Another week, another WGJ Travels post.
This week’s post is all about a certain favorite traveler. He's lived in a few different countries, traveled to more countries than I can name, and he loves taking along a certain pink travel companion on his adventures… If you guessed it was KYLE, you are correct.
On our way to Hacklebarney State Park a few weeks ago, I interviewed him for this post.
Gabrielle: Okay Kyle, your age and location.
Kyle: 33, New Jersey, USA
G: First question: what are your go-to items for traveling?
K: Toiletries, clothes, phones, ipad, chargers, and neck pillow. I used to carry a nice camera but I left it in a rental car in Serbia and did not get a new one, so a phone camera is all I need now. I’ll also bring country-specific items, like electrical adapters and possibly transformers.
G: How long are your trips normally?
K: Typically no more than a week these days, because of limited time off of work. And for the sake of packing and hygiene considerations, I tend to keep things under two weeks.
G: Right, that makes sense.
G: What is your most memorable place you've traveled?
K: Hmmm… too many. My favorite place I've hiked has been on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.
G: Oh wow! That must have been beautiful.
K: It was. My favorite place I've driven is Eastern Europe, in the Balkans.
G: Oooh! There has to be a story there.
K: LOL! I drove in 7 different countries in 7 days on that adventure. I drove in Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. .
G: How neat is that? They don't have automatic cars there right?
K: To rent, it tends to be all stick.
G: Okay, how do you stay safe in a foreign country?
K: Be careful about being overly friendly.
G: Duly noted and trying to work on that... go on.
K: Be friendly and courteous to locals but be aware of them trying to take advantage of happy tourists. If you frown more, I found it’s actually harder to be taken advantage of.
G: [Writes down "Practice frowning."]
K: Keep your cash low, you can always go to an ATM–at least ones that are attached to reputable banks. Cards can be replaced. Research the area you are going to. Just because an area is big and loud and full of tourists, it does not always mean they are safe for tourists. I have found that smaller, local places tend to be safer.
G: Great tips! I like the one about frowning the most. Maybe that would work here in the states too! LOL
G: Okay, next question. How do you plan a trip?
K: I start with flight deals based on any number of emails I get from different airlines, or just perusing Google Flights.. I will set parameters of a start date and an end date. I see where the best deals are and then make a decision. Once I have the flights, then I pick the places I want to hit and then plan the days from there.
G: Okay that makes sense, start with the big things and then zoom in to get to the smaller items.
K: Yup! I use Google maps, atlasobscura.com and sometimes even dangerousroads.org to add in fun little activities that aren’t the standard tourist fare
G: What was a travel “oops” that turned into a memorable experience.
K: LOL; Two come to mind.
G: GREAT! Let's hear them!
K: I went to Italy for a post-graduation trip with my girlfriend at the time. We went to Cinque Terre one day. We had no place to stay. This was before and before I had a smartphone. We met an old man named Sergio at the train station. He asked "Do you need a place to stay?" We answered "Yes," and we followed him back to his home. He knew more French than English so we communicated in broken French and English. And it turned out he had a nice extra bedroom and bathroom and provided us breakfast, so it was basically an in-person AirBnB situation.
G: Oh my gosh! He just let you into his home?!
K: Yup! We didn't leave any of our valuables there when we went off to explore, but it definitely made for a neat story.
G: Um, it sure did! What's the other story?
K: I was living overseas in Russia for work. In the summer of 2012, I was stubborn and still didn’t have a smartphone. . I was taking my first big solo Asia trip to South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. I printed out all the confirmations and directions and I thought I was ready. I was walking around trying to find my hotel in Taiwan after being dropped in a sketchy alley by my taxi. I couldn't tell where it was; there were no signs. I finally was able to call them and they said "you go to your room at this location." I was confused and asked them how to get into the room when I haven't checked in yet. They said the key was inside the room and the room was unlocked. Someone will come along tomorrow to collect the money. It was so annoying, because it meant I had to budget time in my tight schedule to hang out at the room and wait for these payment collectors to show up.
G: Oh my gosh, wait, they just let you stay in the room and then they would get their money?!
K: Yeah, kinda backwards but it made for a cool story.
G: Okay! What was your longest flight?
K: That's easy. Newark to Mumbai for my sister's wedding. It was a 15 hour flight.
G: Ooooh!
K: And Moscow to Los Angeles was about 13 hours..
K: My longest flight trip with layovers was to South Africa. I flew from Houston to Amsterdam then Amsterdam to Johannesburg. It ended up being about 22,000 miles.
G: Woah! That is some serious frequent flier miles.
G: Okay, on the flip side, what is your shortest flight?
K: Commercially, it was from Anchorage, Alaska to Kenai, Alaska, about 15 - 20 minutes, give or take. I have flown short trips in helicopters too.
K: The smallest commercial plane that I actually was in was last month, from Tortola to San Juan, which was in a Cessna 402.
G: You are truly brave to be flying in such a small plane.
G: What are your favorite airports?
K: Internationally, Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, or Seoul’s Incheon Airport; Domestically, it's probably Indianapolis or maybe even the newly remodeled Delta terminals at JFK.
G: :::feverishly googles Amsterdam and Seoul airports::::: OHHHH! So Pretty!
G: Flipside, what is your LEAST favorite airport?
K: LOL, Newark by a long shot (and it’s the airport I use the most). Siberian airports (all of them) are all pretty bad. Actually, Tortola most closely resembled the typical Siberian airport experience than anywhere else I’ve been in the last 8 years..
G: LOL!!
G: I remembered seeing a map of all the miles you have flown throughout your lifetime, can you share that with me?
K: Okee! Here it is, updated as of June 30, 2022.
G: Are there any places you're itching to visit?
K: Of course! Everywhere I haven't been yet.
G: LOL duh!
K: And most places I've been that I enjoyed, I would go back.
G: Okay! How about a list of places that you can think of off the top of your head.
K: Hmmm.....
K: The Alpine countries of Europe (Switzerland, Austria); Eastern Europe- Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria; Czechia; Iberian Peninsula- Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar; , Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia; Egypt, Morocco, Zimbabwe; Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, Mainland China, Jordan, and climbing Kilimanjaro
G: WOAH! Very neat! I feel like I visited a lot of those places playing Carmen San Diego.
G: Okay, this is something I always wonder, what are some travel myths that everyone thinks are true but aren't.
K: Hmmm, okay! I've heard that there are gypsy children in Italy who pickpocket all the time, but when I was there, both times, I didn't see any.
G: Oh! That's an interesting one!
K: Hmmm, another one was that French people hate Americans. That's partly true. They do not like the ignorance of their language. The French are proud of their language, which goes for most countries. If you try to speak French, they will be more willing to help you. I have also learned that the smaller the country, the less widespread their language is and more likely they will speak fluent English.
G: That makes complete sense. Neat!
G: What is your perfect vacation?
K: In a perfect vacation world, I always try to do 4 things: something in nature (like hiking, climbing, frolicking through fields of sweet smelling flowers…); something cultural (food events/festivals/arts/etc) something historical like a significant monument, ruin, museum, or castle; and finally something social like make new friends, check out the nightlife, and maybe party a bit!.
G: Oh what a good plan! I like that.
G: How do you plan, financially, for these vacations?
K: I track my finances. I know what to adjust to be able to afford vacations. I also work around it and make it a priority. I like traveling so it's high on my priority list.
G: What is your mindset going into a vacation?
K: I am thinking, "Thank god I am getting away," and I am looking forward to new and different things.
G: What are your expectations going into a vacation?
K: I have none beyond what I planned to do. I like the social things to happen organically- like stumbling upon a festival or meeting fun people at the bar. I don't go looking for it, it usually finds me.
G: Lastly, do you prefer to carry on luggage or check your luggage.
K: Normally I carry on because Newark baggage claim is slow and I am usually flying for work; I don't have much. This way once the flight lands, I can just go to get my rental car and be on my merry way as fast as possible. It’s also much quicker if traveling internationally and going through customs. The first time I moved to Russia, it took like two hours for my checked bag to come out.
G: Thank you so much for letting me interview you!
K: :) No problem
G: I've learned a lot about you; and I can't wait for our next adventure.
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