Travel thoughts from Laurie Gough

travel writing — By Bob Riel on April 3, 2008 at 4:34 pm

World Hum recently posted an interview with travel writer Laurie Gough. An excerpt:

In hindsight, can you explain how you knew you were destined to be a wanderer?

My Dad was a geographer and he was a lover of maps and any road leading to someplace new. Every summer we’d pack up our trailer and station wagon and go off somewhere. We’d go to the Maritimes, the Rockies, the Canadian Prairies, New England, the Great Lakes, Wisconsin, Quebec, the Appalachians. Every summer was different. We even went to Europe one summer when I was 13, rented a caravan and camped. My sister, who was older, hated those camping trips, but I didn’t. Those camping trips cultivated my love of the open road.

On your Web site, you offer 10 tips for travelers. How would you characterize your own travel philosophy?

I think we look for different things when we travel at different stages of our lives. When I was in my 20s and traveling, I was looking for answers to all the big questions. I was looking for adventure, love, meaning, how to live, where to live, how other people in the world lived. Now I’m just looking for a place with some sun and really good iced mochas.

Actually, no, I’m still looking for some of those big things. I’m definitely still looking for adventure, for that experience of living in the moment when everything feels brand-new and wondrous, and I’m still looking for the perfect place to live.