My life in travel: James May - The Independent

[Eclair]

www.independent.co.uk:80/travel/news-and-advice/my-life-in-travel-top-gear-presenter-james-may-1222218.html

Edit - Direct link here: tinyurl.com/73tznw

Nice little interview ;D

So James is off to.........I'll let you read it ;D

[Wyvern]

Fascinating

And also amusing. One of my best travel experiences was on a Russian sleeper train from Leningrad (and it still was Leningrad, I was 16 years old and Perestroika wasn't yet in full effect) to Moscow!

[lindenchase]

Funny article! I can't even pick my favourite line, there are to many, although his "worst hotel" is pretty good. ;D
Hotel Moskva, Red Square, 1997. Staying in a brothel is tiresome.

And Sri Lanka! Good choice, I have heard many good things about it. Hopefully he will write a column about it, like he did on Damascus last year.

My best hotel experience without any shadow of a doubt is
an amazing lodge in Hopewell in New Zealand.

[lymaze]

Lovely article. Have a good journey to Sri Lanka.

[tui]

thats a great article, very interesting

Linden, when i clicked on your link brought back memories. worked in a place similar to that in the Sounds, such a beautiful place

[maureen]

I love this article, Eclair. Thanks for sharing it.

Let's see, my most fave vacation was to Australia in 2003. I loved it and would love to go back someday. The ideal would be to get a job there later on. A girl can dream.

My worst vacation would have to be LA in 1997, because we got lost in Beverly Hills, stayed at the absolute worst hotel I'd ever been to (the Jolly Roger), and my husband had botchulism on the way back to Las Vegas. I've stayed at better truck stop dives than the Jolly Roger. Even the Days Inn in Kenosha, WI was better than JR.

[ladyshaniique08]

It's a nice article ;D
Thanks Eclair for the link!

[stigalicious]

Thanks Eclair!

See; I never agree with him! Sri Lankan food is the work of the devil!!!! I lived in East London last year and went for a korma (or kurma as they call it) and originally it is 'spiced chicken gravy' which is literally too spicy gravy with chicken in it! I hated it! Still, my hes going to see such great things!

[lindenchase]

My guess was that if James was indeed holidaying on Sri Lanka, surely somebody who had spotted him there, would mention it in his blog. ;D

I'm quite happy this person waited until James had left before he posted it.

Do you guys know that James may aka Capt Slow was here holidaying at Amanwella and Amangalle resorts for ten days and flew back to UK on 1st afternoon.He flew the Deccan V*P helicopter from Tangalle to Katunayake intl Airport this (1st)morning.

May is going to comeback and do an episode/article on surviving ex-colonial motoring assets in SL.Got a chance to talk to him and he is amazed about dare-devil stunts played by Bus drivers and trishaw guys!(no wonder)

[maureen]

Thank you for the link to that blog, Linden. I agree with you. I'm glad the author waited to post it too. I hope James enjoyed his time there.

I'd love to go to SL some day. From seeing it in the Duran Duran videos and reading Andy Taylor's impression of it from his autobiography, it sounds like a wonderful place to explore. One of these years......

[beckstar]

MMmmmmmm... Sri Lankan food... om nom nom... lucky bugger...

In a slightly weird parallel universe, he has a point about travel being 'deeply unethical'. As a geographer, I travel. But as a geography teacher, I teach a whole module that looks at the social, economic and environmental impacts of tourism, and, well, he has a point... Although Sri Lanka wouldn't have recovered so quickly from the 2004 tsumani had it not been for its tourism industry so... *stops before an essay ensues* *needs to switch off from revision course*

[gemmiejewel]

What a lovely little interview. Hope he enojoyed a well deserved break.

[stigalicious]

I imagine he liked dosa (or dosai) They are like large spicy pancakes, usually filled with mince or vegetables.

Hope his old foreign stomach complaint didn't play up too much for him....

[lindenchase]

Jan 3, 2009 22:56:16 GMT @stigalicious said:

Hope his old foreign stomach complaint didn't play up too much for him....

No, no, that would be Richard, not James. ;D

[KiwiMonkey]

Aww that was the sweetest thing to read.

[Wyvern]

Jan 3, 2009 22:56:16 GMT @stigalicious said:

I imagine he liked dosa (or dosai) They are like large spicy pancakes, usually filled with mince or vegetables.

Hope his old foreign stomach complaint didn't play up too much for him....

I don't know if it's still there, but there used to be a great dosa place on Wembley High Road called Dosa Junction. If the Web of Deceit is anything to go by, it's still there

[maureen]

After re-reading this interview, there's another thing he and I agree on. Italy. The most wonderful place to visit. It's hard not to fall in love with that country.

[stigalicious]

Isn't it just heavenly?! I was a little let down by the food in Rome (which purely by bad luck happened to be a little touristy) I had the greatest pizza calzone in Venice in the pouring rain but spent one of the best nights watching Aida outdoors in the Roman ruins. Amazing country and you nevr get bored of it (which I do France, sorry... )

[maureen]

Oh I love it, Stig. There's so much to see and do in Rome. With the exception of the ice cream (tiramisu), I wasn't to keen on the food there either, but the sight-seeing and culture are great. Florence and Pisa are wonderful too. We found a couple of really good restaurants close to our hotel in Florence that we really loved and took a day trip to Pisa and Livorna there. In November that year, we went to Venice. I love Venice. It's everything I thought it would be and more. I got some really good pictures while I was there too and found a really good wine restaurant that had grea seafood pasta. I would love to go back someday and see Nepals and Siscely as well as re-visit Venice.

[PP]

I'd love to go to Italy, but I've never quite made it.
I don't like France very much. I get a really uneasy feeling whenever I have to go there. I can't really explain what or why. Plus, the last time I was there I had to spend an extra night in a youth hostel because the cash point ate my card and I couldn't get it back until the next day . We had about 1 euro between two of us and had to share a slice of pizza and a bottle of water that night - doh. Lesson learned.

[wildcathammondette]

Jan 3, 2009 14:09:15 GMT lindenchase said:

My guess was that if James was indeed holidaying on Sri Lanka, surely somebody who had spotted him there, would mention it in his blog. ;D

I'm quite happy this person waited until James had left before he posted it.

Do you guys know that James may aka Capt Slow was here holidaying at Amanwella and Amangalle resorts for ten days and flew back to UK on 1st afternoon.He flew the Deccan V*P helicopter from Tangalle to Katunayake intl Airport this (1st)morning.

May is going to comeback and do an episode/article on surviving ex-colonial motoring assets in SL.Got a chance to talk to him and he is amazed about dare-devil stunts played by Bus drivers and trishaw guys!(no wonder)

Then according to this blog, James was in Sri Lanka for both Christmas and New Year.... doing a telly thing? Sounds very odd to me.....

[nobody]

Jan 4, 2009 23:40:14 GMT @wildcathammondette said:

Jan 3, 2009 14:09:15 GMT lindenchase said:

My guess was that if James was indeed holidaying on Sri Lanka, surely somebody who had spotted him there, would mention it in his blog. ;D

I'm quite happy this person waited until James had left before he posted it.

Do you guys know that James may aka Capt Slow was here holidaying at Amanwella and Amangalle resorts for ten days and flew back to UK on 1st afternoon.He flew the Deccan V*P helicopter from Tangalle to Katunayake intl Airport this (1st)morning.

May is going to comeback and do an episode/article on surviving ex-colonial motoring assets in SL.Got a chance to talk to him and he is amazed about dare-devil stunts played by Bus drivers and trishaw guys!(no wonder)

Then according to this blog, James was in Sri Lanka for both Christmas and New Year.... doing a telly thing? Sounds very odd to me.....

What i think it means is he was on holiday but is coming back later in the year for a tv show.

[dutchdiva]

I guess he is back since he was on BBC breakfast show this morning.

[jacqui]

Bu**er missed it

Nice article - until I got to the bit about his favourite travelling companion
*Goes green with envy*

[lymaze]

I think it was a private holiday - christmas and new year in Sri Lanka. Sounds wonderful.

[nobody]

does anyone have the breakfast show?

[emmap]

Jan 4, 2009 21:19:45 GMT @maureen said:

After re-reading this interview, there's another thing he and I agree on. Italy. The most wonderful place to visit. It's hard not to fall in love with that country.

*Sighs* Italy..

[(Ali)]

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/article664342.ece

A similar article that I found a few months ago. From 2006:

MY HOLS - JAMES MAY

I’M NOT very good at holidays. Or, at least, I’m not very good at planning them. For years, I used a bucket shop in Kilburn. Whenever I had a week free, I’d go in and say, what have you got for a hundred quid? And he’d say, Cairo, tomorrow, so I’d say, fine. That’s the way I like to travel. You soon learn that, unless you’re heading for the Arctic or the Amazon, when you arrive there will be toothpaste, toothbrushes and hotel rooms. And if there aren’t, well, you can always sleep on the central reservation. I’ve done that enough times to know it isn’t the end of the world.

My girlfriend prefers things to be a little more planned. So when we went to Istanbul recently, we had to know where we were staying. Actually, it was a locally run B&B, and really very good. We were walking near the Blue Mosque one night when a figure in traditional clothes sidled up and whispered: “Make her happy. Buy her carpet.” And then disappeared. He wasn’t trying to sell me one, just offering advice. So I asked the owner of the B&B and he suggested a place that had antique rugs at decent prices. I bought a runner with a threadbare patch for twenty quid, and yes, it did make her happy. So thanks, mate.

I was a late starter when it came to going abroad. I first went to the Continent on an exchange in Germany when I was 13. I liked the place. Being a bit techie, I appreciate things that work, like Germany, and it has the kind of food I enjoy: big and hearty, with potatoes and sausages — not poncy, fancy stuff. The Germans are very personable, too, although not en masse — a little like the British.

On the other hand, I find France intensely irritating. It’s partly the smug way they promote this rose-tinted idea of French culture as the pinnacle of civilised life. And French driving is absolutely awful. It’s a big country, with fewer people and cars, but you always find a Frenchman two inches from your rear bumper. Why is that? People think we live a life of luxury on television, but it’s not true. We mainly stay in Travelodges and the like. I don’t like luxury hotels, anyway. They’re always too hot and too fussy. A good bathroom and a decent bed, that’ll do me. I prefer hotels like the Cannero on Lake Maggiore: family-run, unpretentious, reasonably priced with good, simple food. Perfect.

Italy is a place I love, because it opened my eyes to the world. After university, I went Inter-Railing, and it was like the scales falling from my eyes when I realised you could experience all this stuff I had only read about.

I could see the Birth of Venus — I might have to queue for five hours, but it was there — and stand in the Campo at Siena, where the horses race.

Then I began travelling a lot as a journalist. One of my favourite trips was to Jordan. A photographer and I were in a Land Rover, and we had a copy of TE Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the edition with his maps, and we went looking for the sites of his raids on the Heraj railway. And we were able to work out, yes, this is the ridge he came over, this must be the spot where he lay and fired. To have found that location, using the man’s own words and maps as a guide, was a real, lasting thrill.

I like the Jordanians. They are a genuinely friendly, hospitable people. We’d come across dodgy-looking guys in tents in the middle of the desert and think, uh-oh, they’re going to eat us, but it was out with the tea and come in for a chat. Once, the policeman who fined us for speeding brought out the local chief of police to apologise for having to do so.

Later on, we were in the middle of nowhere when out of the desert heat haze came this shepherd. He held out his hand and in his palm were three coins, very old, possibly Roman. We couldn’t converse, so I took out my own change to show him. I had £2.50 with me in sterling. He examined my coins and signalled that he’d like to swap. So we did. I’ve still got them on the window ledge in my office. They might be worth a fortune or they might be worth, oh, £2.50.

But, you know, just looking at those coins makes me want to go out there and do it all over again.

[nobody]

Wow James does lead a interesting life.

[maureen]

Thanks for this one, Rwhip923. I'd printed out a copy of it last year and wondered if anyone else had seen it. It's great. His girlfriend sounds like me in that she likes to know where they're staying in advanced too and have the important things planned. I haven't been anywhere to the middle east yet, so I like hearing from someone else who has been there, what it's like.