24 Hours In

10 Quick Questions with Andrew…

1. My earliest travel memories are of…

Probably getting car sickness while driving the Great Ocean Road with my family.

2. I can’t travel without…

My camera(s). I think it’s a traveler’s right to take an exorbitant amount of photos while away, and then bore their family and friends on their return. I think I lived up to this on my last trip, coming back with over 20 gigs of photos! I shoot mostly on my Canon 450D, some high def video on my little Canon point and shoot, and I’ve just got a hand-me-down Pentax ME Super film camera, so looking forward to testing that out on the next trip.

3. My best bargain was…

A Zoom audio recorder that I bought in Akihabara, the bargain electronics area in Tokyo. Normally retails for $700AUD, picked one up for $350!

4. I was genuinely scared…

When I was just about to start walking the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea. Never been so nervous in my life!

5. I love travelling…

Solo. I really have only done it once, to Japan in the middle of this year, but it was just amazing. It’s a much more spiritual journey going by yourself- you have a lot more time to take it all in, you have to make all your own decisions (and fuck up occasionally!) but most importantly, you learn a lot about yourself. You get to test your limits, which is exactly what travel should be about.

6. I love listening to…

live music when I’m overseas. Being the only white guy in a Japanese bar listening to a little Indie band is an experience and a half. Also, a bunch of children singing the Papua New Guinean national anthem. After a day of trekking through rough jungle, tired and wet, I was just stunned of the beauty that one song can have when it’s sung with meaning.

7. I know it’s rude, but I…

Like to put my really big headphones on and zone out occasionally. Need the headspace.

8. My favourite bar would be…

New York Bar @ Park Hyatt in Shinjuku, Tokyo. 52 floors up, panoramic views of Tokyo, jazz band, martini…need I say more? Made famous by Sophia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, but unfortunately, Miss Johansson had left by the time I got there.

9. I met…

Some amazing people traveling, although I never keep in touch.

10. If I had to pick anywhere, it would be…

Japan. I haven’t finished exploring there yet.