Interview with a globetrotter #3

This week, please prepare yourselves to welcome our latest inductee to the GTG hall of fame, none other than the delightful Anthony O’Donovan.

Name: Anthony O’Donovan

Age: 37

Hometown: Cork, Ireland

GTG: What’s the most unusual place you’ve traveled to?

AO’D: Probably Nantucket Island. The houses there are required to look like the style of housing that would have been there when it was home to a whaling fleet, and most streets are cobbled.

GTG: What’s the longest you’ve been away from home at one time?

AO’D: 3 months. A summer in the U.S. on a J1 visa when I was in college.

GTG: What do you miss the most when you’re away from home?

AO’D: Family and friends, and bizarrely the rain if I’m away somewhere and there isn’t any for a while.

GTG: Where is the top of your list to visit?

AO’D: I’ve not made it to South America yet, and I’d love to see the ancient cities of the Inca and Aztec civilisations, but there’s a lot in Europe I’ve not yet seen.
For places I’ve already been I’d like to go back to the south of France sometime, but not in August when half of France seems to be there.

GTG: What’s the one thing you don’t leave home without?

AO’D: These days it’s my iPhone (with charger and adapter if travelling of course). It’s amazing how much you can do with something that fits in your pocket.

GTG: What’s one thing you’d never do overseas?

AO’D: This seems to imply that it’s something I might do at home, but not overseas. I guess I’m more careful about how I speak to officials, as they don’t always get the Irish sense of humour (or seem to have any sense of humour in some cases).

GTG: Is there anywhere you’d never go back to?

AO’D: There was a room I payed to stayed in on a night when I had little money and needed a place to stay in Boston which was no more than a stained mattress laying on a blood stained carpet. I don’t think I’d fancy going back to that, but the rest of my stay in Boston was quite nice.

GTG: What’s the most unusual method of travel you’ve used?

AO’D  I guess this has to be a small boat to cross an underground lake within an old salt mine in Germany.

GTG: How long is your ideal trip?

AO’D: That all depends on how much I want to see and what I want to achieve on the trip, but for vacations ideally 2-3 weeks.

GTG: Where do you go to relax?

AO’D: Somewhere warm (not hot, just warm), with some interesting things to see and do, but somewhere with a slow pace of life.

GTG: Best beaches?

AO’D: The nicest ones I’ve been on were in Australia, but there are a few great beaches on the west coast of Ireland that are pretty amazing on a rare warm summer’s day, (The GTG would like to add the presence of hazardous cliffs although spectacular may be somewhat of a deterrent…).

GTG: What’s the best food you’ve eaten on your travels?

AO’D: Italy has to be the best place for good food in my experience. I don’t think it’s possible to get a bad meal in Rome or Milan. But the best single dish I had was a paella I ate in a restaurant off La Rambla in Barcelona.

GTG: Perfect number to travel in?

AO’D: 2 or 3. I prefer small numbers of close friends. You have company, but you are not forming a group of your own so still are open to meeting others.

GTG: What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken on the road?

AO’D: Probably that night in Boston, but it was recommended by someone.

GTG: Who’s the coolest person you’ve met travelling?

AO’D: I shared a room with a Scottish bartender for 3 months in the U.S. He was a fun guy, with many interesting life experiences.

GTG: What’s the one thing from your travels you wish you could get at home?

AO’D: Reliable sunny weather!

GTG: What is your favourite accent at the moment?

AO’D: Derry (Ireland), Donegal (Ireland) and Scottish, in that order.

GTG: Hardest language to negotiate?

AO’D: Any of the Asian languages. They are totally alien to me.

GTG: What’s your travel ambition?

AO’D: To find the time to explore places I’ve never been to with interesting histories, and maybe feature a little further off the beaten track than on my recent trips.

GTG: What’s the strangest thing you’ve brought back into the country?

AO’D: A milk jug, not that it’s strange in itself, but a strange thing to bring home.

Thanks Anthony for your input, Interview with a globetrotter, coming soon to an inbox near you… 🙂 Till next week.