'In The Spotlight' interview with BGTW member Emma Levine

What's your earliest memory of travel?
Apart from summer holidays in the family caravan anchored in Yorkshire, my time abroad was at age 11, travelling by car to Brittany. We took a huge family tent in Benodet, and my shoulders got very burnt as we played cricket on the beach. In those days we didn’t really ‘do’ sunscreen and, in retrospect, I probably got slight sunstroke. Still got those freckles on my shoulders

What's your most bizarre/amusing?
Crossing the border, in the snow, from Iran to Turkey by bus. I’d travelled with a bus-load of young Iranian guys from Tehran, plus a love-struck doctor I’d met during research there who decided to accompany me, despite my discouragement. In thick snow, on the Iranian side of the border fence, he cried as he asked when I would be returning. I said “probably never” rather heartlessly as I turned my back and walked into Turkey. And he was married…

Which is the place you haven't been to yet but would most like to visit?
Algeria. A huge fan of Rai music, I would love to visit Oran, the home of this genre of music which blends Arabic, Spanish and north African sounds, and is usually sung by homesick Algerian men. I’m awaiting a good friend of mine, who escaped Algeria, to return there so he can show me round.

Where would you never want to go to again?
To the cheap hotel I stayed in Samarkand in 1998 which, as I realised later, was a brothel. I was also rather rudely awakened by a rat in my room which rather noisily chewed away at a plastic bag with bread in it. I checked out at dawn, and turned down the offer of a ‘free’ massage.

If you could take a day trip back in time to any point in history, when and where would you visit?
Iran in the swinging 60s, amongst the artistic and creative intellectuals in Esfahan. I’ve visited several times since 1995 and experienced a post-revolution extremist nation, so it would be fascinating to see how it used to be.

What's the best travel advice you've ever been given?
I tend to rely more on my common sense and experience than advice!

How did you get involved in travel writing/photography/broadcasting?
Weeks after graduating in 1991 (in Graphic Design) I was working in Transylvania with a small charity from Nottingham in gypsy villages. I saw on the TV that riots broke out in Bucharest, so I took the train straight down and immersed myself in taking photographs of the running battles with army, tear gas, smoke bombs, camping out listening to solidarity songs. I decided then that I wanted to be a war photographer. Several years later, while living in Hong Kong, I succeeded in getting free air tickets from Air India to photograph Indian cricket culture. The manager asked me, “What can you give us in return? Can you write?” I found myself saying yes, which marked the start of my writing career, happily mixed with photography.

When and why did you join the Guild?
Joined in May 2007, when I finally had enough spare money to pay the joining fee!

How has the Guild been most helpful?
Although I’ve not been able to attend many meetings so far (always travelling!), it’s forwarded the necessary contacts and commissions to get additional work. When I really make the most of it and learn how to network properly, it will be wonderful for networking and meeting fellow travel writers who understand that it’s not really a glamorous career!

Everyone gets it wrong sometimes, so what's the biggest travel blunder you've ever made?
Believing the locals who assured me that it would be easy to hitch-hike over the Shandur Pass in Northern Pakistan, a distance of just 200km. The mountain pass had a daily bus, but I wanted to stop and see the world’s highest polo ground for my research, so chose to make my own way. It took 2 days, including forced to spend two nights in a freezing hut whilst waiting transport. However, the great thing about such blunders is that it makes a great story!

Who, outside of your own family, would you most like to go travelling with and why?
A merry band of Bulgarian wedding musicians.

Which travel destination has taken you most by surprise and why?
Iran, especially my first trip when I was 24: Feeling nervous, especially as a Jewish, British photography ‘undercover’ as an Irish Catholic designer, I was totally overwhelmed by not just the astounding architecture and atmosphere, but the beautiful, hospitable people. I have been back several times and still feel the same way. (The Iranian men are also rather beautiful.)

Three Desert Island Discs for your Ipod?
Yah Rayah sung by Rachid Taha, an Algerian punk singer.
Anything by Fanfare Ciocarlia, an upbeat Romanian gypsy band, guaranteed to up anyone’s spirits.
Mozart’s Requiem

And a favourite book to pass the journey?
A phrase book of the country that I’m travelling, in my determined attempt (usually unsuccessful) to communicate.