David Whitley in the Spotlight

What's your earliest memory of travel?
Sitting in the back of a hire car on the way from Barcelona to Perpignan, with my parents. They were in a state of blind panic because they’d filled it with diesel by mistake. That was one bumpy ride…

What's your most bizarre memory of travel?
I’m a sucker for anything bizarre, and will usually go miles out of my way for something odd but entertaining. Going with 2008 alone, there’s standing within 100m of the Chernobyl reactor, attending the Eurovision Song Contest Final in Belgrade, playing midwife to a leatherback turtle and getting cryotherapy treatment at minus 120 degrees Celsius. All have entered the ‘favourite anecdote’ bank.

Which is the place you haven't been to yet but would most like to visit?
It would be Tasmania, but I’m going there in November. So we’ll have to settle on the Amazon rainforest.

Where would you never want to go again?
Amsterdam, Milan and Dublin all leave me cold. But I’ll settle on Madrid Airport – largely because it’s no fun at all when you’ve had one hour’s sleep, have a Category Five hangover and have missed your plane.

If you could take a day trip back in time to any point in history, when and where would you visit?
Probably the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. But, going further back, how cool would it have been to be on Columbus’ ship when Rodrigo de Triana spotted land?

What's the best travel advice you've ever been given?
Remember that when it all goes horribly wrong, that’s the story you’ll be dining out on 30 years later.

How did you get involved in travel writing/photography/broadcasting?
By accident almost. I was editing the student paper in Sheffield, and we managed to blag some interrail passes in return for doing a travel section. I ended up winning the Guardian Student Travel Writer of the Year award as a result of the stories in that section.
Then I went to Australia to spend a year getting dru… I mean, engage in cultural experiences. I ended up landing a job as the editor of a backpacker magazine, stayed five years and it snowballed from there.

Favourite museum or gallery?
I love the Natural History Museum in London, but the Serial Killer Museum in Florence ticks all the boxes for what I want in a museum. Odd subject matter, scarily detailed, presented with utter enthusiasm, and completely at odds with its surroundings.
I really, really want to go to the Icelandic Phallological Museum at some point, though.

Most memorable hotel?
Either the Aitutaki Lagoon Resort in the Cook Islands or the CuisinArt Resort in Anguilla. Both for the rooms and the setting.

When and why did you join the Guild? How has the Guild been most helpful?
I joined in late 2006, and my aim was to get more contacts – especially in the British market as I’d been in Australia for five years. And also to get to know other travel writers.
I’d say the most helpful thing about the Guild is the Yearbook. I find that a fantastic aid, and worth the membership fees alone. It saves so much time when searching for the right person for a particular story.

Everyone gets it wrong sometimes, so what's the biggest travel blunder you've ever made?
When I was due to start my job as the editor of that backpacker magazine in Sydney, I was in Bundaberg on the East Coast of Australia. I had to fly back via Brisbane and turn up for work at noon that day.
Due to a series of absurd coincidences and bungles, I ended up getting on the wrong plane, and stranded on a tiny island in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef. Interesting phone call to the boss, that one.

Who, outside of your own family, would you most like to go travelling with and why?
Isn’t it obligatory to say Nelson Mandela to this sort of question? Well, I think he’d be a liability on a white-water rafting trip, so I’ll plump for my friends. And which one depends entirely on the itinerary.

Which travel destination has taken you most by surprise and why?
Kyiv, Ukraine. I was expecting grim tower blocks – but it’s an absolutely gorgeous city. Knocks Prague and Budapest into a cocked hat as far as I’m concerned. I was shocked to find myself liking Zurich too.

If you had one tip to share with other travel writers what would it be?
Think in themes – round-up articles can be a goldmine. And one snippet from Trip A that isn’t worth turning into an article on its own can come good when combined with similar snippets from Trip B and Trip C.

Three Desert Island discs for your Ipod?
Exile on Coldharbour Lane by Alabama 3, my own compilation from The Cat Empire’s four albums and Tea and Sympathy by Bernard Fanning. But that said, I don’t see any good reason why I can’t just take my iPod.

And a favourite book to pass the journey?
The Dice Man – Luke Rhinehart