I’ve just walked out of my first interview in 5 years. I think it went well. Maybe it went a bit too well. Maybe I’ll get the job. Sitting back in a brightly lit interview room, hoping that scattering some well-timed corporate lingo into the conversation will be enough to distract them from my corporate break is a little confronting, though not the most difficult part of looking for a new contract. Wearing shoes is. But hey, as a travel writer I’ve got to get out and about and that means that every now and again I need to dust the sand off my sunburnt feet and walk into an office. The ideal will come when I can make the beach my office. At the same time, the other gal is musing between 2 short photographic courses that will hone her skills, polish her lenses and for a few hours a day, require her to sit in a classroom. She’ll have to wear shoes too. It’s the downside of being a little bit hippie.

We each have a favourite pair of sandals. They’ve walked so many miles with us and touched so many special places of the earth, that to slip them on feels like a holiday. That’s why I like being barefoot so much; so that the ground I walk on can press into my feet and the places remain imprinted always. It’s the beauty of travel and why we’re so dedicated to our storytelling. But, as many other travel bloggers know, we’re not always travelling. So often I want to make one of those memes that say “here’s what people think we do” splashed across a picture of the cover of Conde Naste Travel, and another line “here’s what we really do” with a picture of us either studying, working in an office, or worse still, doing a load of ironing or chopping vegetables. I think we have this picture.

So many of us have a strong case of wanderlust, that never-ending feeling of wanting to travel, discover new places and learn about the world. The downside is that there are times when we’re boarding the metro, rather than a plane. Times when we all need to study and learn our craft rather than just walk out into the world and hope it all comes together in a wonderful story. I know many people who travel way more than us, perhaps it just doesn’t make it to the world of online journals. New travel blogs are popping up every day, it’s quite a spirited and adventurous little community and shows just how much the wisdom of travel gives.  Or rather, the joy of discovery, because it’s never about distance, it’s about finding your happy place. Sometimes it doesn’t even require travelling to give you that mojo to create a story. The inspiration comes walking past a Temple in the early hours of the morning and seeing a story emerge from the mist of a Delhi winter, or like today, sitting on the train after an interview and feeling a rush of words tumbling down. I guess that’s the upside of being a little hippie, it’s in all of us. The freedom enough to see every opportunity as a way to create and capture the imagination of life that can happen in the most ordinary of moments, no matter where you are.