Pauly Vella is A) one of Australia’s most followed Instagrammers, known for his dreamy travel and beach scape photography taken at some of the most amazing destinations from around the world and B) a 23 year old air-conditioning unit repairman from Sydney’s Central Coast.
To give you an idea of the kind of tales needed to enter Visa’s Holiday Replay competition, which is giving travel buffs the chance to win $20k to re-do their worst ever holiday experience, Pauly was kind enough to re-live his most painful travel memory for us (thanks, mate!):
What happened on the holiday you wish you could replay?
My mates and I decided to rent a pick up ute while holidaying in beautiful Port Villa Vanuatu. It was a dual cab and had the standard five seats, however looking around at the locals standing up in the tray of their vehicles, we decided to say “when in Rome” and tried it out. It was great fun seeing the incredible jungle style beauty of Vanuatu from this perspective. We took a few bumps on a dirt track (travelling through a jungle path to the beach) and I didn’t notice at the time but my backpack, which was sitting in the ute next to me, had become airborne with the knocks and bumps of the track.
If you were able to do it all again, what would you change?
I’d put my bag in the front of the ute where it wouldn’t fall out and never again withdraw a large chunk of cash before going on an adventure.
Despite all that, what were some of the highlights of visiting that destination?
The highlight was an island we travelled to called Lelapa Island. I’ve done a lot of snorkeling and have been to a lot of different reefs. This is, hands down, the best snorkeling experience I have ever had. The clearest water I’ve ever seen. Eight metres deep and you can see the bottom so clearly.
Any other tales that come in second place for worst travel experience?
Another big mistake I made was my trip last year to Gozo in Malta. I’d been before in 2010 and taken photos of the incredible Azures window but this time I wanted to get that shot that would make people want to go there! I needed my tripod to do some nice long exposures. Unfortunately someone else also liked my tripod and ‘borrowed’ it from my hotel room…
I went to the spot without a tripod and made the best of a bad situation. I used a rock and some old rubber fishing gear I found on the rock face – improvisation! – and it got the job done.
From all you’ve learned on your many overseas adventures, what are your top tips for trotting the globe?
