The Life of a Travel Writer: An Interview with David Farley

When I started getting involved in travel writing in New York City, one name came up in conversation often: David Farley. He was a rock-star writer who taught at NYU and Columbia, wrote for AFAR, National Geographic, the New York Times, and many other publications. I always wondered who this guy was. He was almost mythical. Did he even exist? He was never at any event! But one day, he turned up and we met. We didn’t hit it off right away. But, over the years and through many encounters, David and I became very good friends. His writing tips and advice have helped me immensely, and his impressive résumé and keen sense of story are why I partnered with him on this website’s travel writing course. Today, I thought I would interview David about the life of a travel writer!

Nomadic Matt: Tell everyone about yourself. 
David Farley: A few interesting facts about me: My weight at birth was 8 lbs., 6 oz. I grew up in the Los Angeles suburbs. I was in a rock band in high school; we played late-night gigs at Hollywood clubs, and we weren’t very good. I travel a lot, but I have no interest in counting the number of countries I’ve been to. I’ve lived in San Francisco, Paris, Prague, Rome, and New York City, but I currently live in Berlin.

How did you get into travel writing?
The usual way: by accident. I was in graduate school and my girlfriend at the time, a writer, proofread one of my 40-page research papers — I think it was on the exciting topic of the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s — and afterward she said, “You know, don’t take this the wrong way, but your writing was better than I expected.” She encouraged me to write stuff other than boring history papers. I heeded her call.

One of the first stories that got published was about a pig killing I attended in a village on the Czech-Austrian border. After that, enough of the stories got published, mostly in travel publications, that by default I became a “travel writer.” I was cool with this designation. Who wouldn’t be?

I ended up breaking into Condé Nast Traveler, working my way all the way up to the features section, as well as the New York Times. Eventually, I wrote a book that Penguin published. I’m currently a contributing writer at AFAR magazine and still write quite regularly for the New York Times, among other pubs.

What are some of the biggest illusions people have about travel writing?
That you can peel off a feature story for a travel magazine just like that [snaps fingers]. It takes so much work for each story to get to the type of experiences we end up writing about — a lot of phone calls and emails to set up interviews and to get your foot in the door some places.

Sometimes, like in personal essays, things magically happen. But when a magazine is paying you to go to a place so you can come back with an interesting story, you have to do a lot of behind-the-scenes work to ensure that you’re going to have a good story. It rarely just happens on its own. Travel stories are essentially a fake or altered reality, filtered through the writer and based on how much reporting she or he did on the spot, as well as her or his past experiences and knowledge about life and the world.

What is your greatest personal accomplishment? 
I was deemed to have a “learning disability” when I was in grade school and had to spend some of my day in a special education class — which did wonders for my self-esteem! My best friend in tenth grade told a friend (who told me) that I’d “never amount to anything in life.”

I ended up going to a community college and, much to my surprise (and everyone else’s), I did really well: I graduated with honors and transferred to a good four-year university, where I also graduated with honors. A few years later, I got a master’s degree in history. Based on the expectations of me when I was, say, 12, I was never supposed to go that far, intellectually. So I’d say getting a master’s degree might be my greatest accomplishment if you put it into the context of my history of learning.

Also, having had a book — An Irreverent Curiosity — get published (and by a major publishing house) was a personal accomplishment. That it was made into a documentary by National Geographic was just the cherry on top of the whole experience.

If you could go back in time and tell young David one thing, what would it be? 
Don’t eat that hot dog in Prague! Also, I’d tell myself to take more risks, to let the spirit literally move me around the world more and for a longer period of time. If we let it, society and its norms really set our limit for us and keep us from taking chances, such as eschewing the ordinary office day job or life in the suburbs, etc. It’s really hard to break out of that, to overcome the entropy that is weighing us all down from doing what we really want.

I lived in New York for 13 years, and for the final four or five I yearned to move away, to live abroad again and open myself up to new experiences. But I became afraid, fearful of unattaching myself from the life I’d established there. I had to keep reminding myself of some aspects of Buddhist philosophy — about attachment and impermanence, especially — and that on my deathbed I’m not going to regret moving abroad for a while. I probably would, though, regret not doing it.

If you could go back in time and tell young David one thing about writing, what would it be? 
I would have taken more classes to both keep learning — one should never stop learning about writing — and to force myself to write when perhaps I didn’t want to. I think we can all learn from each other, and so putting yourself in that kind of instructive environment is helpful. I took one writing class — a nonfiction writing course at UC Berkeley — and it was super helpful.

What advice do you have for aspiring travel writers trying to break in? It seems there are fewer paying publications these days and it’s harder to find work.
I realize this is a hard one, but living abroad is really helpful. You end up with so much material for personal essays, and you gain a knowledge of the region that allows you to become something of an authority on the area. Then you have a personal connection to the place, and editors love it when you pitch a story and you’ve got that. It gives you a leg up on other people who are pitching stories about that place.

That said, you don’t have to go far to write about travel. You can write about the place where you live. After all, people travel there, right? Right. (I hope so.) You can write everything from magazine and newspaper travel section pieces to personal essays, all about where you’re currently residing.

As a traditional writer, how do you feel about blogs? Are most of them crap, or do you think it’s the future of the industry?
I hate that term “traditional writer.” What does that mean? I write for websites. I’ve written for several blogs. I even had my own travel blog back in 2004. Whatever the case, blogs and print media will coexist for some time until print becomes digital. Then what’s the difference? (That’s a rhetorical question, by the way.) So, no, I don’t think blogs, per se, are the future, but writing on a digital platform, be it straight-up journalism or whatnot, is the future for sure.

And no, not all blogs are crap. Not at all. But the travel blog posts that keep my interest are those that have a definite angle, that tell a story and capture a sense of place (and are more about the place and less about the person writing). I realize there’s a place for top-10 and roundup pieces, but they’re not always so interesting to read.

What are three things a writer can do now to improve his or her writing?
Read. A lot. And don’t just read, but read like a writer. Deconstruct the piece in your mind as you’re reading. Pay attention to how the writer has structured her or his piece, how they opened it and concluded it and so on. Also, read books on good writing. This really helped me a lot when I was first starting out.

For most of us, talking to strangers is not easy. Plus, our moms told us not to do so. But the best travel stories are those that are most reported. So the more we talk to people, the more likely other opportunities arise and the more material you have to work with. It makes the writing of the story so much easier.

Sometimes you’ll be right in the middle of a situation and think: this would make a great opening to my story. My good friend Spud Hilton, travel editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, says that the dirty secret to good travel writing is that bad experiences make the best stories. This is true, but please don’t put yourself in a bad situation just for your writing. You can write a great piece without having to get your wallet stolen or losing your passport.

Bonus tip: take a writing class. It’s important to have someone who has been there and done that to advise you, someone who can answer questions, either via email or in person. The media landscape is sometimes impenetrable and nebulous, and I think it is really important to have someone guide you through it. A travel writing Virgil to your Dante, if you will.

What’s your favorite travel book and why?
I’m not really a fan of those traveling-just-for-the-sake-of-traveling sort of books, the kind where someone like Paul Theroux gets on a train and we get to read about the odd characters he seems to meet every time he sits down in a train compartment. I like it when there’s an added twist, an actual story, if you will, to the narrative. A narrative arc. So, for example, David Grann’s The Lost City of Z, Bruce Benderson’s The Romanian, and Andrew McCarthy’s The Longest Way Home. Joan Didion’s Slouching Toward Bethlehem is a great short story collection. I also really like David Sedaris (particularly Me Talk Pretty One Day) and J. Maartin Troost (especially The Sex Lives of Cannibals) and anything written by Tom Bissell or Susan Orlean.

What’s your favorite destination?
This is the number one question I’m asked, posed by people sitting next to me on airplanes, at cocktail parties, and my mother’s friends. My standard answer is Vietnam. It’s inexplicable. I just like the place and keep wanting to go back again and again. I also have a deep connection — and keep returning again and again — to Prague, Rome, and Dubrovnik.

Where do you find inspiration? What motivates you?
I get my motivation and inspiration from unlikely sources. I think about the creative masters and wonder how I can tap into their genius. What did Austrian painter Egon Schiele see when he looked at a subject and then the canvas? How did Prince put out an album a year from 1981 to 1989, each one a masterpiece and each one cutting-edge and like nothing anyone else at the time was doing? Is there a way to apply this creativity to travel writing? I’m not saying I’m on par with these geniuses — far from it — but if I could somehow even slightly be inspired by their creativity, I’d be better off for it.

What’s the most difficult part about being a travel writer? 
The rejection. You really have to get used to it and just accept that it’s part of your life. It’s really easy to take it seriously and let it get you down. I know — I have done this. You just have to brush it off and move on, get back on that literary bike, and keep trying until someone finally says yes. Be tenacious.

I’ve taught for over a decade at New York University, and many of my students have gone on to write for National Geographic Traveler, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, as well as to write books. And those who were most successful were not necessarily the most talented writers in the class at the time. They were the most driven. They really wanted it.

Writing is a craft. You don’t have to be born with a natural talent for it. You just need a strong desire to become better at it. And by taking writing classes, reading books about it, talking to people about it, etc. you will become a better writer.

Lightning-round questions! First one: window or aisle?
Aisle.

Favorite airline? 
I don’t have one.

Favorite city? 
Usually it’s whatever city I’m in at the time. I’m in Skopje right now. So….Skopje?

Least favorite destination?
I don’t think I’ve ever been somewhere that I absolutely loathed. There are places I’ve been that I liked but realized I probably don’t need to go back to again. La Paz, Bolivia, mostly because I couldn’t handle the altitude sickness, is one of those places.

If you could time-travel to anywhere, where would you go?
Witnessing some world-changing events would top my list: Jerusalem in 33 AD, Hastings in 1066, and Paris in 1789 all come to mind.

Favorite guidebook?
I’m not much of a guidebook user these days, but when I was, I usually reached for Time Out, mostly because I thought the writing was better than in other guidebooks.

***If you’re looking to improve your writing or just start as a travel writer, David and I have a very detailed and robust travel writing course. Through video lectures and examples of edited and deconstructed stories, you’ll get the course David teaches at NYU and Columbia – without the college price. You’ll only learn the nuts and bolts of travel writing — from how to find a good story to pre-trip research to writing up a pitch for a story — all of the things David (and I) learned the through years of writing. If you’re interested, click here to get started right now. 

Interview with Frugal Traveler and Writer Matt Gross

In December 2009, I saw the tweet that changed my life. It was from Matt Gross, who was then the Frugal Traveler for the New York Times. He tweeted asking if there were any travel bloggers who were earning any money from their blog. I tweeted back the Internet equivalent of “Teacher, pick me, pick me, pick me!”

And pick me for an interview he did.

I remember eating lunch when I got his call and holding up my Kiwi Experience group while he interviewed me on blogging, press trips, and travel.

A few weeks later my interview went live on the New York Times website, and within a few hours, crashed my server (First World blogger problems, right?).

That was my first big break. Everything changed after that day, and that interview led to some amazing opportunities that never seemed to have stopped.

Since that interview, Matt and I have become good friends. We both live in NYC and frequently see each other (he just recently got me to eat some fiery tripe for the first time at a local Szechuan restaurant).

A few months ago, Matt released a new book, The Turk who Loved Apples. This travelogue chronicles (some of) his misadventures around the world since he left to teach English in Vietnam after college.

I had Matt over at my apartment to interview him about his book. Here are two Matts talking travel, (mis)adventure, and whether Vietnam is awesome or not (spoiler: it’s not):

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I enjoyed Matt’s book tremendously, not least because he’s a better writer than I am, but also because each chapter uses a different story to highlight lessons for beginner travelers — from feeling alone, to wanting to go home, to getting lost, and everything in between. I dog-eared a number of pages.

One of my favorite parts of the book was when he writes about the ephemeral nature of travel friendships and the constant good-byes. As Matt says, “While I’d be overjoyed to see them again…I harbor no expectation that will happen. The best and most responsible thing I can do is to remember them, to honor the brief joys of our relationship…and to cross my fingers our paths will cross once more.”

If you are looking for a good travel book that provides interesting stories as well as travel advice, pick up The Turk Who Loved Apples. If you’re an experienced traveler, you’ll be able to see yourself in many of his stories. If you’re a new traveler, you’ll learn to avoid some common travel mistakes.

And if you want more of Matt, you can find him now as the online editor of Bon Appétit as well as on Twitter at World Matt World. You can pick up a copy of his book on Amazon.

Living Lagom in Sweden: An Interview With Lola Akerstrom

Back in 2006, during my first trip around the world, I met a Swedish girl. We traveled together for a bit and the following year I went to visit her in Sweden. Though that relationship didn’t last, my love for Sweden did and, in subsequent years, I learned Swedish and even tried to move to Sweden. I love everything Swedish. And so does my friend Lola. Lola and I met back in 2008 when travel blogging was in its infancy. Unlike me, she’s had success in making a life in Sweden, where she now lives with her husband and son. She’s one of the favorite people in the industry and I love the imagery in her writing and the beauty in her photography.

In her new book, Lagom, she discusses life in Sweden and Swedish culture. Today, I jealously interview her about life there.

Nomadic Matt: Tell everyone a bit about yourself.
Lola: I’m a Nigerian-born, US-educated, Sweden-based writer and photographer focusing mostly on exploring culture through food, tradition, and lifestyles. My photography is represented by National Geographic Creative, and I was recently awarded the prestigious 2018 Travel Photographer of the Year Bill Muster Award from the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW).

I actually took a nontraditional path to this new life, as I worked as a web programmer and GIS system architect for 12+ years before the full career shift into the travel media industry.

I’ve always been fascinated by the nuances of culture: what makes us different and what our similarities are. And so this curiosity and acknowledgement really underpins pretty much all my work as a travel writer and photographer.

How did you end up in Sweden?
I met my husband in 2006 while living in the US. After logging thousands upon thousands of air miles, as well as temporary stints in Stockholm, I officially moved over in 2009. It really was an intercultural, interracial, and intercontinental union in many ways. We now have two kids, so Sweden will be home for a while for many reasons, the prime one being that it’s pretty darn perfect for families.

How do you find life in Sweden? Good? Bad?
Life in Sweden is what you make of it, and that’s why I also wrote this book — as a handy cultural guide that can help you integrate and deeply understand Swedish culture and its nuances. Having lived in both Nigeria and the US for extended periods of time, I appreciate living here with a young family. Overall, the quality of life is fantastic in terms of stress levels. There is enough time to dedicate to the family, as well as generous benefits, which we all contribute to through our taxes.

What’s your least favorite part about living in Sweden?
I often say Sweden is the most open society run by the most private people, and I explain why in the book. Sweden does have its dark sides, and I always say the main difference is this: I can be like Oprah Winfrey if I want to as a black woman in the US, despite all the racial tensions. In Sweden, while you’ll be left in a small corner to live your happy life, trying to be a CEO or magnate like Oprah is a gargantuan task. There are people who still don’t get called for job interviews because of the names on their résumés. So overall, while I love living here, no society is perfect, and Sweden has a lot of integration issues it needs to work out.

Why did you write this book?
So, the Swedish word lagom has recently emerged as the lifestyle trend of 2017 and of course, publishers are jumping on it with different lifestyle books — from recipes to interior decor.

But I needed to put a book out there that was beyond cinnamon bun recipes, because lagom is not a word that is warmly embraced or even liked by many Swedes themselves for various reasons, including the fact the ethos has over time morphed to denote average, boring, and middle-of-the-road. I detail all this in the book, as well as explain why lagom itself is inherently a good ideal as opposed to jante, which is the negative parasitic ethos that attaches itself to lagom and brings the negativity. But it is the key to understanding the Swedish mindset.

I have been living in Sweden for eight years, and writing about the country and its culture for even longer. I am also married to a Swede and have a unique vantage point of observing the culture both objectively and subjectively. So I explain lagom in a way that a foreigner fully gets it, as well as holding up a mirror to Swedes so they see how lagom is expressed in interactions with other people. It can be very difficult to write about something that’s very intrinsic to you in a way that others can fully understand without coming off as patronizing and condescending.

It really governs the Swedish psyche, and individual bubbles of lagom are definitely changing and morphing with each passing generation.

I needed to write a well-balanced cultural book that could still stand once the Scandi-trends wave washed over.

What does lagom mean and why is it important?
On the surface, lagom is often described as “not too little, not too much, just right,” but it’s a lot more nuanced than that and lies closer to “optimal.” It is the key to unlocking the Swedish psyche and governs almost all aspects of life and culture in the country.

It also transforms its meaning in different contexts — from “less is more” in terms of décor and “moderation” in terms of food to “harmony and balance” in terms of society and “mindfulness” in terms of well-being.

If one were to boil down the true essence of lagom to its very core, it means striving for the ultimate balance in life that, when applied to all aspects of one’s existence, can help guide you toward operating at your most natural, effortless state.

The state and measurement of lagom mean different things to different folks. My satisfaction may vary from yours, but we can both be satisfied. Lagom represents the ultimate sweet spot or golden mean in your own life, and more importantly, it encourages you to fully operate within that sweet spot that’s just right for you.

For travelers to Sweden, how can they detect lagom at work or play?
Many people often describe Swedes (in Sweden, not outside of Sweden) as reserved, inaccessible, and maybe even cold and flippant, but it’s often just lagom’s mindfulness at play. Locals will give you your space and ensure you’re not inconvenienced by their presence. So, Swedes naturally keep their distance from a place of mindfulness, not because they don’t want to be around you. (Outside of Sweden, they are quick to ditch lagom in social settings.)

At work, lagom is always looking for the best solution, so there’s a lot of planning, lots of meetings, lots of consensus, lots of teamwork, you get the gist… to make sure they arrive at the optimal, lagom solution to all problems.

For example: Many foreigners working or doing business in Sweden often lament the amount of time Swedes put into upfront planning and preparation. Agendas are triple-checked, and several meetings are called to plan every single item on said agendas. Plans can take months to put in place before moving to the next step of implementing each item on those plans.

For a culture that prides itself on efficiency, it could seem these inherent acts of zealous planning are counterproductive, and they can be seen as wasting time and resources. However, because lagom craves balance by trimming excess around its edges, it requires adequate planning. “Adequate” is measured by whatever it takes to prune irrelevance, regardless of how long it takes.

To be efficient means to perform and function in the most optimal manner possible with the least waste of time, resources, and energy. This very definition of efficiency mirrors the core of lagom.

So lagom says it is perfectly OK to spend as much time as needed to prepare ourselves and strongly develop our plans, because that’s the only way we can guarantee efficiency.

For travelers who would like to date a Swede, how can understanding lagom help them?
Swedes don’t naturally divulge information or overshare, so sometimes it can be hard to even gauge or assess what’s going on in a relationship. And it’s not a culture that overly gesticulates with hands or uses flattering words, so knowing if a Swede is interested in you can be denoted by their unusually prolonged eye contact.

So, when out on a date, always have follow-up questions to keep the conversation going and to avoid your date awkwardly ending at “yes or no” answers. Because they will do so, in an effort not to overshare without being asked.

For someone going on a date expecting to be lavishly wined and dined, Swedes are generally conditioned to split their bills, to always repay favors, and to not be duty-bound to anyone, especially financially, by keeping that scale balanced. So this can come as a nasty surprise at the end of the night if you haven’t discussed it before the waiter brings out the menu.

And if you’re in relationship with a Swede and have issues or questions, just ask straight out because Swedes are very direct. And be prepared for those direct answers!

Why are people so fascinated with Sweden?
I think a lot of the fascination comes from the quality of life and just how progressive the society is. Another more superficial angle has to do with physicality — from people and landscapes to interior décor and architecture. I mean, the city of Stockholm itself is absolutely stunning, and it spreads across 14 islands, which you can view from some nice vantage points in town. Sweden consistently ranks in the top 10 happiest countries, so there are clearly things Sweden is getting right.

What’s the one thing you want people to take away from your book?
Lagom is a mindset that fundamentally battles stress. Having too much or too little causes stress, so lagom tries to find its balance between both with the optimal solution by reducing excess. Not perfection, but the best solution.

Think of it as a scale that always needs to be balanced. Too much or too little tips the scale sharply to one side or the other, so lagom balances itself (“just right”) by trimming excess and getting rid of all sources of stress within our control — from material things to relationships that drain us.

Lola A. Åkerström is an award-winning writer, speaker, and photographer with National Geographic Creative. She regularly contributes to high profile publications such as AFAR, the BBC, The Guardian, Lonely Planet, Travel + Leisure, and National Geographic Traveler. Lola is also the editor of Slow Travel Stockholm, an online magazine dedicated to exploring Sweden’s capital city in depth. She lives in Stockholm and blogs at Geotraveler’s Niche.

You can pick up a copy of her book on Amazon. (It’s really interesting and I highly recommend it!)

Racism on the Road: An Interview with Alex

This month’s interview comes from Alex, a 29-year-old black guy from Northern California. When he approached me earlier this year to do an interview and told his story and the barriers – racial and non-racial – he faced before and on the road, I knew he had to be featured here. As a white Western guy, my experience is vastly different than most others. I don’t face many of the prejudices others might and, while this site is called “Nomadic Matt,” I view it as a resource for all travelers – and the only way to do that is to bring in added voices like Alex. So, today, without further ado, here is Alex:

Nomadic Matt: Hi Alex! Welcome! Tell everyone about yourself.
Alex: I am a 29 year old from Northern California. I grew up in a city in the San Francisco Bay Area called Alameda. After finishing college in Arizona, I moved back to the Bay Area and worked in SF before quitting my job to travel the world.  I know the decision shocked my mom and many of my friends, but I know it was a necessary experience for me to embrace at this time in my life.

What inspired your trip?
The short answer is that I wanted to see the world.  The more nuanced answer is that I wanted to see it through my own lens.  With the wonders of the world wide web, we are inundated with information and imagery of people and places from around the world.  I needed to see what the world was like through my eyes, through my own conversations with people in such places, and through my personal experience of growth and change in traveling to these places.

After reading so many backpacking blogs, I got inspired and knew I needed to do this. My original intention was to travel for six months but 11 months later, I’m still going!

How are you funding this trip?
I worked in finance for five years. I had been saving for travel since I started working. Once I made the decision to do this trip, I started making the appropriate sacrifices to increase my travel fund (like skipping smaller trips with friends and cutting out expensive dinners and large bar tabs).

After reading different travel blogs and your book How to Travel the World on $50 a Day, I was able to save $25,000 USD for a year of travel. To make that happen, I began automatically depositing money from my paycheck every two weeks. I reduced my spending on the non-essentials, for example eating out less, canceling services I rarely used and skipping smaller vacations. As time came closer to leave, I made money selling furniture and other items from my apartment. Also the last bonus check from work helped a bit as well. In all, it took a little over a year to save up enough money for this trip.

I had friends telling me they could never afford to do what I am doing but would spend $400/month on organized cycling classes and $500/weekend on drinks.  Saving the money needed for a trip like this wasn’t easy and required many sacrifices. However, I knew traveling was the ultimate goal and this was a part of the process to accomplish that goal.

Do you have any specific advice for people saving for their trip?
My advice and something that helped greatly was to look at a breakdown of my spending over a 3 month period. Your bank or credit card company usually provides this information free or you can do it yourself. Identify what is consuming the largest portion of your income and figure out ways you can reduce it.

Why don’t you think more minorities travel? You said in your original email that your friends and family said you were being “too white” by doing this. 
The “you’re acting white” comment is one I’ve heard all my life. When I showed an interest in my education and a career in finance, I was acting “white.” When I went against the norm by quitting my job to travel I was acting “white.” Honestly, it’s all quite confusing and makes trying to be yourself that much more difficult. In regards to traveling abroad, perhaps people view it as representing a certain amount of privilege that is not generally associated with minorities. But again, this is about priorities and if traveling is a priority you can find a way to do it without being a member of the upper-class elite.

I think another reason why minorities don’t travel as much is a lack of exposure.  Without close friends and family who have or do travel, how might someone know that this is something to do? Or that it is even worth doing?

Now, I don’t mean to suggest that minorities do not travel at all. That’s certainly not the case as I traveled quite frequently as a child with my family. However, I’d label this type of traveling as vacationing – and it was always to familiar places. Where I see a lack of minority travelers is to those unfamiliar places like Southeast Asia.  In my opinion, Southeast Asia is a perfect place for people of any color and any budget. Yet I mostly see white travelers here – why is that?

Many minorities my age in the U.S. come from families where their parents and grandparents did not have an opportunity to go explore the world. Instead, they were likely fighting for their civil rights and equality (which was a more pressing priority). Many were also recent immigrants to the U.S. and focused on creating a new life in an unfamiliar country. So I think, due to a lack of exposure in minority communities, this idea of traveling the world isn’t as prevalent. The idea of traveling abroad became associated with white people and privilege. Although, at times it doesn’t seem like it, the opportunity for minorities to travel and explore is now much greater. We should take advantage of the sacrifices made by the generations before us.

How do you think that opinion can change? Do you think it ever will? 
I think the opinion will change with time and an effort to educate minority youth about traveling and its accessibility. It is encouraging to see organizations and individuals trying to help push this effort along. With the emergence of social media, everyone can now share their travel experiences with a wider group of individuals. Maybe an Instagram picture of the beautiful beaches in Thailand inspires a young person of color to work towards one day visiting, no matter the hurdles in their way. I know for myself it has opened my eyes and mind to hundreds of places I want to visit.

Have you faced any racism while traveling? How do you deal with it?
I thought I would encounter racism on a greater level traveling through Europe and Asia than what I’ve experienced at home. But in my 9 months of traveling to big cities, small cities, urban and rural areas I can not think of one time I’ve experienced any deliberate racism. There were a couple of incidents of ignorance but not what I would consider racism.

I do have one interesting story I’ll share from when I was in this small town on the border of Montenegro. Based on the looks of curiosity I received, I’m fairly certain I was the first black person to travel through this town in a long time. As I made my way to the bus stop, I had a brief encounter with what I would guess were late-teenaged boys. As I was standing at the crosswalk they slowly drove by with their rap music turned up and yelled out the window “What’s up my nigga?” accompanied by a peace sign gesture. Having heard the word “nigger” shouted from a car before, my guard went up immediately. But then I saw the look on the young boys’ faces. They were smiling as if they had an encountered someone famous. At that moment I realized they must have assumed this was an appropriate way of greeting a black male. I simply laughed while shaking my head. These kids were repeating what they were being fed through music and movies as being cool, likely not knowing the origin or meaning of the word they used. I only wish I could have used this as an opportunity to teach them the reality of that word and its connotations, but this was not a hate crime.

If anyone was treating me differently for being black, I was oblivious to it. At times I feel like I’m more likely to be treated differently for being American versus anything else. I’ve come to learn that most travelers are extremely open-minded and interested in learning about the places they travel as well the people they meet along the way. You would be surprised how many other travelers express their curiosity and concerns with me about the lack of minority travelers.

What advice do you have for other minority travelers worried about racism/prejudice when they travel?
Racism is ubiquitous.  If you are going to put yourself in a setting of “others” you will experience “othering” – this is what humans have done for our entire existence.  But I think one important piece of advice is that you can’t confuse racism and ignorance.  It is likely you will travel to places which are incredibly homogeneous so meeting or seeing a minority like yourself may be a first for them. Take this as an opportunity to teach someone about you and your culture. A smile and quick chat can go a long way in learning about our differences but even more so our similarities as humans. If you do find yourself in a situation where you feel that you’re being treated differently due to the color of your skin, I’d suggest politely walking away. Don’t allow racism or discrimination to “win” by provoking a negative reaction from you and possibly ruining your adventure. The world is full of amazing and accepting people and I have faith that if you get out there on the road you’ll find them!

What was the moment you were like “Wow! I’m really doing this! This trip is real life!”?
Those moments happen so frequently. From the first train ride in Europe, staring out the window as I traveled from Stockholm to Copenhagen, envisioning the journey ahead of me, all the way to sitting on top of a pagoda in Myanmar watching as the sun rose, casting light onto an amazing moment. This trip has been the best experience of my life so far and I make sure to reflect on and be grateful for all the amazing moments often.

OK, let’s switch gears and talk about the practical side of travel. How do you make your money last on the road? What are some of your best tips?
My most important tip to the backpacker crowd is to control your spending on alcohol because those beers add up fast. Ask around where the best happy hour and drink specials are located. If you are with a large group, try to negotiate your own deal on drinks. Better yet, go buy alcohol from the store, grab a speaker to play music and drink outside somewhere. Those tend to be some of the best and cheapest nights out!

If you could give three pieces of advice to a new traveler, what would it be?
I’m one of those people who enjoys planning and researching before heading out to somewhere new. However, don’t over-plan your trip. Leave a little room for spontaneity. You’ll definitely meet some cool people or that special someone and want to continue traveling with them. That’s hard to do if you have your entire trip pre-booked. Put down your phone, smile and say hello to someone new. I promise that interaction will be more interesting than whatever you’re reading on Facebook. Find an activity to participate in that helps you overcome a fear. The open water scares me and in order to face that fear head on I went scuba diving.  Also, pick an activity that challenges you mentally and physically. I climbed up the 5000+ steps to the top of Adams Peak in Sri Lanka. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my trip. Lastly, find a way to give back while you’re traveling. Volunteering, donating and responsible tourism are some of the ways to help support the local communities you are traveling through and impacting.

####Editor’s Note: This interview is not some end-all discussion on racism and travel. It’s one guy’s perspective. Since this is a topic I’m often asked about, I wanted to share Alex’s story and perspective on the matter. I know this can be a passionate subject, but please keep all comments civil and respectful.

This interview is not some end-all discussion on racism and travel. It’s one guy’s perspective. Since this is a topic I’m often asked about, I wanted to share Alex’s story and perspective on the matter. I know this can be a passionate subject, but please keep all comments civil and respectful.

Interview with Panama Writer, William Friar

This month’s interview is from Moon Guidebook author William Friar. He is their Panama author and shares his insights on this rapidly developing country and what he thinks is in store in the future.

Nomadic Matt: How did you end up as a guidebook writer?
William Friar: This will really annoy anyone who’s trying to break into guidebook writing, but I’d never even thought about it until a publisher found me and offered a contract for an adventure-travel guide to Panama. I’d grown up there and had recently published a coffee-table book about the Panama Canal, which helped establish my credibility. I was also a newspaper reporter, which suggested I could write and maybe even make the occasional deadline.

The pay was pathetic but somehow I got hooked. I’ve now written three books just on Panama — the second edition of my Moon Handbooks guide came out in November.

I always think each project is going to be my last, but I keep coming back to guidebook writing. My wife is from the UK and when we got married there a couple years back I even wrote a little guidebook to the city for our wedding guests.

Is guidebook writing as glamorous as people would like to think it is or is it one hard-working, labor-intensive job? It seems to me to fall into the labor-intensive category.
There’s nothing glamorous about the actual work. When I’m on the road, I often spend 12 hours a day, seven days a week poking around. That can mean everything from checking out attractions, restaurants, hotels, launderettes, to hanging around bus stations interviewing drivers so I can nail down schedules no one’s ever bothered to write out.

Everything you do and see is part of the job, so you never clock out. If you’re serious about what you do, you also do so much research you feel like a grad student. I spend countless hours combing through newspapers, out-of-print histories, environmental reports, obscure websites in English and Spanish. In a place like Panama, especially, solid information can be hard to find on all kinds of subjects.

If you’re doing adventure-type writing, life can also be a bit dangerous. I can spend six months doing things like jungle hikes, river rafting, flying in scary little planes, and wandering around dodgy areas of cities. That’s fun for a short holiday, but spending day after day doing foolish things greatly increases the odds of something bad happening to you.

It’s funny when I befriend people during my travels and it slowly dawns on them my job is not as romantic as they thought. I remember this guy in Bocas del Toro who was lounging in a hammock and said to me, “You know, Bill, guidebook writing is beginning to look an awful lot like work.”

All that said, being a guidebook writer can be a blast at times. I’ve seen and done things I would never have done if I hadn’t felt obliged to trek to the end of every road and try every sketchy experience I possibly could.

Do you think the Internet will change how people get travel information in ways that make paper guidebooks obsolete?
The Internet is already changing the way people travel. It’s possible to find information online–even for the most out-of-the-way places–that a few years ago you’d only get from guidebooks. It’s also democratizing travel writing: travel-review sites like tripadvisor.com lets you survey many travelers’ opinions instead of having to rely on the judgment of some guidebook writer.

So I think the challenge to guidebook writers may go far beyond which particular medium ends up being used for their writing. I think what’s probably going to happen is that paper guidebooks and the Internet will begin to converge, or at least work in tandem much more than they do today. Guidebooks are at least slightly out of date before they’re even shipped to bookstores; that’s unavoidable given the lag time in getting a book published and distributed. The Internet, of course, allows instant publication and distribution. Finding ways to update guidebooks through the Internet would extend their useful life. The Internet is also a way to refer readers to more content, images, and maps than could ever fit into an affordable paper guidebook that’s smaller than a phonebook.

One simple thing I’m about to do is launch a website (Panama Guidebooks) specifically for the new edition of my Moon guidebook to Panama. A section will list changes in Panama–places that have closed, new places that have opened, updated prices, and so on–as soon as I get the information. The section will be formatted so travelers can print out what interests them and carry it as an addendum if they like. It will also contain extensive photo galleries and give travelers a chance to ask me questions and offer advice to other travelers.

I like to think that each guidebook has a personality. LPs are marketed to backpackers, Rough Guides focus on history and culture, DK has those great 3d drawings. What is the personality of your book?
The Moon Handbooks series traditionally has been known for two things: being encyclopedic and having real personality. Thankfully, in recent years they’ve moved away from being so compulsively inclusive. Moon Handbooks are still designed to appeal to a broader range of budgets and interests than other series, which tend to be more narrowly focused. But they’re now more concise, and a redesign in the last couple of years has made it a lot easier to find what the author considers to be the best that each destination has to offer. I think the redesign has made the books more attractive and user-friendly.

For my own Moon guidebook, I think readers can feel my genuine love for Panama and what it has to offer. But there’s now a lot of hype about the place from people with something to sell–usually real estate or tourist services–and I try to cut through that. People will enjoy their experience a lot more if they have a realistic idea of what to expect. If travelers should avoid a place or an experience, I’ll tell them straight out. I also try to write with a sense of humor and tolerance, which I think are key to enjoying a country like Panama.

Panama has become a big tourist destination now as well as a popular retirement destination. Do you view this as a good thing? What are some of problems that have arisen from this rise in tourism.
Panama is still far from being overrun with tourists in the way that, say, Costa Rica is. It’s still easy to find a beach or island you can have entirely to yourself or spend the night in a village that’s hardly ever seen a tourist, even Panamanian ones.

But Panama is definitely beginning to take off. It’s got great natural beauty and an astonishingly rich history; there’s a lot to see and it’s easy and affordable to get around. Retirees are moving there because it’s relatively inexpensive and it has clean water, good infrastructure, a dollar economy, great medical care, and a pleasant climate. Any influx of foreigners will inevitably bring a rise in rip-offs and crime, and Panama has seen some of that, though not nearly as much as one might fear.

The construction boom there has been so huge there’s a shortage of sand for construction. The last time I was in Bocas del Toro, I watched as workers shoveled beach sand into pickups day and night for use in building projects. It’s illegal, but complaints weren’t having any effect. If Panama isn’t careful, greed, corruption and short-term thinking will destroy the great natural beauty that makes it such an appealing place.

Panama still gets a bad rap. The majority of Americans view it as the dangerous country from the ’80s. Why has that myth been perpetuated for so long, even though more Americans go there now?
I think most Americans don’t have an image of Panama at all. About the only thing they know is there’s some kind of canal there. But it’s true that to the extent gringos have an image, it’s of cocaine, snakes, tropical diseases, and Noriega.

Why hasn’t that image changed yet? Partly because Panama has done a lousy job of promoting itself, and it still has mixed feelings about encouraging tourism. Panamanians themselves worry about having their paradise wrecked. Tourism is a lot less important to its economy than it is to its neighbors, who tend to rely on tourists and farming and little else. Most people don’t realize this, but Panama is the richest country in Central America. It has the canal, an international banking sector, the second largest free-trade zone in the world, ship registration, etc. Agriculture is a small part of its economy, and tourism is a relatively new venture.

Also, not enough Americans have made the trip and gone home to spread the word about what Panama’s really like–it hasn’t reached that tipping point yet. Travelers tend to flock to the trendy place of the moment. When people discovered that Costa Rica was a nice place to visit, everyone started flooding there. By now, it’s practically impervious to bad PR, whatever the reality. Those who know both countries tend to think Panama has more to offer, and it certainly is far less touristy. But it’s going to take a long time for that reality to overcome the hype.

If you had to pick three must-see things in Panama, what would they be?
First, the Panama Canal. It really is a wonder of the world, and endlessly fascinating. There’s nothing like it in the world.

Second would be the Bocas del Toro archipelago, a group of Caribbean islands that are spectacularly beautiful and have a funky charm that hasn’t yet been homogenized. It’s become a bohemian destination for international backpackers, but it’s easy to get away from the partiers and into a hammock by a quiet stretch of beach.

Third is the western highlands, especially the town of Boquete. It’s got a cool climate and a garden setting that’s appealing to a lot of foreign retirees, but it’s also got natural attractions like world-class river rafting, quetzal-spotting, and giant national parks.

You can read more about William Friar and Panama in his guidebook or by following him on Twitter @PanamaGuide.