Blogger Leif “Wrong Way” Pettersen

by Leif Pettersen on

Introducing the newest member to the Gadling team, Leif Pettersen…

Where was your photo taken – Crossing a dodgy cable, wood plank bridge that had been reinforced with metal sheeting, two hours walk outside the “village” of Bario, deep in the mountain highlands of Malaysian Borneo

Where do you live now – Earth, but once in a while I have to suck it up and go to Heathrow

Scariest airline flown – Northwest: I have an innate fear of weasels and hunchbacks, so…

Favorite city/country/place – New Zealand: If only they had an ozone layer, it would be heaven on Earth.

Most remote corner of the globe visited – Inle Lake, Myanmar (Burma)

Favorite guidebook series – Lonely Planet, and not because I get a discount…

Person you’d most like to interview for Gadling? Natalie Portman

First culture shock experience – Retuning to Minneapolis after my first summer in Romania. I almost came unwound when I went to a bar and there were TVs hanging in front of the urinals, showing commercials one inch from my face. The urinals, man! I’ve never been so close to a seizure in my life.

Favorite travel book – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. That book aroused the latent, “slightly caustic”, consummate, adjective-loving, gonzo travel writer in me.

Languages spoken – Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Bad English

Blogger Matthew Firestone

by Matthew Firestone on

Introducing another new blogger at Gadling, Matthew Firestone…

Where was your photo taken? This shot was taken at the summit of Mt. Sinai in Egypt shortly after sunrise. Although I’m trying my hardest to look awake and alert, I can hardly keep my eyes open. The trek to the top of Sinai was a gruelling overnight trudge, but it was worth every blister, stubbed toe and twisted ankle.

Where do you live now? Tokyo, Japan (???????????)

Scariest airline flown? Egypt Scare, er, Egypt Air. Call me crazy, but it should cost more than the price of a decent meal back home to fly across a country as enormous as Egypt. Then again, when the plane is a 1970s Russian-built Aeroflot complete with a tweed and beige interior, perhaps not.

Favorite city/country/place? Namibia – for the beauty and isolation of its landscape – though fresh sushi on any of Okinawa’s beaches is a close second.

Most remote corner of the globe visited? Against both my better judgment and my survival instincts, I trekked through the Darien Gap, the infamous no-man’s land between Panama and Colombia famous for FARC rebels, paramilitary and a healthy dose of pit vipers. My mother still hasn’t forgiven me.

Favorite guidebook series? Lonely Planet, particularly the editions I write.

The most unusual food I’ve ever eaten is… odorigui, which translates to ‘dancing-eating’ or the practice of consuming live animals. I assure you nothing can compare to the sensation of eating a writhing octopus tentacle that has just been chopped off its still-breathing host.

Worst armpit visited? Zimbabwe in summer of 2006 was about as bad as it gets, though I’m told it’s worse now. At the time, hyperinflation was nearing 1000%, which meant that a bottle of coke was priced at about 630,000 Zim Dollars. Of course, this was assuming you could even find a bottle of coke due to a nationwide shortage of sugar, petrol and just about every other commodity.

First culture shock experience? I grew up in a small town in New Jersey famous for drag-racing, strip malls and suburban discontent. Needless to say, you can imagine my culture shock when I found out that New Jersey wasn’t exactly like the rest of the world.

Blogger Brett Atkinson

by Brett Atkinson on

Introducing another new Gadling blogger, Brett Atkinson…

Where was your photo taken? Santa Monica pier in Los Angeles. The reason I’m smiling is that it was the first stop in a six week honeymoon that would eventually take in New York, Budapest, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Istanbul and Singapore. (When you’re from New Zealand you try and make the most of international travel).

Where do you live now? Auckland, New Zealand.

Scariest airline flown. Lao Aviation. On a flight from Luang Prabang to the Plain of Jars, most of the seatbelts were broken and the cabin filled up with misty condensation. Stunning scenery though.

Favourite city/country/place: A toss up between San Francisco and Istanbul.

Most remote corner of the globe visited: Niue, a tiny island nation in the South Pacific with only 1500 inhabitants.

Favouriite guidebook series: Lonely Planet

Worst hotel experience: A cheap hotel in the town of Sape on Lombok, the jumping off for trips to see the Komodo dragons. If a cheap Indonesian hotel ever offers you “seafood pizza” don’t be surprised if you’re served up a doughy frisbee that tastes of diesel and has a few dried fish flakes on top.

Most recent trip. Bouncing around the deserts of Oman in a 4WD.

Favourite restaurant. The Slanted Door in San Francisco (followed by microbrews at Toronado in the Lower Haight).

When I’m not writng for Gadling, I’m… Writing and researching guidebooks, and writing about the bars and restaurants of Auckland (a tough job but someone’s got to do it).

Blogger Brook Silva-Braga

by Brook Silva-Braga on

Introducing another new blogger at Gadling, Brook Silva-Braga…

Where was your photo taken? Varanasi, India

Where do you live now? New York, NY

Scariest airline flown: Not sure they had a name but it eventually went to the Virgin Islands after first stalling on the runway.

Favorite city/country/place: Who can chose a favorite?

Most remote corner of the globe visited: Muktinath, Nepal

Favorite guidebook series: Don’t make me plug LP, they don’t need the help

Favorite foreign dish? Restaurant?… Masaman curry at Green Papaya in Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

Favorite travel book: A Moveable Feast

Where would you buy a second home/retire? St. John, USVI

Country with the most beautiful women/men: Girls from Denmark + guys from Switzerland = unfair to the rest of us.

Brook Silva-Braga is traveling northern Europe for the month of August and reuniting with some of the people he met on the yearlong trip which was the basis of his travel documentary, A Map for Saturday. You can follow his adventure in the series, Across Northern Europe, which begins tomorrow.

Blogger Catherine Bodry

by Catherine Bodry on

Introducing the newest member of the Gadling team… Catherine Bodry!

1. Where was this photo taken? In Mumbai. Some guy approached my friend and I at our guesthouse and asked if we wanted to be in a Bollywood pop video. So we left with him around 7pm. This photo was taken 12 hours later, at 7am, and we still hadn’t been in the video. Finally we “quit” and had a driver take us back to our guesthouse. Alas, we didn’t make it into the video. But we had some cool make-up done!

2. Where do you live now? In tiny Seward, Alaska. It’s about 2 hours south of Anchorage, on the Kenai Peninsula. It’s beautiful.

3. Scariest airline flown: I’ve been really lucky and haven’t had any scary flights that I can recall. I also haven’t been in a tiny plane, which are all over the skies in Alaska. Those scare me!

4. Favorite city/country/place: How can I pin it down?! Vietnam, the Loire region in France, and India top the list. But there’s also Cambodia, Guizhou province China, and Laos. And Alaska, of course.

5. Favorite remote corner of the globe visited: Kaili, in Guizhou province China. My friend was a Peace Corps volunteer there, and I spent two weeks exploring Kaili and the surrounding villages. I don’t think I’ve been anywhere more authentic or captivating.

6. Favorite guidebook series: I’ve blindly trusted Lonely Planet since I started traveling, and I always turn to them. However, I like a good dose of the dorky but enthusiastic Rick Steves when I’m in Europe.

7. Worst hotel experience: I can think of several in Asia that had rats. That was disturbing. I always slept with the lights on and tucked the mosquito nets in tight, sometimes putting books and whatever else I had over it to weigh it down. Nothing was going to get in there! I did it to keep the bugs out, but several times I woke up to a rat scurrying across the room. Ironically, I never had a problem with bugs.

8. Favorite foreign film: L’auberge Espangol. It’s also my favorite preview (I love previews). I also really like Amelie for it’s magical take on Paris, and the soundtrack. I love riding my bike around town to that soundtrack.

9. Worst place to catch a stomach bug: I imagine it’s on an all-night bus ride on a windy dirt road, when you’re traveling solo. And you forgot your toilet paper.

10. Next trip: I’ve got to get out of Alaska this winter. Don’t get me wrong; it’s stunning in the winter. But all that darkness and cold takes a toll. I’d like to go to Vietnam and have a new wardrobe made in Hoi An, but I’ll probably end up somewhere in Mexico over Christmas. I’m hoping for a longer trip in a year or so.