Tell us something about yourself.

I’m head of the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Malta – a academic and researcher on the one hand and a cartoonist, illustrator and writer (mostly for children) on the other. I’m a lover of art and books. A dreamer, with a silly smile on my face.

How often do you travel?

Four to five times a year. Sometimes more often, depending on what’s needed. But I’m away from the island every few months.

Do you remember your first time abroad?

Yes. I believe I was 17 and I went on (of all things) a sports scholarship to France. I didn’t do much of the sports part, but loved the trip, particularly gorgeous Paris and was hooked for life.

Best holiday ever and why?

Oh dear, that’s a difficult one. I rarely travel on holidays. My trips are mostly academic in nature and my partner and I also have a place in southern Sweden, so sometimes I just travel to my other home. But, I think my one and only trip to New York is the most memorable of all. A place I’d always admired from afar and, finding myself in it, fulfilled so many dreams. The skyscrapers dwarf you. Life on the streets is vibrant and the native New Yorkers live a life that is so very different in approach from ours.

Which place would you never visit and why?

I have no desire to go to places that are politically despotic. So, I suppose, the likes of Zimbabwe spring to mind. I will absolutely never visit North Korea, either, even if there is the remotest chance of my having the possibility to go there.

Best travel companion?

Over the last few years, since we’ve been together, I have to say my partner, Marie Louise. She is an artist in love with beauty and who also manages to share what she sees and feels. The perfect travel companion, also because she also makes sure I don’t get lost. I have absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever. She’s Danish, by the way, and a total sweetheart.

I’m an art gallery freak, but I also like to mingle with the locals and walk the streets

And what’s the worst your travel companion could do?

Had a couple of those, I’m afraid. If there’s no compatibility with a person, the worst seems to come out when travelling. An old friend stopped being a friend when we once travelled together. Selfishness is the bane. Wanting to do what you want to do and forgetting there’s even a companion involved, who might have other ideas.

What do you usually look for when you travel?

I usually walk around with a gaping mouth, gulping in mouthfuls of atmosphere. Yes, I enjoy the native food and most definitely take in the culture, though I’m admittedly not one to spend hours and hours in a museum. Well, unless it’s the Louvre, or the Uffizi, or, come to think of it, the Tate Modern. Fine, I take back my last statement. I guess I’m an art gallery freak. But I also like to mingle with the locals and walk the streets, at times away from the tourist beat. I take in the scenery and absorb the ways of life I am not familiar with. Oh, and I also live in the bookshops.

The perfect holiday would be?

Relaxing. And, if you knew how difficult it is for me to relax (I’m a certified workaholic), you’d understand perfectly what I mean.

What’s the furthest you’ve been from home?

Not really very far. The US a few times. The rest of the time I go around Europe and touch the tips of Asia, but my flights have rarely taken more than nine hours.

Package tours or DIY?

I’ve never been on a tour in my life and never will. Totally and completely DIY.

What the best travel advice you can give?

Travel with a person you know you can travel with. Someone who complements you. Remember you’ll be depending on each other in strange haunts. If there’s no one like that, best to travel alone and do your own thing at your own pace.

Flying – hate it/love it/neutral?

Neutral, I think. It’s a means to an end. I used to be terrified of flying when I was much younger. Now, I use a plane more than I use a bus and it’s become quite rote.

The one place you never get tired of visiting?

Copenhagen, in Denmark. It’s about 20 minutes by car over the Öresund bridge from where we live in Malmö, Sweden, and it’s the most magical city, with gorgeous buildings, art and design everywhere one looks and the most wonderful, overpowering atmosphere, that is unique in every way. I just love it.

Describe one memory that stuck with you from a place.

Istanbul, many years ago, walking on the shore of the Bosphorus as the sun was going down. The fishermen had just come in on their boats, many of them frying fish and selling it on bread to passers-by. The steam of the cooking rising in the air and mingling with the rays of the dying sun. The seagulls flying low, hoping for titbits. Magical.

You met the coolest people in...?

A conference I co-organise every year with fellow Greek, British and Canadian academics. Always held on a Greek island. Always an excellent meeting place for the most interesting (and often mad) people ever. We’ve been on Samos, Rhodes, Crete, Corfu and Kos so far.

We tend to think of ourselves as being more important in the scheme of things than we actually are

Your best budget tip to save money on holiday?

No need for a five-star hotel to enjoy a holiday. I usually find a three-star is perfectly fine and has all the necessary amenities. Better still, go for a self-catering studio flat. I stayed in one that was at the very edge of Placa de Catalunya in Barcelona a few years ago at a fraction of the price of a hotel room. And you really can’t get more central than that.

If you actually had to live away from Malta where would you pick?

Sweden, of course. It’s already a home away from home. So it’s quite easy to imagine it being home.

What’s the one thing you would never do in a foreign country?

Be alone at night in the side-streets of a big city. Whenever I’ve found myself getting close to them by accident I get terrified. So, definitely that.

Anything on your travel bucket list?

Oh yeah. Australia, definitely. And Canada. Perhaps Japan. And, amazingly, I’ve never been to Norway and only got as far as the airport in Iceland. Hmm… I could go on and on. It’s a long bucket list.

Travel is important to you because... ?

It adds value to life. We live in a wonderful little island, but the emphasis tends to be on the word ‘little’. Travel makes me stretch my mind. It feeds it life and colours and the sounds and smells of diversity. I find it impossible not to travel.

What has travel taught you?

That being in a small country, inversely and perversely makes us think we’re huge. We’re not. We’re okay. But we tend to think of ourselves as being more important in the scheme of things than we actually are.

Where would you retire and why?

Sorry, said this before. Sweden. I love the lifestyle there and the simplification of life that seems to be part of the Scandinavian ethos of ‘less is more’. I love the cleanliness and the humble intelligence of the Swedes (and Danes, I suppose, next door). I’ve lectured in two universities there and their scholarship is amazing. As is the country-side and their sense of design. I’m quite in love with that country.