Archive | Interviews

Barbara Conellli’s Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore

By Erica Johansson on in Books & Guides, Interviews

As a traveler with a longing to realize my childhood dream of visiting Italy, it is with anticipation I begin to read “Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore” by bestselling author and travel writer Barbara Conelli.

Divided into 15 equally enchanting chapters, her book tells tales of unexpected meetings, magical moments and love in Milan.

For Ms. Conelli, love doesn’t require lavishness or grand gestures. To her, it means something else; simple pleasures, new discoveries, little things, and much more.

In Milan, love can surround you everywhere. You just need to know where and how to look.

With grace and elegance, Ms. Conelli shares the city’s special spots, only known by locals and passionate lovers of Milan. Her unique way of capturing the magic of places and people she writes about is ever present, guiding you through Milan – by morning, day or night. Every part of the book brings a different perspective to the essence of love.

Mariella taught me that when the streets of Milan ask you to dance, there’s nothing else to do but put on your ballet shoes and surrender with confidence to the arms of the city that has materialized the visions of courageous, fearless people.

You will see Milan from a new angle rarely discovered by tourists, learn the origin to Pizza Margherita, shop for exclusive fashion in the Golden Quadrangle, find out where to go for a divine snack of crispy panzerotto (and where to savor it), come along on a romantic evening tram adventure, experience the sublime nature of ballet, and dine at an extravagant restaurant whose entire interior is for sale (because the owner believes “…every space must evolve and grow so that life energy can flow through it continuously…”).

It is as if you follow the author every step of the journey and you feel an unavoidable desire to walk the streets of Milan on location, not only through your imagination.

In Milan, there are very few things you can rely on. Life here is fast and loves constant changes.

The final chapter and Ms. Conneli’s unforeseen encounter with an American outside Tiffany’s, as taken out of a Hollywood movie, excellently summarizes what dolce amore is really about.

As part of her virtual book tour, Barbara Conelli is with us today to answer a few questions relating to her new book:

1. What inspired you to write “Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore”?

Italy is my eternal inspiration. After ”Chique Secrets of Dolce Vita” that indulged in the Italian sweet life, I wanted to write a book that would show how much there is to love about Italy, and how much there is to love about our life. My intention was to take my readers on a magical journey around the most charming places of Milan and let them experience the same sensations I feel when I’m in my beloved city.

2. Which is your favorite aspect of Milan and the Italian lifestyle?

It’s definitely the joy of life. The ability to truly live in the present moment and see the real beauty of life, rejoice in the little everyday things that matter so much – friends, delicious food, sunshine, laughter… We often think that happiness must be grandiose, yet it’s so ridiculously simple. Italy really helps you realize that life is a gift, with the good and the less good, and it’s to be appreciated and savored.

3. If only one thing, what are you hoping readers will garner from the book?

A little bit of sweetness, a pinch of romance, a touch of dreaming, a hint of bliss, a whisper of passion. That’s what Italy is about, every single day.

Q&A With TravelPod’s Community Manager Louise Brown

By Erica Johansson on in Interviews

I recently had the chance to talk with Louise Brown, one of many travel enthusiasts who works for the travel blog site TravelPod.com – the Web’s first site that let its members create online travel blogs.

Lousie, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. First, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Well, I’m a complicated person! Right now, I’m working for TravelPod.com, as the Community Manager. I love vegetarian cooking, reading, writing, painting, piano music, traveling and couchsurfing, not in that particular order. My travel philosophy is that the long way is always the better way.

So, I try to travel along the ground, using rideshare, trains and buses as often as I can. Traveling independently, and just getting along on your own wits is the most fulfilling way to travel.

When did you get the idea to Travel Blog Sites.com and what is the site all about?

Actually it came up at a meeting last summer. We had this idea to start a network of independent writers doing cool things.

At TravelPod, we really encourage travelers to get out there and travel on their own, so we wanted to find as many “one-man-travel-blog-shows” as possible and highlight the cream of the crop.

We weren’t sure what it would look like, so I guess it sort of stewed over in our brains for a while.

Finally, we decided to make it happen in 2010. So I wrote profiles for a few people that I met at TBEX in Chicago last year and then we created this list of the top 100 travel blogs based on Alexa and Compete.com rankings.

It’s been growing ever since!

What is the most rewarding aspect of working for TravelPod? Who is TravelPod for?

The best part of working for TravelPod are the connections we make as travelers. No matter if we are newbies or RTW veterans, we’re all in the same boat. We all give each other inspiration.

The coolest thing is watching someone’s trip morph from a little question in the forums like, “Where should I go next?” into a concrete plan. After asking more questions and sharing advice and getting to know them they say goodbye for a bit, go on their trip, come back and write a blog that we can read.

Then the whole process starts all over again for the next trip.

I think watching that whole story unfold from conception to execution is pretty magical.

Favorite travel destination so far?

Whoah tough one. I definitely cannot pick one.

As a kid, I was really involved in Girl Guides, and I traveled to the Yukon and Mexico City. My parents also took me on countless camping trips including a train ride across Canada. Those were the trips that sparked my love for travel.

As for my favourite independent travel destinations, I gotta say I love Boston, Chicago, Halifax, Denver and Montreal. Really interesting and culturally unique places.

If time and money were no object, were in the world would you travel?

Probably South America, the South Pacific and Africa. It would be extremely interesting to just immerse myself in these three very different cultures for a while. These parts of the world get very little mainstream media attention, so it’s these parts of the world that I am most interested in.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Just come on down and check out Travelblogsites.com. Get inspired and get out and see the world!

If you have a travel blog, submit yours to the site, and if you don’t have a travel blog yet, consider starting one on TravelPod.com. It’s free and insanely easy.

Interested in being featured or interviewed on TravelBlogSites.com? Email Louise (louiseb@travelpod.com), justify your blog’s existence in two paragraphs and submit a photo of yourself that she can use on TravelBlogSites.com

Interview With Writer and Photographer Joel Carillet

By Erica Johansson on in Interviews

Tennessee-based writer and photographer Joel Carillethas traveled to more than sixty countries. Learn more about Carillet’s writing background and experiences on the road, how 30 Reasons to Travel came to life, plus future travel dreams.

Joel Carillet.

Photo by Björn Vaughn

Erica Johansson: When did you decide you wanted to become a writer? And where did you first get published?

Joel Carillet: For several months in 2003 I lived in the West Bank, volunteering for a program associated with the Geneva-based World Council of Churches. Part of my job was to write about the lives of Palestinians so that Americans back home would have a better understanding of what it was like to be in their shoes. I’ve always loved travel, but I found particular purpose in traveling to tell a story – an important story – to people back home. The hardship and risk, the interviews and analysis, the act of sorting through competing narratives and bias, I loved it all. What I loved wasn’t so much the act of writing as the gathering of material and then the finished product. Some writers are energized by crafting sentence after sentence, but this part of the process almost always drains me, sometimes thoroughly. I write because I want to convey thought and information that will crack ideological shells and elucidate the human face of our neighbor. I write because I want the reader to mull over how he or she is part of this thing called “the world.”

bethlehem west bank Interview With Writer and Photographer Joel Carillet

Betlehem, West Bank.

While in the West Bank, most of my writing was shared and circulated only informally, with just a couple pieces appearing in a small WCC publication. I was struck, however, by the feedback I received from complete strangers, and how the articles and reflections I emailed to a relatively small group of friends had fanned out and found their way into college classrooms, diplomatic offices, churches, etc. Through writing, I felt I had become not just an observer of events but a constructive participant in them.

These experiences gave me the final prodding I needed to say “yes” to an idea I’d been bouncing around since September 2001. I would fly to Beijing, spend more than a year traveling overland to Istanbul, and then write a book about the people I met along the way. The trip, begun in October 2003, marks my full-hearted attempt to make a go at writing. It would be another two years, however, before I sold my first story. Actually there were two stories published at the same time. “The Return of the Suriani” was a feature article about the Syriac community in southeastern Turkey, published by Touchstone magazine. The other story, entitled “Clutching My Soul in Paradise,” appeared in The Best Travel Writing 2006 anthology published by Travelers’ Tales; it was an autobiographical account of what it meant to be a twelve-year-old American in Papua New Guinea.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

You have traveled to more than sixty countries. What have been the greatest aspects of traveling to such an extent?

Dipping my spoon into a bowl of Kyrgyz borsch, setting eyes on the absolute beauty of Everest, watching a Balinese mother and daughter walk to a temple with bowls of fruit on their heads – there is so much beauty to observe and take in, and it comes in so many forms. But in the end I don’t want merely to experience things, I want to relate, and relating is only done with people.

Hue, Vietnam.

What I cherish most about travel is the opportunity to meet people in their own context, whether it’s an island paradise or a war zone (or, more likely, something in between the two, or a bit of both). I often tell the story of meeting a Palestinian named Abu Rajah in 2002. He introduced himself only minutes after I arrived in the refugee camp that he and his family called home. Days earlier, Israeli forces had withdrawn from the camp after a devastating battle, and in places the stench of rotting flesh still lifted from the ground as people dug through entire blocks of collapsed houses. I had arrived at dusk and this man, squatting in front of a mostly demolished home, asked if I needed a place to sleep. Abu Rajah had only one room to offer – a tank had taken out the rest, including the toilet — and yet he would share what he had with me, a stranger passing by. For much of the next week we would become friends in that tiny space, sharing food and touch, talking and listening, drinking a hundred cups of tea. I saw the pain in his wife’s eyes as she asked that I spend time with their teenage son who had visions of being a suicide bomber, just as I saw the laughter when their younger son asked to go to America in my backpack, or the generosity when, over and over again, the couple offered me the best of their food. Experiences like this do not allow you to go unchanged.

Sapa, Vietnam.

We’re enriched as we meet people, cultures, and issues outside our usual context, and hopefully others are enriched by us as well. Travel nurtures a sense of interrelatedness and leaves us dissatisfied with knowing the world merely through the television screen and newsprint, because travel shows us that you can’t actually get to know the world – and on occasion get it just plain wrong – this way.

I value tremendously how strangers have taken me in and cared for me when I’ve been robbed or sick. I carry with me the kindness of so many people. I remember Bovy, a Thai hotel manager on Ko Phangan, who traveled overnight to Bangkok to be with me when she learned I would be having back surgery later that week (while at her guest house I had severely herniated a disc). I remember Pushpa, a nine-year-old girl in a poor part of Kathmandu, who took me by the hand after I’d been devastated by the theft of weeks worth of notes and months worth of cash. Pushpa, along with her sister Meena and their widowed mother, insisted that I stay in their modest home that night, adamantly opposed to a person being alone when he’s feeling sad.

Ah, there are so many people I could mention, and some of them stand out not because they were good but because they impressed upon me just how rotten people can be as well. But you get the point: It is the men, women, and children in the places we visit, not inanimate things, that allow us to relate to (and not just experience) the world. I don’t at all want to knock experience – I love it! – but it’s important to be aware that traveling in the name of “having experiences” isn’t the same as traveling to participate in the world. The one is rather self-referential; the other is more interested in being a part of a community, even if only in a very modest way.

In the bio on your website I read you spent “529 hours on buses, 206 hours on trains, 121 hours in cars and trucks, and 64 hours on boats and ships” during your 14-month overland journey across Asia in 03/04. What was your preferred mode of transportation and why? And how did you manage to keep track of the exact hours? That’s impressive.

I’m fond of trains. I like the rhythmic clattering down the track, the slow pull in and out of stations, the ability to get up and walk when you want to stretch your legs or just look around. As for keeping track of the hours, this was just one of many things I was recording each day. In writing a book you don’t know what kind of information might eventually be useful, so I kept track of as much as possible. Even details I like to think I would never forget I recorded studiously, knowing that memory becomes less trustworthy the farther it moves from the event.

Your current column for Wanderingeducators.com, Hidden Treasures, does it concentrate (on) past or present travels?

A mix of both, but usually past.

Granada, Nicaragua.

I discovered your previous column, “Reflections on the Road,” on Gather some time ago. For those who haven’t read it, can you tell them what it was about?

Sure. This was my first regular writing gig, which I did for a website every other week for two years. To borrow a line from the column description, each article sought “to shed light on humanity, both our own and that of other, [and aimed] not merely to entertain and inform but also to develop a sense of connection between the reader and the world.” Most articles incorporated my photography as well.

book cover Interview With Writer and Photographer Joel Carillet

30 Reasons to Travel.

Your book 30 Reasons to Travel is based on observations and insights from your experiences abroad. Can you tell us a bit more about the book? When did you first get the idea to write it?

When I was still writing for Gather a year ago, they approached me with the idea of publishing a book. They were about to launch their own imprint and wanted an author they liked and had experience with to be the first to publish through them (for promotional purposes). They would pay the cost of everything and I’d get royalties from all sales. The only catch was that the project needed to be completed in a matter of weeks. The timeframe was nuts, but it was an opportunity I couldn’t afford to pass up.

I considered submitting the Asia manuscript I had worked so hard on for the better part of two years (and which my diligent agent had yet to find a publisher for), but I opted to hold onto that and instead do something that would showcase both my writing and photography. The result was 30 Reasons to Travel: Photographs and Reflections from Southeast Asia. In the past decade a lot of “list books” have been published (e.g., 1000 Places to See before you Die), but what sets this one apart-in addition to its more than 275 color photographs-is its more reflective nature. It invites the reader to consider how he or she is part of a journey that the world itself is already on. If you want a book that will tell you about plush hotels, the best places to get a tan, or how to party abroad, this isn’t for you. But if you want to consider the beauty of laughter, the value of holding a child of another race, or what a meaningful souvenir might look like, you’ll hopefully like 30 Reasons to Travel.

In making this book, I kept two interrelated realities in mind. First, not everyone can or does travel abroad. Second, many lessons of travel also have application in one’s own home or neighborhood. And so each of the 30 reasons is intended to provide food for thought not only for those who travel but also for those who stay close to home.

As for structure, the book is divided into 30 sections comprised of a short story or reflection accompanied by photographs. I kept the text portion intentionally concise – it can be read over a long cup of coffee – and for many readers this is their favorite aspect of the book. The photographs are quality, but the written word is central to the book.

view sapa vietnam Interview With Writer and Photographer Joel Carillet

View in Sapa, Vietnam.

What advice would you give someone who’s about to set out on a long-term backpacking trip?

Read a book or two about the places you’ll be traveling – a history, novel, or whatever. If visiting Vietnam for instance, make time to read something like Graham Greene’s The Quiet American or Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War. Invariably, you’ll find the book and place in a symbiotic relationship, shaping each other and enriching your time in the country. And if you are indeed traveling long-term, carve out a period to stay a while in one place, to learn the names of its streets and people, to have locals learn things about you. Be in relationship with a place, don’t just conquer it.

Last, if time and money weren’t an object, where in the world would you travel?

Here’s one of several things I’d like to do one day: Travel slowly and by land from Everest Base Camp in Tibet to the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan or Israel. These are the Earth’s highest and lowest points, and I’d love to use this route to write a book about “highs and lows” in life.

To read more about Joel Carillet, see previously published work, images from around the world, and his photoblog, head over to http://joelcarillet.com

Interview With Travel Writer Rolf Potts

By Erica Johansson on in Interviews

I have been a fan of Rolf Potts’ writings ever since I read his story Storming ‘The Beach’ on Salon.com in ’99. Since then he has reported from over fifty countries for publications such as Conde Nast Traveler, Outside, The New York Times, National Geographic Traveler and The Guardian.

Potts’ book Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel (Random House, 2003) endorses the ethic of independent travel, and his newest book Marco Polo Didn’t Go There: Stories and Revelations From One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer (Traveler’s Tales, 2008) is a collection of highly entertaining and insightful stories.

rolf by fritz liedtke Interview With Travel Writer Rolf Potts

Photo: Fritz Liedtke.

I recently got in touch with Rolf Potts for a short interview.

Erica Johansson: First, why did you decide to become a travel writer?

Rolf Potts: I don’t know if there was ever a clear line between desire and decision. I mean, lots of people want to be travel writers, and many people dabble in it, and I was no different. I guess my transition from desiring and dabbling to an actual decision to do it happened over ten years ago, when I was first writing for Salon.com. At that point I’d been making stabs at travel writing for nearly five years, but nothing had workedout. When I started publishing in Salon, I decided to concentrate my energies and make it happen. Over ten years later, I’m still concentrating those energies, still making it happen. And it’s been great!

How did you get your first writing assignment?

Most of my early stories were written on spec, so I had already published quite a bit before I got a formal assignment. In some ways, the “Vagabonding” column I wrote for Salon was my first assignment, though that emerged out of months of spec work. My Salon column attracted the attention of an editor at Conde Nast Traveler, and my first formal assignment came from that magazine in 2000. The Laos journey I took for that magazine eventually become a chapter, “Toura Incognita,” in my latest book, Marco Polo Didn’t Go There.

What is the most rewarding aspect of travel writing?

There are many rewarding aspects of travel writing. The ability to obsess on both travel and writing, and to communicate certain travel experiences, is great. I’d say the biggest reward is when a story comes together just right, when I can take a very specific and unique travel experience and make it speak to something more broadly human and universal.

How was the response for your latest book Marco Polo Didn’t Go There?

The response has been great. I think people have been approaching the book expecting some entertaining armchair travel experiences – and the book provides plenty of far-flung stories – but I’m getting the most feedback on the “commentary track” endnotes, which look into the story behind each story. I think people aren’t used to thinking about travel stories in this way – they aren’t used to considering how stories were lived versus how they are constructed and communicated – and they love this aspect of the book.

The book has also sold surprisingly well, considering it was released amid a busy presidential election season and a global economic crash. It’s been doing about as well as my first book Vagabonding – which is great, since Vagabonding has such a broad and enthusiastic readership.

What is your best piece of advice for aspiring travel writers?

I always say to read a lot, write a lot, and travel a lot. And travel well. Make yourself an expert in some aspect of travel. That always gives you more to offer readers. I might also suggest that writers really know their markets – know which magazines and websites are open to what kind of writing. If you aren’t passionately familiar with the content and format of a given outlet, odds are you’ll never land a story there.

What has been your biggest challenge and how have you worked to
overcome it?

My ongoing challenge is focus and discipline. It’s a big world, with so many places to go and so many things to write about. It’s a constant challenge to discipline myself into not seeing too far into the future, to focus on being where I am, and writing about the experience at hand.

If time and money weren’t an object, where in the world would you travel?

If money weren’t an object, I’d go to Antarctica. I’ve always wanted to go there, and I plan to get there one day. I’d also like to return to Africa, once I’m able to create the time. I’ve only spent a few days in sub-Saharan Africa, and I’d love to return to the continent and travel slow.

For more information about Rolf Potts including published books, stories, essays, previous interviews, upcoming events and photos from his travels, visit www.rolfpotts.com

Fortylove.tv: Two Friends, Forty Takes, One Adventure

By Erica Johansson on in Interviews

Fortylove.tv is the latest project by Adrianna Tan, a photojournalist, writer and blogger from Singapore, and May Yee, a communication strategist from Kuala Lumpur. With digital postcards from cities in Europe and the Middle East, they reveal secrets you won’t find in any guidebooks.

I recently got in touch with Adrianna (currently in Dubai) and May (based in London) to learn more about their, in their own words, “part travelogue, part video-cast, part excuse to hang out with interesting people/travel even more.”

First of all, can you tell us a bit about Fortylove?

Fortylove.tv is a mobile travel show from across Europe and the Middle East. Two friends from Singapore/Malaysia live in two very exciting world cities on different continents – London and Dubai. Two very different worlds, but both have an abundance of secrets and stories to tell. It’s good old traditional wanderlust… on steroids, fuelled by web2.0. It’s our excuse to travel more, meet new people and do strange things, so that we can produce: forty short episodes shot, pieced together and edited by us. Two a week, every week for twenty weeks. View it on the website, on youtube, in your newsreader, iTunes, or on your iPod. We love travel shows; we think we should be able to take them everywhere. And we think everybody can make their own.

How did you get the idea? Were you inspired by anything in particular?

We’ve always been avid travellers, and we have the tendency to leap off into the unknown… sometimes quite literally. But we’re uninspired by the regular tourist trail, and the uninspiring guidebooks that tell you to go to the Eiffel Tower while you’re in Paris or to check out the Burj while you’re in Dubai. These sights are great, fine, but there’s more to a city. We thought to ourselves: if we only had only three minutes to show someone a city we knew, what would we tell someone to do/see/eat, and what are the offbeat things we love that we want them to know about?

That’s where it all came from.

As to how this all started: around September last year we knew that we were going to move to London and Dubai, on short term assignments for about six to nine months.

By that time we’d already started shooting rough videos of stuff that intrigued us on our travels, and amassed a lot of cool footage of stuff like May in a backlane in downtown Amsterdam, and Adri among the hordes at the million-strong Rath Yatra festival in India. We just stitched up some of this footage together, for a hoot, and sent them to our friends. They seemed to like it. So when we were up one night at 2 am talking about our travel plans for the year ahead, something clicked. We knew we were having a great opportunity to live in such exciting places, and that we were going to have to use London and Dubai as a base to the regions around us; that even the cities we were going to live in were cities that are very widely known and tourist-friendly, but not everybody got to see the ‘real’ London or Dubai that we knew. In the sense that they attract plenty of business and casual tourists, but beyond the Big Ben and beyond the Burj… in the gritty alleys of Shoreditch or Satwa, laid the stuff we loved: the true heart of the city. We wanted to dive deep into these parts.

We also knew we had to do something about this while we were on the road, and it just came naturally: we love the internet, social media, travelling, writing, talking our heads off. Something clicked, and we jumped out of bed, grabbed a pen and paper and did wireframe sketches of what our site would look like, and what you see on http://fortylove.tv today is pretty much that :)

So far you’ve been filming malls in Dubai, tube stations in London, a camel souk in Al Ain, martini making outside the Buckingham Palace, and the preparation for the Rickshaw Challenge in Chennai. What’s next?

Traditional beer-making and the secrets of Belgian abbey beer, if the monks will let May in. The underground world of Syrian lingerie if Adri can just crack the code. The 600-700 year old skyscrapers of the “Manhattan of the Ancient World” – 15 storey tall buildings in Shibam Hadramout, build hundreds of years ago to protect themselves from Bedouin invasions, and people still live in them. A Sudanese beat poet’s stunning poetry in English and a little Arabic, on themes of exile, loss and displacement, that’s surprisingly relevant to her own ‘exile’, as well as to the thousands of migrant workers in gleaming Dubai. There’s a lot more and we’re looking forward to sharing everything we see. For now, May needs her passport back from the UK Home Office and Adri needs to get out of Yemen alive (because that might otherwise be quite a dent in our ‘forty episodes’ concept if we had to stop at, say, sixteen, due to one of us dying).

How are you shooting the videos?

Equipment: We use a small Sanyo Xacti each, a low-end consumer camera. It’s about capturing the moment as it happens – the noise, the crowds, the imperfection, the spirit of it all, and we found that the smaller your camera, the more we’ve been able to immerse ourselves in the heart of the moment… people aren’t intimidated by it, and usually don’t even know what we’re doing.

Procedure: We came up with a list of cities we knew we were probably going to go to within the period, and actively started seeking out cool things about them by talking to people who lived there, reading, and making friends with people who knew these cities inside out. We usually just ‘stumble’ upon the story ideas, then reach out to the people who can help us with it. Usually just show up and shoot with our little cameras, then go home and edit them into short episodes that tell you the story in 5 minutes or less (sometimes a little more).

I must compliment you for the irresistibly cool look of the site. Who’s behind the web design?

A brilliant Pittsburgh-based designer, Nathan Swartz (clicknathan.com). Adri had spoken to him a year before, on another travel-related podcast project that she eventually shelved. We always thought he would ‘get’ the spirit of Fortylove.tv from the start, becaues he designed our site while he was on the road – literally. He was living in a campervan with his family across the United States, and so there were some similarities. Nathan designed the site from scratch, implemented it in WordPress, and did a great job.

After 20 weeks are over, what will happen to fortylove? Any chances you will post more videos from various trips around the world?

From the start we’d always imagined that fortylove would live beyond London and Dubai. If we get the right kind of support we would love to do this in two different cities again. Say, Bombay and Buenos Aires next year. Shanghai and Rome. Whatever. It doesn’t even have to be us; if we find two people crazy enough to do this we’d love for them to pick it up for another Fortylove.tv run. We do understand the logistics and the costs involved – so securing travel and tech sponsors in the future would be ideal.

We may also feature cool travel videos that others might make. Or continue posting videos there sporadically, as we’re never going to stop travelling. We’ll see! We’re also launching a bunch of other cool travel-related web projects after this. We’re off to India in July to race an autorickshaw 2000km across the country. That’s going to be another mobile travel project of its own – watch out for that ;)

Last, if you could travel anywhere in the world and shoot new videos, where would you go?

May: a big city in North America; it’s the only continent I haven’t been to. I’d start with New York, or San Francisco, New Orleans maybe. Or on the other side of the Pacific – Japan. Tokyo.

Adri: Bhutan. Not sure about the internet connection though.

Editor’s Note: Below you can watch the episodes from week 2 and 3. Make sure to head over to Fortylove.tv to check out the other videos, and join the fortylove.tv crew on Twitter and Facebook.

Week 2: Mind the Ghost

London: Mind Your Ghost from fortylovetv on Vimeo.

Hey Adri,

Living in this city has taught me a few practical things. Bring an umbrella wherever you go. Buy beer in eights for a better deal. Don’t freak out when you hear strange noises at night. Continue reading.

Week 3: Know your Camel

Know Your Camel from fortylovetv on Vimeo.

Dear May,

When I first moved here they told me if I ever knocked down a camel while driving, I could expect to pay more blood money than if I killed a human being.

That’s how seriously they take their camels around these parts. Continue reading.

Interview With Tamara Heber-Percy, Co-Founder of Mr & Mrs Smith

By Erica Johansson on in Interviews

Tamara Heber-Percy, co-founder and marketing director of Boutique & Luxury Hotel Specialist Mr & Mrs Smith, talks about how the company came to life, membership benefits, future plans, and five hotels that are too special to not visit again, and again, and again.

Erica Johansson: How did the company come to life? When did you first get the idea to Mr & Mrs Smith?

Tamara Heber-Percy: My partner (now husband) and I were always looking for great hotels for weekends away – we both ran our own businesses so weekends were precious. Unfortunately, none of the guidebooks out at the time represented the kind of hotel we were looking for, so, after a few disastrous trips where we were disappointed the moment we arrived, we decided to write our own guidebook. That Christmas we received more than 2,000 brochures through the post from hotels around the UK and in January we embarked on a mammoth drive around the country to check out 200 that we thought looked special. Of that 200, 41 made it into the first Mr & Mrs Smith Hotel Collection.

Initially, we’d thought of selling the idea to a publisher but none would take it – we got the usual rebuttals – ‘market too saturated’, ‘no one needs another guidebook’, etc. So we set up our own publishing company. We pleaded with a distributor to take us on and he predicted we’d sell 5,000 copies, so when we’d already sold 15,000 within a month of printing, we knew we were on to something.

I must say your books and CDs are terrific. Were the products a part of the initial plan?

The books came first. The CDs were a later addition. My husband James used to be a DJ and also ran his own bar and club, so he is passionate about music. Mr & Mrs Smith developed very organically, as we began to understand what the possibilities were. For example, we only started taking bookings when we realised how much business we were giving the hotels. We were visiting a hotelier we had met two years previously when signing hotels up for the first book – we asked him how it was going and he looked at us incredulously: ‘My God, you have no idea do you?’ he said, ‘You guys are 40 per cent of my business!’ It was amazing to think that people didn’t just like our books as coffee-table browsing fodder, they were actually using them to pick out their next hotel stay.

For someone who considers becoming a member, what would you say to convince them to… take the plunge? What are non-members missing out on?

Well, we’ve tried to make our first level of membership, BlackSmith (£15/$30), a ‘no-brainer’ decision. Whenever a member books a hotel through us, they show their card on arrival and get a little life-enhancing extra: a bottle of chilled champagne, a spa treatment or afternoon tea for two – it varies from hotel to hotel, but is ALWAYS worth a lot more than the membership fee. We wanted to ensure Smith membership makes sense even if you only stay in one of our hotels once a year.

Members also benefit when they get home – they’ll find a deposit of Smith Pounds in their account as part of our unique and super-generous loyalty scheme, The Vault. We’ve designed this so that even a two-night booking will give the member enough Smith Pounds to treat themselves to one of our hand-picked ‘Vault Valuables’ – luxury goodies from brands we love such as Agent Provocateur, Links of London and Mulberry.

Once a month we put together some amazing offers from our hotels (such as two nights for the price of one), exclusively for our members, which we mail out to each member in our e-newsletter, Room Service. But even if a member isn’t taking advantage of a special offer, they’re still safe in the knowledge that our rates are guaranteed to be the same as or lower than the rates they’d get directly from the hotel.

Basically, if you don’t like champagne, amazing hotel deals and treating yourself for free, then Smith membership is definitely not for you!

silver membership card Interview With Tamara Heber Percy, Co Founder of Mr & Mrs Smith black membership card Interview With Tamara Heber Percy, Co Founder of Mr & Mrs Smith

How are you able to guarantee the best rates available?

That’s simple – we make it a stipulation for hotels wanting to work with us. Aggregator sites such as Expedia and Lastminute may discount more as part of a package that includes flights and car hire but if you are just booking the hotel we should have the best rates available. If any customer finds cheaper hotel-only rates elsewhere we refund the difference.

When you select which hotels to include in your collections, are you visiting the hotels in the pretence of being regular guests? Or have your reviewers ever accepted complimentary stays in return for exposure?

We initially visit a hotel to determine whether it’s suitable for Smith so we let them know we’re coming – this is so they can give us a tour of the property and let us see as many rooms as possible (which you can’t do if you go anonymously). If the hotel is ‘Smithy’ enough to invite into the collection, we then send an anonymous reviewer couple. They get to experience the hotel as it really is. We make sure we send couples so we get a balanced view, and we don’t tend to send them midweek – we’re all about romantic weekends away, after all. We never allow a hotel into the collection unless the anonymous review comes back positive. The hotels do pay a fee to be part of our collection – after we’ve scouted them out – but they cannot pay their way in.

What can members and other Mr & Mrs Smith fans expect in the future? Any current plans you’d like to reveal?

We are launching in the USA at the moment; it’s a very tough time to do so, but we are doing it organically, with a book we created especially for the States – we are not spending money on offices out there so I think our strategy is sound. We have also just signed a deal with someone in the Asia-Pacific region who will be setting up offices there. This means that our Travel Team will have 24-hour worldwide coverage – so you can book a hotel through us at any time. We also have some exciting plans for new book titles – but that’s a secret!

Last, I’m curious to know, what are your 5 top favorite Mr & Mrs Smith hotels?
I love hotels, but I am also addicted to new experiences so there are few hotels I would choose to go back to but the following are so special that I would jump at the chance:

royalmalewane large Interview With Tamara Heber Percy, Co Founder of Mr & Mrs Smith

The Royal Malewane safari lodge in Kruger Park, South Africa – this is where I spent my honeymoon. It’s set in a private game reserve, and every room has a pool; we woke on the first morning to find a giraffe drinking from it. The people who run this place are amazing and make you feel so special.

Ca’s Xorc in Mallorca – I got married here. When we found this hotel for Smith, my husband and I turned to each other and agreed we wanted every single one of our friends to experience the place. I was born in Mallorca so it has a special place in my heart, and the views from Ca’s Xorc are incredible.

blakes large Interview With Tamara Heber Percy, Co Founder of Mr & Mrs Smith

Blakes in London – it’s Anoushka Hempel’s original boutique hotel and still a favourite. No fancy spa or corporate meeting rooms, just the perfect romantic atmosphere.

haciendasa large Interview With Tamara Heber Percy, Co Founder of Mr & Mrs Smith

Hacienda de San Antonio in Mexico is a working hacienda set on a coffee plantation. The scenery here is stunning, with volcanoes, mountains, and jungle greenery. It’s a splash of luxury in the untouched heart of Mexico.

Fazenda da Lagoa in Bahia, Brazil, is on it’s own island in the rainforest where freshwater meets the sea; you have to take a boat ride through the mangroves to get there. There are 11 stunningly designed bungalows right on a white sand beach that seems to go on forever. This is one of the few places in the world where you feel totally alone.

For more places to stay including affordable stylish hotels and luxury ski chalets, head over to Mr & Mrs Smith. And don’t miss Smith Travel Blog, where they share insider travel tips, interviews and top 10 features from around the world.

Interview With Jeanne of Soultravelers3

By Erica Johansson on in Interviews

Called “one of the best family travel blogs in cyberspace” by National Geographic Traveler, Soultravelers3 is the initiative of Jeanne D’Arc, Da Vinci and Ms. Mozart – a family of three who nicknamed themselves after some of their heroes.

Soultravelers 3 is now entering their third year of around-the-world-travel. I recently got in touch with Jeanne to learn more about their previous travel experiences and future plans.

Erica Johansson: You sold your home and vineyard in California and retired early to travel the world. What caused you to finally take the decision?

Jeanne: It was something we talked about for many years, plus planned and saved for, but never were sure if we would actually do it. Sometimes it just seemed too overwhelming to prepare for such a big dream. Then a number of things happened at around the same time, that suddenly made it seem crazy not to do it. We were making this big decision in 2004 and 2005.

We were mostly motivated by wanting to educate our child in the best way possible to be a global citizen of the 21st century, to have the freedom to do as we pleased and the luxury of ” full time together” for both parents. From our perspective as older parents, childhood passes very quickly and neither parent wanted to miss any of it. We are always happiest together.

Although it is standard in Sweden for families to take time together at birth, it is very rare in the U.S. for fathers to take extended paternity time for a child, but DaVinci, took seven weeks off at Mozart’s birth ( without pay). His company thought he was a little crazy, yet we think he had his priorities straight . That was probably a catalyst for us that started a strong seed for early retirement, as we thrived on that time together. Soon afterwards, he left corporate life to work at home, but it still did not give us the full freedom and time that we wanted.

We calculated that our skyrocketing housing market and those around the world would crash because busts always follow booms no matter how many say “this time it is different” or “it is different here”. We were concerned about the choices being made by banks , the booming deficit, the political people in power and how that would affect the dollar, the U.S and world economy in the near future. We always like to look ahead to trends.

It was an often, heartbreaking choice to make at that time as we were really attached to our dream home and vineyard that we had worked so hard on creating and were not sure what the best choice was. We knew once we made the choice, there would be no turning back.We were reading books about how to protect oneself and profit from the coming crash, when most people did not seem to be aware that their was a looming problem. Most people laughed at that kind of thinking.

As it turned out, it was absolutely the best decision for us by far and once we made the decision, it all became much easier. We sold our house at peak for our area in 2005 and moved into a rental while we prepared for this major transition.

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Mozart in Venice

Mozart learns very quickly and taught herself to read at two, so that impacted our decision to homeschool. She could read Harry Potter on her own at four, so we wanted her to be able to be free to be herself and that allowed us to leave earlier than we might otherwise, as a reading child can get more out of such a journey and is easier to take. Also, after a bilingual child is a strong reader in their dominant language, it is the best time to focus on their second language reading and writing skills.

Extended traveling is a perfect combination with homeschool, thus all of these factors affected our decision. She was at the perfect age and so were we, so it seemed like now or never. I am guessing that when she is older she might want to be in one place and we want to do this while young enough ourselves to be healthy and fit.

It has been the very best decision of our lives!

img 2009 Interview With Jeanne of Soultravelers3

Jeanne and Mozart

I read on your blog that you spent your first winter on the road in Andalusia, Spain. Where else have you been so far?

Yes, we are about to spend our third winter in a gorgeous 15th century white village in Andalusia, Spain. We have grown very fond of “our” village and Mozart goes to the local school to immerse deeply into her second language’s written language, literacy and culture. We continue to homeschool in English all year long, but this gives her a chance to bond with the same kids and have typical childhood joys like sleep overs. She also takes flamenco lessons with a great teacher/dancer and participates in all the festivals of Spain in our intimate village of only about 1000 people.

We love combining a winter home in a village house there and then following the weather during the spring, summer and fall months in our RV to create an “endless summer” kind of world field trip. I just found the village on the internet and made up this part winter monthly rental home and part RV traveling style, but it has worked out so well and is perfect for a family.

We have been to four continents, 29 countries since we started. We have been to Turkey, four countries in Scandinavia, four in the British Isles, Morocco, Croatia, all over France, Italy and Spain, Germany, most of the Greek Islands plus much of the mainland, Switzerland, Slovenia, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Portugal, Austria, Montenegro and more. We have taken every kind of transportation from camels in the Sahara to a punt in Cambridge, England and stayed in everything from a hostel on a fijord in Norway to a 5000 year old cave (5 star boutique hotel) in Capaddocia, Turkey.

img 2841 Interview With Jeanne of Soultravelers3

What are your favorite places? Any city or town you’d like to return to, or do you prefer seeing new places?

There are so many favorite places, it is hard to pick. We really loved Morocco, especially the Sahara and Fez. We loved Sweden this summer. We loved Croatia and Montenegro. Sintra, Portugal, too much of France, Italy and Spain, loved the Greek Islands and Turkey, particularly Santorini, Rhodes and Capaddocia. We loved Germany, Netherlands, Norway fijords, Austria, Lake Bled and Prague.

We could see ourselves returning to maybe live in Spain at some point. We have grown very fond of Andalusia in the winter and Galicia is one of the true gems of Europe in the summer. That would also leave us close to all of Europe which we love.

We do like exploring new places, but also enjoy returning to places we have not seen in a while. We love the standards like Paris, London, New York, San Francisco, and Florence, but also really love the small villages and rural areas very much. Cities are exciting with the cultural opportunities, but I think one gets to know more of the heart of a place in rural environments, maybe more so for families as cities are just harsher environments.

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When browsing through some of your older blog posts I found Crazy Travel, where you write “If you are going to laugh later, you might as well laugh as it happens.” That’s a great mindset to have – especially when on the road. What has been (or is) the most challenging aspect of your journey?

I love that saying too and believe me, we have had to remind ourselves a few times. Yes, indeed, laughing keeps us sane! We mostly live large on little and enjoy this free life, but it is an adventure and we are always in new places, so there is a certain amount of insanity that we must deal with regularly.

I think the biggest challenge has been scary, mountainous roads and driving at night in an RV. We have an older (1998) camper that is extremely heavy due to lots of books for Mozart’s homeschooling and our heavy full digital piano. This is our home for seven months, so we have a lot more in it than someone on holiday for a week end or week. It has never failed us, but it certainly is extremely nerve wracking to feel her putt, putt, putting up a steep incline or worrying about break failure going down the steepest of hills.

I have vertigo, so don’t do well on the curvy roads with cliffs that go straight down with no railing. Our GPS sometimes has managed to put us on the worse possible roads and DaVinci is very calm and a great driver, so when he is nervous, I know we are in trouble. We do try to avoid steep mountainous roads and driving at night or getting lost, but we have managed to do this more times than I care to admit. Sometimes it is hard to avoid because there just in no decent place to stop for hours before dark.

I think the worst road was going straight up the worlds most curvy, cliff hanging, hairpin turns of the volcano at Satorni behind a huge truck carrying steal tubes, while fast moving mopeds and small cars zipped around us somehow on the wrong side where ever they could barely squeeze by. We had to go up and down that road a few times with taxi’s as we stayed there a month and traveled to other islands from there and I never got used to it. I dreaded the thought of driving our camper down that road, but we lucked out in not too much traffic and survived. We had an amazing month in Santorini last June, but I am not sure if I would have gone had I known beforehand, that going on that road was part of the package that could not be avoided.

We have gotten lost a few times in the dark in hilly medieval city centers with the tiniest roads, sometimes in rain or rush hour that adds a thrill along with not being able to read the street signs or talk the language. Once some young men had to literally lift up a parked car and move it out of the way, so that we could pass. Our RV is only van size with a cab over, but it can seem huge on tiny European old towns or roads. Mostly we love being on the open road, not knowing what is up the bend, but there are times it is quite frightening, perhaps even more so because we travel with a child.

We had another car run into us while we sat in a traffic jam on a freeway in France which caused a lot of damage to both vehicles. That was a great challenge and we are still dealing with that one, many months later. Handling insurance company bureaucracy in a language you do not speak is no fun, but we will get through that too.

Still, the good news in all of this is it has strengthened us all and helped us to work even better as a well oiled team. Every life has challenges, so I am glad my daughter is learning that they can all be solved by staying calm and just doing the best one can to walk through whatever one must walk through. We try to improve ourselves with each challenge and have gratitude even for our harder lessons, which helps us appreciate all the good times even more. I think the key to life is just loving it all!

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One of my favorite posts is How to Eat Healthy & Cheap Traveling Europe! which gives some great advice and takes in the importance of eating less meat. If you think back on the days when you ate out instead of cooking, which was your best restaurant experience?

Oh we still take time out to splurge on dinners or lunches even when we are eating frugally. I am glad that you liked that post as it is one of my favorites as well. Eating out and eating the local specialties are a very important part of travel for us, so we do make sure we do that in every place we roam.

It will be hard to limit our best experiences, but here are a few that come to mind:

We stumbled upon a “to-die-for” meal in Dijon, France.

Loved this special meal in Prague.

Didn’t expect the meal to be so great at our wonderful Mozart concert at St Peter Stiftskeller in Salzburg.

We were totally spoiled by gourmet treats by our friends in Sweden who taught us all about making and creating a crayfish party, eating reindeer meat in a Kota, Herring and more, but if it must be restaurants, we had scrumptious Swedish waffles with cloudberry jam at Abacka Cafe in Linkoping, Sweden.

Scrumptious seafood meal in Cedrea , Gaicia.

Mozarts favorite meal was at Local Cavehouse.

Botin in Madrid was special.

Best Mexican food was in Santorini and Best Chinese was a tie between two little places near our campsites in Vienna and Croatia.

img 1718 Interview With Jeanne of Soultravelers3

What are your future plans? And how much in advance are you planning your journey?

We are about to fly off to NYC at the moment to visit the disadvantaged school kids who come with us virtually as we tour the world. We volunteer with the award winning nonprofit, Reach The World which connects unique world travelers with school kids, but is an open resource supported by National Geographic and other sponsors. If your readers would like to support them or know of a company that would like to do that or school that wants to participate, please tell them Soultravelers3 sent you! We are listed with them as the European Journey, since that is our focus now.

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We are planning to ship our RV to South Africa next to do a long stay exploring Africa. I have heard great things about RVing there and Boswana and Nambia. We will see other places while there with fly in’s or train, but I am not sure exactly yet. The tentative plan is to then ship our RV to Argentina and do a long stay in South America and then slowly drive our RV back to California.

We also plan a long stay in Asia, Australia and New Zealand and a long stay touring North America, but I have not even started planning those places, except gathering good links and ideas when someone mentions something, to follow up on later. We have a general idea about what we want to do, but are ever flexible.

We had planned on leaving Europe this year, but decided to add one more year. I ended up in the hospital last year in Vienna, so we had to cut short our plans for Romania, Poland and Hungary, thus we want to make sure we see them and other places to feel complete here. We also plan a trip to Jordan, Egypt and Jerusalem in March. We will keep traveling as long as it keeps working for us. So far so good!

Any last words?

Thanks so much for a fun interview!

You can learn more about Soultravelers3 at the about us page on their blog, and don’t forget to check out their latest blog posts.

Q&A With Senior Trip Leader Alexander Lemunge: How to Prepare For a Successful Kili Hike

By Erica Johansson on in Africa, Interviews

On the roof of Africa. Alex, left, with the tourist.

By NAVAYA OLE NDASKOI

Navaya ole Ndaskoi: What kind of training and exercise do you need to climb Mount Kilimanjaro?

Alexander Lemunge: As a client you need training by hiking at list three times a week carrying some weight in a backpack preferably 15 ponds, about 7 kilograms. If someone has an opportunity to do a real hike on the mountains, that is the best way to train yourself. I led people who did treadmill, climbing stairs because that is all they could do. Mental preparation, however, is the most important thing. You must be determined. It is mind over body. It is very hard to train for the altitude, unless you pay some money to get into a pressurized room.

Who should climb Kilimanjaro for six and eight days, and why?

Highly experienced people on high altitude who has no or little problems of high altitude can climb in six days. Less experienced climbers can climb for about eight days. You simply climb during the day time if you choose the eight days package. However, six days allows climbing with enough minimum time to acclimatize. In effect more time on the mountain broadens chances of summiting. I recommend climbing for eight days.

What do you remember most on the numerous times you led groups on Kilimanjaro?

I remember leading a trip of a mother and her three daughters. They fell sick in different times at different altitudes. The mother was very scared. With our moral support and medicines we provided they all made to the summit. That was emotionally moving. I remember seeing them breaking into tears in jubilations. That was amazing. I was very happy and this day will remain in my mind for the rest of my life. Another day I was coming down Mweka trail. A client-cum-friend gave me a lunar bar chocolate. I ate half of it. Incidentally I read what the ingredients are. Wow, the bars reads, ‘this bar is for women.’ You can imagine what has been going on in mind. For some minutes I was wondering what could happen for the next few hours!

How does a trip leader relate to a client?

A trip leader is a layer between the client and the company. He represents the company and oversees the quality of services being offered to the client as indicated in the itinerary. He is in charge of everything in the trip that makes a client feel at home.

What is the difference between a trip leader and guide?

A trip leader is more trained on high altitude physiology and outdoor management. They have intensive training on first aid. The trip leader has more feeling about taking care of a client, monitoring of the trip. He or she cannot accomplish these without a guide.

What are the equipments required to attempt climbing Kilimanjaro?

Proper equipment is extremely important to the success, enjoyment, comfort and safety of your trip. On Kilimanjaro your body must be kept very warm all times. For a comfortable climb you need comfortable hiking boots well worn. You need to dress in layers, a minimum of three that fits on top of one another. Bear in mind that NO cotton is allowed because when it gets wet it does not keep you warm. On top of that a Gore-Tex jacket and pants are necessary and a warm compressible jacket for cold protection on higher altitude is needed. The head must be well protected, for this you need a shade hat for the sun, a warm hat and a balaclava for cold. Sunglasses are very important too; bring a few pairs including glaciers sunglasses. Remember that you are near the Equator and sunlight is very strong on high altitude. For sleeping, bring a full size sleeping pad and a sleeping bag which is at least 15 degrees below Fahrenheit.

Does the company provide any equipment?

The quality of tents is very important when shopping for a company to climb Kilimanjaro with. High quality tents will protect you from storms, snow, rains and keep you warm and safe on Kilimanjaro. Tents need to be four-seasons tents built specifically for high altitudes and wind resistance. Mountain Hardwear Trango 4 Tent is a typical example. Also the company provides water treatment methods. I prefer the Swiss Army Katadyn water pump because it is an environmental friendly method of cleaning water and it is easy to clean huge quantity of water. This makes clean and safe water available for drinking, cooking and body wash. In the meantime, we use sterilizer to clean fruits and vegetables to prevent any bacterial contamination. I always welcome clients to visit the kitchen tent so that they can see for themselves how food is prepared in the most hygienic way.

lunch Q&A With Senior Trip Leader Alexander Lemunge: How to Prepare For a Successful Kili Hike

Alex Lemunge (third to the left) is having lunch with tourists.

It is said that food change from low to high altitude. What is your take on this?

Your body cannot digest protein on high altitude. The meals must contain mainly carbohydrates such as pasta or rice. Meat, fish and the like will not be served on high altitudes. On the contrary, in low altitudes full meal with proteins will be served to give you enough energy for the climb. On both high and low altitudes meals must contains vegetables and fruits for proper diet. It is strongly advised that you drink three to five liters of water every day, good hydration help acclimatization on the mountain.

What is mountain sickness?

This disease has two appearances. The most common severe form of altitude illness, the most often causing death is high altitude pulmonary oedema. It is a problem of lungs that typically shows up on the second night after reaching a specific altitude. The pressure in the lungs arteries rise, and fluid seeps out of the pulmonary capillaries and begins to fill the alveolar sacs. The patient begins to drown. The second is called high altitude cerebral oedema, a brain problem with a high potential for death. This is when the intracranial is filled with pressure or fluids suppressing the brain. Both are fatal. Emergency kit which includes oxygen, high altitude hypobaric chamber and some pills are used as first aid. The treatment is descent, descent, descent.

Kilimanjaro is the highest walkable mountain on Earth. What does this means?

We do not use ropes, carabiners, and other technical climbing gear when climbing Kilimanjaro. It is just a hike. Above all Kilimanjaro has a generous weather compared with most other mountains from around the world. Most climbers reach the crater rim with little more than a walking stick, clothing and proper determination.

What measures do you take in case of an accident?

We immediately give first aid to stop life threatening and at the same time we call rescue team. Kilimanjaro National Park has its well functioning rescue teams which work shoulder to shoulder with a respective company whose client gets an accident. The rescue team can drive up to 12,000 feet above the sea level. Beyond that altitude they use different types of litter to carry the patient down the mountain depending on the severity of the problem. The patient is then taken by an ambulance to KCMC hospital in Moshi town on the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. Sometimes the patient is sometime flown to Nairobi Hospital in Kenya by helicopter. Flying Doctors Services and Knight Support have the best rescue ambulance helicopters that work efficiently.

giraffe Q&A With Senior Trip Leader Alexander Lemunge: How to Prepare For a Successful Kili Hike

A giraffe on the Mount Meru with Mount Kilimanjaro on the background.

Kilimanjaro is literally a stone-thrown away from the Equator. This highest free-standing mountain in the world is snow caped. Is this not amazing Alexander?

This is fascinating. Kilimanjaro is the only place to see snow close to the Equator. In fact the world climate is summarized on Kilimanjaro. The ascent of the slopes is a virtual climatic World tour from the tropical to the Arctic. Even before you cross the national park boundary, the cultivated foothills give way to lush montane forest, inhabited by elephant, leopard, buffalo the endangered abbot’s duiker and other small antelope and primates. Higher still lies the moorland zone, where a cover of giant heather is studded with other worldly giant lobelias. Above 4,000 m, a surreal alpine desert supports little life other than a few hardy mosses and lichen. Then, finally the last vestigial vegetation gives way to a winter wonderland of ice and snow and the magnificent beauty of the roof of the continent. By the time you reach the summit, you are already in the range of -25 degrees centigrade. Snow capped roof of Africa will literally carry you far way emotionally.

Q&A With Senior Trip Leader Alexander Lemunge: Kilimanjaro Trekking

By Erica Johansson on in Africa, Interviews

Alex Lemunge shows tourists the route they will pass to summit Kilimanjaro.

By NAVAYA OLE NDASKOI

The Kilimanjaro glaciers are turning straight to vapour. The Arrow glacier is no longer on Kilimanjaro. The Heim glacier was very famous for glacier climbing before 1996. Now almost all of it has evaporated. The Northern ice fields are mostly gone as well. In an interview with Navaya ole Ndaskoi, Alexander Lemunge, Executive Director of East African Voyage Ltd and a Senior Trip Leader who led thousands of tourists to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, said these are footprints of global warming confronting mankind.

Navaya ole Ndaskoi: Would you mind telling our readers about your self?

Alexander Lemunge: I was born on the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro in 1968. I spent my early life supporting the family like many children in Africa and attaining formal education. In 1997 I traveled to USA to become a certified Wilderness First Responder and CPR Emergency Cardiac Care Provider. During my stay in US, I attended leadership training with NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) completing the Outdoor Educator Course.

I also attended several other courses with NOLS in East Africa. In the meantime, I studied a lot about High Altitude Physiology and rock climbing. I attended an interpretation course conducted by Richard Estes who is a well known researcher, conservationist and writer who has been doing field work in Africa since 1963. I attended a two-week course at the college of Africa Wildlife Management at Mweka, Tanzania. I also worked with Tanzania National Parks Authority to organize and recruit over 500 mountain guides, currently leading trips on Mount Kilimanjaro. I trained Kilimanjaro and Meru rescue teams in rescue skills and evacuation.

Currently I am doing Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Tourism at the Open University of Tanzania. Today I have my own company called East African Voyage Company Limited and I still work on contract basis with companies as a trip leader in Tanzania, leading treks on Kilimanjaro and safari. I have been in the tourism industry in Tanzania since 1994. I led over 150 ascents on Mount Kilimanjaro. The clients I led have successfully climbed to the summit of Kilimanjaro on over 95 per cent.

What makes East African Voyage Company Ltd different from other tour operators in Tanzania?

A combination of factors makes us different. Our guiding experience for example has been very instrumental. We also developed a very smooth relationship with our clients. We know the rules of tourism very much. The three of us have one thing in common: to start a company, to start a company that is compliant to the laws and regulations, and determination to provide the best quality services to our clients as much as possible. We do this successfully by ensuring that one of us must lead every group until such a time we have a well trained group of trip leaders.

We also offer periodic training to our staff as a strategy to always improve the quality of the services we provide. In the meantime we have been struggling to diversify our products. Apart from the well-known traditional wildlife tour, we tailor-make itineraries that also include the less known products such as cultural tours meaning that we visit and stay with societies like nomadic Maasai, Hadzabe hunter-gatherers, Mbugwe fishermen, Iraqw agro-pastoralists and many others. We also organize walking safari, hiking, biking and others. We are role models in eco-tourism. We link clients, communities and the environment. We are born in the Greater Serengeti Region and we know the challenges facing the wildlife, people and the environment. We therefore struggle to address these challenges.

How do you describe the tourism infrastructure in Tanzania?

Infrastructure is very broad. I would like to comment on its three aspects. First, the roads are generally in poor condition. During the rain season matters goes from bad to worse. This is responsible for the high and low seasons. Tourists could flow all year round if the roads are improved.

The second problem is about the flights. Very few airlines land on Kilimanjaro International Airport and Julius Nyerere International Airport. So to this day, most tourists coming to Tanzania come through Nairobi, Kenya. The problem of airports, local and international, needs to be addressed very urgently to encourage international airlines to land straight into Tanzania. Finally I would like to say that accommodation is still an acute problem that also needs to be addressed.

kili hike Q&A With Senior Trip Leader Alexander Lemunge: Kilimanjaro Trekking

Alexander (in a white t-shirt), and a guide, lead tourists on Kilimanjaro.

You have been leading trips attempting to climb Kilimanjaro for over 10 years. Do you think porters who carry items of the clients are properly taken care-off?

There is no set-up system of how much each trip is sold. In effect different companies sell the product differently. Very few sell the product expensively and the majority sells very cheaply. Those who sell cheaply fail to pay porters and other staff. Some delay payment of their staff for months. Others do not pay at all, leaving porters to depend tips from tourists. This in turn seriously affects the quality of service they provide.

The living standard of porters is low. My opinion is that they should set-up an association with offices in Arusha, Moshi and at respective gate through which we climb Kilimanjaro such as Machame, Marangu, Mweka and Rongai. This will make them as accessible to porters as much as humanly possible. It will in turn improve their working conditions. I tried to the best of my abilities to support them in their claims since I understand the importance of their work and the need for their welfare to be taken seriously.

You climbed Kilimanjaro to the summit more than 150 times. Do you see any signs of global warming on the ice of Kilimanjaro?

Of course, yes. The Arrow glacier is no longer on Kilimanjaro. When I started to climb in 1993 it was almost in its full shape of an arrow. The Heim glacier was very famous for glacier climbing before 1996. Now almost all of it has melted. The Northern ice fields are mostly gone as well. Half of Fortangular glacier is no more. All these have led to rock falls especially on the Western Breach. As you can understand global warming is responsible for this. Scientific evidence indicates that there will be no glacier at all remaining on Kilimanjaro by 2025. This is a sad fact confronting mankind.

Around 40,000 tourists attempt to climb Kilimanjaro every year. What are the environmental implications of this? There are numerous camping sites. This means land is being cleared. When you are talking about 40,000 tourists you are talking, to be lenient, of a minimum of 120,000 people if two porters are attached to every tourist. Now this is a very serious crowd. Water consumption is increasing destroying the environment forever. The human waste and other trash are also growing. Tourists, porters and guides should be serious trained about the leave no trace philosophy, you must take out every thing you took in.

What do you advice Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA), a Government agency that manages Kilimanjaro and other National Parks in Tanzania?

Lemosho trail is the fastest growing route. Yet it is surprisingly inaccessible. TANAPA and Kilimanjaro National Park must work on this, if I were to advice.

Can you explain technically about climbing Kilimanjaro?

Climbing Kilimanjaro is physically demanding. You should be in a good shape before attempting climb. On going heart and lungs diseases can seriously affect climb. At 19,340 feet oxygen is half of what you get at sea level. The heart and the lungs should be working properly. I must stress that someone with any history of such problems must consult his or her physician before attempting to climb Kilimanjaro.

How many routes are there, and which one do you prefer?

There are seven routes which are Lemosho, Londorosi, Machame, Marangu, Mweka, Rongai and Umbwe. I prefer Lemosho through Barafu as well as Machame. These routes are more scenic and least crowded compared to the rest. This gives a climber enough time to acclimatize and summit. In addition clients sleep in tented camps instead of in cortèges. Tented camps are not noisy and they give a client some privacy.

“On Kilimanjaro I Felt Like Sitting on the Wing of an Airplane”

By Erica Johansson on in Activities & Outdoors, Africa, Interviews

Andres during his adventure in Tanzania.

By NAVAYA OLE NDASKOI

Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world stands proudly in Tanzania. Andres Perez, a lawyer at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda based in Arusha, Tanzania, climbed it. Supported by East African Voyage Company Ltd, he biked from Arusha town to Mount Meru, the second highest mountain in the country, which he climbed in four days. He biked to Mount Kilimanjaro and actually climbed it to the summit, an imperious 5,895 meters above the sea level, in seven days, and biked back to Arusha. He calls this unique life adventure ‘a mountaineering duathlon’.

Navaya ole Ndaskoi: Would you mind telling the readers about yourself?

Andres Perez: My name is Andres Perez. I am a citizen of Venezuela and the United States. I live in Arusha, Tanzania, where I work as a lawyer for the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Ever since I was a child I always enjoyed going into the outdoors and pushing myself with outdoor adventures.

How long have you been in Arusha?

I have been living in Arusha since this February. I was also here for three months last year, from September to November.

What other high mountains did you climb and how are they different from and similar to Mount Kilimanjaro, if you ever climbed any other mountain?

I climbed a couple of other mountains in my life, each has its own character. Just a year ago I did a trek through Northern India in the Ladakh Province. I trekked from Lamayuru to Alchi via the Stakspi La. After a day and half of resting, I summated a mountain called Stok Kangri together with two of my brothers. The mountain is over 6,000 meters above sea level. I also summated Tronador in Argentina as well as Muhavura in Uganda on the border with Rwanda and several other smaller mountains.

One thing that set Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru aside from all of them is the fact that they are both free standing. I have never ever been on a mountain that is as majestic as Mount Kilimanjaro. I felt like I was sitting on the wing of an airplane when I was on the summit. It was absolutely amazing.

climbing western breach On Kilimanjaro I Felt Like Sitting on the Wing of an Airplane

Andres climbing Kilimanjaro via the Western Breach, the most challenging of all routes.

Did you climb the other mountains you mentioned through tour operators in the respective countries or how did you climb those mountains?

Normally I would climb by myself, self supported or accompanied by a ranger when necessary. This is actually my first experience with a tour company and was a very positive one. Outside Tanzania I never climbed through any tour company.

Is it a good thing that people climb Kilimanjaro and other mountains in Tanzania through tour companies unlike in other countries?

A lot of people are able to summit Kilimanjaro thanks to tour companies because not everybody has the experience to climb alone. Me personally I like adventure and the independence to climb by myself but given that one has to summit with a guide in Tanzania I was very happy to climb with East African Voyage Company Limited. They allowed me the independence that I need to enjoy my trip as somebody who likes to do these things by myself.

biking On Kilimanjaro I Felt Like Sitting on the Wing of an Airplane

Andres biking from Mount Meru to Mount Kilimanjaro.

You biked from Arusha town to Arusha National Park. Then you climbed Mount Meru, the second highest mountain in Tanzania for four days. Next you biked from Momella Gate to Umbwe Gate from where you started a seven-day climb of Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Where did you get that fascinating idea from?

Well, as I said I really enjoy putting together adventures for myself. I task myself physically especially in the outdoors and I got this idea because before I moved to Tanzania I lived in Colorado in the United States and I raced in duathlons (a single sporting event composed of two disciplines, in this case biking and trekking) which combined running and cycling. So I thought I should apply that concept to mountaineering and then basically ride my bicycle to the base of each mountain and then back and I wanted to do so continuously and wanted to do two mountains back to back. In short that is how I got the idea.

You climbed through East African Voyage Company Ltd. How did you know the company?

I was introduced to East African Voyage Company Limited by a former co-worker called Julie Veillette and as I was asking around for advice about which company is good for me to go with for something like this, that gave me that degree of independence where I did not feel like I was part of a huge group, in which I did not have a sense of personal satisfaction. She said that East African Voyage Company Limited can do this and that it is a small operation and also very qualified. That is how I became interested in it.

There are over 300 licensed tour operators in Tanzania. You surely had specific reasons for choosing East African Voyage Company Limited. What were your reasons?

Because I am normally somebody who does these activities on my own, I was initially skeptical about going with a tour company because I do not like to see that every single aspect of the trip is taken care of. I wanted to have some sense of personal accomplishment. I did not want to go with an enormous tour company that is impersonal. After speaking to Julie Veillette and getting to know a little more about East African Voyage Company Limited, I went with this company because they have highly trained staff and because they were willing to accommodate this idea. I thought they could be the perfect people to go with. For that very reason I wanted somebody who could organize things for me and help me with logistics but who, at the same time, agreed that maybe this guy want to climb Mount Kilimanjaro the hardest way possible, maybe he want to ride after Mount Meru and maybe he want to ride to and from and they were completely open to that and I appreciated that. I do not think every company out there could have organized this adventure for me, not at all.

What were the roles of the tour company in your remarkable achievement?

East African Voyage Company Limited helped me put together the itinerary. They also provided me with local knowledge on the mountains, because every mountain is different, as to what I probably need and what I will be facing. Most importantly they helped to coordinate the logistics from point to point and from day to day. I arrived at the Momella Gate and there was the vehicle ready waiting for me that I could put my bicycle into.

In short the company provided the necessary support. Along the way as I pedaled to these different places there was a car with me from some distance that I could count on if I had an accident. Also they obviously provided the equipment, food and organized porters. The services of the company were remarkable. They were excellent. I cannot imagine of any better.

How do you describe this unique combination of biking and climbing adventure?

I call it a “mountaineering duathlon”, that is what I can think of. This is my life experience. I never did anything like this before. I was wondering whether I could do it. I had the vision that this is something I could do. I did it. It was beautiful! It was beautiful as far as scenery, experience and spiritual aspects of being on these mountains but it was absolutely exhausting. It was a life time experience.

top of kili On Kilimanjaro I Felt Like Sitting on the Wing of an Airplane

On the roof of Africa Andres felt like sitting on a wing of an airplane.

You successfully summated Kilimanjaro. What are your comments?

I am very happy about it. I very much love the experience of summiting Mount Kilimanjaro. This is my first time on the mountain. It is the highest mountain in Africa. I hope in my life time to summit the highest mountain in each of the seven continents and this is a good start.

As I said before it is the most beautiful summit I have ever seen in my life. I never saw anything that wonderful, the sun coming up, the ice, the glaciers, the crater, the ash pit and all. It was a buffet, so to speak, of geological formations and colors and sights. It was phenomenal.

crater On Kilimanjaro I Felt Like Sitting on the Wing of an Airplane

Andres slept in the Crater on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Kilimanjaro is literally a stone-thrown away from the Equator. This highest free-standing mountain in the world is snow caped. Is this not amazing Andres?

Sure! I saw snow. I saw huge and beautiful glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro. Seeing snow in Africa and along the Equator is something you cannot imagine. It is all over Kilimanjaro.

At night I slept in the crater, which was another interesting aspect of this trip. It was a personal record as far as overnighting at higher altitudes is concerned. I fell asleep to the sound of the glaciers creaking and popping which was a really nice experience in my life.

What do you remember mostly about this unique Kilimanjaro climbing adventure?

The ascent of the Western breach from Arrow Glacier to the Crater was surely intense, it was about four and half hours of walking absolutely straight up with a full pack at high altitude. Every time I turned around and stopped I felt like I was climbing in the clouds. That was really nice and obviously being on the summit you feel the cold air and hearing my boots crunch on snow and seeing the sun come up with the beautiful colors was phenomenal. One other thing that I really enjoyed on this trip was meeting everybody in my group. We shared jokes. I practiced a bit of Kiswahili. We ate the food together and many other things.

bike repair On Kilimanjaro I Felt Like Sitting on the Wing of an Airplane

East African Voyage crew helping Andres fix the bicycle.

What was the easiest and hardest part of the adventure?

The easiest part was enjoying it. I loved every second of it. I have nothing to regret at all. The logistics coordinated by East African Voyage Company Limited made the whole adventure easy.

The hardest part was some of the cycling. I rode a single speed bicycle. I had one gear. I had no suspension. It has neither shock-absorbers in the front nor in the rear. I chose one gear to make it more challenging. Riding from Protea Aishi Lodge to the Machame Gate is about 11 kilometers straight up on one gear and it was raining on me. That was the toughest part of the trip. Likewise the last 30 kilometers on the way back to Arusha from Mweka Gate were really hard. I dug deep in order to continue. Also, falling asleep in the crater was not easy. It was very high. I felt safe but it was a new experience. I did not sleep soundly. It was hard. I don’t think I slept at all. Maybe I slept for about two hours.

You used a single speed bicycle?

It is a Redline single speed mountain bike with 29 inches wheels which helps a bit with the climb given the fact that it is a single speed, the wheels are bigger than the standard mountain bikes. The frame is steel, which makes it easy to repair. It maintenance costs are comparatively low.

You had mountain sickness on Kilimanjaro?

No. Not even once! I felt very strong. I did not take any diamox and I carried my own pack all the time and I made sure it was fully weighted and it was not lighter than anybody else’s. I credit a lot of that to my training and also the fact that I was well nourished in the entire trip. My team ensured that I was drinking enough water all the time and I eat sufficient food.