We are delighted to be joined on our blog today by Avril Tremayne who is the co-author of Meet Me In Tahiti.

If you’re familiar with Georgia Toffolo’s Meet Me series, you’ll know that the four Lost Hours girls live in various exciting and exotic locations around the world.

And who better to co-write Meet me In Tahiti than the wonderful Avril Tremayne, who knows a thing or two (well more than a thing or two…) about travelling herself!

Read about her fabulous jet-setting experiences below.

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I’ve always considered myself a run-of-the-mill kind of person, except for one thing—my ‘Say-Yes-And-Work-Backwards-From-There’ philosophy, which has guided most of my adult decisions and guaranteed me an interesting time.  

At the heart of that philosophy has been one constant: travel.  

My overwhelming desire to see the world and all its amazing people has meant I’ve taken jobs based purely on the opportunity to do that. I’ve gone places I possibly shouldn’t have just because there was a seat on an aircraft available (visiting the Papua New Guinean highlands as an eye-popping platinum blonde springs to mind). And for a memorable few years, I left my entire family behind (talk about wrenching) to live in a place I’d never visited and where I knew not one soul—although I can happily say the family not only survived but enjoyed visiting me, and I’m a better person for the experience.  

So—a quick highlight of the most glamorous milestones of Avril for anyone who’s interested. 

Thanks to what I’d have to describe as a globetrotting career, I’ve been at soirees (sometimes huge parties, sometimes more intimate gatherings) attended by the likes of George Clooney, Elle Macpherson, Hugh Jackman, Kathryn Heigl, Roger Moore, Dannii Minogue, Cate Blanchett, Olivia Newton-John, and—yes, I will admit it—Fabio.  

I’ve sat next to movie stars and behind/beside media moguls and ambassadors on planes, been in meetings with government ministers, had dealings with a couple of Australian Prime Ministers, and I can’t remember how many ‘important’ global CEOs I’ve met. 

I’ve flown around the world with John Travolta on business; sat down for an informal non-business chat with famous author Dominick Dunne in New York; met royalty and billionaires in the Middle East; passed on an opportunity to meet the Prince of Wales in favour of sending someone else on my team to the afternoon tea (well hell, she’d done all the work!); met assorted sporting types, including the absolutely wonderful Australian sprinting star Cathy Freeman, a few Aussie star cricketers, an occasional rugby player, F1 drivers in Abu Dhabi, and a footballer (absolutely delightful company) in the UK; and had hilarious alcohol-fueled discussions with TV personalities in various countries. 

But of all these memories, my most treasured one involved not one star-sighting. It was a wedding I gatecrashed on the island of Cebu in the Philippines. Why is it so special? Because I was with one of my dearest friends, and having had dreadful news, she needed someone to go a little crazy with. (Dare I mention I stole the cigars from my then-CEO’s special gift from a Manila VIP, leaving a ransom note in the box and sending him a photo of the two of us smoking them while perching on stools in the hotel pool bar?—hmm, maybe not) The thing is that celebrity name-dropping/ hobnobbing is boring when compared to the times I’ve shared with friends all over this wonderful world. Which of course is why I loved working on Meet Me in Tahiti. Zoe the travel writer has had an amazing career traversing the globe, but she knows that her anchor is, always, her friends Victoria, Malie and Lily. Her anchor…and the tide, pulling her home. What a wonderful thing. 

It’s very hard to name your favourite travel destinations—especially as I still have so, so many places yet to go. But I’m sharing my current top 10 as they come to mind. (In no particular order, and excluding Australia, and New Zealand where I almost met instant-death white water rafting, because I’m taking away-from-home here!) 

•  Italy – country of my heart. 
• North America in general but my special place is Wyoming – for its physical majesty, and let’s face it, who doesn’t love a cowboy? 
• Egypt – so much to love, but also the mystery of it, because are so many amazing treasures beneath its cities that will never be discovered. 
• Turkey – breathtakingly gorgeous wherever you look, but I remember staying at a basic motel and swimming in a that was an actual ancient Roman hot spring—I was swimming over the top of Roman ruins! Like, wow! I didn’t even care that a steady stream of non-guest tourists was taking my photo. 
• Scottish Highlands– not only for the rollicking time I had there one New Year’s Eve, but for the stark solemnity of Culloden Moor.  
• India – the colour, the beauty, the outrageously excellent food, and I seriously cried at the beauty of the Taj Mahal (and I never cry). 
• Mexico – the whole country, but I have especially fond memories of El Fuerte, the birthplace of Zorro. 
• London – to me, the most exciting city in the world. 
• Tokyo – the stories I could tell (but I won’t…except that karaoke may have been involved) 
• Old Damascus, Syria – which I type with tears in my eyes. The most beautiful, interesting place I’ve ever been privileged to visit. 

[And yes, I do have a Tahiti story in my past, involving a handsome French soldier in a hot tub—but like Tokyo, that’s a don’t-go-there thing!] 

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Meet Me In Tahiti by Georgia Toffolo and co-written by Avril Tremayne is out now! Buy your copy here.

By Lauren Gardiner