Interview With Angie Orth of Angie Away
Angie, please give my readers a background about yourself. What made you want to start angieaway.com?
I moved to NYC in 2006 and took a travel PR job at a large agency. When I moved, I started a blog - bigappleangie.com- to chronicle my adventures and to keep my family and friends back home posted. As my horizons expanded and I decided to quit my job as a publicist and travel the world, Angie Away was the natural progression and extension of what I'd already been doing. I considered going blogless this year in order to really disconnect, but I realized that it would be criminal to withhold everything I'm seeing from folks who maybe don't have the means to run away for a year.
In all of your travels, in your opinion what country has the best food? and the worst food?
I always get disdainful looks when I say I hated the food in Thailand. I've never been a huge fan anyhow, but six weeks of Pad Thai was just unbearable. The next country I went to was Greece, and I don't know if the food is always so amazing, but after all that rice, tzatziki, gyros and feta were the best things I ever ate.
When you first started traveling, did your family support your decision?
Not exactly. I know they technically support me, but they never like the idea of me leaving. They were terrified when I decided to move from Florida to Atlanta... and then NYC... and then the world. I've just learned that I can't expect or wait for their approval. If I did, I'd still be in my hometown. Eventually, they get on board... and usually they act like it was their idea all along!
If you had to choose one favorite destination, which one would you chose?
Is there a gun to my head? Then I just can't pick. Everywhere has something different to offer. I just wish there was a way to put everything I love about every destination in one place... it would save me a lot of money.
What has been the least exciting destination you've traveled to?
Fiji wasn't terribly exciting... then again, I went there to chill and read a few books so that was fine by me.
Did you always have a love of travel or did you develop your passion for traveling as you got older?
I've been traveling the US with my grandparents since I was little, so the desire to be on the go was instilled in me very early.
What impact has angieaway.com had on your life?
As much work as it is to keep up with posting 3-4 times a week, I feel like it will be the ultimate gift to myself at the end of this journey. I've been on the road now for 11 months, and there's been so much to process that I forget half of where I've been and what I've seen. Now I can look back on a chronicle of every adventure. Aside from personal benefits, starting my site has been more of a career builder than a gap in my resume. I've been so busy and have learned so much - I really don't feel like I've left my the travel/PR industries at all.
What has been the most surprising destination you've been to? Meaning, you had a specific mindset about a certain destination but it was totally a differnet experience than you had imagined.
I expected Laos to be sleepy and quiet, but I was there during New Year in April and it was a fun, joyous, soaking wet madhouse. I had one of my best days on the road there.
If you had to decide which destination has been the most influential in your life, which destination would you chose?
NYC. I moved there expecting to stay a year and then go back to the South, but 5 years later, I was still working at the same great PR job and planning my round the world adventure. NYC was the biggest dream I had for myself, and in the end, the city was what helped me to dream even bigger.
What advice would you give to a newbie traveler?
Leap. The net will appear.
In 10 years, do you see yourself still traveling or slowing down?
I don't pretend to have a clue what the next 10 years hold. And I think that's the secret to contentment. I'll be happy with little or much, settled with a house or sleeping in airports just like now. I'm excited to see how it all turns out!
Thanks Angie for the interview. Please visit her blog @ Angie Away !
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