Name: Roberta Muir

Age: 48

Occupation: Manager of Sydney Seafood School and Freelance food/beverage/travel writer

Favourite travel destination?: Italy

Why?: I love the food, the wine, the culture, the people.

Worst experience?: I can’t think of one, every experience is an adventure, there’s always something good, funny or educational to come out of it.

For example, after a day trip to Sicily I once missed the last train from Reggio di Calabria (on the very tip of Italy’s mainland) back to Tropea where I was staying, and so decided to start walking with my travelling companion – just as we were so weary we were going to lie down in a field and sleep, a tiny ape (3 wheel mini-truck) came along and picked us up. He’d been to the local fishmarket to buy his days goods and so my girlfriend sat in the tiny front cabin with the driver and I perched on the rim of the back tray with my feet in icy fish water and we rode back into town in style!

Best tips for beating jetlag?: Get into the sleeping pattern of the new time zone asap – if you arrive during the day, resist the urge to nap before normal ‘bed time’

What is the one thing you don’t leave home without?: Something super-comfy to change into once the plane takes off (track suit, t-shirt and shorts, or similar – something I can sleep in).

Do you stay in touch with people while you’re travelling?: I phone my family daily (using a pre-paid SIM card for whatever region I’m travelling in) and tweet when I have access so my friends can follow my travels.

Best meal you’ve ever had while travelling?: On my most recent trip (June 2010). It was at Cracco in Milan, an ‘avant-garde’ Italian restaurant doing spectacular modern food grounded in traditional Italian cuisine.

Best kiss?: A beautiful Turkish boy called Tanju on my first trip overseas 20+ years ago …..

Best/scariest/funniest drive: Good, scary and funny: along the narrow, windy, sheer cliffs of the Amalfi coast with my Mother – I was driving along, loving the spectacular scenery and thought she was too until I saw the terrified look on her face every time we had to pass a bus or truck coming the other way

What has been the big WOW moment of your travelling life?: So hard to name one … for sheer breathtaking wow-factor, flying over Victoria Falls (Zambia/Zimbabwe) in a small plane while on safari in Africa – and watching the spray of the water fly up in the air and seeing the geography of how the falls were formed along a fault line

Image caption: This photo was taken this June on a trip to Switzerland – I’ve never been in summer before and this is the first time I’ve seen it covered in beautiful wildflowers – we were in a village called Visperterminen where the highest (altitude) grapevines in Europe are found.