Blogger Jonathan Kramer

Introducing another new blogger at Gadling, Jonathan Kramer. . .

Where was your photo taken: In front of Kumamoto Castle in southern Japan. I’m not the guy with the sword!

Where do you live now: Seoul, South Korea

Scariest airline flown: Maybe it’s because I come from a family of pilots and I have been traveling in planes since I was young, but I’ve never had a terrible flight. There have been a few times with roller coaster turbulence and a bumpy landing or two, but that comes with the territory of sailing through the air at 500+ mph in an aluminum can.

Favorite city/country/place: London, it’s almost the perfect city, if you can put the weather and how expensive it is aside (big points to ignore, I know). Pub culture is amazing, the food is not as bad as the world likes to think, the nightlife is fantastic, buildings are older than most countries, and its museums, which are the best in the world, are free.

Most remote corner of the globe visited: Highborne Cay in the Bahamas, a small island about an hour boat ride from the capital of Nassau. I was watching the sunset from a hill when the horizon disappeared; there was no separation between sky and ocean, it was a washed blend of pastel blues and pinks. To this day, it’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

Favorite guidebook series: Not a series, but Claska, a hotel in Tokyo, puts out the best, most unique guidebook ever, called “Tokyo by Tokyo.” Each page has a different theme of out of the ordinary recommendations from different Tokyo-ites. These themes include “The best ways to blow all your cash on drink,” “Where to find special effects stills” and “The three most splendidly lavish toilets in Tokyo.”

Favorite foreign film: “City of God,” a Brazilian coming of age film set in the slums of Rio de Janeiro spanning 20 years – fun, beautiful and heartbreaking.

First culture shock experience: Going to college … in Tallahassee, Florida. Growing up in Miami, I was always surrounded by a variety of ethnicities. Me being a tall white guy with blonde hair and blue eyes, I often stuck out. But when I went to college in northern Florida, there was a lot less ethnic variety. For the first time I was average and it felt completely weird.

Where would you buy a second home/retire: Retiring in a quiet section of Tokyo could be nice. Even though it’s the biggest metropolis in the world, there are many parts of Tokyo that are quiet and calm. Japan as a whole is also bafflingly safe, making it more worry free than elsewhere.

Favorite means of transportation: Anything that lets me stare out of a window. I love gazing at cliffs in Ireland through a bus window, checking out California farmland from my seat on Amtrak and admiring the clouds on any flight. I just put my headphones on and zone out.

[Photo credit: Jonathan Kramer]