Travel writers
Jenny Green View blog >> Jen is a 23-year-old journalist from Essex who first got bitten by the travel bug after a trip to New York. Aside from what she spends on alcohol and ice cream, all her money goes towards seeing the world in bitesize chunks. Jen likes cuddles and chocolate but hates getting up in the morning. When in the UK, she can usually be found propping up bars and causing trouble. In 2007, she will be taking a career break to travel the length and breadth of Australia. Countries visited France, Belgium, Germany, Scotland, Holland, Finland, Switzerland, Poland, Serbia, Iceland, Morocco, Thailand, USA, Canada Unusual experiences 1. Stepping out of a sauna into snow in Finland. 2. Being semi-abducted by a tuk tuk driver in Bangkok who needed to go to his back-street home and fix the engine. 3. Getting lost in the souks of Marrakech - bloody terrifying! 4. Upsetting a transvestite in Amsterdam. 5. Nearly getting thrown overboard on a whale watching trip in Reykjavik. Top tips 1. Invest in a travel pillow - you'll thank yourself for it. 2. Keep all your plastic bags as they'll always come in handy. 3. Carry pocket tissues to avoid getting caught short with loo roll (also good advice for festivals!) 4. Make an effort to speak the language of the country you're in - the locals will love you for it. 5. Write. A lot. |
 Andy UtleyWell what can I say; I’m a 21 year old student and hoping to remain one for as long as possible. I guess my desire to travel started in the 6th form probably out having never really been anywhere more exotic than Devon or the North of France before. Since then I’ve tried to travel whenever I can find the money and the time. This has included spending a 7 month spell in Japan working in hospital during my gapy ear and other random trips around Europe. In my spare time I love sport and playing guitar, both equally badly, as well as planning my next trip. (At the moment probably to Hungary and also either Romania or Ukraine). Countries visited France, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Japan and Morocco. Unusual experiences: 1. Hanami parties - only in Japan could a whole country go into massive party mode over a few flowers. 2. Staying in a capsule hotel - again an only in Japan thing, although I can say I thoroughly enjoyed the stay in my ‘coffin with TV’. 3. Staying in a hostel right next door to a chocolate factory in Zagreb so that when the wind was blowing the right way you got a lovely chocolate aroma out on the balcony. 4. Trying to sell female friends to Moroccan men, always provides good conversation, I think the best offer we ever got was several camels and a hotel for two of them. 5. Teaching a bunch of Japanese school kids how to play cricket, not really the easiest thing to explain in Japanese, so they just made up the rules as they went along. Top tips 1. Get local knowledge, guide books are useful up to a point but you can find out a lot more from locals and other travellers, plus it’s a good conversation starter. 2. Pack less - the amount I pack seems to get less each time I go away as I realise which things I take and then never bother to use. Most things you can always buy on the road if you suddenly realise you need them. 3. Photos, photos and more photos. You’ll always regret not taking them although the huge processing bill when you get back might make you think otherwise. I always like to grab a bit of time on my own to take photos so that I don’t end up annoying others by taking ages. 4. Explore in your own backyard - Some people moan about Britain but there’s so many great things to do here if you don’t have enough money or time to go elsewhere. I love the North of Scotland and the South coast, and one day I want to cycle from John O’Groats to Land’s End, whether it’ll ever happen is another matter. 5. Have fun as that’s what it’s really all about, treat yourself sometimes. There’s also no point in worrying too much as things usually seem to work out in the end. |
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 Matt Kurton - Travel WriterHello, I’m Matt and I’m currently trying to convince myself that I’m doing something more worthwhile than just taking an extended holiday as I spend a year travelling with my girlfriend from Mexico to India by way of Chile and Australia, and writing for this website seemed a good way of easing my conscience. I hope that someone, somewhere, might find what I’ve written during this time useful, and for the rest of you, who are by now no doubt wondering why I have been given this space to essentially write absolutely nothing at all, I can do no more than share your bewilderment. Countries visited France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Holland, Belgium, Japan, Switzerland, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and (in the next six months or so) Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos and India Unusual experiences: 1. Sitting stark naked and sunburnt on the edge of a Japanese hot spring as a boatload of tourists wave and take photos from the ocean below. 2. Paying an Ecuadorean farmer’s wife to guide you out of the mountains as you finally admit the hand-drawn map you’ve bought with you isn’t really helping. 3. Walking into a chemist shop to confess to the chronic diarrhoea that has been plaguing you for days and being politely informed that the chemists is actually a vets. 4. Slipping out of the grip of a Hungarian ticket inspector and running for all you’re worth as you realise you don’t have enough money to pay the fine that has arisen after a certain ‘misunderstanding'. 5. Cycling without lights through a completely dark mountain tunnel and listening with horror as your girlfriend, invisible somewhere behind, crashes into the wall. 6. Singing at the top of your voice as you valiantly try and teach 45 Spanish-speaking kids the words to ‘Old McDonald’. 7. Waiting for two hours in a bus stopped in a Peruvian roadblock before finally deciding to walk and discovering that nothing - absolutely nothing - is blocking the way. The unusual becomes usual when you’re travelling, and so it should. After all, why else do we do this, if not to explore what we’re not used to and see how we react, to enjoy the new sense of opportunity that strangeness brings? Top tips 1. Forget everything you’ve ever learnt about queuing, especially if you’re British. You’re in the real world now, so tutting, shaking your head and silently fuming when people push in will get you nowhere. It’s time to get those elbows up and get serious. 2. Go to Japan. If you’re after real, eye-bulging, kaleidoscopic, nothing-at-all-makes-sense culture shock, this is the place. Aside from that, the nightlife is phenomenal, the people are friendly to an almost alarming degree and the food just can’t be matched. 3. If you’re given the option on a plane, never, ever choose the window seat. Those clouds might look pretty now, but will they still in six hours time when the 18 stone behemoth next to you is fast asleep and you’re bursting for the toilet? 4. If you’re calling home with a phonecard, try and use a private phone, as they often give you a lot more time than the public ones. In Peru, for example, a $3 phonecard gets you 12 minutes to the UK from a payphone or 54 minutes from a landline. 5. The Lonely Planet books are a blessing and a curse. Because they are the best at what they do, everyone uses them, which means they make it near-enough impossible to really get off the beaten track. Think long and hard when choosing a guidebook, in other words. Or you could always take your chances and not take one at all... |
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 Steve Bartram - Travel WriterI have a season ticket at a little local football club called Manchester United. I play plenty of football and squash, and I'm invariably in the gym so that I can afford myself a lifestyle of eating rubbish. I basically believe in enjoying myself. Life's too short to let little things annoy you. Except of course, lads who wear suit jackets with jeans. Idiots. Countries visited America, Antigua, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand, Porto Rico, Portugal, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland, Wales. Unusual experiences 1. Climbed to the top of Table Mountain, Cape Town. 2. Run away from a cassowary in Mission Beach and been chased by an Emu in Melbourne. 3. I’ve visited a witch doctor in Mpande, South Africa. 4. I’ve been robbed on Ipanema Beach, Rio. 5. I’ve walked (well, fell over constantly) on Franz Josef glacier, New Zealand. 6. And I’ve spent 32 hours on a train between Kalgoorlie and Adelaide, Australia, without going insane. Somehow. Top five tips 1. Learn the native language of your destination. Speaking VERY LOUDLY AND PHO-NET-ICA-LLY in English doesn't work. 2. Take a CD player and plenty of batteries, because otherwise you'll just go mad. 3. Allow yourself enough time to do everything you want. If you have to, do less places and more activities, otherwise you won't enjoy it and you'll need a bloody holiday at the end. 4. In English speaking countries outside of Britain, speak in the most English accent you can muster. Ladies love it. 5. Sample local beers so that you can pass yourself off as a connoisseur when you return home. |
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 Jenny Claxton - Travel WriterA Londoner at heart, probably one of my favourite things to do is to wander around Soho looking for hidden cafes and taking too many pictures. I also like raw fish and cheesy music. I dislike people who introduce themselves as "citizens of the world", crabs (dead or alive) and the way the Lonely Planet describes any city not built on a grid as "confusing". My ambitions include; visiting every continent - only Antarctica to go; setting up my own personal darkroom; becoming fluent in at least one other language; and finding somewhere that stocks yak meat in London. Countries visited Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, Chile, Egypt, Falkland Islands, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Nepal, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Sweden, USA. Unusual experiences 1. Have driven a tank and a reindeer sled. 2. Have been dog sledding. 3. Have been swimming with stingrays and sharks. 4. Have been camel riding and sat in the middle of a penguin colony. 5. Have mended a Nepali school's walls with yak dung. Top five tips 1. If you need to call your bank or credit card company you can reverse the charges. 2. Doing the hip belt up tightly on your backpack will make it feel lighter. 3. If you arrive in the airport and the tourist info is shut, the car rental agencies usually have free guidebooks and maps to hand out. 4. Memorising your passport number saves a lot of hassle when filling out the numerous immigration forms and hostel guestbooks. Also handy if you lose it! 5. Cut your toenails. There is no excuse for ignoring foot hygiene, and other travellers will thank you. |
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 Caroline Cotterill - Travel WriterBeing confused is one of my main everyday problems, so when I eventually get to Australia, my travel buddies are just going to have to cope with me! ... My main motivation in life is to see the world, enjoy what’s there and to explore it while I can. I love to eat, so I look forward to tasting Tokyo’s food and even the famous Oz vegemite! Wonder what that’s like.... Well anyway my main dislike is people talking over each other, just makes my confusion worse and when in a hostel full of over excited people, it’s just something I may have to cope with! Countries visited Ireland, Jersey, Scotland, Wales. Adventure Sports 1. I’ve been abseiling. 2. I’ve been canoeing. 3. I’ve dabbled in some rock climbing. Top five tips 1. Take earplugs, EVERYWHERE. 2. Keep warm by remembering your sleeping bag. 3. Don’t forget your day pack. 4. Take a map of the place you’re going to. 5. Keep an open mind of the place you are going to - who knows what you may see! |
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 Jon Brown - Travel WriterHi, I’m Jon, I’m 19 and currently in my first year of law at the University of Central Lancashire. In between studies I love to snowboard, play guitar, write, have fun with friends, and generally day-dream about far-off places. I'm pretty outgoing and determined; and I know for a fact that I’m slightly mad! After having an amazing gap year pre uni (travelling and doing various other things) it’s all hard work, debt and beery-times for the next few years before I swan off around the world again. Countries visited Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Singapore. Unusual experiences 1. Ate fish-ball noodle soup and liked it. 2. Caught and sheered sheep whilst working on an Aussie farm. 3. Placed hand in a giant clam’s mouth and waited for the result. 4. Held a baby-croc and a snake...at the same time. 5. Been chased by an angry tram inspector and then had an argument with him... and the Hungarian police! Top five tips 1. Courtesy of Tom’s: ‘Before you go’ and my top tip - make a list of all your important details; e.g. flight information, bank details, hostel details, insurance details, and any other things you think are important and give your parents and most trusted friend a copy. If you forget anything (I kept forgetting my internet banking number) or you need the info in an emergency, you simply phone them up and hey presto! 2. Put the bulk of your money and cards etc. in a money belt and keep a small amount of cash in your wallet. This will stop you from having to be extra cautious every time you reach for your wallet which is bursting at the seams with local currency (or the remains of your overdraft!). If the worst happens, you can always hand over the wallet and not have to worry too much. 3. Separate your clothes by putting all your t-shirts, trousers etc. in separate plastic bags inside your backpack. Instead of rummaging through the depths of your rucksack at 2am and never being able to get it all back in, you’ll find those beloved y-fronts you’re after with ease! 4. Book your first night’s accommodation in advance - by the time you get to your destination you’ll be tired and hungry; the last thing you’ll want to do is trek around with your heavy bag looking for a room. 5. Get your self a decent camera - I took my dodgy old camera to Oz thinking that it would be less tempting to thieves. I was right...but it broke half way up the coast and I was forced to buy lots of expensive, rubbish disposables - darn’it! |
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 Dan Bennett - Travel WriterI'm 19 years old and halfway through the first year of an English degree. In my gap year, I re-sat some A-Levels and saved up plenty of money. It was originally going to fund my degree, but I got bored of that after a week and decided to spend a couple of months exploring Australia and New Zealand instead. A wise choice, I think. I love to play basketball, and when I'm not shooting hoops or writing essays, I'm writing songs for my band, although it's a bit difficult rehearsing when the rest of the band lives 100 miles away. Just one of those obstacles you have to overcome on the road to worldwide super-stardom... Countries visited Australia, China, France, Germany, Greece, New Zealand, Scotland, Wales. Unusual experiences 1. Getting a free upgrade to business class on the flight back from Hong Kong. 2. Eaten at the Roadkill Restaurant in New Zealand. Hmm... 3. Walked the Tongariro Crossing on NZ's North Island - it's the most incredible scenery I have ever seen. You'd be a fool to pass on it. 4. Zorbing, in Rotorua, NZ. Rolling down a hill in an inflatable hamster ball - it IS big, and it IS clever. 5. Putting my hand on the shell of a turtle on the Great Barrier Reef. Not particularly unusual, but it was quite a special moment for me. Not so sure if it was the same for the turtle, though. Top five tips 1. Plan, plan, plan, plan and plan. If you don't know where you're going or what you're doing, don't go. It'll only end in tears. 2. If you intend to travel round the UK as well as abroad get a YHA (youth hostel) card - website is . It'll save you a fortune. 3. Money belts might seem like a novelty item, but they provide the safest way to carry cash, travellers cheques and passports. They're also flat enough not to show under a t-shirt. 4. A small mp3 player with a rechargable battery has two main benefits - the first is that you won't need countless AAs to continually replace in your CD player, and the second is that the space in your bag previously taken up by your entire CD collection can now be used to store other important items. Like clothes. 5. Never ever ever get off a train in Bangor. You won't ever get out. |
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 Katie Fewkes - Travel writerMy name's Katie and I have just spent a lot of the last 18 months travelling around the globe. I worked for two summers on a ranch in Wyoming in America and that's where it all started. I then went to Africa for a month, climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and travelled around the world seeking adventures. Morocco and Tibet and anywhere else in Africa are all looming on the horizon, but they are way off yet - my bank account is still looking sick after galavanting around the world! My main ambitions are to see out of the way places like Gabon before the tourists start flocking, to become a journalist and a foreign correspondent somewhere exotic! Ah, a girl has to dream... Countries visited Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Botswana, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, France, Greece, Kenya, New Zealand, Peru, Rwanda, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, USA and Zimbabwe Unusual experiences 1. Having my passport stolen from the hotel safe in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest, absurd really if you consider I was a plane ride, bus, boat trip, hike and dug-out canoe ride away from civilisation... 2. Abseiling in Spanish - let it be said I wasn't enamoured with the idea of walking backwards down a slippery cliff next to a waterfall, but this made a thousand times worse by the fact that I was in Argentina and the instructions were being shouted in Spanish, and my grasp of the language at that point wasn't enough to understand abseiling terms! 3. Staying with a family for a night on Isla Amantani on Lake Titicaca, and getting dressed up in local traditional dress; read into this eight skirts, a huge cumerbund to hold them all in place, an embroidered shirt, and a black headscarf type item which made me and my friends resemble bizarre nuns. We then went to the town hall and danced with the islanders, which would have been fine if they weren't a foot or two shorter than me, making various dance moves quite tricky! 4. I was proposed to by four men in five minutes when I was in Uganda. I leant out the truck to roll up the windows and all the men below were shouting and yelling, "Hey baby, you be my wife??". To which I shook my head, but one of the boys on the truck tried to convince me to get married for the princely sum of five goats, just so we could have a party in the village. I sadly declined. 5. Seeing snow in Africa, from the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, which is so high up that when the sun rises you can see the curve of the earth, and it is still a mystery how the glaciers up there have lasted so long in that heat! Top tips 1. Take more photos than you think you want to, especially of people you meet and unusual places. 2. Make notes of places that you have been which you loved, hostels that were particularly great, or particularly awful, great restaurants or cafes, any brilliant backpacker bargains you have come across. Part of the joy of backpacking is sharing information, and you'll be surprised how often you'll meet people who are going where you have just been and vice versa and how easy it is to forget place names... 3. Take passport photos with you before you go, that you wouldn't mind having put in a new passport. Trust me, if you have lost your passport in the jungle and have to have a passport photo taken when you have showered in muddy lake water and practically have leaves in your hair, you won't be too happy about it! Plus you might need it for country visas. 4. Take a couple of photos of home, your family, your friends. It's nice for you to have, but nice to show people where you come from too! 5. Make sure your daypack has waist straps, if you plan to hike at all. I hiked the Inca trail with a 9 pound bag on my back which just pulled down on my shoulders for four solid days to the point that I considered carrying it on my head at one point - waist straps take the pressure off your shoulders and make life a lot easier for you! 6. Eat at local restaurants, it'll always be cheaper than something with a 'tourist menu' which often means 'tourist prices'. Don't be too scared about eating food cooked by street vendors, if you can see them cook whatever culinary delights (?!) you should be pretty safe and it is heaps cheaper and faster than eating in a restaurant! 7. Postcards or jewellery make good souvenirs of places you've visited and don't take up much space or add too much weight. |
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 Katy SalterHi, I’m Katy, a magazine monkey living in London. When I’m not writing features for the health magazine I work on, I’m plotting my RTW trip. My mate Cat and I are jetting off to Japan in December 2005. After speeding around the Land of the Rising Sun on those fancy bullet trains, we’re moving onto Singapore, Oz, NZ, Fiji, Cook Islands, USA and Costa Rica. Needless to say we are more excited than two ADD toddlers at a Tweenies concert. My two big passions in life (apart from music, movies and Jake Gyllenhaal that is) are writing and travel. I have a bet with a friend to visit all 50 US States in my lifetime - I’ve managed 18 so far... Countries visited Belgium, Cuba, Cyprus, France, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, USA Unusual experiences: 1. Drinking sugar cane juice on a plantation in Cuba. Teeth-rotting fun. 2. Riding an exercise bike as an extra on a Italian fitness programme, fronted by an ageing Italian reality TV starlet 3. Being escorted on an impromtu tour of New York jazz clubs by a 6ft 7 magician called Mundo. 4. Frat parties when I studied at a US university - just like all those campus movies come to life (except with slightly less pie abuse) 5. The Apple Valley Motel, Roanoke, Virginia. I still shudder when I think about it now. Top tips 1. Wipes are your friends - wet wipes, deodorant wipes and face wipes can all help you feel human again when showers are in short supply. 2. Lots of wise folk think you shouldn’t take too many pictures on your travels, as when you’re constantly behind the lens you’re not ‘in the moment, man’. I agree to an extent, but it’s often the photos I didn’t take - of a hilarious night out or of cool people I met that I still wish I’d snapped long after the trip. Snap in haste, reminisce at leisure. 3. Take carrier bags in your rucksack. Very handy for separating socks and pants into the clean and the ‘in desperate need of a wash’ 4. Buy mini shampoo and moisturizer bottles - when they’ve finished you can just refill them with your usual brands. Environmentally friendly and space saving - result. 5. Matchbooks from local bars and restaurants make excellent free souvenirs. When a friend’s grandpa died a few years ago, he left her his matchbook collection from his travels around the globe. She got them framed and to her they’re priceless. |
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