It's been a big year of travel for Aussie model
Lara Bingle.
The bikini babe always tries to make the most of her international photo shoots, often squeezing in adventure activites such as snowboarding, cave diving and rock climbing while she's there.
She also managed to sneak in a couple of days break at boyfriend Sam Worthington's house in Hawaii recently, and plans to join him in Amsterdam where he is filming his latest movie next week.
We asked the Cronulla beauty - who has just released a new Lara Bingle for Cotton On Body swimwear collection - about the places she has visited recently.
We were left wondering: Where the bloody hell hasn't she been?
Maldives
Staying in an overwater villa would be a dream come true for many people.
It's all in a day's work for Bingle or, in this case, eight days.
She recently stayed at the One&Only Reethi Rah for a shoot and says it was a magical place.
"I made friends with the owners, who are Australian," she says.
"There were lots of Australians who worked there, so it felt like a slice of home."
Bingle had her own yoga teacher and says there was a sense of feeling shut down from the world.
"I didn't have my phone for the whole week - it was really nice," she says.
"The beaches are beautiful; everything is just like a dream in the Maldives
"I could definitely get used to living on an island."
Paris
After the shoot and a quick jaunt in London for Fashion Week, Bingle headed to Paris.
"I'm not the biggest fan of London," she says.
"The weather's always really grey and I don't know many people there so my preference would be to go to Paris or New York.
"Paris is one of my favourite cities, on par with New York.
"It's so different - the language, the culture."
Bingle spent her spare time visiting art galleries and Russian bath houses.
"I have a lot of friends in Paris so I went out to lots of nice dinners," she says.
"You just walk everywhere there.
"I went to a yoga class that was in French so I had no idea what was going on."
New York
Bingle has been to New York five times this year and loves catching up with friends there and getting into the healthy lifestyle.
"I lived in New York for a year a few years ago so I have more friends there than anywhere else," she says.
"It's somewhere where everything is forever changing.
"They have awesome Soul Cycle fitness classes and I love getting smoothies there."
Greek Islands
During the European summer Bingle took some time off to go sailing in the Greek Islands with a friend.
"I'd never been to the Greek Islands before," she says.
"We were on a boat for a week and we sailed from Mykonos - which is a bit too 'party' for me - to Santorini.
"My house is all white and in Santorini and Mykonos everything is painted white and it looks so beautiful.
"Then we went to Bodrum in Turkey, which was amazing as well."
Thailand
Bingle went to Thailand for a shoot a few months ago and spent six days at the Six Senses Koh Yao Noi resort.
"It's an island that's pretty remote and it's quite beautiful," she says.
"I went rock climbing there.
"You climb up the limestone caves and it's pretty incredible.
"I did that three or four times while I was there.
"You'd take a boat out and the Thai men held you from the bottom, so it's very safe."
New Zealand
After rising to fame in Tourism Australia's controversial Where the bloody hell are you? campaign, Bingle raised more eyebrows last year when she flew to the Land of the Long White Cloud to film a segment for Air New Zealand's Kiwi Sceptics campaign, which is designed to change perceptions for Australians who have never been there.
As well as heli-boarding near Wanaka and sleeping in a snow cave halfway up a mountain at The Remarkables she appears snowboarding at Coronet Peak.
"I'm very adventurous and I'm very fearless as well," Bingle says.
"I'm a big kid when it comes to all of that.
"Snowboarding in New Zealand was pretty amazing, it's definitely one of the best places that's close to Sydney that has great snow.
"Staying in the igloo was the craziest thing I've ever done.
"It was freezing - it was like minus 15C.
"I didn't sleep a wink."
Mexico
Bingle has been to Mexico a few times for both work and pleasure, most recently at the end of last year.
"I stayed in a treehouse on the beach and it was really amazing," she says.
"I used to go to these caves that are underwater natural springs called cenotes.
"They're massive holes in the ground in people's backyards and you can go diving there.
"People make money on them now."
India
After visiting India several times with her former fiance Michael Clarke Bingle returned at the beginning of this year for a detox retreat on the outskirts of Bangalore.
"It was an extreme detox," she says.
"It was so emotional. You had to be at one with yourself.
"I wasn't expecting it to be so extreme."
Hawaii
Despite her busy schedule Bingle managed to make time to spend a couple of days in Hawaii recently.
"My boyfriend (Worthington) has a house there," she says.
"I don't really like Hawaii to be honest - I've been there three times at different times of the year and every time it's rained.
"Most of the times I've been to Honolulu and that's quite touristy.
"One of my favourite things to do is paddleboarding so I've done that in Honolulu."
Brazil
One of Lara's favourite places in the world is Florianopolis in the south of Brazil.
"I was living in Milan when I was 17 modelling and between June and July they have three weeks off and the whole city shuts down, so it was either go home to Australia or go with the girls I was living with back to their home town in Brazil," she says.
"I stayed right in the middle of the capital, Brasilia.
"It was so amazing to see and live with their family - they have nothing.
"My model friend was bringing home the money.
"Most of the people there don't speak English so it's quite hard to get around unless you're with people who speak Portuguese."
Avalon
Bingle recently spent a couple of days at Avalon Beach on Sydney's northern beaches to shoot her new Cotton On Body swimwear collection, launched this week.
"I grew up in Cronulla and I love the beaches in Sydney's north and south," she says.
"I prefer them to more famous beaches like Bondi; I like little, quiet beaches and there's lots of little pockets on the northern beaches.
"Avalon has the same vibe as Cronulla.
"It's really calming."
Where's next?
Next week Lara is heading to Amsterdam, where Worthington is filming his new movie Kidnapping Freddy Heineken alongside Anthony Hopkins.
But she won't be packing her bikini this time
"Apparently it's 10C there at the moment," she says.
"I haven't been there before but my friends say you ride bikes everywhere.
"I'll be training for six weeks - he has a movie and I have some work coming up so we have a trainer who will be living with us."
After that she is heading to the US for work, with plans to rendezvous with Worthington during his next shoot in New Orleans before Christmas.
Source: Herald Sun
Published Date: 30th October 2013
