I used to think being a cricket writer would be the best job in the world. Watch the game all day, speak to the players whenever you want, and get paid for your thoughts. I’m told the job isn’t always quite that romantic. Anyway, after meeting up with my travel agent on the second day at Delhi I’m starting to change my mind.

Dean Tuckwell, a prolific former first-grade batsman in Brisbane, works for The Adventure Traveller and his venture is appropriately named. For the past two months he has been guiding a tour group around South America, starting in Brazil and taking in Argentina, the Galapagos Islands, Machu Picchu, the Caribbean, Colombia and other places that I forgot in my haze of envy.

To relax from his months of hard work, Dean is on a week of heavy sightseeing. He spent a day in Madrid and some time in Oman before landing in Delhi at 5am Thursday. A few hours later he was at the Feroz Shah Kotla watching Australia’s bowlers struggle and is back again on Friday before heading to Hong Kong for the Bledisloe Cup rugby union match between Australia and New Zealand. He’ll be home early next week, just in time for the Melbourne Cup horse race. I’m jealous.