Interviews with Travel Writers, Photographers, and Adventurers
Cameron Hewitt has Been in Your Room
What can a spleen sandwich reveal about Italian culture? Confessions of a professional traveler …
How do Swiss taxpayers feel about subsidizing cheesemaking? Why do the Scottish Highland games include an odd sport called hill racing? And what can a spleen sandwich reveal about Italian culture?
Cameron Hewitt, Rick Steves’ right-hand person for more than two decades, talks about these and other revelations in his new book, The Temporary European: Lessons and Confessions of a Professional Traveler, which Steves calls “vivid, funny, perceptive, intimate, and charged with a love of travel and a deep sense of humanity.”
Cameron reads to us from his story about professional snooping that begins, “I’ve been in your hotel room,” and reveals that Germans fold their pajamas. Then he offers suggestions for learning from clichés and stereotypes, as well as the ways food can provide insight into culture, and more.
What did Cameron Hewitt see in your room?
Linda Watanabe McFerrin, Navigating the Divide
Linda Watanabe McFerrin is a travel writer, novelist, poet, and contributor to many newspapers, magazines and anthologies. Here we discuss some of the more subtle aspects of travel writing: crossing boundaries, the idea of place as a character, why we should not try to fit in when we travel, and how to get risk onto the page.
McFerrin’s latest book, Navigating the Divide, from Alan Squire Publishing’s “Legacy Series” of writers with cross-genre works, is a Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist.
Hear Linda Watanabe McFerrin on Travel Writing, Risk and the Great Evolutionary Experiment
Don George at the Commonwealth Club
A professional travel writer and editor for the past four decades, Don George has explored the farthest corners of the world. The former travel editor for the San Francisco Examiner and SF Chronicle, George founded the Wanderlust section of Salon.com and was recently the global travel editor for Lonely Planet Publications. George’s work has appeared in many publications and he is a frequent guest on NPR and CNN.
In his new book, The Way of Wanderlust, George’s adventurous tales over the last 40 years—climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, ascending Yosemite’s Half Dome, a moving homestay experience in Cambodia— come together in one inspiring volume.
I had such fun interviewing Don! It was the first time I’d done a live interview, and there was a lot to keep track of: asking questions, listening to responses and following up, weaving in questions from the audience, keeping an eye on the time and inserting a “commercial” fifteen minutes before the end of the interview, and — the most fun — banging the official Commonwealth Club gavel three times at the beginning and end of the session.
Hear Don George talk about the craft of travel writing
Jeff Greenwald on Ethical Travel and Science Fiction
Writer, photographer, performer and activist Jeff Greenwald is a co-founder of Ethical Traveler and has published six travel books. He tells us about the creation of the Ethical Traveler — inspired by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi — and its impact on issues ranging from the Tasmanian logging industry to the Cambodian sex-slave trade.
Greenwald also talks about the world’s best ethical travel destinations and offers ideas for ways individual travelers can be more attuned to sustainability. We hear how Jeff chooses his book topics, the ways in which his love for science fiction has influenced his travel writing, and his most recent assignment — a road trip on a high-performance all-electric motorcycle (a great trip except for Jeff’s accidentally amputated fingertip). Jeff’s bestselling book, Shopping for Buddhas, was recently re-released in a 25th anniversary edition.
Hear Jeff Greenwald on ethical travel and science fiction
Catherine Karnow’s Travel Photography Insights
National Geographic photographer and conference instructor Catherine Karnow discusses her approach to composing photos, tips for photographing people, how to communicate with photo subjects who speak another language, and the proper role of Photoshop post-processing.
She also tells us about her photoworkshops in Italy and Vietnam — which sound like a blast, with lots of opportunities for interacting with locals, as well as ready-made photoshoot set-ups, great food, and Catherine’s expert instruction. And we hear about the surprising and deeply moving experiences Catherine has had photographing victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam. Check out her beautiful book, Vietnam: 25 Years Documenting a Changing Country.
Hear Catherine Karnow’s insights on travel photography
David Farley Searches for the Holy Foreskin
David Farley, travel writer and author of An Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church’s Strangest Relic in Italy’s Oddest Town is an instructor at the Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers conference (as well as at NYU and Columbia University). Farley tells us how he researched his book — the true story of his search for a unique holy relic, the foreskin of Jesus, which went missing from an Italian church under mysterious circumstances. (Check out the National Geographic special about Farley and his search for the holy foreskin.)
Farley also considers what makes good travel writing, ways to use a quest, and how to approach writing story leads. And he seduces us with visions of his extensive collection of 19th-century wooden legs.
Hear about David Farley’s search for the holy foreskin
Marianne Bohr’s Expert Travel Tips
When Marianne Bohr was 55 she took time off work to have a “Senior Year Abroad” with her husband, Joe. The two had planned their trip for 30 years, ever since backpacking together in Europe after college. Marianne not only traveled the world, she also wrote a book about it, called Gap Year Girl: A Baby Boomer Adventure Across 21 Countries. The book reads like a personal travel narrative, with details about the places Marianne and Joe saw. By the end of the book I was not only informed and inspired — I was ready to take my own gap year.
Find out how Marianne planned for such a dramatic change and what her advice is for people who have a dream of traveling extensively. We discuss packing essentials, traveling in countries where you don’t speak the language, readjusting when you return home, and much more. Marianne also gives us an insider’s view of the Book Passage Travel Writers Conference and shares some of what she learned there.
Listen to Marianne Borh’s expert travel tips
Perry Garfinkel on the Benefits of “Travel Writer’s Mindset”
What do travel writing and Buddhism have in common? How can a “travel writer’s mindset” extend your vacation and make it more enjoyable? Why does a professional travel writer recommend modeling after the masters—and stealing freely? And what did Perry Garfinkel steal from Woody Allen?
Learn all this and more from Garfinkel, a travel writing teacher and author of Buddha or Bust: In Search of Truth, Meaning, Happiness, and the Man Who Found Them All and Travel Writing for Profit and Pleasure.
Listen to Perry Garfinkel on the benefits of “Travel Writer’s Mindset”