In the Spotlight: Daniel Neilson

When and why did you join the Guild?
I joined in summer 2011. Travel writing, especially freelance, can be a lonely experience, and the guild serves to provide a friendly support network. The prestige that comes with membership also opens doors professionally.

What are you working on at the moment? Any future plans?
I’m editing a Canadian magazine called Lifestyler (www.lifestylermag.com) that has a heavy global travel and food focus. Editing also means I can commission myself travel articles! I’m also writing outdoor treks pieces for TGO Magazine. And yes, a travel book is in the works.

What's your earliest memory of travel?
As a Scunthorpe lad, it was the beaches of Skegness, those huge, long and, seemingly, sea-free beaches. I never swam – it would have been a two mile walk. I’m still attracted to bleak seaside towns.

What's your most bizarre memory of travel?
There have been plenty. Looking back, hiking for a week across the Andes at 5,000m in Bolivia with a only a hand-drawn map, at least three days from any settlement was bizarre. Bizarre and stupid.

Which is the place you haven't been to yet but would most like to visit?
Japan – it is such an intriguing place and I know nothing about it. I’m also hankering to head to northern Scotland and the islands.

Where would you never want to go again?
Skegness!

If you could take a day trip back in time to any point in history, when and where would you visit?
I’m a bit of a World War Two geek – so I’d like to go back to that time and observe just to learn more about what life then was really like. From a safe distance of course.

How did you get involved in travel writing/photography/broadcasting?
I was living in Buenos Aires when I had an epiphany of sorts, that disseminating information about far flung places would lead to a greater understanding of less fortune parts of the world.
How did you get involved in travel writing?

Favourite museum or gallery?
I adore museums. The Museum of New Zealand in Wellington is pretty special. The most bizarre is Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum in Hanoi – the man never looked that good alive.

Most memorable hotel?
The Witt Istanbul is beautifully designed (for mid-century modern fans), and one of many good hotels in Istanbul, but for sheer bombast, there’s nothing quite like Faena + Universe. As pretentious as its name, and brilliant fun.

Everyone gets it wrong sometimes, so what's the biggest travel blunder you've ever made?
Hiking across the Andes (see above was the closest I ever came to death – near miss with a rolling boulder). Overstaying my visa in Siberia wasn’t the brightest thing to do.

Which travel destination has taken you most by surprise and why?
Istanbul, I knew very little about it, but it blew me away with its life, vibrancy and beauty.

If you had one tip to share with other travel writers what would it be?
Go to a sporting event, go to a bar. It’s where you make new friends and learn most.

A favourite travel book to pass the journey?
Wildwood by Roger Deakin changed the way I looked at the natural world forever.