Linda Fairbairn is this weeks WINNER of our “Post Your URL Day”…competition. Every Friday we give YOU the opportunity to post the URL of your own Travel Blog on our Facebook fanpage wall, and we randomly draw a winner from the URL posts submitted to be featured on our blog, our fanpage, and our twitter! Be in it to win FREE Exposure!
So, Who is Linda?…
Born in England, I couldn’t wait to go travelling! I love the serendipity that happens when you step out into the unknown world of travel. I’d never heard of ‘cartography’ until, on the other side of the world, I got a job at Darwin airport interviewing tourists and crossed paths with a German named Henning. This chance meeting led to my pursuing a course in map-making, which in turn led to some amazing years mapping outback Australia.
Tell Us About Your Travel Blog and it’s Purpose?…
Holidays and travelling are full of amazing experiences ~ but that’s only the half of it! Spending time with those memories when that moment for nostalgia strikes, whether that be a few weeks, a few months or even years later, is like taking a marvellous mini-trip… if you can remember it!
There seems to be a great divide between the pedantic journal writer who fills a tome, and those who don’t bother at all as it appears too much like hard work ~ I really want to spread the word through my Travel Blog that jotting a few bare essentials to help recall fading experiences and place names is the way to go. i.e. Don’t feel you have to compose the first draft of a finished manuscript!
I loved this description by Ant from Trail of Ants about his notebooks…”They offer a short, sharp and raw portal to many of the places I’ve visited.”
My 3 Best Kept Travel Secrets give some pointers as to how to do this.
Sunrise in the Bay off Brisbane
Why Do You Travel?…
- Serendipity ~ Being out there ensures all manner of unexpected delights will come your way.
- Discovery ~ The wonder of bombarding all of my senses with fresh experiences and I’ll have to add to that… magnificent landscapes – luv landscape.
- Change ~ What’s out there that’s different to what I already know and to what I’m familiar with?
Generally, I take the tack that as soon as a place doesn’t feel as though I’m on holiday, its time to to explore elsewhere – Interestingly, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m constantly on the move – I love ‘travelling’ on what, for a period, will be my ‘home turf’ – Taking the time to see beyond the big picture so as to notice on a deeper level local idiosyncrasies and by remaining observant drink in the often overlooked little details that make up my current surrounds.
It otherwise seems so funny how there are people saving madly to visit where I live, while I’m dreaming of visiting where they live!
Jotter Stamps
Where Have You Visited So Far?…
Scandinavia up to Nordkapp, above the Arctic Circle. The big lap right around Australia, then overland Australia to GB, via Timor, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, then across Europe to England. USA – just Up-State NY then into Canada to do the east coast and Prince Edward Island. New Zealand.
Stamped-Envelope
Favorite Place to Date?…
Every place has its beauty – I’m always excited broaching any new horizon. However… I did love Istanbul. If you’re coming from Europe heading east it feels like the first real taste of the orient, but coming from the east (as I was) I was more struck by the Mediterranean influence. Having said that, the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar are a-m-a-z-i-n-g LOL
What Place Has Surprised You the Most?…
Seeing not only the splendor of colourful life in India, but in the streets of Calcutta, seeing death. It puts what we consider to be a struggle to survive into perspective.
Where Are You Currently and What Are Your Future Plans?…
Currently living on an island in the Bay off Brisbane, where I’m publishing and distributing a range of hand drawn Australia ‘Journey Jottings’ Map Journals and Mail-It Maps that *highlight your holiday adventures*. Hoping to get a series of other countries happening – that will involve personal on the ground research of course. Starting with GB as the Olympics are there in 2012.
Where is JJ
How Do We Learn More About Linda?…
Start by visiting my Travel Blog. Then read about the Bare Essentials for jotting your journey. I also have a Facebook Fan Page and you can follow me on Twitter. And finally my website for map journals of Australia.
I love this sentence, “I love the serendipity that happens when you step out into the unknown world of travel.” It is like you took the words out of my mouth!!! You have one amazing career.
First ~ Thanks Caz & Craig for featuring me here
Andi ~ Thanks for your comment
Life… Work… Travel… should be one big melting pot, don’t you think? No beginning, no middle, and for a while at least, no end
Our pleasure
Your interview is very inspiring. People can learn so much from you. Thanks for your great responses
The leash that runs of the picture is creating a very big “curiosity gap!”
I think cartography is a fascinating pursuit. It seems like a dying art (what with Satellite imaging and all). Is this the case?
I really appreciate what you had to say about paying to leave where you live when others are paying to visit it. This is a strange thing and something we try to be very aware of. When we are home, we really try to see our city through the eyes of a visitor and keep the same awe and gaping mouths that we felt when we first arrived (it’s not hard to do in Seattle, to be fair).
No matter where we go (and we are pathological travelers), we are always proud to say that our favorite place is home. Seems like a dichotomy, wanting to leave the place you love the most. But I think your “discovery” point hit’s the nail on the head. That and learning more about the world we all share.
Hi Kent & Caanan ~ Thanks for dropping by!
Nice leaving a little to the imagination, don’t you think, re the leash… LOL
I was in Scotland, the national emblem for which is a red lion, to add a little fuel to the image
I think your philosophy of “no vacation required” is very similar to mine
Yes, I’d say hand drawn map making has close on gone out the window with computer assisted drafting/satellite technology, which sadly (to me) has taken the ‘art’ out of cARTography.
I’m addressing that by going against the status quo!
Linda
Nice to learn more about you after following you on Twitter for so long!
Hi Heather ~
Having followed your escapades down the east coast of late, I too enjoyed reading your interview last week for the same reason
Twitter is great for fleeting encounters but for the nitty gritty you do need either a tweet-up, or like here, someone to actually ask those background questions -
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment
Look forward to seeing where the wind blows you next!
The “Sunrise in the Bay off Brisbane” is simply incredible. Nice story too.
Hi Devin ~
Yes – That sunrise was amazing – being a night owl I often sadly miss them!
I’m more likely to see the moon-rises
http://journeyjottings.com/blog/2010/07/moon-sun-rise/