My Wellington taxi driver promised me the city's best paratha - he meant it
A simple act of kindness - delivered in a warm foil package.
Naveet and I are chatting about the food scene in Wellington, as he navigates the traffic from the airport to my hotel. When it comes to eating out in an unfamiliar city, there's no argument - taxi drivers will rarely steer you wrong.
"When I first came here as a student, you couldn't get good Indian street food, but it's better now. Do you like paratha?" He pronounces it parontha, which confuses me, but he then clarifies that that's the Punjabi pronunciation and he does mean the flaky stuffed flatbreads. I confirm that I do indeed.
"Aloo or paneer?" he asks. "Aloo," I say.
He smiles at me in the mirror. "Me too! I'll take you to have one at the best places in Wellington for paratha."
I reply that, as much as I'd love to, I'm here for work, and unfortunately, my schedule is packed. "Next time you come then," he states. "Just ring me." When we arrive at my hotel, he hands me his card.
Two days later, I'm heading back to the airport to catch a flight to Auckland. My pre-booked taxi pulls up. It's Naveet. What are the odds, we both marvel.
"What time's your flight?" he asks as we set off. I think he's worried about the sluggish traffic, so I reassure him that I have plenty of time. We talk about my brief time in Wellington, then he excuses himself to make a call, speaking in a language I assume is his native Punjabi.
Ten minutes later, we pull up in a fairly nondescript shopping street. "I'll just be a moment," he says. When he gets back into the car, he hands me a warm, fragrant, foil-lined package. "Here you go, I couldn't let you go without trying it."
Later, I unwrap my paratha at an airport table shared with a couple of beefy blokes in Warrior football kit. "Whoa, that smells amazing. Where'd you get it?" one of them asks, looking around at the cafes and fast food outlets. I swallow the delicious mouthful of spiced potato and point towards the airport door. "A taxi driver."
My all-time favourite destination is … Argentina. One of my favourite moments was horse riding with a gaucho, the snow-tipped Andes ahead of us and a condor wheeling above us in the bluest sky. Elvio didn’t speak any English, so we didn’t talk at all and the only sound was the ring of our horse’s hooves on shale as we ascended the foothills.
Next on my bucket list is … Georgia (the European country rather than the US State) has been on my hit list for ages and I’ve yet to get to Canada, so either (or both).
My top travel tip is … Always include a destination on your itinerary that doesn’t have “big things” to tick off, a place where you can slow down and interact with locals going about their day. It really gives you a deeper understanding of the destination and people that you won’t get if you just stick to the big tourist spots.
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