Interview – Nita Gulati (Spilling The Beans)

Chris Boothman
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Interview – Nita Gulati (Spilling The Beans)

We have received such wonderful feedback to our new feature on interviews and we are delighted today to provide another great interviewee, Nita Gulati from Spilling The Beans

Please feel free to comment, ask questions and connect with Nita using her various social media fronts listed below.

We would like to give a special THANK YOU to Nita for taking time to interview with us!

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Name: Nita Gulati

Hometown: Pattaya, Thailand

Website: Spilling The Beans

Social Media: 

What is your favorite aspect of traveling and if you are a travel blogger, why did you decide to create your website? 

What I love about travel is the way it changes you – makes you happier, kinder, more alert, inspired, grateful and also respectful and tolerant of differences in cultures or lifestyles.

I’ve always been fascinated with travel and discovering new places, plus I have a passion for writing so I decided to create a blog where I can share my stories, photos and experiences, and I try to add a little humor to everything too!

How many continents have you visited?

Four

How many countries have you visited?

21-30

What is your favorite destination in the world and why? 

Wow, tough one but I’m going with Cappadocia, Turkey. I was there last December and it was a winter wonderland; snow everywhere and just breathtaking. Plus the hot air balloon ride during sunrise was incredible and unforgettable.

Apart from that, gotta say my home country, Thailand is pretty awesome too! Good weather, great people and gorgeous beaches.

If money/time was no object and you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you travel to and why? 

I think I can handle an overwater bungalow in Bora Bora. Because.. C’mon, Bora Bora!! That is the destination and the reason.

Which of the following gadgets do you take on your travels? 

iPhone – camera, phone and everything in one!

What is your preferred method of transport? 

Walk

Complete the following, “Everywhere I go, I visit….” 

Everywhere I go, I visit their scenic spots. Always love a good view!

Here is your chance to sell yourself and your website! Tell us some more information about yourself, what your travel philosophies & future plans are and anything else that people may find interesting to read about… 

I blog about food and travel. I believe the journey is important but even more is who you’re sharing it with. And you can love any destination if you have the right attitude and an open mind. I always want to visit more places so I can learn more, see more and eat more.

Close Calls on Connecting Flights

Chris Boothman
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Close Calls on Connecting Flights

If you are frequent travelers you will likely have experienced what we just went through when flying from Memphis to Buffalo. Our scheduled route from Memphis to Atlanta and then on to Buffalo should have seen us have a 20-minute layover at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Of course, life is never that simple and as soon as arrived at our gate in Memphis, we knew there was going to be an issue. Scheduled to depart at 6:04PM, we had about 20 minutes to wait, or so we thought, but seeing as our plane was not even at the gate the likelihood of us leaving on time was slim to none! Added to this, reports of severe weather delays en route to Atlanta saw us pushed back even further and the estimated departure time of 6:30PM was going to cause us a serious problem in catching our connection to Buffalo.  Arriving into Atlanta at 8:50PM and departing at 8:50PM really doesn’t give you much hope of making it from one gate to another.

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The Air Tran customer service rep in Memphis gave us a couple of options, though neither was particularly appealing:
  • We could stay in Memphis overnight and then catch a flight to Buffalo tomorrow via Atlanta. Oh and by the way, the next scheduled flight tomorrow was apparently 3:30PM in the afternoon.
  • We could fly to Atlanta and either risk trying to catch our connection, with the backup plan of Air Tran willing to provide a discounted rate at a hotel. They were not willing to pay for the hotel but a discount was all they could offer given the missed connection was ‘weather related’ and not their fault!

Which option would you choose here? It was pretty much a no-brainer as we opted to head to Atlanta in the desperate hope we could catch our flight! The minutes kept ticking by as we appeared to take forever taxiing along the runway in Memphis before we eventually got airborne and on our way. We asked the flight attendant about the chances of catching our next flight and she warned us it was highly unlikely.  By this point pretty much everyone told us we were going to miss our flight, so combining this with our own existing negativity was not a good combination to try and raise our optimism!

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We landed in Atlanta at 8:37PM and with our flight still scheduled as being ‘on-time’ our hopes were fading fast! I am sure folks around us were getting a little agitated as I jumped up to grab our carry-ons, but we knew we had to get off that plane ASAP if we stood any chance of catching our next flight! Another obstacle was going to be where was our arrival gate in relation to our departure gate. We were really lucky here because we arrived at gate C6 and our flight was leaving from gate C1.

I don’t think either of us have ever run that fast as we dashed through the terminal to the gate, fully expecting to arrive to a closed door and a customer service representative apologizing to us that we just missed our flight!

Apparently someone was looking over us tonight because to our delight, folks were still checking in and walking along the gangway to board the plane. We weren’t even the last ones to board!!! We boarded at 8:47PM and our flight actually didn’t leave Atlanta until 9:30PM so clearly we were not the only ones trying to catch a connection.

So what did we learn from this experience? Well, I still maintain that I prefer to have a long connection in between flights. I know that many travelers don’t like the idea of waiting around in an airport but let’s be honest, it’s better to be stuck in an airport knowing that you are there in plenty of time to catch your next flight! Airlines probably get a lot of stick because of their recommendation to be at the airport well in advance, at least a hour prior to departure time but I am all in favor of this!

What are your experiences on connecting flights?

What is your preferred layover time in between flights?

Interview – Anthony (The Travel Tart – Offbeat Tales From A Travel Addict )

Chris Boothman
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Interview – Anthony (The Travel Tart – Offbeat Tales From A Travel Addict )

We are delighted to have a real coup in our interview series today with Anthony from The Travel Tart – Offbeat Tales From A Travel Addict who has kindly taken time out of his hectic travel schedule to speak with us about his philosophies and inspirations behind traveling! Plus you may also get a laugh or too from his wonderful sense of humor!

Please feel free to comment, ask questions and connect with Anthony using his various social media fronts listed below. We would like to give a special THANK YOU to Anthony from The Travel Tart – Offbeat Tales From A Travel Addict for taking time to interview with us!

TheTravelTart

Name: Anthony

Hometown: I write about the funny, offbeat and downright weird aspects of world travel today. I’m based in Brisbane today and I like hunting out the more unusual side of travel.

Website: The Travel Tart – Offbeat Tales From A Travel Addict

Social Media: 

What is your favorite aspect of traveling and if you are a travel blogger, why did you decide to create your website? 

My favourite aspect of travel is the exciting new stimulus that comes along with something new. This could be the cultural, food or other experience aspects that prevents me from becoming bored! Also, I only travel so I don’t run out of dinner party conversations! I started The Travel Tart in 2009 because I saw the enormous potential of how blogging can lead to some fantastic experiences based on talking to others who were running blogs.

How many continents have you visited?

Six

How many countries have you visited?

30+

What is your favorite destination in the world and why? 

All of the places I’ve been to and all of the places I haven’t been to yet. It’s impossible to compare places because they all offer something different, so I’ve enjoyed every single destination that I’ve been to.

If money/time was no object and you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you travel to and why? 

Space! One of my life goals is to score a junket on Virgin Galactic and have a Space Beer (yes, such a thing exists) with Richard Branson in space.

Which of the following gadgets do you take on your travels? 

Camera, Phone, Laptop and sometimes, a remote controlled fart machine. Fart jokes are universal, and every culture understands them!

What is your preferred method of transport? 

Car and Suicidal Cairo Cabs

Complete the following, “Everywhere I go, I visit….” 

Learn the following 5 words in the local language – hello, goodbye, please, thank you, beer and combinations of those!

Here is your chance to sell yourself and your website! Tell us some more information about yourself, what your travel philosophies & future plans are and anything else that people may find interesting to read about… 

If you’re bored at work and you want to waste your time on something else besides telling your Facebook friends what you had for breakfast, check out my site – http://www.thetraveltart.com.

There are a lot of silly travel photos, videos, tips and advice (if you can call it that!). There are also interviews there with travel personalities who have been silly enough to grant me a quick chat!

Interview – Anne-Sophie Redisch (Sophie’s World)

Chris Boothman
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Interview – Anne-Sophie Redisch (Sophie’s World)

This week’s travel interview is with Anne-Sophie Redisch who has kindly taken time out of her day to speak with us about her travels and in particular her great travel site, Sophie’s World

Please feel free to comment, ask questions and connect with Anne-Sophie using her various social media fronts listed below.

We would like to give a special THANK YOU to Anne-Sophie from Sophie’s World for taking time to interview with us!

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Name: Anne-Sophie Redisch

Website: Sophie’s World

Social Media: 

What is your favorite aspect of traveling and if you are a travel blogger, why did you decide to create your website? 

Fave aspect of travelling is exploring new places. The blog is about curious travel, and started as a place to share our travels, as well as inspire.

How many continents have you visited?

Six

How many countries have you visited?

30+

What is your favorite destination in the world and why? 

London and Paris are both faves. I’m also quite fond of the Middle East and Africa.

If money/time was no object and you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you travel to and why? 

I’d take the Royal Mail ship to St Helena, and if I’m lucky with the weather, also to Tristan da Cunha. Forever fascinated with remote, slightly windblown islands.

Which of the following gadgets do you take on your travels? 

Camera, Phone and Laptop.

What is your preferred method of transport? 

Boat and Train.

Complete the following, “Everywhere I go, I visit….” 

I like to get up to the highest point, to get a feel for the lay of the land.

Here is your chance to sell yourself and your website! Tell us some more information about yourself, what your travel philosophies & future plans are and anything else that people may find interesting to read about… 

Sophie’s World is about the world’s curious corners – and also about travelling with children. Unusually for a travel blog, the kids often share their take on things, too.

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