Best Interviews of 2008
Every month you can find a space in the E-zine dedicated to an interview with the movers and shakers of the backpacker world, so in honour of everyone interviewed in 2008, here's a conglomeration of our favourite people and our funniest questions.
February 2008, As a Dodo Authors – George Poles and Simon Littlefield
As a Dodo is a bit of an online phenomenon, so I'd like to pick apart where it all started. Where did the concept come from and what was it that inspired the fictional obituaries?
George - I think it started in a pub like all good ideas. We were sitting around thinking about how we could try and really get out there and move into new areas. We'd been thinking about doing a Blog for a while. It was an idea that started with three of us actually - me, Simon and Paul Mckenzie and so we just started spit balling ideas. Nobody's done fictional obituaries.
March 2008, Martin Dunford - Publishing Director and Rough Guide Founder
Of the books you've researched and written, what is the most prominent anecdote or experience that always comes to the forefront of your mind when you think back over your portfolio?
In terms of travel – going to New York for the first time. This was in the very early days when I was still a writer and had no thoughts of being a publisher at all. Going to New York in 1985 – I was in awe of the place. I felt like I was travelling through my own sort of film set. I don't think people feel like that now. Travel is much more sophisticated now and maybe people have to go a bit further and be more adventurous to be as – in awe as I was then.
But going there in my early twenties, I thought I was in heaven really. It's not at all like it is now and it was extremely expensive. We were literally penniless, getting around New York for months on end – living in the YMCA. I think since those days, over twenty years or so, travel really has moved on and it's worth remembering that in those days we didn't know people who had travelled so far, quite so often – we didn't know quite so many of them.
April 2008, Lewis Woodcock – Long Distant Fundraising Driver with Charity - A Very British Adventure
So tell us about the penny dropping moment when you decided to load a telephone box onto a mini and drive from London to Mongolia?
My friend Ben and I were at a reunion for people who completed the Mongol Rally in 2007. We were having a few beers (bad start) and the conversation moved to how we could beat our performance this year. The stakes were raised with each suggestion until spotting a phone box across the street, I announced that we had to take one! Ben's reply to this was that the only car worthy of transporting such a box was a Mini! This idea was of course said in jest and was met with much hilarity from everyone, but unfortunately the words had been uttered and it was too late. Words of advice: You shouldn't mix adventure planning with beer. If you insist on doing so, make sure there are no witnesses. Otherwise the chances are there'll be no backing out and you'll end up in the surreal and silly situation that I'm in now!
May 2008, Louise Alexander – Visit London
What's the most bizarre thing that you've experienced – working for Visit London?
We had quite an interesting trip around South London. It was freezing cold and pouring with rain. Most of the trip was outdoors and we went to see the Crystal Palace dinosaurs.
I also went up the viewing tower to see the site of the 2012 Olympics Park, which was interesting. It was a real surprise to how much of the area is going to have such a big impact. I saw the different plans for the different stadiums - where the events are going to be held.
You could see the different stations, how they're going to be connected and how the infrastructure's going to be massively improved. There's going to be a lot of regeneration – not just with sporting facilities, but also walkways, rail connections and open spaces.
June 2008, Peter Moore
Where are you itching to travel to next?
I've got an itching to do some old school Peter Moore travel – which is travel that's a bit more hard core and difficult. I actually get this bizarre sense of satisfaction out of completing these trips. I want to travel around the old Soviet Union. Go to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and all the Baltic states. I'd also like to go down the west coast of Africa, which I think is a bit more interesting and chaotic. Basically anywhere I haven't been to yet.
July 2008, Krysten Booth, Editor-in-Chief TNT
What do the initials TNT actually stand for and how did you fall into the magazine?
The News and Travel – although these days the brand TNT is a lot more than that. We do recruitment, sport and a lot of London lifestyle stuff so it's grown beyond that - but that was certainly how it started. We're actually celebrating our 25th birthday this year.
I came to TNT a little under 3 years ago. Like most Aussies, Kiwis and South Africans I came over to travel and I was staying with a friend in Oxford. It happened in that roundabout way where someone knows someone who works at TNT, so I got in touch, did a couple of freelance shifts and then I was in the right place at the right time when an opening came up. I stepped in on the Subs bench, worked in that position for six months, then went into the Deputy Editor's job when an opening came up. I became Editor in July last year.
September 2008, Rodney Harrex from Visit Australia
One random, hypothetical day - someone hands you a one way ticket to anywhere in Australia. Where would you head to and why?
One of my favourite places is actually Tasmania. I enjoy the wilderness engagement and the natural attributes of what Australia has to offer. Tasmania also has very unique and very personal accommodation experiences. You can do a self drive experience - just get the ferry across from Victoria, arrive in Launceston and then plan your journey as you want. When you travel up and down Tasmania it's so different in terms of what you see on one coast as opposed to the other.
- Rob Savage
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