Interview: Doug Lansky
Author, Speaker and Travel Writer

By Nana Chen - After telling copy machines where to go, Doug Lansky packed his bags and took off saying goodbye to life as an intern at Late Night with David Letterman, "Spy Magazine," and "The New Yorker". That was in 1992. Much has changed since. After traveling around the world and becoming an expert at it, Doug Lansky has now penned and edited numerous award-winning bestselling travel books, including The Last Trout in Venice.

Doug Lansky in Venice

Currently working on three new titles, including the upcoming “Rough Guide to Travel Survival: The Essential Field Manual,” Doug Lansky gives lectures on world travel at almost every destination you can imagine. In addition, Lansky serves as the editor of Scanorama, the In-flight magazine of Scandinavian Airlines and is a regular contributor to several major newspapers and magazines. We were able to share a few words with him via email.

Nana: You've been traveling for nearly ten years now. May I ask why you started traveling? What event started it all?

Doug: I was in London studying for a semester and between the freezing rain and almost four hours per day on the Tube, I wasn't enjoying my travel experience much and was thinking I'd just head home. I figured I'd do a bit of Inter-Railing before heading home and maybe it was the change of weather when I arrived in Portugal or falling asleep on the trains or the excitement of getting a job selling carpets in Morocco -- probably all -- I fell profoundly in love with travel. After finishing university, I told myself I wanted to travel around the world before turning 25. After 2 1/2 years on the road, I was still as hooked as when I started.

Nana: How were you able to finance your travels when you started? I know a lot of people go on work holidays, teaching ESL in Korea or milking cows in Denmark. Please tell us what sort of jobs you've had on the road.

Doug: The event that made it possible was, sadly, my grandmother's death. She left me enough money to get started. But I always traveled on an extremely low budget. Eating street food, riding low luxury buses, hitchhiking (and sometimes staying with the people who gave me a lift) allowed me to stretch my funds. I also picked up a few odd jobs along the way. The carpet selling in Morocco was good money, but the rest were just for the experience and I just made enough to support my existence. I picked bananas and mangos on a kibbutz, but left after a month because of the friction between the volunteers (who were looking for a cheap summer party holiday) and the kibbutzniks (who were looking for cheap labor). It seemed at my kibbutz like there wasn't much love or respect between the two. They sat apart at meals and made almost no effort to meet. Snowmobile guiding in the French Alps was good fun, but tough to make funds last with the high cost of living (and drinking) there.

Doug Lansky

Nana: After the first six months you were in a car accident in Thailand. That must have been frightening. It took you six months before you were well enough to continue traveling. Aside from convalescing, what did you do in those six months?

Doug: I spent about 12 hours a day launching my writing career -- pitching stories, writing stories, following up with editors -- working my ass off for virtually no money while I lived with my parents. Within six months, I had a book deal and nationally syndicated column that eventually got picked up by 40 newspapers with a combined circulation of 8 million. Hard to know where the hard work truly paid off and the luck kicked in.

Nana: Traveling can get really tiring. What sort of things do you find yourself missing a lot, say, when you're having a bad time on the road?

Doug: These days, it's my family, followed by a decent bed. Before it was more food items -- bagels, cereal with decent milk, cheese, etc. Come to think of it, there’s usually not much of a dairy selection in developing countries.

Nana: After you've fallen back into your at-home routine, what do you miss then?

Doug: I miss everything except the hostel beds, dysentery and dining alone.

Nana: What are your three favorite destinations?

Doug: Sorry. I still can't do this. And the more places I visit, the harder it gets. It’s a bit like picking the three cups of coffee in life I most enjoyed.

Nana: Have you noticed a difference in attitude towards Americans before and after the U.S. involvement in Iraq?

Doug: There's not much difference in the way that I'm treated, but I sense much more resentment towards America, the country, and I don't blame them. In more remote countries, Americans are still something of a novelty and they look at us the way we look at the Hollywood B-actor set. For example, you may think that Pamela Anderson is a surgically enhanced bad actress who's out of touch with reality and gets paid too much for her minimal talent. But if she showed up at your BBQ party, you'd probably think it was pretty cool. You'd certainly tell your friends that Pamela Anderson showed up at your party. And if she was kind and polite, you might not be as quick to bash her next acting performance. In the eyes of many foreigners (who haven’t met an American), Americans are overweight, gun-carrying versions of Pamela Anderson.

Nana: Where are you off to next?

Doug: About 10 cities in the US on a speaking tour. Then Estonia -- haven't been there yet.

Nana: Having grown up with parents in the publishing business, was anyone in the family surprised that you became a writer? What were some career choices you considered?

Doug: No, no one was surprised I became a travel writer. But they were surprised I managed to earn any money from it. If you had asked me while I was in university, I was probably thinking I would write for a comedy program or work for an ad agency. I actually got a job offer at The New Yorker (another dream gig) but said I wanted to travel for a few months first. The woman who offered the job said okay, but those few months turned into two-and-a-half years ... I just got hooked.

Nana: When did writing become more than just a hobby? How did you learn to write?

Doug: I wrote a humor column in every issue for four years during high school, then wrote a weekly humor column during four years of university while I co-edited the newspaper, then started a humor magazine. While traveling for those first two-and-a-half years, I just kept a journal. Every few months, I'd find a computer and pound out a 20-50 page letter just to get it out of my system. Travel writing, at its core, is really a cathartic experience.

Nana: By the way, I made a mental note a year ago to thank you somehow for writing "The Indie Traveler's Handbook" published in National Geographic Adventure. It helped me pack much better for a four-month trip last year. Does the Rough Guide bestseller "First-Time Around the World" contain these tips you've gathered?