Anton Enus will never forget one of his most stressful travel moments. In a rush to catch his flight home, the journalist and presenter hopped out of a taxi at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport without his bag – containing his passport, wallet and phone.
“I felt like I was having two heart attacks at the same time,” the SBS World News host says, remembering his reaction. “Our saving grace was that we had booked the taxi, not hailed it. So we called the hotel, who contacted the taxi company, which radioed the driver, and he came back to the airport to reunite me with my bag.”
Enus grew up in Durban, South Africa, moving to Sydney in 1999 to take up a role at SBS. Many of his happiest travel memories are from family trips close to home, though he has also explored everywhere from Europe to India. Here, he shares the good and bad of his travel life, as well as telling us about the trip he didn’t take – but still wishes he had.
My earliest childhood holiday memory is …
As a family we always went camping over the Easter school holidays at Midmar Dam, a couple of hours outside Durban. Some years we camped in tents, in others we splashed out and rented a holiday shack. All pretty modest, but enjoyable family times.
Midmar Dam had a tennis court. My best memory was beating my dad for the first time. It took me years, but I was determined – and it didn’t matter one bit that his sports were rugby and wrestling, not tennis.
Describe your most memorable travel meal – good, terrible or completely out there.
A long time ago on a backpacking trip through India, my partner and I blew a whole week’s budget on the buffet at the Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur, a very fancy hotel. But I can still remember the joy I got from those amazing flavours and the sheer luxury of the experience.
What’s the most relaxing place you’ve ever visited?
Probably the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa. For years I would spend every Christmas with friends, hiking to the top of the plateau for five or six nights. The views, earned from a hard day’s slog with a heavy backpack, were spectacular and serene.
And the most stressful?
The centre of New Delhi. Unrelenting noise, a crush of people that reduced personal space to zero, scam artists at every turn, tireless beggars, masterful pickpockets. But, despite those frustrations, it’s also totally unforgettable.
What’s one item you always put in your suitcase?
Running gloves. I tend to travel in early European springtime when the temperature can be bracing. Running gloves are much lighter, thinner and more breathable than everyday gloves.
And since I pack very lightly for my trips, having a pair of gloves that takes up no space at all, is very functional and doubles up for other occasions, is a big win.
What’s your strategy for enduring long-haul flights?
Beg for an upgrade to a lie-flat seat. Sadly, this is a fantasy, as I’ve never been game to ask. Failing that, always have a really good book, plush eye mask and, not least, noise-cancelling earphones.
What’s your biggest travel regret?
Not accompanying my partner to Machu Picchu when it was still possible to do it as a quiet, meditative experience.
It must have been 1995. I stayed home because money was tight. My partner, then working as an engineer, got to stay at a modest hotel near the entrance to the site. This afforded him an early and serene experience before the hordes arrived.
The hotel has since been taken over by a chain and is no longer affordable. I feel I missed my opportunity to see Machu Picchu without the crush of people.
Anton Enus hosts SBS World News, nightly at 6.30pm.