off along a trail leading from the guesthouse built into the cliff at the head of the canyon in Jordan’s Dana Biosphere Reserve, being invited for tea by the local Bedouin herding their goats in the valley and ending at the candle-lit guesthouse in Feynan is so different from the experience of strapping on your crampons, picking up your ice axe and heading up the stunning Svinafellsjokull glacier tongue in Iceland.

However one of the 'stand out' highlights of my travels with Regent would have to be the climb up Borneo’s Mount Kinabalu which stands at 4,096 metres and is the highest mountain in South East Asia.  Whilst the mountain is reasonably accessible and not too technically challenging (although you have the option of taking the nerve-wracking via ferrata route) only 146 permits are issued each day so the mountain never feels too busy.  The first day sees you climb solidly for about 6 hours through the pitcher-plant and bird-rich rainforest before taking a well-earned rest at the Laban Rata guesthouse.  The second day involves a pre-dawn start to reach the peak for sunrise.  As I climbed the moon was high and to the north-east, I could watch a spectacular display of lightning over the sea happening several hundred feet below me which was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The beauty of this peak is that having achieved the impressive feat of reaching the top and returning to the national park at the foot of the mountain you are lucky enough to be in Borneo so can take your weary limbs to soak in the baths at Poring Hot Springs, head further into the jungles to visit the orang-utan, elephants and proboscis monkeys or simply find a beautiful beach to relax on whilst enjoying the wonderful food and hospitality of the locals.

Read more about my travel experiences in my blog