Pre-season training is gruelling at the best of times. But having recently returned from the holiday of a lifetime made the start of this pre-season a little harder for Sydney Swans co-captain Craig Bolton.

It is not unusual for Bolton to spend his off-season in far-flung parts of the globe, and this year was no exception as he travelled to South America.

Flying into Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bolton discovered what he described as a very cosmopolitan city almost European in feel. Here he quickly discovered one of the highlights of his first few days of rest and relaxation, the “parilla” or traditional Argentinian barbecue.

After a week of exploring Buenos Aires, it was next stop Bariloche, a historic and picturesque town in the foothills of the Andes, once the site of a Jesuit mission but now best known as Argentina’s premier ski resort. After a week in the busy capital, Bolton spent his time here generally relaxing, sight-seeing and hiking.

Cuzco was next on the itinerary. Once the capital of the Inca empire, it is an ancient town with cobbled streets, and Bolton described being there as “like stepping back in time”. At an altitude of 3300 metres, it was the perfect place to acclimatise for the next leg of his South American adventure.

The Inca trail is a four day hike - “everything I expected and so much more,” Bolton said. The magnificent scenery and time spent with the people who live in the villages en route more than made up for the precarious cliff-top sections of the walk. The culmination of the Inca Trail is Machu Picchu, or “the lost city of the Incas”, which Craig described as the absolute highlight of his trip.

It was another change of pace when he flew to Rio de Janiero to meet up with his brother, who had spent some time living in the former capital of Brazil. From his base at Ipanema Beach, he soaked up the atmosphere in the “colourful and crazy” city, and was particularly struck by the dichotomy of extreme wealth and extreme poverty which exist side by side on the streets of Rio.

No trip to South America would be complete without going to a game of soccer - and Craig was in the crowd for two club matches in Brazil, as well as a game in which Argentina defeated Peru to qualify for the world cup. “Waste of money putting seats in those stadiums,” he said. “You couldn’t sit down because you couldn’t see over the crowd in front of you. The atmosphere was amazing.”

Only two days after stepping off the plane at Mascot, Bolton returned to the Club for pre-season training and was immediately faced with the prospect of a 3km time trial.

“My body may have been in Centennial Park, but my mind was still in Rio….”