Speedy Boarding with Claire Polders
Vietnam, the Galapagos, and broad-brimmed hats with the writer of Wander, Wonder, Write
Welcome back to Speedy Boarding, a bi-weekly series on Tom Fish Is Away that is great news for those of you who are getting sick of me. That’s because it’s a series where I ask some of my favourite writers on Substack eight quick-ish questions about travel. So, the vast majority of the words you’re about to read weren’t written by me but by someone else.
This week the questions are being answered by
. Claire writes the weekly , a travel newsletter for curious people in search of awe and inspiration. She focuses on how we change the world by moving through it, and how the world changes us each time we feel moved. She shares her experiences, researches, recommends books, and asks the odd uncomfortable questions. The Substack travel community is very lucky to have a writer of Claire’s quality in our ilk.Right, let’s get to the questions.
Where is the best place you’ve ever been and why?
The far north of Vietnam has impressed me the most with its stunning mountain passes and ethnically diverse culture. I was there in the summer of 2020. When most of the world was under lockdown, my husband and I were traveling through Vietnam. The borders were closed to foreigners, yet whoever was already inside and tested negative for COVID-19 was allowed to stay. Domestic traveling was even encouraged to support the local economies, so we went all over the country and made what’s called “The Loop” in the area above Ha Giang. We hired the perfect guide to come with us, slept in family homestays, visited markets and tea plantations, made hikes hugging the rockface, and stared for hours at the greenness of hills and rice paddies. The timing and company made this a transformative experience.
Where is the place you most want to visit?
I would already be there if I could answer that question. Or I would be saving up for the trip at least. I’ve never really had a list in my mind of places I wanted to go. I get enthusiastic only after reading up on a destination, after letting my imagination run free there for a while.
I travelled to Fez, Marrakesh, and Essaouira, because of all the stories I read by Dutch authors of Moroccan descent. I longed to live in Kyoto because of Pico Iyer. I went to Mexico after falling in love with Frida Kahlo’s art (and because LA friends wouldn’t shut up about how amazing the food in Oaxaca was—turns out: they were right).
Right now, I’m curious about the Galapagos islands, but the desire to go there is still too vague for me to act. As a nomad, I seek excitement less than occasional travellers, I think. The place where I long to be most today is my home country, the Netherlands. I’ll soon be boarding a train from Paris to meet my family and friends.
Who's your dream travel companion?
Someone who understands my need for solitude and simultaneously believes (like me) that sharing an experience can make that experience twice as powerful.
Someone who reads a lot and thinks wildly and can keep a conversation going on any topic.
Someone who likes to cook and tries all sorts of food and makes me laugh.
Someone, in other words, who resembles my husband very much.
We travel well together and miraculously don’t get sick of each other. Not even when we live in an isolated one-room cabin for months. He accepts my shortcomings—I get overly anxious about missing a bus, boat, or flight. And I can usually lift his spirits when small disappointments such as rain get him down. I feel incredibly lucky: We’re a dream team.
Great news! I'm going to buy you a hat. The catch is that you have to wear this hat on every future travel trip at all times. What kind of hat would you like?
I’m a practical person who travels with minimum luggage and typically wear a multifunctional baseball cap with a foldable bill. But I’d love to be a bit flashier for a change, so please get me a broad-brimmed summer hat, one that Audrey Hepburn might have worn, and let me turn some heads.
Where is the place you never want to go back to?
Angkor Wat, Cambodia. But definitely not because it was terrible! I don’t want to go back, because a repeat experience could only disappoint me and might even spoil my memories. I was there in February 2020 and toured the massive temples with only a handful of other tourists. Because of what was happening in Wuhan, Chinese visitors were no longer allowed to travel, and Western tourists didn’t dare go to Asia anymore. Daniel and I roamed the complex for two weeks with hardly anyone else in sight. It was incredibly magical. Going back would feel like denying that some things in life are inexplicable gifts.
You've been given a million pounds to live your best life in one destination for a year. The problem is - you're trapped there and can't leave for the year. Where would you go?
Being trapped for a year sounds like a gift! Does this mean I’m ready to take a break from my nomadic life?
Right now, I’d pick a Japanese town on the sea or in the mountains, a place where I can either swim or hike or bicycle every day and where there’s a farmer’s market nearby for all my basic needs. If I didn’t have time to research, I’d say Yamanaka even though I’ve never been there. I just read a wonderful collection of essays on that town and I’m keen to check it out. I like Japan in general so much that I have no qualms about committing to a year there sight unseen.
Slow traveling is my kind of traveling, staying in areas long enough to see far more than the tourist sights, long enough to return to the same places again and again and observe something new every time. “To see takes time, like to have a friend takes time,” Georgia O’Keeffe wrote.
How do you decide where to visit next?
It’s different every time. The formula includes desires (mostly my husband’s), opportunities, personal connections, efficient flight routes, intuitions, recently devoured books, coincidences, illnesses, low-season offers, visa expiration dates, living costs, and death.
We visited the temples in Egypt because that was something we both truly wanted to see. We stayed in Florida to take care of my father-in-law. We flew to Bali to sublet a house from a friend-of-a-friend, yet ultimately stayed elsewhere because of unexpected construction work. We toured Korea because we’d been invited to an artist residency. We return to Vietnam often because of our friends in Hoi An. We just spent two months in unassuming Itoshima, Japan, because we found a quiet house we truly liked. And we’re in Brittany now, because friends we haven’t seen in two years asked us to stay with them.
And finally, what's the one thing you never leave home without when travelling?
Since I don’t have a home, I take nearly everything with me all the time. I only leave items behind when they don’t suit my next destination (think: snorkelling gear or wool sweaters) or when I purchase something new. I’ve replaced nearly everything in my backpack in the past five years, yet not my late mother’s scarf. I’m emotionally attached to it, obviously, and it’s therefore irreplaceable. But it’s also handy in so many ways. I’ve used it as a beach wrap, a laptop sleeve, a picnic blanket, a pillow, a strapless top, a bed sheet, and a hijab. Some people wear a locket with ashes around their neck; I carry my mother’s gray muslin scarf.
A huge thanks to Claire for agreeing to be part of Speedy Boarding. If you liked this post please do consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to Tom Fish Is Away. Paid subscribers get an extra travel diaries each month. If £3.99 is a bit steep in this economy there’s a 75% off for the first year sale on at the moment.
The next Speedy Boarding will drop on the 29th of August and will feature
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This interview was delightful for me, a fellow world nomad with a likewise compatible husband for a travel partner, a recently discovered love for Vietnam and Cambodia, and a frequent quoter of THAT particular Georgia O'Keefe bit. "Nobody sees a flower - really . . "
So glad Claire's Substack led me to you today, Tom. I'm a new subscriber.
Love these answers, especially about Angkor Wat.