Media personality, art lover, women’s health advocate and your potential new travel buddy, Petra Bagust, has something she wants to ask you. She has planned one heck of a holiday – with the help of the experts – and now she’s wondering: do you want to come with her?
Capsule x Insight Vacations
Right now, Petra Bagust is in duck mode.
She might look as though she’s serenely gliding through the water, but underneath the surface, her legs are moving flat out to work through everything she has on her plate.
“But luckily,” she says, “I have webbed feet!”
Just as well, because there’s a fair bit to juggle – she’s quite recently been diagnosed with ADHD, which she’s discussing on a brand new season of her award-winning podcast, Grey Areas, and then she has her radio show on The Breeze on Sunday mornings and a second podcast, Sunday Sanctuary, her work as a chaplainand then she has her radio show Sunday Sanctuary every Sunday morning on TodayFM, her work as a media chaplain, plus she’s working out the details for a brand new venture – The Hot Mess tour. That one is very nearly all sold out but will see her travelling the country with Niki Bezzant to talk all about perimenopause and menopause. When we call her for a chat she’s in the middle of designing backdrops, booking lighting and looking after her sponsors for it.
It’s at times like these it’s really good to have a holiday in the works. At Capsule, we always say a holiday is the answer – and particularly if perimenopause or menopause are in the picture.
Luckily, Petra has invited us all along with her on holiday – and yip, that includes you!
She’s planned a wee getaway with Insight Vacations premium tours, and it’s about as good as you can get.
“Yes, does anyone else out there want to escape this winter and make a run for Europe with me this year?” she says. “Maybe you’ve got ADHD too? Staring down perimenopause or menopause? Just want to have a little adventure? Come! Come join me!”
Her trip with premium touring brand, Insight Vacations is all about art, food and fabulous company and will see a small group of folks who are keen for a little adventure to work their way through Italy, the French Riviera and Spain on a very memorable two week trip.
Italy in particular is a place close to Petra’s heart –, it was where she and her husband honeymooned. “We hung out there for a month – I’d completed my Bachelor of Fine Arts, studied Italian language and Art History and it was just… transformative,” she says. “You really have to be there to understand it; to see the artworks and sculptures – it’s like this veil is lifted and you get an insight into the people behind the work, the stories, the politics, all the quirks – that’s what I love most, I think.”
That, she says, and gelato.
“The delight of eating gelato is so great, it is almost too hard to describe,” she says. “I committed, after my first bite of it, to eat a gelato every day. To me what makes a good one is one that takes a risk and delivers. I’ve tried so many – even Zuppa Inglese, which is English Soup. Yes, you can go back to your favourites, but there’s enough life left to experience the different flavours and take a risk!”
Petra says the trip is going to be all about discovering joy everywhere. Because, someone else is taking care of all the details, looking after logistics and doing the legwork, so you can just enjoy yourself.
The Insight Vacations expert team has designed the dream itinerary – with Petra’s help of course! Highlights include Local Specialist-led visits to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel in Rome, marvelling at Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia Gallery and visiting the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, as well as the renowned Museu Picasso and Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. And, as always on an Insight Vacation trip, there are special immersive experiences that you won’t find on other itineraries. Guests will get exclusive Insider Access moments such as a private wine tasting in Orvieto, a life drawing class in Florence, and a choice of curated experiences in Madrid.
“Imagine being able to say, ‘oh, when I was doing a life-drawing class in Florence?!’” says Petra. “What a story! What an experience and an adventure.”
Your four and five star accommodation has been handpicked for comfort and location and is all booked. Thirteen breakfasts and seven dinners and top rated restaurants have all been sorted – as have your airport transfers, and of course your transport. As part of Insight Vacations’ premium touring experience you’ll travel aboard ‘business class’ style coaches that see you seated high above the traffic, with unobstructed views and twice the legroom and personal space of a regular coach.
“I’m excited to meet the small group who come along and join me,” says Petra. “It’s funny thinking about it and who my new friends might be!”
Plus, along on the trip besides Petra, you’ll have an expert Insight Vacations Travel Director, separate from the Coach Driver to ensure you’re well taken care of 24/7. And, you’ll be joined by other expert guides along your journey.
If this sounds like your kind of holiday (um, who wouldn’t this appeal to?!) you can learn more or book in here.
Bikinis, blunders and best items for your carry-on: Petra shares her travel secrets:
Petra has travelled all over the world for work and for pleasure. She’s had plenty of magical experiences – plus some experiences that are unforgettable for all the wrong reasons! She shares here some of her favourite memories, plus her best travel advice, including the items you should always have in your bag:
Petra’s greatest travel love:
“My personality type finds it very difficult to pick favourites. I just love the novelty of travel. I love the joy of discovery, going somewhere I’ve never been before and sharing all those good things with other people. I utterly love France, Italy and Spain, where you can just get lost in the ancientness of it all, the otherness of it. As a New Zealander, it feels to me a bit like time travel.”
Petra’s greatest travel fail:
“We all have them. There was one time I fainted on a ferry in South Africa. I was with a TV crew – including my husband! – and they all left me there, because they didn’t realise that I had sort of folded over in half over the guard rail and fainted on the boat.”
Petra’s #1 piece of advice:
“I was given this piece of advice that I adopted straight away: Let yourself be ripped off once in every country. I used to enter these unknown, foreign environments filled with fear, like, who was going to rip me off? But then, I would miss out on all these incredible opportunities. Because overwhelmingly, like 19 out of 20 times, my encounters with people are positive and generous and kind. I’ve been shown through galleries, enjoyed meals in people’s homes, been driven places, shouted coffees, told stories and laughed with strangers. That’s all because of my ability to say yes – and that I have in my back pocket this get out of jail free card. I can stuff up once, and it’s all okay.
Three things she never travels without:
Number one: A bikini – it’s small, so you can always fit it in. It doubles up as spare undies if you run out. But most importantly, if you find yourself stopped at a beautiful beach, a lake, a hot pool, a spa – you can always have a swim.
Number two: A power bank. We’ve all got the world in our pockets and need to be fully charged.
Number three: A wide brim, foldable, ideally Kate Sylvester hat. I own three or four of them – my daughter gives me one every Christmas.
This exclusive Insight Vacations An Art Lover’s Taste of Europe with Petra Bagust 14-day premium tour is priced from $11,999 per person, twin share, with limited availability. For bookings and enquiries, contact [email protected] or click here.
