“I love travel – I love seeing something different from what I’ve grown up with. That is why I call Egypt my ‘Disneyland’. It is so different to anywhere else. The pyramids are such a wonderful structure, they blow your mind. They are rough and uneven with sand everywhere.

I’ve grown up in a family who thinks I’m ridiculous for even leaving Australia. None of my 10 brothers and sisters has ever travelled. They think I’m crazy and that there is something wrong with me!

I like small group tours because you get to know so many different people. I’ve met Doctors and Lawyers who I would have never had met at home.

My greatest piece of travel advice is to always pack half and half in each suitcase when you travel as a couple. That way if one suitcase goes missing, you will always have some clothes! My husband and I lost a suitcase once, and we were so happy that we had taken my advice!

I think I got the travel bug because I got cancer 30 years ago. I thought to myself ‘We aren’t here forever’. I’m not going to waste time thinking whether or not I have a fancy house or nice clothes, I want to see the world.

I haven’t regretted it, not one bit. People say to me ‘I’m going to do that when I retire’, and I say to them ‘Do it now, because you just don’t know what is ahead of you’. My husband sadly only lived for 18 months after he retired, he was 69.”