My Holidays: Flox

Flox. Photo / Supplied

What was your greatest holiday?
India 2016. This was a working holiday, as a group of us went up there on a Passion Project, working with a local NGO school in Udaipur and then painting a community mural in the heart of the city. This was such an experience, with huge highs and lows, but spent with some great friends, and for an even greater cause. Udaipur is another world, so rustic, beautiful and chaotic — your senses are constantly on high alert.

If we bump into you on holiday, what are you most likely to be doing?
Painting, exploring back streets or lying on a beach.

If we could teleport you to one place in the world for a week-long holiday, where would it be?
It would have to be somewhere I haven't been before. Croatia is on the bucket list — it looks like the dreamiest most exotic place I've ever seen.

Aisle seat or window seat?
Window seat all the way. The older I get, the less I like flying, so looking out of the window helps.

Complete this sentence: I can't travel without …
My wits about me.

What's the best travel tip you've ever been given?
Don't be a follower and rely on your travel mate to do all the organising. Be proactive with bookings, logistics and getting around, you'll get so much more out of the experience.

What was the most memorable meal you've had while travelling?
Shady Shack in Canggu, Bali. I have been there countless times, and I always refer it on to people who are travelling there. I think I've literally tried everything on this menu, (which is plant-based and local/organic) and I seriously crave being there all the time. Everything is next level.

What's the best thing you've brought back from a trip?
Experience and understanding of another culture. My practice is such that travel has been an integral foundation for sources of inspiration. Immersing myself in another culture, and getting lost in a new country is one of life's greatest opportunities, and this is truly beneficial to both my art, and my own sense of self.

Favourite airport to land at? Auckland, as it means I'm home. As much as I love to travel, there's nothing like coming home, especially if I've been away from the kids.

What's the next trip you've got planned? Aside from a business trip to Hong Kong and Guangzhou, I have a 12-night family getaway planned to Aitutaki in May. So excited to be off the grid, and to gorge myself on fresh coconuts. Kia Orana.

• Check out Kiwi artist Flox's fabulous colouring-in competition at the front of the Travel magazine issue. Submit your entries at sydneysidersguide.qantas.com to be in to win the Ultimate Vivid Sydney experience, and see p14-p15 for an insider's guide to this year's festival.