Entries about interviews

This month, our featured member is Tracey (aka TTG), a New Yorker who never met a beach, a cheeseburger, or a frozen drink she didn’t like! Whether she’s babysitting a wiener dog in Key West, crashing a gala in the Hamptons, curing her heat exhaustion with rum punch in Anguilla, or walking a pet chicken on a leash in Delray Beach, Tracey’s travels are never boring, and are relayed with witty, self-deprecating humor and beautiful photographs. A few weeks ago, I chatted with her about her beachy outlook, her favourite cocktails, and what’s next on her travel agenda.

One of the quotes on your Travellerspoint profile reads: "The cure for everything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea." How does this affect your travel philosophy?

I am definitely a water baby! My favourite destinations are always those where I can get my toes in the sand. On the East Coast I love the salty smell of the ocean, the roar of the waves, the reedy dune grasses, and even the squawking seagulls. In the Hamptons, the beaches aren’t too built up and you can walk for miles without seeing any hotels or houses. It’s wild and pristine and soothing. Just last weekend we drove out to the beach there (yes, in March!) and my husband and I both dug our shoes in the sand to make sure we’d track some into the car – just the sight of it is enough to make me happy!

The beaches in the Caribbean are even more beautiful to me, but in a different way: I can’t get enough of the powdery white sand and clear, turquoise water. I also love the isolated feel of the islands – for me, they are the ultimate escape, a way to just drop out of society for a while. My idea of heaven is an afternoon at a beach shack with a rum punch in my hand, the smell of fried shrimp and boiled lobster in the air, a steel-drum band playing in the background, an uncrowded white-sand beach, and calm blue water as far as the eye can see.

You mention you work crazy hours in Manhattan and spend your limited free time travelling. What travel tips would you recommended to other time-poor urban dwellers?

I’m a big fan of the three- or four-day weekend. Although the traffic leaving the city can be brutal, within an hour or two of arriving somewhere new I feel as though I’ve been gone for half a day, and by Saturday afternoon I’ve forgotten all about the stresses of life back in the city! My office is typically closed on federal holidays, so I also try to schedule my trips around them; that way, I need fewer days off and am gone when everyone else is. I’ve read that people derive nearly as much happiness from planning and looking forward to a trip as they do actually taking it, and that’s certainly true for me – knowing that I’ll be away even just one or two nights can definitely make a tough week a little easier!

You document your travels beautifully through photography. What advice do you have for other travel bloggers wanting to share their travels?

The main thing I try to do is make it fun. No one wants to read about how your flight was delayed, or how dirty your hotel room was, or how that waitress got your order wrong. Those things happen to all of us, but if someone is going to take the time to read my blog, I want them to have a good time! (Hopefully the fact that I have a good time, both travelling and blogging about it, comes through, too.) I also try to capture the spirit of a place – what makes it unique? What are the “don’t miss” places to go or things to see? And of course I take lots of food pictures. I once posted a report about Christmas in New York and people actually emailed me and said, “Yeah, that was great... but what did you eat?!” My poor husband has learned not to touch his meal until I’ve photographed it, no matter how delicious it looks or smells!

Your travels and favourite places appear to be luxurious and warm destinations, where's next on the agenda?

I tend to get a little depressed when we return from a trip (particularly when we go somewhere warm and return to freezing cold or pouring rain here in New York), but I’ve discovered that the cure is to have the next trip planned before I return from the first one! So I always try to have a few in the pipeline. This year it’s back to Key West in early April, and then we’ll be in the Hamptons most weekends through September (we are extremely fortunate to have a tiny cottage there). In October we’re headed to Charleston, South Carolina – I’ve never been, and with all the talk lately about their excellent restaurant scene, it was definitely time to give it a try.

On your blog, there's the odd photo or two of cocktails on exotic beaches – what's your favourite drink?

Wow – that’s like asking someone to pick their favorite child! But I do like a good rum punch when I’m in the Caribbean (made the right way, with a sprinkle of freshly-grated nutmeg on top), and I wait all year for the watermelon margaritas at B. Smith’s in Sag Harbor. They use only fresh watermelons, so the margaritas always taste a bit different from one year to the next. Sometimes I’ll find myself thinking, “Ah, 2008 – now that was a great vintage!”

What inspires you about travel?

Meeting new people. I love seeing how other people live, what their houses look like, how they spend their days, what they like to eat. Mark Twain said it best: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” I’m always pleasantly surprised to see how small the world is and how much we all have in common. We were in Italy once and my husband, Angel, who speaks no Italian, was haggling over the price of some linens with a shop owner, an older gentleman who spoke no English. Back and forth they went, writing numbers on a slip of paper, until finally the shop owner had reached his final offer, which he indicated by pointing at his wedding ring, then running his finger across his throat: My wife will kill me! That makes me laugh to this day, and it shows that while we may come from different places, and we may not look the same or speak the same language, the desire to be friendly and helpful and find some human connection is universal. That connection is what motivates me. Why else would anyone endure yet another airport pat-down and countless hours in a cramped aluminum tube?!

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Check out these recent interviews in the Talking Travel series:

• Talking Travel with Zero Dean
• Talking Travel with Vicki Hatfield
• Talking Travel with Nikki Leigh
• Talking Travel with Cristy Phelan
• Talking Travel with Hawkson

We have another great interview for the Talking Travel series, this time with Zero Dean (aka zerodean). Zero is a real-life adventurer and has travelled continually since he quit his job last year in May. He's also an artist, writer and photographer. And yes, Zero is his real name.

One of his favourite quotations is:

"Men spend their lives in anticipations, in determining to be vastly happy at some period when they have time. But the present time has one advantage over every other, it is our own. Past opportunities are gone, future have not come. We may lay in a stock of pleasures, as we would lay in a stock of wine; but if we defer the tasting of them too long, we shall find that both are soured by age." ~ Charles Caleb Colton

You can follow Zero's journey through his popular blog ZeroDean.com or on his Flickr. His Travellerspoint interactive trip map is also viewable here.

Zero Dean

Why did you quit your job, terminate your lease and sell everything?

I looked at where I was in life, what I'd been doing, and where I would likely end up if I kept doing the same things I'd always done. I realised that if I didn't make a significant change, I would likely miss out on many of the things I wanted to do in life.

I started thinking about potential solutions and considered a lot of options. Everything basically came down to having to make sacrifices in order to start getting my life in line with the one I imagined.

I wanted an adventure – while I was still young – and an experience that was uniquely my own. I figured that even if I attempted to do what I wanted and failed, my actions would still push me to a different place than where I'd been – and that sounded... refreshing, actually.

But I was still somewhat surprised when I actually took the bold steps necessary to get my life on a different track.

What advice would you give for anyone considering a dramatic lifestyle change?

First, I think it's very important to know what you want to get from the change. You need to have a specific goal (or goals) in mind. Dramatic lifestyle changes almost always require significant sacrifices to make them a reality. But for everything you give up, you gain something – will what you have to give up be worth whatever it is you want to gain from the change? – that's the question you have to ask yourself.

I think in cases where one is thinking about making particularly large lifestyle changes, passion has to play a primary part – either by being passionate about the process or what the process will provide. I think G.W.F. Hegel is right, "Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion".

And then there's belief – belief in what you're doing and why you're doing it – it's vital. Because it's your belief in what you're doing that helps you face the inevitable resistance that pops up along your path – obstacles or a lack of support. When things get rough or don't go as planned, you are your own most important and significant source of motivation.

Your attitude about what you're doing and your belief in it is everything. You have to be the one who keeps your own fire lit.

What photography tips do you recommend for aspiring travel photographers?

My first tip to aspiring travel photographer is:

Don't be afraid to take a lot of photos – in fact, I recommend it. Digital storage space is cheap. Document everything! When the years have passed, we forget details – nothing brings them back like a photograph, it doesn't even have to be a good one.

I don't think anyone will ever regret taking a lot of photos of the places they've travelled to. And you can do so without obsessing about it, so long as you're not trying to capture a perfect photo every time you snap the shutter. In fact, if you're truly documenting your travels, it's impossible. But sometimes that random photo you took out of your sunroof or a bus window ends up being one of the best.

And if you're an aspiring photographer, nothing improves your skills like practice.

And my second tip is:

Now that you're taking lots of photos, try to tell stories with them – either through a single image (which is often the biggest challenge) or a series of images. In my opinion, the best photos always tell a story.

What's been your favourite destination in the US to date?

It's always difficult for me to pick favourites. I find beauty everywhere. And if not physical beauty, then beautiful moments.

I can name a few of my favorite places and moments though:

• Spending a morning swimming alone in the Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming). Only part of it was planned...

I had a set of backup keys tied around my neck. I realised after my first dip into the river that the familiar weight around my neck was gone. My keys! So I grabbed some goggles and jumped back into the water, searching the river for several minutes. I came up empty, but walked away with an interesting experience and no regrets.

• Sitting on a dock in Key West (Florida), drinking my morning coffee and watching waves crash in the distance. Then spending an evening on the same dock watching the sun melt into the horizon.

• Spending a quiet night in Mojave National Preserve (California) and having a sense of belonging – that it is exactly where I was supposed to be at that time, doing exactly what I was doing.

• Watching the sun rise through the hole of the 'Delicate Arch' in Arches National Park (Utah). It is an amazing park and some moments like that are ineffable.

• Locking eyes with a bobcat in Olympic National Park (Washington) and just having a moment of 'mutual understanding'.

One of your life goals is to visit all seven continents and swim in all five oceans – how are you tracking?

Not too poorly, considering that is a recent goal. I've hit three out of seven continents, but I've only swam in two of the five oceans. But these became goals during my current trip/adventure, which has been USA centered, so far.

Do you think more people will adopt the nomadic on-the-go lifestyle in the future?

Location independent working is getting a lot of buzz on the internet – so it's certainly on people's minds – but I'm not sure that's a truly nomadic lifestyle as much as it is finding a place you like and living there, and working by remote somewhere else.

To me a real nomadic lifestyle is traveling and working at the same time – and I think that's a pretty difficult thing to accomplish outside of travel-related jobs. The thing you lose with a truly nomadic lifestyle is stability. I think it's possible to adopt this lifestyle and make it work, but I think it takes a lot of dedication and support.

What are some of the challenges you've had to deal with on your journey?

My biggest challenge, by far, has been a lack of support, understanding and encouragement from the people I expected it from – it's been a difficult thing for me to understand, but I think it's also been a very important obstacle for me to overcome.

I think true 'self-confidence' means being the source of your own motivation and being able to push forward when you believe in something – even when those you have meaningful relationships with do not.

Other challenges, have not been so unexpected – staying clean, connected, focused, and conserving money and resources. As a social person travelling solo and by car (while also deliberately avoiding active couch-surfing for the first year), I've battled with a sense of loneliness at times, too. I've spent more time alone in the past 10 months than I think I have in my entire life combined – at least it feels that way.

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Check out these recent interviews in the Talking Travel series:

• Talking Travel with Vicki Hatfield
  
• Talking Travel with Nikki Leigh
  
• Talking Travel with Cristy Phelan
  
• Talking Travel with Hawkson
  
• Talking Travel with Dodger
  

This month, we interview Vicki Hatfield (aka vicki_h) for the Talking Travel series. In "real life", Vicki is a 40-something PhD that works as an HR Director for a large southeastern city, but when real life releases her for a precious moment, she says she's "nothing more than a girl with a savage case of wanderlust".

"Ten years ago a dear friend of mine was dying of cancer in her early 40s. We were talking about my desire to travel and the fact that I had never been anywhere. She spoke quietly, "I spent my life saying 'I'll do that when...' thinking that I had all the time in the world. Don't wait for when," she said, "Sometimes, when never comes."

"She passed away in April. I went to St. John, USVI for the first time in May and haven't stopped traveling since."

"I believe in living life to the fullest and making the most of every moment. For me, travel is about immersion in a different place, a different people, a different pace and rhythm than my 'normal life'. I want to experience it as fully as I can by diving headfirst into the food, the people, the landscape, and all of the 'off the beaten path' experiences that I can stumble into. Best of all, I want to take you with me."

You can follow Vicki's journey through her Travellerspoint photos here.

Vicki Hatfield

What has been your favourite travel destination to date?

The Amalfi Coast in Italy. I was a 'late bloomer' when it came to European travel. I didn't do the post-high school backpacking trip or the semester abroad in college. My first trip to Europe was when I was almost 40 years old. Rather than choosing a typical first European destination like London or Paris, I clung to a wrinkled worn photo that I had from a travel magazine that had enchanted me years before... the Amalfi Coast. I thought, I have to see this place, knowing that there was no way it could be as beautiful or as magical as the image my mind had conjured up. In fact, it was more beautiful and more magical. It was 12 days of perfection filled with honey-colored buildings climbing with bougainvillea and ivy, plates of pasta with savory cheese, children laughing as they played soccer in the piazza a sunset, and carafes of red wine brought in unlabelled by a farmer just before dinner. It was priceless.

Your photos on Travellerspoint show many delicious shots of food - do you classify yourself as a foodie and how important is the culinary experience
when choosing a travel destination?

My friends and family laugh at my obsession with food. I LOVE FOOD! I don't consider myself a foodie, in the sense of someone with a more refined taste who seeks a particular level of knowledge or expertise when it comes to the realm of food. I am just a person who is constantly in search of the next thing my mouth will love. I am less likely to seek out a seven-course prix fixe in a fine NYC restaurant and more apt to look for the best beachside BBQ truck on Anguilla. I believe fine food can come on a paper plate if you know where to look. And yes, food is an extremely important part of my travel experience. Once I have selected a destination, I rely upon travel blogs and travel forums to find fabulous food experiences, whether they are in a five star resort on Kauai or in an old saloon 20 miles down a dirt road in Montana.

What camera do you use to take you travel shots and what advice do you have for aspiring travel photographers?

I have to tell on myself and admit that I am not a particularly knowledgeable photographer. I have no technical expertise and know very little about the manual settings on my camera. That said, my best advice for aspiring travel photographers is to get a camera that is smarter than you. Get a digital SLR with a couple of good lenses and a polarising filter. I am a Canon girl and started with a simple Canon Rebel. With that camera, the quality of my photography improved dramatically. I bought a couple of good L series lenses, a wide angle and a zoom, as well as a B&W circular polarising filter. It changed my world because for the first time, I could capture an image the way I saw it. From there, I have added a Canon 50D and more recently, a Canon 5D Mark II.

What holiday spots do you recommend in the US?

There are so many great spots in the US that I love. One favorite has to be Savannah, GA. It doesn't matter how many times I go to that wonderful little city, it is always a new place. Amazing food, beautiful architecture, and a great little beach town on Tybee Island makes it a perfect place for a long weekend. I am also in love with coastal Maine. Give me a rental car and a map to the best lobster pounds and I am set! The stretch along Highway 30-A between Destin and Panama City, FL is another great spot. You'll find crystal clear water and unique little seaside towns, each with its own personality and character like Grayton Beach or Seaside. My very favorite US destination, however, is Whitefish, MT. Whitefish itself is an adorable little town with a cool historic walking downtown and it is nestled right at the entry to Glacier National Park, and outstanding backpacking region.

What inspires you to travel?

It started with my friend Melissa Mae who, when I was struggling with the guilt of spending money and time on something many saw as frivolous or wasteful, told me to "go for it". She died of cancer months after telling me not to wait to do what I loved because life doesn't promise you another day. Since that time, I have fallen in love with every aspect of travel. I love the planning – diving into travel blogs and forums and devouring every word of every experience that I can find. I love dreaming about the destination and imagining the wonderful adventures that wait around the corner. I love the experience of being there....smelling the air, tasting the food, feeling the sand or the pebbles or the mud of the place between my fingers. I love the memories I have when I return home that I can wrap around me like a warm blanket on cold winter nights.

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Check out these recent interviews in the Talking Travel series:

• Talking Travel with Nikki Leigh
  
• Talking Travel with Cristy Phelan
  
• Talking Travel with Hawkson
  
• Talking Travel with Dodger
  
• Talking Travel with Derek Logan