Your Adventure Team
[REW] Randolph Eustace-Walden
When I was a young child, my grandmother and I would venture out into the weekend shopping hustle and bustle in search of the best travel deals we could find. A big colourful picture in a travel agent’s window portraying surf, sand and swaying palm trees was enough to get even the most precocious child’s imagination running wild. Never mind that we didn’t have the money to actually go to Bora Bora, or Lahaina, or Penang – as long as we got the brochures and the catalogs we were happy. For me that happiness bordered on ecstasy. I pored over those booklets so much I swear I got a tan just staring at them.
I was the kid who, like Frodo, looked at maps and wondered what lie beyond the edges. When you grow up in a small town, even the edges of that town seem like an adventure. A stately palm tree instead of a stunted maple… a blue ocean instead of a gray pond… a flashy bathing suit instead of a reversible windbreaker. I was smitten – I had to go. Somewhere. Anywhere. And often.
And so I did. I’m fortunate to have taken my love of what those brochures represented and turn it into a career. I’m a television producer, writer and director creating primarily programs about travel and food. Like Doug, I continue to work as a travel photographer and journalist. Much of what we create you will find here.
After years of ‘surfing’ and looking for that one website where we could get travel news, views and links to other excellent sites, and being let down, we decided to create our own. Wanderism is the result.
I still have a box of those old travel brochures – some for tourism spots in countries that don’t even exist anymore. “Make it Rhodesia this year.” “Come to Ceylon for the beaches and stay for tea.” “British Honduras – a bit of the old country on the cusp of heaven.” Times may have changed, but my desire to experience what’s beyond the ‘edges’ hasn’t dimmed in the slightest. If you’re reading this, chances are yours hasn’t either.
All roads lead somewhere, and Doug and I are glad your road lead you to Wanderism. Pick, choose, read, watch, comment… enjoy.
Member: TMAC – Travel Media Association of Canada
[DCM] Doug Murray
Travel is like school. You go every day, never knowing what to expect or what you’ll learn. I like that.
But travel is an addiction. The more you do, the more you feel like you haven’t done enough. I’ve been in over 50 countries and I still feel like I haven’t scratched the surface.
North Americans are born travelers. We live in a land where destinations are separated by vast distances. We all have memories of very long drives in very cramped cars. I suppose those family trips of my youth are what whetted my wanderlust.
It wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I actually left the confines of North America. My first trip to Europe came out of the blue, really. I, along with three good friends, decided it would be a swell idea to pack up our mountain bikes, fly to Portugal and cycle to Spain.
Despite a lack of planning and training, this trip remains my favorite. It captured the essence, the spirit, the wonder of travel.
I make my living telling stories. On radio. On TV. In print. I’ve been lucky enough to combine my love of travel with my passion for storytelling. And that has led me down a long and winding road to Wanderism – a destination for those who feel the need to wander our planet and learn.
As Calvin once said to Hobbes, “Let’s go exploring!”
[CFJ] Christian Fink-Jensen
Chris Jensen calls himself a “travel artist” rather than travel writer, not merely to sound extra pretentious (although that’s a cool bonus) but because his approach to recording his travels varies. “Sometimes a journey results in long introspection, great conversations and once-in-a-lifetime experiences,” says Chris, “and that often gets me writing. But sometimes a place has qualities that aren’t best conveyed with words – places where photography, or drawing, or making field recordings, or even collecting mementoes makes more sense. Travel to new places can provoke a heightened awareness, and I love the challenge of trying to capture those experiences in any way I can. I guess it’s a kind of travel collage that gets my mojo going.”
Chris has travelled to more than 40 countries; his writing and photography has been published in more than 40 magazines, newspapers and journals around the world.
[RSM] Richard Somerset Mackie
Richard Mackie may not label himself as a ‘travel writer’ per se, but his lifelong historical and archaeological pursuits make him more than qualified. After all, what does it take, what are the prerequisites to write eloquently about the world around us? We’ll let Richard explain: “I explored Corfu on a moped, hitchhiked through Provence, walked the length of Hadrian’s Wall (it rained the whole way), explored the Thames at low tide and climbed Traitor’s Gate into the Tower of London (where I was interrogated by the Beefeaters). I ended up studying mediaeval history at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and Canadian archaeology, history, and historical geography at the universities of Victoria and British Columbia, where I obtained a PhD in 1993. Since then I have returned to my roots on rural Vancouver Island as a freelance historian and writer. I lecture frequently, teach creative non-fiction in the Writing and Publishing Program at Simon Fraser University, and am an adjunct associate professor in the Geography Department at the University of Victoria.” Yeah. We think that just about covers it too.
