By Nico Prins
This week I’m lucky enough to be interviewing Adam, from the travel blog Adam Travels. If you’ve never heard of him this is the perfect chance to acquaint yourselves with his life and his adventures. Instead of boring you with my words, I’ll let Adam take it away by letting him introduce himself.
1) Can you introduce yourself with an anecdote that shows a side of your personality?
Well, I can tell you what I packed most recently on my weekend trip to Rome. I only brought a carry-on but managed to fit in my favorite pair of skinny jeans, some suspenders and two hats. I like to travel with a bit of style
2) Where are you at the moment and what are you doing with yourself?
I live in Berlin — Europe’s coolest city. And even if it’s winter and freezing cold, I still love it here. Having a home base is really important for me. I love to have a bed to come home to, a workspace and a closet full of my favorite clothes.
3) Is Travels of Adam your only online project at the moment, or are you involved in other things as well?
I’m also the editor of My Gay Travel Guide — a growing gay travel website written for and by gay & lesbian travelers. Additionally, I work in online marketing for a travel company that I absolutely adore.
4) What does your average work day look like and how hard have you worked to make your travel blog a success?
Over the past 4 years, I’ve worked a lot to get as much out of my blog as possible. It’s very much a labor of love and its success was never anything I anticipated. I just wrote because I liked to write. Nowadays I spend a lot of time on my computer (usually in my bedroom, but sometimes at local coffee shops or co-working spaces). I’ll edit photos, deal with emails, write, write and write even more.
5) How big is your current “to do list” and what direction is it taking you in life?
Even though I love making lists, I actually don’t have a master to do list. But I try to live my life knowing that I want to make sure I enjoy it, that I have a good time and that whatever I’m doing is always fun. That’s where I’m at and where I want to continue going.
6) Have you found a place in the world where you want to make your roots, or do you see yourself moving around every few years to a new destination?
I’m pretty much in love with Berlin. Sure, we’ve got our complications and our difficulties — but I love having a home base and Berlin is such a fantastic city. In the center of Europe, it’s easy to get to (and out of) and the atmosphere is exciting and hardly ever boring.
7) What are your travel plans for 2014?
I’m starting my year off by escaping the Berlin winter and going to Spain to learn Spanish for a month. I’m really excited about this project because Spanish is such a beautiful language and Spain is one of my favorite European countries. Other than the month in Spain, I’ll definitely be taking more city breaks across Europe. Amsterdam, Istanbul and Stockholm are all cities that I’ve wanted to visit but still haven’t had the chance to see yet. And I’ll be squeezing in some visits to some of my other favorite European cities over the coming months as well — I just can’t get enough of cities like Rome and London.
8) You made a list of “30 things to do before your 30.” How many things from this list do you realistically think you will be able to achieve before you actually turn 30?
Well, I’m pretty realistic so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to achieve all of them or not, but I’m certainly planning to try!
9) What’s your most funny travel story of the last 12 months?
I don’t have one. I’m surprisingly unfunny.
10) What’s on your current reading list and who are your favorite authors?
I like a lot of contemporary fiction – big names like Ian McEwan or Haruki Murakami, but recently I’ve been on a non-fiction binge devouring sociology and other cultural books.
11) Here’s a free chance to plug yourself. Any random words you want to put together into a quirky statement?
I’ll end the interview with 4 travel tips: travel comfortably by bringing your favorite clothes and small objects with you; take food tours to get a taste of not just the local cuisine but the local culture; use FourSquare to find cool things to do in most major cities (see video below); once you buy a plane ticket, everything else will come together – don’t worry so much when you travel.
