travel with 30 pounds of camera gear. I used to be the girl with two enormous suitcases, the kind of girl guys would have to help in the airport. I began paring down to the bare necessities, and now I travel light. It makes you feel a lot more free.
“ T HER E ’S A CL A R IT Y T H AT COMES FROM BEING 5,000 MILES AWAY FROM HOME , AWAY FROM T HE PEOPLE T H AT MOST IN FLU ENCE YOU. T HE T IMING W ILL N E V ER BE R IGH T. YOU J UST H AV E TO GO.”
A lot of people fantasize about a life like yours. How have you shaped your work around travel? When the recession happened, in 2008, and magazine work dried up, I was forced to make a change. I figured it was life telling me to go travel, to go do those things that I wanted to do. It’s another way to think about ambition: how are you going to find a way to do what you love? Some people say travel is running away from your problems, but travel itself doesn’t help you solve anything: you still have to confront yourself when you’re abroad. There’s a clarity that comes from being 5,000 miles away from home, away from the people that most influence you. The timing will never be right. You just have to go. You learn self-reliance, even as you learn to be open to spontaneous connection. When people find out that I’m a travel blogger and photographer, they tell me lots of little stories. Sometimes travel has represented the happiest or most important times of their lives. Sometimes not traveling has been their deepest regret. When I went to get travel vaccinations for South America, a doctor opened up to me about how much he regretted turning down the opportunity to be a doctor on a cruise ship. Their regret becomes my inspiration. The thing preventing most people from traveling are their priorities. You can always arrange things differently. You can learn how to shift your spending to afford travel. You can learn how to be in your element. When I travel now, I move where I’m inspired to go: I take photos, I climb things, I wait for the light to turn just right. I’m not a fan of the package tour. I like going rogue. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. See Mazurek’s photography at annamazurekphoto.com, get her advice at travellikeanna.com, and follow her on Instagram at @annamazurekphoto tribeza.com
| MAY 2017
33