Travel

Ten Thrilling Questions for the Travellers and Writers Out There

Fun Facts that you don’t really need to know

I do enjoy a good writing prompt that someone else thinks up and puts out there, especially when it pertains to travel. This one was initiated by Linda Ng who has done her fair share of globetrotting and comes to me by way of my man Michael Rhodes. Their articles are linked here:

① What’s the most fun thing you’ve done on a trip?

Well, I’m not an animals guy, but every animal centred trip that I went on while I lived in East Africa — that was always planned by someone else — was amazing. Sitting in a clearing with a family of gorillas in Uganda, swimming on the surface of the Indian Ocean, five meters above a pod of whale sharks, each bigger than a bus, watching a pride of lions take apart an impala in Botswana. Those trips always turned about to be a lot of fun. And if they could find a way to make a safari day last about two hours, I’d probably go on them more often. Same with golf. And booze cruises.

② Where would you go again?

For food: Spain

For vibe: Jamaica

For a fascinating bit of culture shock: Japan

For nostalgia: Southern Germany

For adventure: Colombia

For music: Sziget Festival in Budapest or Fuji Rock near Tokyo

③ What’s the best way to pass the time at an airport?

Get a coffee or beer depending on the time of day and your state of mind and pull out your journal and get to it. Or keep up with Medium, since the algorithm doesn’t care if you are traveling or not.

④ Do you prefer an Air BNB, Hotel, or Hostel?

I’ve kind of let all of them have their way with me. Hostels were obviously the choice in my younger days and I’d say I’m done with them, but I booked a private room in a hostel in San Juan , Puerto Rico last year and it was actually quite good.

I think I’m done with AirBnb. I’ve had too many average experiences with too many indifferent hosts. Like a lot of things, it was a great idea to start with and then money, the internet and global reach got involved and that was kind of the end of it. The negative impact that this business model has on local communities is its own article.

I prefer hotels. Sometimes a chain will do, but most times a smaller, family run place is what I’m after. I like a greeting, I like it when somebody inquires as to how I’m enjoying my stay, I like clean towels, I like being able to ask someone questions about the area. And it’s no longer really that much more expensive than an Airbnb.

⑤ Do you prefer to bring suitcases or use a backpack?

For longer trips, I’ll check a rolling duffel bag and carry on a small backpack pack. For shorter trips, it’s that same small backpack and a rolling suitcase that fits up top. But this motivation to not check in luggage and save fees has me and my collection of airport luggage tags in a bit of a pickle, because of course: no check = no tag.

Pro tip solution: in the boarding area, wait for that announcement offering volunteers free checked luggage. Best of all worlds and Bob’s your uncle. I’m sure they’ll get wise to that soon, if they haven’t already.

⑥ Do you like to travel alone or with a group?

Assuming that a group means anything over two people, then I probably avoid that situation. Traveling with someone else is great, but so is traveling alone, both for different reasons.

⑦ Do you like to follow a planned itinerary or just do whatever you want when you get to your destination?

Six of one, half dozen of the other, I think. I’m not into running around to tourist spots and I avoid line ups whenever possible. That said, I’ll go to the Eiffel Tower every time I’m in Paris. I think a flight itinerary and accommodation on the first and last night is important to book, but everything in between can be a roll of the dice. Typically, I’ve found that whatever has hype surrounding it is not worth it and this is really the case for restaurants. I’d much rather find the hole in the wall with amazing arancini and cold beer in a neighbourhood in Naples at midnight, wandering around after the Kasabian concert, trying to figure out how to get back to the hotel.

⑧ What is the weirdest thing you pack with you?

Is a little bottle of Grapefruit Seed Extract weird? A few drops of that in your water bottle every morning, especially in places where the food might do a number on you, and you’ll be right as rain.

⑨ What’s the worst trip you’ve ever had?

I think every trip probably has something go wrong at some point. If it doesn’t, you’ve probably overplanned. It doesn’t make it a bad trip and in fact, dealing with hurdles and inconveniences with patience and a low heart rate probably makes you a better traveler anyway.

If I had to pick one thing, it would probably be the only really not good thing that has happened to me in my travels so far (knock on wood) and that was when I was liberated of my MacBook on a bus in Ecuador while I ran into the station to get an ice cream. My own fault, really, and it doesn’t make Ecuador a bad place.

①⓪ Favourite travel app?

Flightmemory is a great one for keeping track of all the flights you’ve ever been on and you can order a world map from them with all of them on it. But my answer is FlightRadar24, hands down. Real time flight information, especially useful when you are sitting at an airport and it’s the last flight of the day and the only way your flight will leave if the airplane’s incoming flight is underway and arriving soon. I probably look at this app once a day, even when I’m not traveling. I’m fascinated by where the half a million people that are not on earth at any given moment are going and how long it will take for them to get there.

And there you have it. Now it’s your turn. I’d love to read your answers, so tag me if you write one of these!