While most of us enjoyed the holidays with cheer and festivities, it seemed Hong Kong's first tourist astronaut Perveen Crawford just tried to recover from her more-strenuous-than-expected pre-Christmas retreat on Richard Branson's Necker Island in the Caribbean. As one of the first 14 signed up for Sir Richard's Virgin Galactic flight, Crawford was invited on the December trip that was part vacation, part space travel consultation and training.
'It was like a paradise,' Crawford recalled of the island. 'All natural and organic, with pink flamingos, iguanas, 150-year-old tortoises. The rooms had no AC, no TV, no phones and no bathroom doors. It took us 28 hours to get there. The last part was on a half-hour ride on a speedboat skimming over the Caribbean Sea at 160km/h, resulting in me having dreadlocks. Fun and challenging activities were organised for us all day.
'I was even thrown off a boat unexpectedly by Mr Branson. He expected me to swim back to the island and not be late for my spa appointment. I almost drowned and lost my knickers but I did make it back - all bruised and scratched from hitting the anchor and the coral reef.'
