Speedy Boarding with Jodi from Beautiful Things
Coast to coast hikes, George Clooney, and the benefits of the Kindle app with Substack's resident letter writer
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
. Jodi writes . Jodi writes wonderful letters from wherever she finds herself. This could be Venice, Tuscany, the Cote d’Azur. Jodi is a travel lover, and a lover of old books, art, antiques, museums, flea markets and libraries. She has a degree in art history - but she also has a degree in pastry arts…which is to say she also loves food. Especially sweet food.Right, let’s get to the questions.
Where is the best place you’ve ever been and why?
Oh my goodness, couldn’t you start with an easier one? Like, what’s the meaning of life… or why are there so many songs about rainbows?
It’s so hard to choose, especially since “best” feels slightly different than “favourite”. But I will say that I don’t think I’ll ever get over my first glimpse of the Forum from the Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome. I walked up just as the sun was setting, and I swear, in that moment I felt like I was stepping back in time 2,500 years. It would be a stretch to say that I actually saw chariots and men walking around in tunics, but oh! - I could picture them, as clear as day. I was completely transported into the past.
Part of it, I think, is that I was caught off guard. It seems like everyone talks about the Colosseum all of the time when they talk about the monuments of ancient Rome, but as far as I’m concerned the Forum is where it is at.
Where is the place you most want to visit?
I’m going to cheat a little, if you don’t mind. There are so many places I’d like to visit that it would be impossible to pick just one - but one thing I would love to do is to hike a pilgrimage route. Not necessarily the Camino de Santiago - actually probably not the Camino - but the Kumano Kodo in Japan, or the Via Francigena. Or even Alfred Wainwright’s Coast to Coast hike from the Lake District to Yorkshire in the north of England…which, I guess, isn’t technically a pilgrimage route. It is a multi-day hike, though, and it happens to encompass some of my favourite scenery anywhere in the world.
Who’s your dream travel companion?
Would I sound shallow if I said George Clooney?
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?
Here’s the thing: I’ve spent a literal lifetime trying to find a hat that I look good in. I’d love to be able to pull off a cute little Edwardian boater, or a huge straw sunhat like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. But the mirror tells me to keep it as simple as possible. And so, with the thought that it will also work in both hot weather and cold, I’ll chose a simple black baseball cap. You know, the kind that matches almost any outfit…the kind of hat that says: don’t notice me. I just pray that I don’t get invited to a ball or something. That would be awkward. A black cap is versatile, but not that versatile.
Where is the place you never want to go back to?
Las Vegas. Los Angeles. That part of the country is just not my cup of tea.
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?
My first thought is that I need to go somewhere that I can take advantage of that million pounds - it would be lovely to spend a year in a cottage in the Scottish Highlands, for example, but how the heck are you going to spend a million pounds in the Scottish Highlands? I think I’d have to choose one of the world’s great - but expensive - cities, like New York or Paris or London or Tokyo.
Since this is a hypothetical question, I assume I don’t have to worry about things like the limitations of travel visas and the Schengen Zone, right? Right. So I’d eliminate New York, just because - as much as I love it - it would be nice to live in a country other than my own for a year.
At the risk of sounding like a big nerd, the thing that I find the most challenging about spending extended periods of time in a country where English isn’t the official language is that it’s not as much fun to browse in bookshops when you can’t read the books. Bookstores are my happy place: the places I retreat to if I’m feeling down, or even just bored. It would be frustrating to go a year without being able to truly enjoy a bookshop, so I’ll eliminate Tokyo. Paris, I think has enough English-language bookshops that I could get by.
Part of me wants to say London, because every time I visit I think to myself that I could spend a lifetime there and not see everything that I want to see, or do everything that I’d like to do. But to be perfectly honestly, as much as I like London, I don’t love it. I do love Paris, though. And don’t tell London, but Paris has better museums. They’re more expensive than the museums in London, but what do I care if I have a million pounds? I can buy a new ticket to the Louvre every single day, and still have money left over.
Paris it is.
How do you decide where to visit next?
When I think of my favourite moments in travel, it’s almost always my first glimpse of something: my first glimpse of the Grand Canal in Venice or of the Grand Place in Brussels…my first glimpse of the bustling streets of New York or of the settled-in cosiness of the Lake District.
I just love this quote from Bill Bryson:
“Is there anything…to beat finding yourself at large in a foreign city on a fair spring evening, loafing along unfamiliar streets in the long shadows of a lazy sunset, pausing to gaze in shop windows or at some church or lovely square or tranquil stretch of quayside, hesitating at street corners to decide whether that cheerful and homey restaurant you will remember fondly for years is likely to lie down this street or that one? I just love it. I could spend my life arriving each evening in a new city.”
And so, honestly, I’m always looking at the map, trying to find someplace that’s kind-of-affordable that’s close to a bunch of places that are really-amazing-but-not-affordable-at-all. I’m not into luxury travel in the traditional sense…you can keep your spas and plush bath towels and fancy tv’s. Time is the only luxury I’m interested in. If I can plop myself in an affordable city, and stay for a few extra days or weeks, I’m happy as a clam. I just want to experience as many places for the first time as I possibly can. I love somewhere like Ferrara, in Italy, a not-so-expensive but charming smaller city that’s within day-tripping distance of Venice, Bologna, Verona, Padua and all kinds of amazing destinations.
And finally, what’s the one thing you never leave home without when travelling?
Well, you know, I’m not getting any younger Tom. And to be perfectly honest, there is one thing and one thing alone that can make or break a day of exploration or museum-going or shopping. And that is a high quality, comfortable pair of shoes.
However, as it is somewhat embarrassing to close out my interview with the words “comfortable pair of shoes”, I will add that I also never leave home without my iPad, solely for the hundreds - thousands? - of books I have downloaded on it. I prefer to read good, old-fashioned paperbacks and hardcovers at home, but you can’t beat the convenience of the Kindle app, and having a whole world of reading options in the palm of your hand when you’re on the road.
Thanks for asking Tom - this was fun!
A huge thanks to Jodi 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 featuring
will drop on the 21st of November! | A guest post by
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That view over the Forum was my backyard for a long long time. It was on my way to morning yoga or the long way from the grocery store. I stopped, and audibly gasped, pretty much every. single.time.
Learned something new about one of my favorite travel writers today! George Clooney, huh? 😉