Travel television Q & A: Carmen Roberts

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Carmen Roberts is a travel reporter for BBC World’s Fast Track program. Extraordinarily well traveled, Carmen recently decamped from London–home for over a decade–to Singapore, the country of her birth.

Here Carmen shares a few tips, a secret destination, and gives us the skinny on how her career developed.

Q: Carmen Roberts, how would you define your occupation?

A: Roving travel reporter and video journalist

Q: You grew up mostly in Australia, if my advance research can be trusted. What brought you to London and now to Singapore?

A: I moved to London on a whim in 2000. I quit my job, broke up with my boyfriend and booked a ticket all within 24 hours, and a few weeks later I was on a plane in a bewildered state. Last month I moved back to Singapore, where I will now be Fast Track’s correspondent in Asia.

Q: Can you point to events in your childhood or young adulthood that inspired a life of travel?

A: I was born in Singapore, but my father was from New Zealand and then when I was five years old, we moved to Australia. So, from a very early age, I was travelling on planes. I remember going to visit my grandmother in New Zealand when I was about nine and I travelled as an unaccompanied minor. I loved it!

Q: What do you love about London, and what would you recommend that a visitor not miss? Ditto for Singapore.

A: While the Tube is great (when it works!) you can miss so much if you don’t go above ground. The Tube map is deceptive at times, and if you walk you can get to many places much quicker and have a far more pleasant experience. I especially love the parks in London. Kensington Gardens in my favourite.

What not to miss in Singapore? The food is amazing and you must try the street food, or hawker stalls. They are very safe and dirt cheap. You can get a bowl of noodles for less than a fiver. Gluttons Bay and Maxwell Food Court are my favourites. And if you are a nature lover, you must go to Pulau Ubin.Q: How did you get your job with the BBC?

A: Right place, right time.

Q: How dreamy is your job, truthfully?

A: Haha! I wish I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that! Yes it’s great, I get to travel around the world and meet new people and see a great number of things I wouldn’t ordinarily see if I were travelling on my own steam. But it’s not always glitz and glamour, like when you have to wake up at the crack of dawn and plaster your face with make up for a piece to camera (or standup). Or when you are stuck in the middle of steamy India and your camera has seized up due to humidity and you are about to interview a government minister.

Q: Where do you love to travel for work? And where do you love to travel for
a true holiday?

A: Going to the US for work is quite fun. There’s no language issue and everyone there is clued up with a public relations team. They understand what you are trying to do and are more accustomed to dealing with TV crews. For leisure, I like to get hot and sweaty, and go mountain biking.

Q: Do you have any secret favorite destinations you’d like to share with us?

A; El Nido in the Philippines is just amazing, a true piece of Paradise.

Q: Can you give us a travel tip or two? High-tech, low-tech, whatever.

A: Always make sure you know the emergency numbers in the country where you are travelling. I always email myself travel documents, rather than taking hard copies. And if you are feeling flush and want to upgrade your plane ticket, it’s usually cheaper to do it on the day at the airport.

Check out short Gadling Q&As with other fascinating travel media figures, including Philippe Sibelly, Zora O’Neill, and Benji Lanyado.

[Image credit: Milton Boyne]

Photo of the day- Milford Sound, New Zealand

by Jonathan Kramer on
Debra Corbeil and Dave Bouskill are known as Canada’s Adventure Couple and have immersed themselves into the culture of 45 nations during their travels for 13 years as they they have climbed, paddled, hiked and biked their way through 5 continents. Today’s photo Dave took in New Zealand. In his words:

New Zealand has some incredible scenery. Mountains and lakes to die for and seascapes that are out of this world. But there is another side to New Zealand, which is the tropical jungle. On our way to Milford Sound there are many walks and tracks that offer gorgeous scenery like this.

At the bottom this particular one was a rushing glacial river that wound its way through the countryside. The sun was perfect as it backlit the trees and ignited the mist rising from the roaring river.

The sound of the river, the smell of the jungle and the warmth of the sun combined to give the sense of being in another world. Possibly Middle Earth?

This is our first trip to New Zealand but certainly not our last

Follow Dave and Deb’s adventures on twitter @theplanetd, Facebook, YouTube, StumbleUpon or email theplanetd@gmail.com

Have you captured any unique sporting events on your travels? Add them to the Gadling group on Flickr and we might just pick one of yours as a future Photo of the Day.

Powerful earthquake hits Christchurch, New Zealand

by Mike Barish on

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake was recorded in Christchurch, New Zealand on Tuesday, causing widespread damage and killing at least 65 people. The South Island city was severely damaged and the death toll is expected to rise as victims are located in the wreckage.

Aftershocks continued to rock the city as rescue workers spent the night searching for survivors in the rubble. Emergency services have been pushed to the limit and video has shown injured citizens being loaded into personal vehicles because of the lack of available ambulances.

Christchurch is home to approximately 400,000 people. The seismic activity occured at around 1pm local time on Tuesday. In the aftermath of the earthquake, the city has been besieged by landslides.

The region experienced a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in September 2010 but no casualties were reported.

Photo: AP

107 whales die on New Zealand beach

by Chris Owen on

Over 100 pilot whales are dead after a stranding on Stewart Island in New Zealand. Discovered by tourists Saturday about half the beached whales were already dead. New Zealand Department of Conservation staff euthanized the rest.

“About half of the whales were still alive when we arrived,” said biodiversity manager Brent Beaven.

The group (pod) of whales were the latest to die in a series of mass-strandings in the area. Strandings (sometimes called “beachings”) occur when whales swim into shalow water and end up stranding themselves on beaches.

In this case, about half the pod of 107 whales were dead when conservation staff members arrived on the scene. Given enough time and manpower, they would have attempted to re-float the whales.

“With just five people currently on site and the tide on its way out, we saw little hope of keeping the animals alive until enough rescuers could be flown in to assist,” Beaven said

Concerned about a storm warning, endangering the lives of staff and volunteers who would be at least 10 to 12 hours away, the decision was made to euthanize the remaining whales.

“Euthanasia is a difficult decision but is made purely for the welfare of the animal involved. To prevent it from prolonged suffering” Beaven concluded. “Sadly 48 whales had to be put down”

Whale strandings are common in New Zealand. Just last month, 24 whales stranded and in 2009 over 100 whales died in separate strandings.

While the cause of strandings is unknown, some theories suggest that a single whale may strand itself due to illness or injury. When large pods of whales strand, scientists believe it is because of their highly social nature. Healthy whales refuse to abandon sick or injured pod members, causing them to strand.

Photo: The Southland Times


Photo of the Day (12.28.10)

by Stephen Greenwood on


I typically associate images of massive glaciers with the Antarctic, Himilayas, or Alaska; certainly not the south-western Pacific. But believe it or not, today’s stunning Photo of the Day comes from the Franz Josef Glacier on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Sweet as!

The Franz Josef is an impressive 12km long glacier that stretches from the slopes of the South Alps to a temperate rainforest that’s less than 300 metres above sea level. Visitors can day-hike or take a helicopter tour onto the glacier for beautiful views like this one, taken by Flickr user Martin O’Connell.

While it may be hard to take a bad photo with scenery like this, I think the contrast of the ice against the clouds and mountains in the distance makes it an especially engaging photo. Show us your winter wonderland! Upload your best shots to our Flickr pool and it could be our next Photo of the Day.