Solo Ventures With Vicky -Emma Field

Hi, I'm Vicki from Solo Ventures with Vicki, where every week I look a little bit closer at a country a weekend away and play music on the move from artists we know and love, but as well as unsigned artists. But as is a very special occasion, episode 10 of the show on Women's radio station, I have a very special guest with me who's coming in to share her music tastes, but also her knowledge as well. So, Emma Field, travel writer and part of the team of Thelma and Louise. How are you? I. Fine, thank you. I'm really excited. Sorry. Yay. Live person is come talk to me. And also, wow, you've lived a fantastic, like, travel adventures and journeys. But we'll get onto that in a sec. What I'd love to know is a bit more about Thelma and Louise for those who don't know anything. Yep. So Thelma and Louise is an online community. It's offline as well, but it's a community for women who really want to travel. So they might be looking to travel to fulfilled dreams that they've had their whole lives, but something is stopping them. So maybe it's budget or it's a fear or there's something in the way. And often it's a lack of a travel buddy. So Thelma and Louise is in place to help women meet each other and plan together. So we provide the inspiration, the encouragement and the tools that women need so they can actually get out there and fulfill their travel dreams. That's fantastic because sometimes people. Yeah. Are just nervous of taking that step and traveling to destination by themselves. And here they can partner up, find people with suitable interests then. Yeah. So you can. You'll find all kinds of women from around the world. It's a really global community and some of them just want to find a travel buddy to help split the costs. The dreaded single supplement. Yeah, that is hard. Yeah. Other people may have lost a husband or have a husband who just is not interested in traveling. Other ones are just really, really curious about the world and want to get out there and explore it. And the thing that they need is someone to do it with them. So we help pair people up. And what kind of trips do you have? Oh, such a range. I think the most popular destinations at the moment are France and Italy. But this year we're getting more interested in places like the usa, the uk, but then we get a fair few people wanting to go to places like Iran. People have been there, there's been quite a few trips to Iran, and they're really, really Popular. We get big groups of women going there. Mongolia comes up again. Oh, I really want to go to Mongolia. It's such a beautiful country. It's incredible. And then I think there's one to Tajikistan at the moment, a road trip in Tajikistan. So this is so close. They go all over the world. It's fantastic. And more and more women are planning trips around events as well. So the Eagle Festival in Mongolia is one coming up. There's a book festival in Transylvania. Oh, wow. So it's really interesting. Even if you're not planning on joining any of these trips, you can go and have a good browse and the inspiration that you'll get will take you wherever you want to go. But on a side note anyway, like, going to festivals and local events in countries is a wonderful way to embrace the culture, get to meet local people and see, like a glimpse to. I mean, it really is quite busy, though. But it's fantastic to see that. Yeah. And for me, I think going to a festival, especially food festivals, is a really fantastic way to get another taste of that culture. There are women on the site who might have a nervous stomach and they'll be going to places that are familiar. They'll go to McDonald's, and you can find people like that who are also wanting to travel in that same way. But you will also find women who will be happy to eat the deep fried tarantulas in Cambodia or the scorpions in China, for example. So it's the whole range of tastes. Great. So where can people sign up? Where can they find their travel buddies? Thelma and louise.com. yeah, you have to be a member for safety reasons. So without becoming a member, you can read the travel articles and postcards and listen to some of the podcasts, but once you're a member, you can start to read what other members are planning and you can start communicating with them as well. That's really cool. Is there event meetups, say, for example, in London, we have offline meetups, which is again, done in a similar sort of a way. So people sign up and they'll say, I want to meet up. There was one in Southampton recently. So women who live in that part of the country, they all met up for a cocktail and talk travel. Oh, gosh, I need to be there. It sounds like my cup of tea. I'm already a member, but definitely I need to go to, like. Yeah, you should set up a meetup. Oh, yes. Yeah, please. Yeah, let's do that. Oh, my God, I'm so excited. You in Surrey Yeah, yeah. Oh, wonderful. Definitely. Members in Surrey who'd be up to. And I'll come over from Kent as well. Oh, thank you. Yeah, that'd be lovely. So let's go on to this, their song choice, Thelma and Louise song choice. Tell me a little bit about that, please. So I put a call out on the Thelma and Louise Facebook page, and the one that came back and was really popular was Sheryl Crowe's Steve McQueen. Lovely. So here we are, Sheryl Crowe's Steve McQueen. Well, I went to bed in Memphis and I woke up in Hollywood. I got a quarter in my pocket and I'd call you if I could? But I don't know why I gotta fly. I wanna rock and roll this party. I still wanna have some fun? I wanna leave you feeling breathless? Show you how the west was won. But I gotta fly, I gotta fly like ste. All I need's a fast machine? I'm gonna make it alive. I see the queen underneath your radar scream no longer catch me tonight. I ain't taking shit off no one, baby, that was yesterday. I'm in all Americ can re making my big getaway. Yeah, you know it's time I got a fly like Steve McQueen? I need to cross machine And I'm going to make it all right like ste. The queen underneath your radar screen. You'll never catch me tonight. We got rock stars in the White House and all our pop stars look like porn. All my heroes hit the highway. Cause they don't hang out here no more. You can try me on my cell phone. You can pledge me all night long. But you won't catch this free bird. I'll already belong on black steam the queen all it needs a fl and we're going to make it alive. Black ste the clean underneath the rain I scream all over ca. Just tonight Ste the clean I. We need some nice machine and we're going ring. You'll never catch me tonight. Thanks, Emma Louise. That was a great song. Good choice. So, Emma, let's look into your career now. Very serious talk. How did you get into travel writing? Because this is literally everyone's dream. Really? Well, I left university, went travelling, thought, this is fantastic. How do I make a career out of it? Came back to the UK and took a journalism course and then got a job with World Travel Guide. Amazing. And it's just gone from there. I think the thing that really kicked it off for me was when I went on a massive overland trip and I set up my own travel blog. And this was in 2003. And so I started writing. I took loads of photos, which I'm still using. There's still such a valuable resource when it comes to travel writing. And I've just kind of gone from there, really. Worked for various travel companies and been planning lots and lots of trips ever since. Yeah. So you basically travel blogging before anyone else? Well, there were a few people doing it, but there weren't, you know, the people on the road carrying their. This was before selfies. A selfie was just holding the camera and kind of pointing it back at you rather than flipping the camera around on your phone. Yeah, exactly. Wow. Things have changed because there's thousands of bloggers and writers out there now. What spurs you to travel and to write about it? I think first and foremost it's a love of writing. I think you have to love writing before you love traveling to be a travel writer, because you have to have that attention, detail in the words and of course, a love of travel and a willingness to find something a bit different. I mean, you can still go to the Taj Mahal, but you have to find a different angle on the Taj Mahal to make your story different and more interesting than everyone else's. Because there are, like you say, there are a lot of people out there writing about their travels, but there are also a lot of people out there who want to read about it. And somewhere along the line you'll find a niche audience with similar interests to you. What would you say your style is? Because some, you know, some focus on their love interests, some focus on the actual geographical and history and cultural side. I mean, there's so many different areas. I would say my style was down the line, realism. So I will write about the. The sides of travel that aren't so insta worthy. I'm less about the pretty pictures and more about the. Oh, God, I really shouldn't have eaten that curry. Yeah, Sort of side of travel as well as, you know, pointing out useful tips on how to get to these places, how to do it. I think one of the most popular articles I've written was how to travel the Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia. Because it is such a niche. A niche route. Yeah. And that was basically a straightforward how to ask on. People still find it really useful. Well, I think it's really incredible for it to be. To be useful. Your writing, I mean, it really varies with some travel guides. I've been to northern Australia in Darwin, and me, my friend, we looked at a lonely planet and it was telling us to go check out this local tourist attraction called Aquasine and we were really excited about it. Big queues out the front. And then we got there and it was. You're actually feeding fish. You had to pay for bread to feed the fish. We were broke backpackers. We'd rather not have done that. So I really appreciate writers that are straight to the point where you can actually divert it to the good stuff as well. And the point about blogging is that it's more up to date. So like you say, the guidebooks can be out of date. It might have been true when the writer wrote it. By the time you're there following their advice, it may well have changed. Especially in places that end up in Lonely Planet. I find. I have found that it can get a little bit too reliant on the steady stream of people being driven there by Lonely Planet and they can get a bit lazy. Yeah, no, I have to say I have stepped back now from Lonely Planet. I rely more on travel writers and their website. Yeah, yeah. So what inspires you to travel? I think it's just curiosity about the world and wanting to meet different people. And now that I've got children, I want to introduce them to the diff. To the world as well. I mean, life can be so narrow when you've got children. I mean, I mean, geographically it's very easy not to go anywhere because the logistics of traveling with two children is. It's mind boggling. But it's so worth the effort. And now seeing it all over again through four little eyes, two little pairs of eyes, it really adds a whole other perspective to it all. Yeah, definitely. I think it even encourages you to see things from a new life, especially if you're revisiting a place. Have you taken your children somewhere recently? Where have we been recently? We went to Portugal last year, which actually is not somewhere that I would have gone as a solo traveler because I preferred to go more off the beaten track. But to go there and really pay close attention to the little details because children love looking at the bugs and the flowers in asking a million questions. Yeah. In such detail. And to be able to just take a step back and slow down and travel in that way, I think is something that can be applied to travel as a whole. Whether or not you have children. I think that's fantastic. I think exactly. I completely agree with you. I mean, traveling, you can, you can do that throughout your life with your. With kids or without kids. If you, if you're going to far distant places or if you're in the UK as well. It's all about your mindset and exploring. It really is. It is. And one of the founders of Thelma and Louise Grace, she now travels with her grandchildren. Oh, that's so cool. And she advises everyone who's on the site, if they have grandchildren, to go out there and travel with them. No matter how much they might. Traveling with women of their own age, doing it with the grandchildren in tow does put a completely different perspective on it. Oh, amazing. Okay, so in a few moments, we're going to have a new track from Music on the Move as well. So a song that's inspired you, and then we'll catch up on about your adventures. I'm really excited. Sa. Busted flat in Baton Rouge waiting for a train on us Feeling near as faded as my jeans Bobby thumbed a diesel down just before it rain that rode us all the way into New Orleans I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandana I was playing soft while Bobby sang the blue windshield wipers slapping time I was holding Bobby's hand to mine we sang every song that dravin new Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose Nothing I mean nothing hun if it ain't free and feeling good was easy now when he sang the blues you know feeling good it was good enough for me Good enough for me and my bar van again. From the Kentucky coal mine to the California sun kept Bobby shared the secrets of my soul through all kinds of weather through everything we done your Bobby baby kept me from the one day I'm nestling Sloan I let him slip away he's looking for that home and I hope he finds it But I trade all of my tomorrows for one single yesterday to be holding Bobby's body next to mine Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose Nothing that's all that Bobby left me but it feels. Feeling good was good enough for me Good enough for me and my. Lava yes I can come on. It's. Welcome back to solo adventures with Vicki on women's radio station. I've got the lovely Emma Field here with me, travel writer, adventurer, explorer, and team member of Thelma and Louise. So we just had that song choice of yours from Music on the Move. Tell me what, like you said, that it's a song that gives you inspiration. Tell me a little bit more. Well, it's Janis Joplin's me and Bobby McGee. I think it was released in 1969, which is well before my time, but I heard it as a teenager and there was something about it. That made me yearn for that freedom that she talks about. The freedom of the open road. Yeah. So I've been searching for that ever since. And that leads so fluidly to our next topic of conversation. So. Yeah, well, I've heard and read about your big overland adventure. Please tell me more about it. Well, I've done two. So the first one was from Holland to Singapore. Amazing. And that was all using public transport. And the second one was from Brazil up to Canada, again using public transport. Crikey. Okay, let's go with the first one first. So how long did that take you? Well, I was in no rush. It took me about nine months, I think, most of which was spent traveling. Not in a straight line through Asia. Yeah. Is there any key specific places that stick out to you? The places that really stuck out for me were the trans Mongolian. So from, from Moscow to Beijing and I spent a month in Mongolia along the way. And it was just incredible. The whole experience was surreal. So the train stays on Moscow time zone the whole way through. I don't speak any Russian, I don't understand the Cyrillic Alphabet. So I thought the only way I'm going to know where to get off is if I stay in that time zone. And of course you're traveling across five to six time zones as you go. And there was a lot of vodka going around. I won't judge. That sounds great. It was, it was very cultural. Hey, sometimes you need to do that. I couldn't speak to anyone. I think I was the only Westerner on that train, which was not what I was expecting. And by the end of it, I had very little idea of where I was. But everyone was so helpful and kind and I think I got on the train not having a clue what to do. And I was in a four berth carriage. And then this huge businessman got on, sat down on the berth opposite me and started rubbing his legs. I thought, oh God, oh no, this is not going to be a great trip. But actually I discovered the next day that the blankets that were put on my bed weren't there because they're meant to be there. He'd gone and paid for them and he was just helping. He was making sure that the foreigner was being taken good care of and looked after. Yeah. Goes to show you can't judge people by appearances or leg rubbing habits. How was Mongolia? I'd love to go. It was just beautiful. I think it's probably one of, yeah, my favorite country in the world. I'd love to go back. But the overwhelming memory of it was just the enormous skies. So it's huge, vast tundra, the most lovely people I've ever met and a sense of just being out there in the open. So I arrived in Ulaanbaatar, met up with a group of people in the guest house and together we hired a driver and we headed out to drive through Mongolia. We drove around lakes, went horse riding. I went through the Gobi Desert. Oh, wow. That would be incredible. Ate camel. Ate. You ate camel. Fell off a horse. You ate camel. What was that like? I wouldn't recommend it. It wasn't my favourite meal. Quite tough. It was quite tough. And it was in a very watery stew. But I think the most memorable thing I ate in Mongolia, or drank, was erag, which is fermented mare's milk and it's alcoholic and there is no reason to drink it that I can think of, other than they just. Yeah, do it to get drunk. Really? Yeah. Well, there you go. You're trying all the local drinks all over the world. I'm sounding like a complete drunkard. This is not how I travel. I don't necessarily travel drinks. My bucket list. I've got vodka on the list to drink in Russia, tequila in Mexico. You know, you've got to embrace local cultures. I do think it's an important way to sample local cultures. Yes, exactly. And so onto your next trip as well. So that ended in Canada. Tell me about that. So this was from Brazil up through South America, a boat round from South America up to Central America and then up the west coast of the US up to Vancouver and then across by train to Winnipeg, which is not everyone's main goal, but it's where my. My partner's from, so. Oh, lovely. Yeah, it was. That was. It took us about, I think, again, nine. Nine to ten months, that one. So you both traveled together? Yeah, yeah, I met him on the first overland trip. Really? Oh, my God, that's so romantic. Oh, that's so lovely. And then you went on the second trip together? Yeah, yeah, it was. It's a different experience traveling in a couple, but. Yeah, again, tell me more. I've never backpacked. You meet different people. You meet different people. I have to say, I think I prefer the solo travel. That's why we're on solo craze with Vicky. But, yeah, I prefer the solo travel because you do meet more people and you don't have to dilute your tastes and what you want to do for anyone. You can do what you want to do when you want to do it. So that. That for me works better, but obviously I wouldn't. I wouldn't change it for the world. Yeah, of course, of course. Wow, that sounds incredible. Finally, any tips for a potential solo female traveler? Someone who's a bit nervous about it. I would say just do it. And it might help to have a few crutches put in place along the way. Whether that's making sure that all of your accommodation is booked before you go, or lining up travel buddies to meet up with along the way. So you can mix and match. You can do certain bits of. Of it in countries that you maybe feel more comfortable with solo, but if you're going a little bit further off the beaten track, find someone to go with you or join a tour group or join Thelma and Louise. Well, that's where you'd find the travel buddies. Perfect. And so your last song for Music on the Move is a song that you heard in a bar in Rio? Yes, yes. It's actually in a shop. I just. I really loved it. I went and asked the shopkeeper what it was and he wrote it down for me. And the rhythm of kind of goes. And that rhythm stayed with me throughout the whole of South America. I think it's a mix of the Brazilian popular culture, popular music. It's a kind of samba, bottom over rhythm. And I kept hearing it everywhere I went. And every time I hear this song, it takes me right back to Rio. Oh, great. Okay, well, let's. Here we go. Music on the move. Sam. Sample. So tell me more about this trip across South America and Canada and America. Basically all over. Well, we did it by public transport and we experienced so many amazing things along the way. We were on a budget. But because I was travel writing, I did get to do a few things that would normally be way beyond what would be realistic for me. Oh, like what? Oh, wine tasting from a vintage car in Mendoza. So we were on a. We were given a tour of a beautiful vineyard and a tour of the winemaking facilities there. And of course, lots and lots of water. Wine tasting within. Within the vines. And so we were trying the wines made from a particular grape next to those grapes being driven in a vintage car across to another part of the vineyard and trying another glass of wine. Oh, my gosh. Made from the grapes in that spot. I'm not a wine buff. You can probably tell. I'm not telling you the names of the grapes or anything, because, honestly, I can't remember. That's luxury traveling. It was absolutely amazing just being there and seeing a side of South America or Argentina and Mendoza in particular, that it's so well known for. And seeing it in such a different way, really, it blew me away. Another trip we did was actually more of a budget tip here. So lots of people go to the Galapagos Islands, but it's the trip of a lifetime. It's really, really expensive. How much are we talking? Oh, I don't know. I've never been. But I think we're talking thousands and thousands of pounds. Whereas if you go down to the Ballestos Islands, much further down the coast of South America, they're known as the poor man's Galapagos. Oh, really? And you can go there on a boat and they're absolutely covered in birds, dolphins jumping out of the water all around you. And it's. It is getting really up close and personal with the wildlife there and not having to fork out a fortune for the privilege. Oh, that's stunning. What countries did you go through in South America then? We went through Brazil, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia. Have I missed anywhere else? Karaoke. So loads of them. Yeah. Is there a specific place that stood out to you? I loved Colombia. I loved. We. Well, we went to do the trek up to Machu Picchu, but more memorable for me was the trek to the lost city in Colombia because there was just no one else on the trail. It makes it more majestic then if it shows you. It does. You actually feel the explorer finding the last city and you're face to face with animals that could kill you. Oh, crikey. Like to live a bit dangerously. Yeah, it was quite scary at times. There was a Brazilian wandering spider just perched on someone's backpack at one point. Oh, my gosh. On the other hand, when you're going through the cloud forests on the Ink Trail and seeing hummingbirds and the orchids around there, that's stunning, majestic feeling as well. So, yeah, now I'm streaming of this location. So many fabulous experiences. It's got it all from mountain to coast to the Atacama Desert. Driving through that. I'm not a desert person, it turns out. Well, you learn that you can take that away from. You know that before I tried out in the driest desert in the world. And so you went through Central America as well. Where did you go through there? We went up through Panama and then we just traveled north through Honduras, Guatemala and up to Mexico. Belize we stopped off in as well. Absolutely beautiful. And then cross the border into the States. Yeah. That must have been a bit of a culture shock, really. It was. It was at the risk of sounding very ungrateful. As soon as I crossed the border into the States, you could you notice the difference? The border guards were so rude. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. The bus driver on the Greyhound bus was just awful. It was quite unfortunate. On the other hand, going up the train up the west coast, absolutely beautiful experience. Oh, that's good. Yeah. Sit there in these huge comfy chairs and air conditioned. Crikey. And prices. That has a fixed price you don't barter for. Exactly, yeah. You know, the cost of everything. There's no problems there. It's very straightforward. And so it has its pros. Yeah, well, yes. No, completely. And the experience of going from Vancouver to Winnipeg. Winnipeg, yeah, Winnipeg. What was that like? So it's by train. How long is the journey it took us? I think it took us three days. Three days? Yeah, three or four days. I love train travel. There was just something about it, whether it's the Trans Mongolian or going across the Rockies by train. There's just something about sitting back and watching the world go by and seeing the countries change as you travel through it. Rather than landing in the country in an airport and getting out and suddenly you're being thrown into it. You see how the landscape develops and changes as you travel through it, so you feel more connected to the place. So that's your favourite mode of transport? It is. Definitely. Oh, wow. Thank you so much for sharing that. It's incredible. You're welcome. Welcome. Pleasure. So finally looking at your last song from Music on the Move. So that is a song that's transported you on long journeys. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? I listened to this a lot on my Walkman in Mongolia and it was the song that was around a lot at the time, but every time I listen to Damien Rice's album O, I'm right back there on the steps. Oh, wow, here it is. Thank you, Emma, for coming in and talking to us. You can find out more about Thelma and Louise on their website, thelma and louise.com and follow Emma's adventures on Twitter as well. Emmatravel or thelmalouise. And finally, I'm gonna finish my 10th episode of Solo Ventures with Vicki on Women's radio station with a quote, as I usually do, if you don't get out of the box you've been raised in, you won't understand how much Bigger the World Is by Angelina Jolie. See you next time.