Trip Coach: July 25, 2006

BT: How did you get your awesome job? Josh: I started my company, Level 1, out of my dormroom at Dartmouth College back in 2000, to put together ski videos for fun while I was recovering from a knee injury that kept me sidelined from competition. I certainly never planned on making a career out of it, but that first project received good feedback and interest from both the ski industry and distributors who would encourage me to make another video in what was my last year in school. Even when I graduated I didn't think it was going anywhere, but felt obligated to give it another year or two to see how things played out. Five years later we're certainly not some large operation with an office staff and interns running around making coffee (we do have one!), but with the help of a few others, Level 1 churns out some of the most progressive, well respected, and best selling ski films in the world. BT: What do you love most about your job? Josh: What I love most is that my job is ultimately a creative outlet. It certainly forces me to be assertive and log considerable time on the business and logistical side of things, but ultimately I'm producing a film that is my creative vision, a story representing the past winter's biggest and best skiing exploits, as I see it. In addition to that, it's truly amazing to see the affect that my films have on people. To know that what I'm doing is directly affecting and inspiring a new generation of skiers all over the globe blows my mind, and really makes me strive to push the limits of what's going on in ski film production. BT: What advice do you have for someone who wants to do what you do? Josh: First and foremost, make sure you're passionate about it, because it's honestly not half as glamorous and exciting as it would appear, and most people that get their feet wet in ski filmmaking don't last because they're not willing, able, or prepared to put up with all the trials and tribulations that come with the territory. Beyond that, study and practice photography before you try to get too heavily involved with filmmaking. Cinematography is ultimately taking 24 still images per second (or 30 with video), so if you don't have the basics of good shot composition, framing, and lighting down for the purpose of taking one still image, you can't likely expect to get great images out of a 16mm film or video. Lastly, nothing is ultimately more valuable than experience, so spend as much time as possible immersing yourself in whatever it is that you want to do. BT: What the worst job-related travel experience you've ever had? Josh: Traveling in Europe for five weeks with 200+ pounds worth of equipment during the winter of 2005 comes to mind. For one, European society is just not designed for excess in any capacity, whether it's small hotel rooms, cars that won't fit large gear bags, or airlines that levy insane fines for overweight baggage. I spent a few weeks shooting in Switzerland, and had booked a separate flight on KLM through Northwest Airlines for a side trip up to Norway. I went over everything in great detail with the agent I spoke to, who assured me that there would be no problem assuming my two checked pieces weighed in at under 70 pounds. Upon showing up at the Geneva airport, the folks at KLM laughed as they insisted that I was limited to a total baggage weight of 20kg, and promptly tallied up charges for over $1,500 for my bags, one way, on what was originally a $300 ticket. Another $1,200 tab on the return flight ensured that I'll never fly Northwest or KLM ever again! BT: How has your job changed the way you travel? Josh: The amount of traveling I've done over the past few years has certainly made me more savvy on how to find deals, how to stretch a dollar, and how to get the most out of everything a particular place has to offer. Moreover, it has also made me realize that having a connection to someone indigenous to the region you're visiting adds so much to the experience. It's nice to be a tourist in the traditional sense, but knowing someone that can really show you around will often expose you to the local culture, people, and places in a way that's infinitely more valuable and enriching.

BT: How did you get your awesome job? Jacob: Like Robert Johnson, I sold my soul to the Devil...Actually, I have long been an aficionado of the intersection between music and culture. As a fan of music and travel, it made sense to combine my two passions. I received my Masters Degree in Ethnomusicology from UCLA and after finishing school I started working for a small start-up--a world music distributor and record label. We weren't very big, but the work we did got a lot of attention within the world music community, and Dan Storper, the CEO and founder of Putumayo, liked the work we were doing. I met Dan at a music industry conference in New Orleans in 1997, and we immediately hit it off. Up until he hired me, Dan had done most of the music research himself, but he realized that he didn't have the time to do justice to the job, so he hired me to take over the responsibility of listening to the hundreds of demos and traveling the world to discover new music and artists. It's not always an easy job, though. I have to suffer through a lot of pretty bad music in search of those hidden musical gems that end up on Putumayo compilations. Also, we have a limited number of slots each year for new artists and music, so there are many more great artists that haven't yet been on a Putumayo compilation. BT: What do you love most about your job? Jacob: I love the fact that I learn something new every day. Really, the work I do at Putumayo is like school, except I get paid for it. There's always something new to discover--new areas of the world with music that I've never heard before. I also get to read up on a lot of other non-musical things, such as the history of wine, coffee, and tea for our food-themed collections. I also feel really happy with the fact that hundreds of thousands of people around the world have discovered new music and been introduced to other cultures through Putumayo. I know from personal experience what an impact discovering new music can have on people, and I have received many letters from Putumayo's fans over the years commenting on how the collections have opened up new worlds for them and helped set them on a totally different life path. The ultimate goal of the compilations is to foster awareness and appreciation of cultural diversity, and I feel that they've helped a lot of people learn new things about the world around them that they might not have otherwise been exposed to. BT: What advice do you have for someone who wants to do what you do? Jacob: I have a unique job, so I can't really say that it's a likely career path for many people. Most ethnomusicologists pursue careers in academia or the public sector, and not many have made a career in the commercial music business. My best advice is to follow your passion, learn as much as you can, and always try to excel...good things will come to you. BT: What the worst job-related travel experience you've ever had? Jacob: Funny, I can't think of one. My trips are usually over too soon, but otherwise I've never had any dramatically bad experiences on any of my journeys. BT: How has your job changed the way you travel? Jacob: I rarely have time to see the sights, museums, or usual tourist attractions. I've been to Paris dozens of times over the past 10 years, but it wasn't until I went with my family last year that I actually visited the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame. I usually spend most of my time at record stores, recording studios, music production offices, festival sites, and concert venues. Usually, I have a local person who's an expert on the local music scene who takes me around and gets me into places most people wouldn't have access to. I often find myself hanging out backstage or in recording studios with artists who are considered superstars in their local countries and who most people there would never be able to hang with. It's kind of like if someone from some far-off land went to England to do music research and spent his time driving around with Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney. My job has taught me that it's really important to try to establish a local connection before you go to a country, because that person can help you get behind closed doors and show you things that reflect how people in that country actually live, not just how they are experienced by outsiders.

BT: How did you get your awesome job? Kevin: I was working as a mountain guide in my hometown of Whistler, British Columbia. In 1996, the Eco-Challenge Expedition Race came to Whistler. (The Eco-Challenge was a multi-sport endurance race that was held in a different international location each year. It was filmed for television) The Race Technical Director, Scott Flavelle, gave me a job working as a guide for a camera crew on the mountain section of the race course. From this initial opportunity, I was offered a position as the Race Coordinator for the 1997 race in Australia. I eventually became the Race Manager for Eco-Challenge , a position which took me to Morocco, Argentina, Chile, Malaysian Borneo, New Zealand, and Fiji. The work with Eco-Challenge led to other opportunities such as producing challenges for Survivor and Treasure Hunters. BT: What do you love most about your job? Kevin: I find that working in other countries, as opposed to just traveling through them, really exposes you to different elements of the location, culture, and people. I suppose what I love the most about the job is seeing such an authentic side of so many foreign countries. I have met countless life-long friends this way. BT: What advice do you have for someone who wants to do what you do? Kevin: Currently, I spilt my time guiding in the mountains and working as a television producer. For anyone that wants to become a professional mountain guide, my first piece of advice would be become certified by either the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides or the American Mountain Guides Association. Being a certified guide should present you with many exciting opportunities. For work in television production, here is the bad news; you usually have to start at the bottom. The good news is that there are a lot of opportunities to move up quickly. Go out, get your feet wet, work hard and keep your eyes out for opportunities that will allow you to advance. Don't stagnate in a dead end position. You're better than that! BT: What the worst job-related travel experience you've ever had? Kevin: It has to do with being in a taxi cab late at night in Nairobi, Kenya. The cab driver was lost in a dodgy part of town and keep pulling over to ask directions from very suspect individuals. Why was this so bad? Let's just say they don't call it Nai-robbery for nothing. BT: How has your job changed the way you travel? Kevin: It has certainly made me a more efficient traveler. I know a lot of little tricks that make travel more streamlined and less of a hassle, like get a window seat so you can lean against it and sleep, or bring your own snacks and water and don't count on the airline to do anything but get you there. A lot of times, if you can get off the plane and out of the airport smoothly then the hardest part of the journey is over!

BT: How did you get your awesome job? Tony: In 1972, I was recently married, 25 years old and just graduating with an MBA. Maureen (the other half of the 'recently married') and I decided to take a year off and get travel out of our systems by following the 'hippy trail' across Asia to Australia. We had such an amazing time in places like Iran and Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, and South-East Asia -- remember the Vietnam war was still on -- that we wrote a book about it, Across Asia on the Cheap, and that was the start of Lonely Planet. BT: What do you love most about your job? Tony: Of course LP today has hundreds of writers, and although I still love guidebook writing and try and do some every year, I'm no longer necessary for the company. Nor am I needed on the business side; we have lots of hard-working and dedicated staff that's far more talented in the business sense than I am. But I still get to travel a lot and get to do a lot of what made LP's name in the first place--getting to those really unusual out-of-the-way places. How many people can claim they've been a tourist in Afghanistan, Angola, Central African Republic, and Iraq in the past 12 months? BT: What advice do you have for someone who wants to do what you do? Tony: Travel. There's no other way of learning the travel business than to travel. It's a learn- by-doing job. BT: What the worst job-related travel experience you've ever had? Tony: I don't think I've ever had a really bad experience. I've said often enough that you can be cold, tired, hungry, fed up, frightened but never, ever are you bored. And in the world today, that's worth a lot. I think of moments like being with a bunch of people on a fishing boat crossing from Nukufetau to Vaitupu in the Tuvalu Islands, so crowded the only space was on deck and then going through a rainstorm where you got soaking wet and freezing cold. But wow, there you are out in the middle of the Pacific. I wouldn't miss that for anything. BT: How has your job changed the way you travel? Tony: Well, the fact that I get to do a lot of it is obviously important. But you can never switch off. Any restaurant you eat in, you take notes. What I particularly like are the extremes. In the last few months I've stayed at the Minaret of Jam guest house in Afghanistan, where you unroll your sleeping bag on the floor, and the Banyan Tree Resort in Phuket, Thailand, where you have your own swimming pool in your own garden. Last year, I flew from Cape Town to Casablanca via nine different African countries with an assortment of mainly American travel addicts (and not a Bush voter amongst them!) in a chartered aircraft. But I also traveled from Singapore to Shanghai via Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and finally China, and stuck strictly to surface-level public transport: bus, train, car, boat, motorcycle (quite a few motorcycle taxis along the way), and even the back of a truck in Cambodia.