New Zealand's South Island

When you're from New Zealand, most of the world's a long way away, so you'd better be prepared to jump on a plane on a regular basis. Brett Atkinson first jumped on a plane and flew from Auckland to Sydney when he was fifteen. A few well-travelled decades later, he's now been to more than 40 countries, discovered a whole world of street food, and learnt how to order a beer in a variety of languages. His career as a travel writer kicked off in 1995, when he scrawled a few articles extolling the virtues of Vietnamese street food. Editors in New Zealand and Australia liked his style, and for the next ten years Brett combined his scribbling with a 'real job' in advertising. Sandwiched in, around, and sometimes over his life in adland, Brett's had articles published on more than 20 different countries, and in more than 30 New Zealand and Australian magazines and newspapers. Fast forward to 2005, and he answered an ad from Lonely Planet in Wanderlust magazine looking for guidebook authors. A successful application later, and it was goodbye to the real job. During his work for Lonely Planet Brett's caught flying fish on the tiny Pacific nation of Niue, negotiated a Skoda around a snow-covered Czech Republic, and worked out how to get to off the beaten track Thai islands in the rainy season. He's also a big supporter of World Vision, and has travelled to Cambodia to write about their positive impact. When he's not on the road for Lonely Planet, Brett's based in Auckland, and writes regularly about sport, entertainment and travel for New Zealand magazines and online publications. Most weekends you'll find Brett and his wife Carol in an Auckland pub or restaurant, planning their next trip.Brett's Favourite Place: A toss-up between San Francisco and Istanbul.Travel Trip: For a relatively small sum in folding US$, you can always find someone to give you a lift, anywhere in the world.