Sara Chare
Sara is a guidebook updater, copyeditor and writer who also blogs about interesting places she finds along the way and who’s particularly partial to a good slice of cake. She has lived in Luxembourg, Paris, Sydney and a number of towns & cities in the UK.
Sara has updated travel guides to Sri Lanka and West Coast of Australia, and written articles for national magazines and newspapers. She’s currently working on a new guide to Sri Lanka and is nearly always planning a trip somewhere.
You can work pretty much where you want to – on the road, do you find it hard to work or do you just have fun and work when you come back home?
I try and do both. I make notes when I'm away and I type things up in the evenings but I also don't want it to get in the way of really seeing a place, experiencing what it has to offer and meeting the locals.
Do you feel many people are envious of your lifestyle?
People are envious of the travel aspect of it but because I work on guidebooks - they don't realise how many hotels or restaurants you have to check in a day, how much walking around and checking facts. It's quite relentless when you're away, you're not there for a holiday but you're there for work.
Whether you're writing guidebooks, articles or a blog you're looking for information or a story and you can't relax until you have it. Although that's not to say you don't get to do fantastic things and meet fascinating people.
Whether you're writing guidebooks, articles or a blog you're looking for information or a story and you can't relax until you have it. Although that's not to say you don't get to do fantastic things and meet fascinating people.
In which countries have people recognised you, even when you thought nobody would?
Ha ha, nowhere!
Which three items would you never travel without?
My phone because I can stay in touch with family and friends, access the internet on it, make notes, record interviews and take photos. My passport obviously, and strangely enough a spork has come in handy more than once.
Are there any specific souvenirs or other things you collect from the places you go to?
I always buy something from the places I visit and usually it's something a little kitsch. I have a coconut monkey from Sri Lanka, a postman statue from Thailand, a snow globe from Paris and a toucan nut cracker from Germany to name but a few objects cluttering up my living room. You get the idea!
Rate this interview: