Where was your photo taken: On a plane bound for Tokyo from JFK, taken to join the elite ranks of Heather Poole’s laviators.
Where do you live now: Istanbul, Turkey. I arrived here in May to accompany my husband who is consulting on a project with Turkish company. We will eventually return home to Brooklyn, New York, where we can be found sampling the city’s many all-you-can-drink brunch specials and planning our next trip.
Scariest airline flown: Like Alex Robertson Textor, I’d have to go with La Costeña in Nicaragua to the Corn Islands. It feels like you are flying on an unwieldy bicycle, and when a fellow passenger noted that one of the controls was not working, the pilot remarked, “Oh, I don’t use that, it’s turned off!” They do serve cookies and Fanta, so not wholly unpleasant.
Favorite city/country/place: Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. After spending many childhood summers on the lake, I honeymooned there for a glorious week with my husband barbecuing, playing cards, and hiking through the woods with my grandfather.Most remote corner of the globe visited: Pisco Elqui, Chile. The town is named after the country’s favorite liquor, in an effort to reinforce Chile’s claim to Pisco over Peru. A perfect place to stargaze and think about climbing the Andes, maybe after another Pisco Sour.
Favorite guidebook series: I try to go with whatever has been most recently updated, but I like that Frommer’s guides generally have an actual, personal voice and all of their content is online.
Favorite travel author: Hard to choose just one, but I loved the books of Pete McCarthy: great insights to places and almost embarrassingly funny. McCarthy’s Bar is spot-on about travel in Ireland and the sequel, Road to McCarthy, travels everywhere from Morocco to the Caribbean. He sadly passed away a few years ago, but I still think of some passages of his books and laugh out loud.
Dream travel destination: Playing Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? made me intrigued with Sri Lanka. I imagine days full of visits to remote temples and lying in hammocks on the beach, and nights spent in grizzled expat bars being served gin and tonics by a bartender with an eyepatch. And catching an international jewel thief, of course.
Worst place to catch a stomach bug? An airplane. I was once suddenly ill on a London to New York flight and I can’t think of much worse than being on your hands and knees in an airplane bathroom, then returning to a middle seat.
When I’m not writing for Gadling, I’m…working remotely as a publicist for a travel PR agency in New York, handling media relations for several tour operators and hotels, and acting as “social media curator,” finding content for our Facebook page, Twitter, and eventually, blog. In Istanbul, I can be found looking for ways to escape the summer heat, playing tour guide to my visiting friends (six so far, including the inimitable Mike Barish), and bumbling my Turkish all over town.