Travel and COVID: Interview with Rianne Part III

For the last segment of my interview with Rianne, we discussed travel and COVID measures. It was interesting to hear about what initiatives are in place to support local business and what it's like to travel independently. It became more conversational towards the end when we contemplated the travel possibilities in a future where COVID-19 doesn't threaten us the way it does today.

Note: If you'd like to listen to/watch the entire interview, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ-iJpXWprg

Mariya: I remember you were travelling mostly on your own last summer. What was that like? Did you find it easier or more difficult to do certain things because of it?

Rianne: I mostly travel by myself anyway just because a lot of my friends have already settled down, married, had kids, all my closest friends anyway. So normally, when I'm travelling with someone, it's with my mom or sister; otherwise, I would go by myself. I kind of prefer it, I think, because you get to do exactly what you want; you don't have to compromise at all. You can be completely selfish. You can go and do and see everything you want. And if you want to, you can always meet people along the way, which is why I stay in hostels because I do want to meet people. So when you do want company, you can have company, and when you want your own space, you can just go and do your own thing.

M: You would probably recommend it to others?

R: Absolutely! I think it's empowering to do at least once in your life!

M: My only experience with that was when I did a program in Israel. It was a work-abroad program over the summer. I took the flight over there on my own pretty much, but I was with other people in the program when I was there, but there were opportunities for day trips and things like that. So I went to Jerusalem, to the Old City. I walked there on my own, and that was an experience unlike anything I've ever had. It does not compare to when I went there with a group of people and we were all crowding to take a picture, and we were kind of rushed like, "OK, great, you got to see it, let's go!" I got to really take it in and take my time with it. That is a nice thing about being on your own is you set your own schedule.

R: Definitely. And I think you learn more about yourself! You discover who you really are. The only downside for me is that sometimes you might go places and people that you're in a hostel with might not want to know you [laughs]. Then it can get lonely, but if you choose to make the effort, there's at least one person who will talk to you.

M: And I'm really glad you made the effort with me!

R: Yeah! I just wish we got to spend more time together. But we'll just have to travel and meet up somewhere again.

M: Exactly! It'll happen someday again. So speaking of travel, since COVID has happened, it’s obviously been much more difficult to do that. I am also someone who is very much full of “wanderlust.” How has England, and your hometown specifically, been affected?

R: I just think we're so in shock that we just don't know what to do. We don't know if we're coming or going. Our prime minister just chops and changes the rules so much that we're all so confused on what we're actually allowed to do on any given day. We just don't know what to do with ourselves. It's been crazy, as I'm sure it has been for everyone. I just think it could have all been so different if we had had a sensible prime minister. I am very outspoken when it comes to him. 

We are gradually opening. Shops have been open for a long time as long as we have masks. We can now eat inside, but the measures are obviously very different from how they normally would be. You can only sit with your household, you have to sit very far apart from people, but I think that's been good. People are keeping to the rules for things like that because otherwise they're not allowed in. They would just refuse your entry. 

We've got something like an initiative in the country. I think it's called Help Out to Eat Out. To help the businesses, we are being encouraged, if we can, since obviously a lot of people have lost their jobs, so they probably wouldn't be able to, every Monday to Wednesday throughout all of August. So many chains of restaurants and take out food, loads and loads have signed up for this initiative, and the prices are drastically cut so that more people are going, but you have to book ahead. I don't know how it works. The government must be subsidizing it somehow so that they're not losing money. Obviously, it's only the first week of August so we've had one Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, so I don't know how that's gone so far. I haven't done it yet, but I plan to. Those who aren't able to [space people out] are just staying closed, which is a shame, but some of them can't even have outside seating if they don't have [space] outside. Like if they're in the middle of a shopping center, they can't do that. 

M: That makes sense. What about for your job? How has that changed things at work? [Rianne works in a company that provides home equity loans to people.] 

R: It's totally fine for us all to work at home. It's been weird, it's been an adjustment. I don't like being away from the team because we're a close team. But we're getting bigger and bigger and bigger because the workload has been getting so crazy that we've needed 20 odd new people. But it's been fine other than the amount of work. It's been quite a smooth transition to working from home, so I think we won't be going back any time soon, not even January. We can work efficiently from home, so why not carry on until things are safer? 

M: What have you done (other than working) to keep busy, take care of yourself, and feel connected to people? 

R: For myself, I've been going on a lot of walks. I've noticed that I've been stress eating more than normal and baking, having lots of goodies. And I haven't really been working out like I normally would, so that's really kind of affected me. I didn't think it would, but I always feel better when I work out. So I'm like, "OK, now I need to not just walk, I do need to work out a bit more." So I've started doing that, but only recently. I just feel like I need to do that because I've gotten so lazy watching so much Disney+ [laughs]. I don't know if it's the same in America, but probably. I just heard on the news today that 12 million people, something like that, signed up to a streaming service they weren't signed up to before, which doesn't surprise me really because when we were completely locked down, there's only so much you can do at home.

M: Yeah, it really makes you value entertainment a lot more than you may have realized.

R: And to kind of keep sane before we were allowed to venture out and see people, I was having regular video calls with friends, even like groups of friends. So that we could have "girly nights" because me and my friends normally get together for a girls night, so we're just doing them virtually. It was nice because we kind of put in more effort because we needed each other. Everyone's going through the same thing, and we wanted to be there [for each other] as much as possible even if it's just over video. But now we are able to meet up with people again. We still have to be socially distant, but I think at the moment we only have to be 1 meter (3 feet) apart. So I have met up with a few groups of friends for picnics and walks and things like that.

M: Would you consider visiting the US again when it’s safe to do so? Where would you want to go and why?

R: I really want to go back to New York and Boston, so that I can meet up with you if that ever works out when you're around. There are so many places in America I haven't been. I feel like I've been on the West Coast, then New York, Boston, and Florida. That's probably the only other place I've been on the East Coast. I haven't done much of the middle or down South so much. I guess Florida is the South, but not really. I want to go to places like Alabama, Tennessee. Is Tennessee the South?

M: Yeah, it is.

R: Is it? Yeah, there are so many things I'd like to do in Tennessee.

M: Yeah, a lot of country stars come out of Tennessee.

R: Oh, yeah! And I love country music, but that's not popular here. My American friends got me into it. I have so many country songs on Spotify.

As soon as we can travel again, I don't think America will the the top of my list. Well, actually, the plan was to go to New York for my birthday in November, but that's probably out of the question. So then the next thing I wanted to do was a big three-month trip to Asia. And work said that I could maybe do a sabbatical for that, which is nice. But there are just too many places I want to go in the world! Like Antarctica I really want to go to, and Peru, the Caribbean. Where would you want to go?

M: That's so hard! I've never been to South America, so I'd want to go there. It would be cool to visit Argentina and Chile. Russia is also on my list only because that's where I was born, but it's kind of complicated with going back there right now, but maybe one day.

R: Have you never visited since you left?

M: No, my family left when I was nine months old.

R: Oh, so you really were a baby still!

M: Yeah, so most of what I know about it is through my parents and my family members who still live there. And I've gotten more in touch with some of my family members now than when I was younger. It's been nice to reconnect and feel like I have more of a connection to that place. But that challenge is that my parents have more of a nostalgic feel for it. They have things that the remember that they didn't like about it or liked about it. But it's changed so much since then. My grandfather always said, "I'm never going back. It's not the same Russia I left." And then for me it's just like, "I just want to be able to see something that resembles all of these memories!" One day, that would be nice. I also want to visit Ghana. I do have a couple of connections there with teachers I've collaborated with. So I feel like it would be cool to actually be there, and it's something so different from my experience here. South Africa would also be cool. And Asia too! I really want to go everywhere. It's hard to say what's at the top of my list because there are just so many cool places in the world.

R: And just not enough time or money, to me. If I could travel for a living, I sure would.

M: Yeah. Well, thank you so much for being so honest and researching your answers. I learned a lot just from hearing you talk about your country and things like that, so thank you.

R: No problem!

See previous posts for Parts I and II of this interview.

Dispelling British Myths: Interview with Rianne Part II

To get to know Rianne better, I asked her to share some of the highlights of her home country. I think we both came out of this section learning a lot about the other's country, both present and historically. Read on to learn about a side of England you may not have known about.

M: Since we're talking about England, I’ve actually never been there. I really hope to go one day. What’s something about your country that might surprise or intrigue people?

R: Now, this I looked up quite a few things and I learned a lot about my own country. I will reel off a few things that I found. The first thing I want to point out, and this isn't a fact, it's just something I want people to know about England. It doesn't rain all the time. It really doesn't. We haven't had rain for a long time, so I kind of want it to rain. That's the number one myth. It does rain. We do have that kind of climate where if it does rain, it's going to be a bit nonstop, but it's not all day every single day.

This is another thing that lots of people maybe think and assume about England because we're so small. A lot people I've met have asked me, "Have you met the Queen?" And I'm like, "No..." or they'll ask, "Oh, I have relatives in England. Do you know them?" And I say, "No, no I don't. Why would I?" We're not that small! We're small in size, but with the amount of people packed in, there's no chance I'm going to know them. That would be the craziest small world story if I did happen to know them.

M: But you know what's funny, I have a colleague who's from Australia, and he told me that he once got to perform ballroom dance for Princess Diana. But he's not even from England, he's from Australia!

R: That's something else that people think we're obsessed with - the royals. We're not. I feel like other countries are more obsessed with our royal family than we are.

M: There are definitely a lot of Americans who are obsessed with the royal family.

R: Yeah, and I don't know why. I like the younger generation of royals like Harry and Meghan, William and Kate; I love all of them. But not the older ones, I'm not such a big fan.

M: I think part of it is just the appeal. In America, we've never had anyone with the title of king or queen. If you look back at colonialism and how America as we know it today got started, a lot of people who disagreed with the policies that the king presented decided, "We're going to go and start our own country."

R: You know they never taught us anything like that in England in history. So I didn't know why Independence Day [in the US] was Independence Day. I didn't know it was being independent from Britain. They kind of sweeped that under the carpet here. Maybe it's like the big shame.

M: I'm honestly kind of shocked! I mean, England has colonized so many countries. Do you know about the colonization of India?

R: I know that we had colonization. Do we still have colonization? I don't even know. I know that we still have a Commonwealth with lots of countries, but I thought we were losing lots of colonies that we had. But one thing that I did read was that the Queen supposedly owns, well not owns, I don't know if that's the right word, 1/6th of the earth that she still rules over or has had some kind of power over at one point or another, which is crazy!

M: Yeah, there was the expression, "The sun never sets on the British Empire, " because they had so many colonies all over the world at one point that no matter where you were in the world, it would have been daylight somewhere.

The territories that were at one time or another part of the British Empire. The United Kingdom and its accompanying British Overseas Territories are underlined in red.

R: Yeah! I've got some more cool things. I don't think people realize how many different accents we have in England. I think a lot of people assume that it's just like Posh or Cockney. They seem to be the main two that are shown in the media or on TV. So you can travel 25 miles down the road, and it would be a completely different accent. I can often meet someone, hear their accent, and be like, "You are from Birmingham." Whereas maybe in America, I know you have different accents, but maybe you wouldn't know specifically, "You are from this city."

M: I think it depends because there are regional accents and within those that are more specific accents. So I think if you live in a certain region, you get really good at recognizing accents in that region. I can recognize, with those who have heavier accents, what a Boston accent sounds like versus New York or Connecticut. But if you went down south, a lot of Northerners have this conception of what a Southern accent sounds like, but if you went to individual Southern states, and even some cities, you would see that there was a huge difference. So I get that feeling of not realizing just how many accents there are in one place. It's kind of cool!

R: Yeah! That's something I really do like. Oh, another cool thing I found out is that here, in England, you're never more than 75 miles from the sea anywhere in the country. We [also] have over 100 islands in England, which maybe people didn't know. I didn't know that! I could think of maybe 5. We have over 1,500 castles if you like that kind of thing. We have so many of those! The whole of the UK is smaller than the state of Oregon. We are tiny!

M: That's crazy! I didn't realize that it was quite that small. When you say England, do you just mean England or are you including all of the UK?

R: For size, I mean all of the UK. The UK is made up England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, but Great Britain is just England, Wales, and Scotland. Oh, and the other thing that I think is interesting is our national dish. People would assume that it's fish and chips or a rice dinner, but it's actually curry.

M: Really? Curry? That probably stemmed from some Indian connections there.

M: Awesome, thanks for sharing that! I remember one of the things we chatted about was English slang. I think that many Americans’ understanding of British slang (especially that of millennials) comes from Harry Potter. Just for fun, what are some slang words and phrases you can share?

Rianne:

Cheeky - mischievous

Fit - hot, attractive

Minging - disgusting

Cheers - thanks

Taking the mick - making fun of someone

Mint - cool

Gutted - sad about something

Pants - rubbish

Bog - bathroom

Scrummy - yummy (scrumptious and yummy combined)

Nowt - nothing

Mug - gullible (You're a mug!)

Snog - make out

Skint - poor

Bagsy - calling dibs or shotgun

I know English has obviously originated here, but we just took the language and destroyed it ourselves [Laughs]. That's probably a bit harsh.

M: I don't think it's so much destroyed as it evolves. As with any language, as time goes on, new words develop, new ideas of how to communicate develop. There was English slang in the 1800s too, and it was pretty different but it was also slang! Slang has always existed as a way to make talking more fun, I think. That's a good list of words, thank you!

Map is composed from the following sources:

Stewart, John (1996) "Cyrenaica" The British Empire: an encyclopedia of the Crown's holdings, 1493 through 1995, McFarland & Co. ISBN: 0-7864-0177-X. 

Brown, Judith (1998) The Twentieth Century, The Oxford History of the British Empire Volume IV, Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199246793. 

Dalziel, Nigel (2006) The Penguin Historical Atlas of the British Empire, Penguin ISBN: 0141018445.

STAY TUNED FOR PART III OF THE INTERVIEW.

From England to the US: Interview with Rianne Part I

Rianne

I had the pleasure of interviewing Rianne, a chocoholic and lover of travel who often gets "itchy feet" as the expression goes. Every one of her trips must include trying the best dessert in the area. She lives in England in the city of Southampton, famous for being the port city from which the Titanic departed. She was visiting Los Angeles last summer and stayed in the same room as me in the Walk of Fame hostel on Hollywood Boulevard. In our chat, she shares a great deal about her travels on the West Coast and how it compares to her home country.

Mariya: Can you share a bit about what brought you to Los Angeles last summer?

Rianne: I'm quite the movie and TV program addict. That's why a lot of places I go are normally places I've seen on TV or in a movie somewhere. So that's why I look up where they filmed something and I say, "OK, I can go there and there when I'm in this city." 

[LA is] the ideal place to go when you're a bit of a movie buff because it was fascinating for me to see soooo many places there that I had seen on TV, and also going to a couple of the studios. I got to see the magic of how they put everything together. 

M: What did you enjoy the most about your trip? 

R: Do you mean overall or specifically Los Angeles?

M: We could talk about both!

R: Overall, it would be catching up with a lot of my friends who I hadn't seen in a long time. They're people that I've met through travel. I realized there were quite a few on the West Coast, so that's why I decided to do that route when I went. Then obviously making a lot of new friends, like you, along the way, which was really nice!

Something else that I enjoy doing that I forgot to say was going on walks and hikes, so that was a big part of my trip as well. Not when it was too hot! That's why I didn't get to do the hike to the Hollywood sign; I really wanted to do that.

M: It was really hot when we went, I have to say.

R: I would like to do that, so I definitely want to go back to do that. Well, it's LA so it's always going to be warm, but when it's cooler in the day. When I went to Runyon Canyon, about an hour or two before sunset and that was perfect. It was just nice and refreshing when I went.

Other parts of LA that I liked: obviously the studios. Oh, Hugh Jackman! I got to see him when I went to the Hollywood Bowl, which was amazing. That was one of my favorite bits. I did that one as a YOLO thing. We weren't far where we were staying from the Hollywood Bowl, were we? It was like a 10-15 minute walk. The night before I went, I walked up and I was just planning to listen, and when I could hear him singing that night, I was like, "I need to get a ticket." So I just went to the ticket office and was like, "Do you have any tickets for tomorrow?" and then I just booked one. I've never done that before. I'm very organized when I go places. I have everything planned out and scheduled. So that was a "treat yourself" moment. I'm so glad I did it! He is worth every penny! He's brilliant.

Oh, and one of my favorite days was my last day with you guys! That was like the perfect last day. It was really good, especially ending with the gig. That was fun!

M: Did you find that coming to the US was a culture shock?

R: I don't think it is because I feel like in some ways we are quite similar as countries. I feel like of all the countries in the world, America and the UK are kind of "best buddies."

M: Well, yes and no.

R: I don't know, because maybe we're more so with Canada. But that's what it feels like to us. And because I had been to America quite a few times before, so I'm more used to it.

A few things that I was kind of aware of...it's not so much culture though...I was very anxious about guns. Very, very anxious. When I was by myself, I would always be kind of looking over my shoulder and planning an escape route if the worst happened, like was there anywhere I could take cover, that kind of thing, which I would never ever think about back home.

I [also] feel like strangers are a lot more friendly in America. I don't know if that's something you find or I just came across some nice people.

M: It's hard to say. I think there are a lot of stereotypes about different parts of the US and how they act towards tourists. I think California and the West Coast in general have a more positive view where they're friendlier and more laid back. I would say there are definitely a lot of stereotypes around New York, where I'm from, that are like "they're the rudest, they're the meanest, they'll brush you off."

R: I didn't get that impression at all when I was in New York! Everyone I came across was friendly.

M: Thank you! [Laughs]

R: I think it's the opposite. In England, as a stereotype, we're thought of as being super polite, but I don't think that's the case at all. We really keep to ourselves. In America, you'll pass someone and they'll say "hi." That rarely happens in England. If someone says "hi" to us, we're like "Whoa! Why are you talking to me?" We really keep to ourselves and we're kind of stuck up.

M: You think that's true for England? Because I know that's a stereotype some people have.

R: I really do. In my experience, anyway. Maybe it's just in southern England. People from northern England tend to be friendlier. I can say that because I am from the South and we do have a big North-South divide. But I will admit, they are friendlier.

I've also noticed that there aren't really any pubs in America, mostly bars. We have some bars in the UK too, but really pubs are more homey and quaint. You can sit by a roaring fire, it's more of a family place where people go to get a pub meal. And there are over 60,000 pubs in England.

STAY TUNED FOR PARTS II AND III OF THIS INTERVIEW.

One Summer Ago in the City of Angels

Since traveling this summer is an unsafe option, let me take you back to a simpler and more carefree time when I joined two of my high school friends on a trip to Los Angeles, California for a week. It was the farthest west I had ever travelled in the United States up until then, and I was excited to experience the West Coast! My friends had already booked their Airbnb, and I decided to opt for a hostel since I was joining in fairly last minute. I found one aptly named "Walk of Fame" right on Hollywood Boulevard in the middle of all the action. Hostels are great if you want something affordable and you don't plan to spend too much time in the room. It definitely caters more towards a young professionals and college student crowd. Most of the rooms contain bunk beds and each person is generally expected to put their own sheets on the bed as well as remove them at the end of the trip rather than getting regular room service the way you would in a hotel. This particular one also had a few separate rooms with regular beds available for families for a slightly higher price. 

After getting acquainted with the space and rules pertaining to it, I entered my room of 6 bunk beds to find that some of the women there already knew each other. I wasn't expecting to get to know any of them over the course of a single week in this city. However, one of the young ladies who had been staying there for some time already said hello and made an effort to get to know me. Rianne had been travelling from her home country of England around the US for a couple weeks already learning the lay of the land and meeting new people regularly. She eagerly shared stories of her travels with me both in and outside of LA. Knowing that this city was the hotspot for meeting celebrities and seeing where they lived, Rianne had done her research on where she should go to meet her favorite stars. After visiting one of the many film studios in the LA area for a tour, she shared that she had the chance to briefly meet Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia who are cast members of one of her favorite shows, This Is Us. She was just gushing about them! I was also impressed with how detailed and thorough her plans were. She did not want to waste a minute of her time, and I admired that about her. 

The Walk of Fame Hostel offered free or low cost tourist trips around the city for those who were staying in the hostel, and the guide let my friends staying at another place join as well. The Griffith Observatory is a beautiful lookout point in Griffith Park in LA that also has a science museum inside the main building and a couple of old telescopes you can peek at. On the way there, we took a train and a bus, which gave us plenty of time to connect with others in the group. We started chatting with Carolina, who works in Hyatt Hotels in Argentina. My friend, Yaniza, is a native Spanish speaker, so they quickly bonded over their common language background. My friend, Kevin, had studied abroad for a month in Bueno Aires, so he was able to share his stories with her, too. My knowledge of Argentinian culture was limited to the language and dance of Argentinian Tango, which for those who are familiar with ballroom lingo, is distinctly different from International or American Tango. Over the course of that excursion, we established ourselves as acquaintances with Carolina and hoped to see her again. 

Santa Monica Pier
(Left to Right: Carolina, Rianne, Kevin, Yaniza, me)

Rianne and Carolina both joined me for breakfast (independently of each other) in the hostel the day following the Griffith Observatory trip. Yaniza, Kevin, and I had planned a beach day seeing as this is California and the summertime. I invited them both to accompany us, and they were happy to do so! We started out our walk down Hollywood Blvd. taking pictures of us next to some of our favorite stars, and after some time realized that the restaurant where we agreed to meet my friends was a short distance by car, but not on foot. We quickly hopped in a Lyft and made our way to an early lunch/brunch at a place called "Egg Sl*t." Yes, that really was the name of the place. Then we ordered another car that got us to the Santa Monica beach where the driver shared that he is from the middle east leading us to all reveal the various countries we each come from - we were an international car! At the beach, I learned from Carolina the tradition of drinking maté, a strongly caffeinated drink that is the national beverage of Argentina. We talked about our lives, our beliefs, politics, and so much more. There is something so freeing about sharing deep and meaningful conversations with acquaintances that you meet in a new place. 

Celebrating after Yaniza's show

Later that day, I let the ladies know about the main reason we came to LA in the first place. Yaniza is a singer-songwriter who was on tour, and she had a performance scheduled for that same day in a restaurant. After getting back to the hostel and changing, Rianne and Carolina accompanied me to the restaurant before the show for dinner. We then watched Yaniza's spectacular performance and Rianne was so moved that she bought Yaniza's CD that she had for sale. 

After that day, one by one we said goodbye to one another as each departed for different destinations: Yaniza and Kevin went to the next tour destination in Nashville, Tennessee; Rianne and Carolina were off to other parts of the country. Meanwhile, I flew back home to Boston. We vowed to stay in touch after the trip through WhatsApp. Here we are one year later continuing to share insights about our lives especially in the era of COVID-19, politics, language, and more. I look forward to the day where we can travel and be in each others' company again.  

Note: Real names were used with permission.