Travel writer Q&A: Julia Dimon

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Travel journalist and television host Julia Dimon lives the sort of fast-paced traveling lifestyle that most people, even quite experienced travelers, fantasize about. She’s visited over 80 countries and she’s been featured as a travel expert for countless print, online, radio, and television sources. Dimon’s excitement as a traveler is palpable. I asked her about her background, her move from writing to television, some of her favorite destinations, and her top tips for travelers and prospective travel writers both.

Q: Describe your profession.

A: I’m a travel journalist, host of several travel TV shows and hard core adventuress with a blog called Travel Junkie Julia.

Q: Tell me about your family background as a traveler.

A: My mom is a travel writer. I guess that adventure is in the blood! I had the privilege of traveling with her on assignment when I was growing up. As a family we went to Costa Rica, China, Europe, Cuba. I got the travel bug at a young age.

Q: For years you wrote about travel for the Toronto Star and then for Metro. How did you make your move from writing to television? Do you expect to remain in television or return exclusively to the writing at some point?

A: I started out as a travel writer and columnist, freelancing for many publications. Then, while in Turkey on a round-the-world trip, I met a fellow Canadian travel writer named Robin Esrock, who is now my co-host. Robin thought it would be a cool idea if we had our own TV show. I agreed. He pitched a concept to a production company, who took it to a Canadian-based broadcaster. From there we collaborated and developed a show about the real lives of two young travel writers, under pressure and on deadline. The show is called Word Travels and we’ve shot 40 episodes over three years.

TV, like travel writing, is also in my blood. My Dad is an Emmy-award winning producer, so I suppose it was fitting to blend travel and TV. Getting on a full-time travel show was a combination of luck, timing, my strong reputation as a travel writer and a helluva lot of work. Since filming Word Travels, I have shot a travel series for MSNBC and am hosting a new show with Ethan Zohn (winner of Survivor Africa) for the new adventure network Outside Television. I really enjoy the medium of TV and am moving more into that direction but writing is a part of who I am. I’ve been a writer since I was 12. I wrote movie reviews for a kids page in the Toronto Star for over a decade before moving into the travel section. Writing will always be a part of who I am and what I do.
Q: As travel writers we are often asked about our favorite places. I don’t know about you, but I always find such questions impossible to answer. But I’d like to tweak this question and pose a few variations on the theme: your favorite destinations for beaches, street food, budget travel, splurging, and mass tourism?

A: Beach: Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, is one of my all time favorite spots. Sugar white beaches, amazing fresh seafood and a fascinating blend of Arabic and African cultures against a very cool capital city.

Street food: Thailand has some of the best street food. Steaming dishes of pad thai, green curry, red curry, chili mango and the occasional deep-fried grasshopper make for an interesting and extremely affordable foodie destination. As for street meat, you can’t beat a Toronto hot dog from a street vendor. Grilled sausage topped with a buffet of condiments, fried onions, pickles and bacon bits. Not good for you, but delicious.

Budget-friendly: Laos is one of the most beautiful and most affordable destinations out there. For those travelers who are concerned about making their money last, I suggest forgetting Europe and considering India, Cambodia, Bolivia or Peru.

Splurgeworthy: Jordan is a fascinating country but it’s not terribly cheap. Between spending a night in the desert at Wadi Rum, snorkeling the Red Sea, seeing the skillfully chiseled pink rock in Petra, floating in the Dead Sea, and soaking up the Roman ruins in Jerash, the country has a lot to offer the adventure traveler. You absolutely can do Jordan on a budget, but with so many five-star hotels and fancy Dead Sea spa treatments, it’s more tempting to splurge.

Mass tourism: Does Chernobyl count? Kidding… I was there last summer and I’m still waiting to glow radioactive. I’m a big NYC fan. After all the traveling I’ve done, I think New York is the most vibrant, dynamic city in the world. It’s my Number One city, closely followed by Paris. Number Three is still up for grabs…

Q: Top tips you’d offer to someone wanting to work as a travel writer?

A: I have written some tips for people wanting to break into the travel writing business.

Q: Top tips for regular travelers?

A: Go with the flow. Not everything is going to go according to plan so be flexible and take things as they come. Often the best travel experiences arise from the unexpected. Connect with local people and never turn down an invitation, within reason of course. Safety is obviously your number one priority. The people who know the country will be better than any guidebook and can give you insight into the local culture. Go local – where do local people eat, shop, play? Arm yourself with knowledge, be social and ask everyone you meet for recommendations on cool things to do. Learn some basic local language, try everything once, and always carry toilet paper.

Q: What are your essential carry-on items?

A: Laptop, iPod, all chargers, camera, a bunch of magazines to catch up on world events, an empty water bottle, snacks (almonds, dried fruit), sometimes a blanket.

Q: Where is your next trip?

A: I just got back from a palm tree-piña-colada filled weekend at the Gansevoort Turks and Caicos. Next I’m going on an Antarctic expedition, an 11-day voyage on a luxury vessel from Patagonia to the Antarctic Peninsula. Fjords, icebergs, glaciers and tons of cool wildlife are in my future. After this trip, I will have visited all seven continents. Whoo hoo!

Three days in Cardiff

by Gadling Staff on

Once known for its coal trade and busy port, Cardiff’s transformation into a cosmopolitan city and tourist destination over the last decade has been given a boost by two dashing heroes: The Doctor and Captain Jack Harkness.

To be exact, that’s the BBC’s mega-hit science fiction television shows Doctor Who and Torchwood, which both film in the city. One of the first stops for visitors is the stunning redevelopment of Cardiff Bay, which is the headquarters for alien-fighting organization Torchwood lead by Captain Jack. Oh, and there’s also a rift in the fabric of time and space over the bay that allows pesky aliens to occasionally fall into Cardiff and cause mayhem.

While dodging Daleks and other little green men, there is plenty to see in modern Cardiff with museums, shopping, beautiful parks and even a castle.

Creating Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay is a marvel, mainly because it’s only existed for about a decade. The bay was created by building a barrage at the mouth of the Taff and Ely rivers to form a freshwater lake. The derelict docklands area was regenerated with high-end apartments, shops, the construction of Roald Dahl Plass (named for the beloved children’s writer) and its centerpiece, the Wales Millennium Centre.

Constructed of slate, metal, wood and glass, Millennium Centre is instantly recognized by its forward sloping roof with the inscription “In These Stones Horizons Sing,” written in both Welsh and English. The building is the permanent home of the Welsh National Opera and also hosts concerts, theatre, ballet and more. There are often free performances happening on the ground floor, which also has numerous shops, cafes and restaurants.

Just outside the main doors of the Millennium Centre is the 70-foot tall Water Tower, a metallic monolith with water cascading down its sides, which is also the fictional entrance to the Torchwood headquarters. The illuminated light pillars in Roald Dahl Plass are a nod to Cardiff Bay’s original name, Oval Basin.

Also in Cardiff Bay is the Snedd, the ultra-modern Welsh Assembly Building, which looks like a glass box, juxtaposed next to the Pierhead Building, the 1897-era French/Gothic building also used by the Assembly.


The Doctor Is In
Next door to the Millennium Centre is Red Dragon Centre, another modern building full of restaurants, nightclubs, a casino and, the biggest draw, the Doctor Who Exhibition.

The museum deals mostly with the latest incarnations of the Doctor, although there are reminders of the show’s more than 40-year history. Kids and sci-fi fans will get a kick out of the full-sized replica of the Doctor’s time machine, The TARDIS, costumes, props, and dioramas with all the villains like the Cybermen, Daleks and Sontaurans. There’s also a gift shop with every Doctor Who toy ever made. Admission is £6.50 for adults, £5 for kids, although if you just need a sonic screwdriver or action figure, you can browse the shop for free.

City Centre
Much of Cardiff city centre has been turned into wide pedestrian walkways. Queen Street is filled with shops, restaurants and nightclubs, while The Hayes is now home to the giant St. David’s Shopping Centre, which is home to upscale shops, an Apple store and more. It’s anchored by John Lewis department store, which is the second largest in the UK. Also in The Hayes is the new Cardiff Central Library, which has more than 90,000 books and regularly host’s art and music events. Along side these new structures are historic ones, like the beautiful St. John the Baptist Church, the oldest in the city dating back to 1490.

A visit to the city centre wouldn’t be complete without browsing Cardiff Market, which has been a landmark since 1891. The two-story, indoor market is filled with fresh produce, specialty foods, books, clothing, jewelry and art.

If you’re looking for an unusual hotel in the city centre, look no further than The Big Sleep. Co-owned by actor John Malkovich, the hotel is in a reclaimed office building and the lobby and rooms are all monochromatic white and blue. The rooms are big and comfortable (rates range from £45 for a budget room to £99 for the penthouse suite) and offer incredible views of the city. There’s also a photo of Malkovich looking moody in various poses by each bed. A little creepy, yet very cool.

Overlooking the city is Cardiff Castle, which has a history dating back 2,000 years with the site first being occupied by the Romans between 55-400 AD. By 1766, the site was owned by powerful Bute family, which created Cardiff’s coal-exporting hub. It was the Bute family that transformed the site into the Neo Gothic fantasyland visitors flock to today. The Norman Keep (circa 1091 remains) along with a series of towers and the main mansion are beautifully restored and maintained.

A Traditional Pub
The Conway, located northwest of the city centre in the Pontcanna district, was built in 1850 and considered an “old man’s pub” until its reinvention in 2005 as a gastropub. There are plenty of booths and tables inside around the L-shape bar, a big patio to enjoy a pint with your mates and the changing menu is written on large chalkboards. I had the skirt steak with chips (£15) and it was one of the best meals I had while visiting the UK. And, yes, The Conway was also made world-famous by being featured in Doctor Who.

Collin Kelley just returned from Europe, where he traveled and guest lectured on social media at Worcester College at Oxford University. He is the author of the novel Conquering Venus and three collections of poetry. Read his blog on Red Room, or check out his other pieces for Gadling: Three days in Paris, and Three days in London. All the images in this post are copyright Collin Kelley.

Meet locals (and save money) hiking through Europe – International travel tip

by Gadling Staff on

Most travelers are keen to mingle with locals while taking in the sights. Do both and save money by hiking along the fjords and fjells of Scandinavia and/or the soaring majesty of the Alps.

Don’t like the idea of lugging your gear over the mountains? No worries. Join one of the following hiking clubs that maintain hut-to-hut hiking trails and get discounts on accommodations. This lets you can pack light and spend each night in the company of local hiking enthusiasts:

Happy trails!

[Photo: Flickr | Geir Halvorsen]

Huge fight between French and German passengers on Lufthansa flight caught on video

by Scott Carmichael on

In this video, you’ll see the effect of stuffing too many people inside a metal tube, feeding them mediocre food and keeping the temperature a constant 10 degrees too cold or too warm. Thankfully, nobody was hurt in the battle – but as you can see, the entire coach cabin was involved, as was one of the poor flight attendants.

Seriously though – I want one of these fights on my next flight, followed by some warm cocoa and freshly baked cookies.

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Which country loves to work? See who doesn’t take vacation time

by Tom Johansmeyer on

A friend of mine asked me a few days ago when I last went on vacation – a real one. I struggled to remember the last time I went on a trip and didn’t write or, before that, keep up with what was going on at the office. After stopping and focusing, I remembered a four-day trip I took to Orlando back in late 2005. Even there, I’m not sure that I didn’t work, I just don’t remember spending time behind the laptop. Before that, my last vacation was probably four days in San Diego in 2002 (again, I don’t remember working but probably did) or the two weeks I took off when being reassigned from South Korea to Georgia in 1998.

Apparently, I’m not alone. Lots of people don’t take vacations, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos study. Ask any employee in the world if he uses his vacation time, and a there’s a 33 percent chance the answer will be a resounding “no.”

In a survey of 12,500 people from 24 countries, the French, unsurprisingly, are most likely to take advantage of the vacation days they are given, with 89 percent using all they are given. Argentina comes in next at 80 percent, followed by Hungary (78 percent) and Britain (77 percent). Think about it: in the top four, up to 25 percent of a country’s employees don’t blow through their vacation days.

Now, consider how grim the situation is at the other end of the spectrum. The workaholics in Japan are least likely to use all the vacation time they are given, with only 33 percent using it up. South Africa is next up from the bottom at 47 percent, followed by South Korea (53 percent). The United States is next, with a mere 57 percent of employees using up all their vacation time. That’s akin to leaving money on the table, when you think about it, since vacation time really is a part of your compensation.

Interestingly, income level makes little difference in whether one uses all available vacation time. It isn’t just hard-core investment bankers, work-addicted consultants and client-committed attorneys. According to Ipsos, two-thirds of high- and low-income workers took all available vacation time. Age makes some difference, with workers over 50 more likely to take all their vacation days. Unsurprisingly, business owners and senior executives are least likely to consume all their time.

So, why are the world’s workers so insanely dedicated to their jobs? Reuters says:

“There are lots of reasons why people don’t use up vacation days but most often it’s because they feel obligated to their work and put it over other more important things, including their own health and welfare,” said John Wright, senior vice president of global market and opinion research firm Ipsos.

Below, you can see the full results of the survey:

  1. France: 89 percent
  2. Argentina: 80 percent
  3. Hungary: 78 percent
  4. Britain: 77 percent
  5. Spain: 77 percent
  6. Saudi Arabia: 76 percent
  7. Germany: 75 percent
  8. Belgium: 74 percent
  9. Turkey: 74 percent
  10. Indonesia: 70 percent
  11. Mexico: 67 percent
  12. Russia: 67 percent
  13. Italy: 66 percent
  14. Poland: 66 percent
  15. China: 65 percent
  16. Sweden: 63 percent
  17. Brazil: 59 percent
  18. India: 59 percent
  19. Canada: 58 percent
  20. United States: 57 percent
  21. South Korea: 53 percent
  22. Australia: 47 percent
  23. South Africa: 47 percent
  24. Japan: 33 percent

[photo by archie4oz via Flickr]