Interview with Sally from unbravegirl.com
Sally is a writer, so there is no wonder her blog, unbravegirl.com is very well written with easy enjoyable posts. I struggle to believe she is as big of a scaredy cat as she says she is, because it is not an easy thing to get up and move to a foreign country let alone walk in rice fields with pythons eyeing up your ankles! Sally covers all aspects of her daily life, sometimes strongly travel related, sometimes everyday things, but all of them are great reads!
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a writer, teacher, traveller, cookie enthusiast and all-around scaredy cat. I moved to Japan in 2007 to teach English at a university in Kobe and have been living in Asia ever since. After three years in Japan, I took a year off from work to travel and volunteer in South East Asia. Now, I’m teaching English again in Wuxi, China, an industrial city not too far from Shanghai.
Tell us a bit about your blog.
My blog is where I share stories about my travels, living abroad, working abroad and my couch. (Okay, mostly about my couch).
Do you target a specific audience?
Not really. I’m happy to have anyone stop by and read my blog. Because my blog has been labeled a “travel blog,” I tend to have a lot of other travel bloggers reading and commenting on my stuff, but I wouldn’t say I specifically target travelers. In fact, writing for travelers can be pretty daunting because they actually expect you to go out and, you know, travel and stuff… whereas I don’t really do that so much (as it affects my relationship with my couch).
What got you to first start travelling?
I never traveled outside of North America until I went to college and, honestly, never thought I would travel. It just wasn’t anything anyone I knew did. But then my roommate convinced me to apply for a student work visa with her and move to London for the summer after our freshman year. After my first summer abroad, I was hooked. I spent two more summers working in the UK and Ireland while in college and have been living abroad on and off for the past twelve years since graduating from college.
Picking coffee cherries in Northern Thailand
What got you to start blogging?
I started my blog when I first moved to Japan, as a way to share my experience of living abroad with my family and friends back home. For about three years, I mostly blathered on to myself. (My family and friends claimed they couldn’t remember how to spell my blog name.) When I started traveling, my blog slowly picked up steam and started to get more followers (like, people that I’m not even related to or anything). These days, I continue to blather on, but it’s nice to know people are actually reading (and not just reading because I guilted them into it!).
Tell us about your travel background. What places have you been to?
For the past four and a half years, I’ve been based in Asia so all my travels have been in this area. I’ve been to Japan, Korea, Bali, Singapore, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Taiwan, Hong Kong and now mainland China. I’ve also lived in Brazil, UK and Ireland, and traveled in Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Switzerland. Oh, and once I took a bus to a supermarket in France while I was in Switzerland, but my passport was never stamped so I guess that doesn’t count. (But it totally should!)
What aspects of travelling do you enjoy most?
I love how everything is new and exciting when you first arrive in a new country — even going to the grocery store can be an adventure. I also love trying out new food — especially if it happens to be deep-fried and served on a stick because usually anything deep-fried and served on a stick is good.
What things do you always pack, regardless where you go to?
I always have a camera on me — always — even if I’m just going to the post office. After all, you never know when you’re going to see something funny or interesting or just downright weird that you just MUST take a picture of and share with everyone on Facebook.
working on an organic rice farm in Malaysia
What is the most memorable travel experience you have ever had?
Wow, this is hard. I don’t think I could narrow it down to one memorable instance — mostly because I’ve had lots of great experiences. I’ve toured the Scottish Highlands. I’ve climbed Mt. Fuji. I’ve kayaked on the Amazon. And I regularly risked python attack while working at a rice farm in Malaysia.
Okay, so maybe that last experience wasn’t so great. (Mind you, working on the farm was fun, I just wasn’t crazy about having to share the rice paddies with pythons.)
Where are you to heading next?
Good question. I finish my current teaching contract in China in January. There are still a few countries I’d like to visit before I leave Asia, but I’m not exactly sure where I’ll go to next. Of course, I’m always open to suggestions (or job offers!).
Thanks Sally, it is great having you here. Happy Travels!