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Geraldine Joaquim is exceptionally well-traveled. She takes around four foreign holidays a year and has visited more than 60 countries, enjoying trips to Yap in Micronesia, Brazil, Okinawa in Japan, Russia, South Africa, Australia, Mozambique and many more.
Last year the 54-year-old managed five trips: skiing in Andorra, safari in South Africa, a villa holiday in Italy, a week’s diving in Sharm el Sheik Egypt and a Christmas market trip in Mons and Bruges, Belgium.
Joaquim, from Petworth in West Sussex said: “I love seeing new and different places, really feeling like I’m in a completely diverse place to my normal life and experiencing interesting cultures
“I think it’s a privilege to be a tourist in another country, so it’s important to see the good and the not-so-good, and not expect a sanitized version.
“It also makes me appreciate what I have at home even more, and it’s something my husband and I have encouraged our two daughters to experience.”
Joaquim is a hypnotherapist and wellness coach but used to travel professionally when she worked in international marketing. She now travels solely for fun.
“I really like to experience a variety of site-seeing, activities, beach and culture – I like to know I’m somewhere different, not just sitting on a beach or staying in a hotel that could be anywhere,” she said.
“I’ve been lucky to travel to some pretty far-flung places, as well as the more mainstream, and I try to keep an open mind and learn a little about local culture and customs,”
But despite her wanderlust, Joaquim doesn’t actually like being away from home for very long.
Getting a good insight into different cultures and ways of living not only broadens our horizons, but it also helps us to appreciate what we have at home.
“And I actually don’t like being away from home for long periods, with all our home comforts and the familiarity of being in our own environment, seeing our friends and family.
“I know that sounds counterintuitive to the amount of travel I do, but I miss my pets too; our two dogs, both Rhodeisan Ridgebacks, and our cat, Honey when I’m away. So traveling little and often strikes a nice balance.”
There is only one place that she would never visit again, Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.
“It was probably one of my worst travel experiences,” Joaquim said. “I was on a work trip flying in from Montevideo in Uruguay and my flight arrived late at night. I had a car booked to transfer me from the airport to a hotel in the city for an overnight stay before heading on to Isla Margarita, a tiny island off the coast.
“It felt pretty normal until I started waiting for the transfer, and waited and waited. I was there for hours and as the small airport emptied I realized I was alone.
“My phone wasn’t working, it was 1pm and there was no-one else around. So when a man showed up and said in broken English that he was here to take me to the hotel I was relieved. But as I got in the car, there was another man sitting in the front seat and my stress response went through the roof.
“I would never normally get in a car with two strange men but I had no other options, so I got a tiny pen knife from my hand luggage and spent the 30-minute journey on high alert with it clutched in my hand,” she explains.
Fortunately, she arrived at the run-down hotel without incident, piled up her luggage in front of the door and spent a night in fitful sleep.
The next day, as she paid for her taxi back at the airport, a young man took her bags and fled.
She chased after him, only to learn that he was offering an informal check in.
Joaquim reluctantly handed over some cash and checked in for the onward flight – luckily, the return journey only involved a short lay-over at Caracas airport before flying back home to the UK.
