Jenna Snelgrove and partner at Machu Picchu after completing the Inca Trail. Photo / Supplied
Jenna Snelgrove and partner at Machu Picchu after completing the Inca Trail. Photo / Supplied
Jenna Snelgrove recounts her best travel memories to Elisabeth Easther
Tranzit Coachlines, celebrating its centenary in 2024, offers everything from tours and transport to rentals. Jenna Snelgrove is the fourth generation to work in her family's Wairarapa-based transport and tourism company.
The most amazing job in the world
I wasimmersed in the family business as far back as I can remember. Dinner table conversations were about buses and I grew up spending weekends at the terminus with Dad, helping drivers unload luggage. I drove buses from the age of 15, sometimes reversing three kilometres down country roads.
I'm still the last call when we're short on drivers, sometimes I'll do the school run. I love getting behind the wheel, it's exhilarating. My kids think I have the most amazing job in the world. When we travel around the country the kids tell people, "Our mum drives buses".
Latin lessons
My partner is Peruvian. His family emigrated to Sydney when he was 8years old and when his parents returned to Peru for a spell, we visited. The people were warm and welcoming, it was a lot cleaner and safer than I'd envisaged. Peru is so diverse with beaches, mountains and big city life.
I was a vegetarian when we visited, which was a struggle when most local dishes consisted of meat and six carbs. To eat authentically, I ventured out from my vegetarianism when we were walking Machu Picchu and ate some llama stew. Unfortunately it didn't sit right with me, but there wasn't much we could do so I just trekked on.
The Inca Trail is a four-day trek, although because guides carry your pack, you do feel like a bit of a fraud. We took minimal gear. At the supermarket prior, my partner was about to get three packets of hand wipes and I said, "don't be ridiculous one is plenty". That was my biggest regret, considering the llama stew.
The scenery was spectacular but because there are thousands of people doing the trail, every morning we'd get up before the rush. I loved the solitude when we had it. We'd arrive at our campsite, the tents were set up, and we'd lie down before dinner which was cooked for us.
We were up at 4am to finish the last leg of the journey - nothing can prepare you for the moment you walk over the last hill and see what the Incas built.
Paris Syndrome
The poverty in Paris hit me hard. I first visited in 2005 with a very romantic, idealistic view and it wasn't what I'd imagined. I was sitting by myself on the bank of the River Seine, close to the Eiffel Tower, when a gypsy approached me, a mother with her baby girl. The woman asked for money and I said "I'm sorry, don't have any", although I had some grapes, which I offered, but she threw them to the side and kept saying, "give me money, give me money". It was scary and heartbreaking.
Jenna Snelgrove, sales and marketing director for Tranzit, with her family in New Plymouth. Photo / Supplied
Italy drives you crazy
In Italy my partner wouldn't pay €75 ($128) for a GPS, back when there was no mobile data and no Google maps. We were travelling through Rome, there were no lanes, we didn't know what direction to go in surrounded by all these crazy Italian drivers.
In Tuscany we were actually pulled over by Italian police because we were going round and round in circles. Another time we tried to do a three-point U-turn on the windy roads of the Amalfi Coast. We were in a smart car, half the size of a normal car, and we got to two points and were pretty much horizontal between the cliff and the edge, and this lovely Italian man came over to help. He hopped in the car then jumped straight out again saying, "no automatica, no automatica". He refused to drive our car because it was automatic.
Jenna Snelgrove says the views, and the silence, were spectacular at the Wairarapa Ballooning Festival. Photo / Supplied
I went hot-air ballooning at The Wairarapa Balloon Festival a few years ago. It was surreal and amazing, to see the landscape from a totally different perspective; the cows in their paddocks. We got up at the crack of dawn for a briefing on the field.
When the pilot released some gas to give the balloon some lift, the noise and the heat was intense. When they're not putting gas in it's silent, spectacular. I just wanted to be mindful and appreciate the calm.
Jenna Snelgrove is sales and marketing director for Tranzit Group. tranzit.co.nz
