By Sue Williams
Adam Brand.
THE TRAVELLER
Country music star Adam Brand, the winner of 12 Country Music Awards of Australia, who'll be singing at the Woolworths Carols in the Domain on Saturday December 21, being broadcast live on the Seven Network carolsinthedomain.com/.
NUMBER OF COUNTRIES VISITED
12
MY WORST PASSPORT MISHAP WAS
when I was travelling by car from Hong Kong to Shenzhen and needed to get a three-day visa to go into mainland China. But at the immigration office, the customs officer looked at my passport, then looked at me, then back at my passport and back at me. Then he called for someone else to look. He looked for a few minutes, they both shook their head and took me to another area. The whole process ended up taking two hours. It's just that I had longer hair in the passport photo and maybe I'd changed a little in the four years since it was taken.
I GOT MY FIRST PASSPORT WHEN I WAS
21 in 1991.
MY PASSPORT PHOTO IS
a lot closer to how I look now thankfully.
I CAN'T STOP GOING BACK TO
Nashville. It's the centre of the music universe.
MY LAST TRAVEL DESTINATION WAS
Nashville in February this year to write songs and do some studio sessions. I was there for about two weeks.
MY NEXT TRAVEL DESTINATION IS
Phuket for a holiday and to take my baby girl to meet her grandparents. We will be in country for two weeks.
I'M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO
family time. This is our first big family holiday. I know we are only a small family of three, but I'm so excited to travel with my baby girl, Pepper. In all my travels I have always looked at other mums and dads travelling and going somewhere exciting with their babies and kids. Now it's finally my turn to be one of them.
WHAT I REALLY WANT FROM MY NEXT TRIP IS
the memories of some of the "firsts" we will experience together. The first time Pepper meets her grandparents, aunties and cousins. The first long-haul flight we take, and how we survive it.
I LOVE TO TRAVEL BECAUSE
I'm such a home body and sometimes it takes a crow bar to get me from my house. But my job has me travelling two to three weekends a month so I'm used to living from a suitcase and I also love going to new countries. So I'm a bit of a contradiction to myself. But I am a big foodie and in particular I love street food so that's right up there in the reasons I pry myself from home.
MY TRAVEL PHILOSOPHY IS
never over pack. If the suitcase is full before you leave home and it's all neatly folded and organised, then it's going to burst when you're away.
THE ONE TRAVEL MISTAKE I ALWAYS MAKE IS
not working out the whole phone-roaming, data thing.
THE ONE THING I REALLY DO GET RIGHT WHEN I TRAVEL IS
making back-ups of details, tickets and numbers and always having some foreign currency on me before landing in the country. I learnt the hard way …
IF I HAD TO SIT IN THE MIDDLE SEAT THE PASSENGERS I'D WANT ON EITHER SIDE OF ME WOULD BE
I'd prefer to have no one. The plane is my chill-out time. I don't want to have a big conversation and chit chat; I want to take my shoes off, recline the seat a little, put the headphones on and watch movies while eating chocolate.
THE ONE FAMOUS TRAVELLER I REALLY ADMIRE IS
[US actor, producer and Qantas ambassador] John Travolta. That guy flies the plane!
THE ONE FAMOUS PERSON I'D LIKE TO TRAVEL WITH IS
If I had to travel with someone, then it would have to be Jeff [Fatt] one of the founders of The Wiggles. Rumour has it he falls asleep easily …
AIRLINE FOOD IS
annoying. So many packets and bits of packaging which end up all around you in your seat and on the floor. I eat before boarding, take my own snacks and then I'm ready to find food in the new place we land in.
AIRPORT SECURITY IS
necessary. Sure, sometimes it's slow but I'm glad it's there.
HOTELS ARE
just somewhere to sleep, change and shower really. I stay in them a lot, about 70-100 nights a year. My faves are always the rooms that feel more like an apartment with a kitchen and big fridge. I can't stand those tiny little fridges that you can't even fit an apple into.
I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO GO TO
Sicily, where my dad was born.
I'VE NEVER WANTED TO GO TO
anywhere. I don't have a country on my blacklist. I'm open to seeing all of them.
AISLE OR WINDOW?
Aisle. I really don't like being boxed in.
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