OT How does it feel to head India&rsquos largest travel company
Udayan Bose It is a great challenge to lead one of the largest travel houses in India. It is an interesting business and very different from what I have done before.
OT Does the job give you opportunities to travel extensively
Udayan Bose I do travel. Not any more than I used to before. As an investment banker, I was always on an aircraft. These days it is less.
OT Which was your best holiday
Udayan Bose This has to be Kenya, where we went seven-eight years ago on a safari. The most exciting moment was when a full-grown cheetah climbed on top of our jeep and stayed there for 20 minutes. It was about two feet away from my wife&rsquos face
OT What&rsquos the best hotel you&rsquove ever stayed in
Udayan Bose Hotel Grande Bretagne, Athens, Greece.
OT What do you need for a perfect holiday
Udayan Bose The mood, the weather are prerequisites, then all logistical arrangements need to be taken care of. A nice cosy hotel, a beach for a walk, a pool for a swim, good restaurants around. And I need my wife and children around me. That would be a perfect holiday.
OT What do you always take with you
Udayan Bose Clothes, of course, toilet kit, some office papers (I feel kind of lost if I do not look at some document or the other, even if only for half an hour) plus my Vaio laptop to keep in touch with the world and the office.
OT What&rsquos your best piece of travel advice
Udayan Bose Each to their own &mdash some like mountains, some the beach, some go to only one place and others keep hopping. One piece of advice is to travel light, make the most of the holiday for yourself and others around you. Another is to try local food. I see too many Indian travellers going all over the world and only wanting Indian food. The whole fun of it is to try and experiment.
OT Where do you want to go next
Udayan Bose South America. Brazil during the carnival &mdash wow But seriously there are two places I&rsquod go back to always. One is Venice, the other is Mauritius. The first is romantic and beautiful, and Mauritius is peaceful, calm and gorgeous. As Mark Twain said, "God created Mauritius and then Paradise."
OT What was your worst holiday
Udayan Bose I haven't had a bad holiday.
OT And the worst experience on holiday
Udayan Bose I was once robbed in London, but after three days got my money back through insurance. Not really that bad.
OT What&rsquos the biggest packing mistake you&rsquove ever made
Udayan Bose These days you get chargers everywhere, but some years ago I did not have my mobile charger and the hotel did not have one either. Suddenly I felt out of contact with the world
OT What do you avoid on holidays
Udayan Bose Getting dragged into meetings and conference calls, which always sound like emergencies, but actually are not.
OT What do you hate about holidays
Udayan Bose The amount of work one has to do when one gets back to clear the desk, pay for the holiday extravaganza, and the hard work of losing the weight one gains during the holiday.
