We spoke exclusively to Simon Calder, The Independent’s Travel Editor at Large, about where he’ll be travelling this year, the location of the world’s most beautiful place, and why he has a “slight issue” with Sri Lanka.
He’s the UK’s most-recognised travel journalist, a one-time record holder of the fastest hitchhike between Land’s End and John o’ Groats, and has a degree in mathematics from Warwick University. He also happens to be a fan of Stanfords, popping into our Long Acre store last week ahead of his next trip. So where’s next on Simon Calder’s to-visit list?
“There are two destinations I’m really excited about this year, the first of which is Alaska,” he explains. “It’s been off the map pretty much for the last 20 years, but hooray for Icelandair – they’ve decided to launch two flights to Anchorage from Reykjavik per week in May. That means from leaving London, Manchester or Glasgow, you can arrive in the US’s northernmost city later that afternoon. It’s unbelievable – and it’s also very, very cheap.
“I’ll be heading down the coast towards Juneau, a really exciting place to be. I’ve only been to Alaska before very briefly in the olden days when British Airways flew non-stop from Heathrow – but that wasn’t in the middle of summer, which is when I’ll be travelling this time, and I’m looking forward to it very much indeed.”
From Alaska it’s almost 5,000 miles south-east to a Portuguese Atlantic archipelago that’s home to some of the world’s highest mountains (if measured from their base on the bottom of the ocean) – the second overseas destination on Simon’s must-visit list. “I’m buying the Bradt guidebook to the Azores,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to go but haven’t quite made it yet, but I’m going to get there soon.”
It’s almost surprising that any countries have been left untrodden by the former Holiday presenter, so just how many nations has Simon visited? “I’ve got absolutely no idea,” he says, “and I suppose I’ve got better things to do than work it out. The great thing about coming here is stumbling across something and working out where I’d like to go next – I found myself looking at the Central Asia section and thought, ‘Ooh, I want to go there, there’s the Caucasus, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan – why haven’t I been there yet? Get on with it!’ – and hopefully I will do.”
If Alaska and the Azores are a little ‘out there’, what does Simon make of Sri Lanka and Burma, two destinations tipped to return to travellers’ radars in 2013? “I have a bit of an issue with Sri Lanka,” he explains. “Many people are saying it’s the place to go this year, but I can’t see that there’s anything much transformed.
“Of course the civil war is over, unfortunately in very bloody fashion, but the best news I’ve seen recently is that the Sri Lankan rupee is down 10 per cent against sterling, though this isn’t enough to make me want to go there just yet I’m afraid. With Burma, the potential problem is that everybody is travelling there, so I think I’ll give it a couple of years.”
Despite the emergence of new far-flung destinations, it’s unlikely the travel journalist will lose sight of his favourite three countries: France, Cuba and Scotland, the latter of which Simon shall be returning thanks to wife, Charlotte, being inspired by crime writer Ann Cleeves, whose books are set on Shetland.
“We’ll be travelling to the islands later this year,” he says, “which is very good news because the Scottish islands are quite possibly the most beautiful parts of the entire planet – so I’ll be checking out the Ordnance Survey maps and guidebooks here at Stanfords to see what I need to be consulting!”