Name: Rachel Staggs
Hometown: Austin, TX, USA
[Rachel Staggs on The Charles Bridge, Prague – Czech Republic]
Number of stamps on your passport: 29 stamps! Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, Monaco, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, England, Ireland, Canada, Mexico.
First international travel experience: Russia in 1987. I went with a group of music students and we performed concerts in three cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, which at the time was called Leningrad.
Most recent international travel experience: Just a few months ago I toured with my husband and our band, All In The Golden Afternoon, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, followed by LP recording sessions in London, England.
Jobs held that have involved global travel: Musician and Photographer. Being a musician and vocalist has offered me the opportunity to travel many times. I always take cameras with me on these adventures, sometimes up to six film cameras. I capture what intrigues me and offer many of these photographs for sale in my Etsy shop (http://www.etsy.com/shop/rachelgoldstar).
Top Touristy Travel Destination Recommendation: I would say (for now) it’s a tie between Paris and Prague. I loved the neighborhood feel and cafe culture in Paris. I also found amazing vegan food in Paris. I really liked the Metro too. So far it is my favorite underground transit system. My personal tip for Paris is to learn a bit of the language, especially if you have any food allergies or aversions. You will have a better experience. I’m quite shy and that part was difficult, but after a few days, I found it to be integral. Prague is just magical. Yes, it’s touristy, but the rest of the country is not. It’s a good starting point for exploring the region. It felt very different than any other European city I’ve been to. It felt more like St. Petersburg. Of course I have been to both Paris and Prague during the off season, so they weren’t very touristy. I did spend 5 days in The Cinque Terre (Italy) during the summer and while it was full of people, as well as a fantastic celebration of Italy winning the World Cup, I never felt overwhelmed by tourists. It was beautiful and peaceful. The Ligurian Sea has the bluest water I’ve ever seen. My husband and I kayaked round-trip from one village to another. It felt a bit dangerous (no life-vests provided), but was one of the best experiences of my life.
Off-the-beaten-path Destination Recommendation: Donostia, Spain. I fell in love with its own blue hue of water and three beaches that each serve a specific population of beachgoer. The pintxos! I ate boquerones for breakfast every morning. My favorite day was spent exploring Spanish shops, insisting on a pintxos crawl all afternoon, then watching the sunset from the surfer beach. I could move there today and possibly spend the rest of my life there. Plus, the weather is spectacular; it never reaches 110 degrees F like it does in Austin. It was recently named the 2016 European Capital of Culture. I also fell in love with Sumperk, Czech Republic. There was an underlying creative vibe and we stumbled onto a cool art scene. I was there in the off season (it’s a ski resort village), so it was quiet and quaint. That area of Moravia is beautiful and there must be something else going on because I saw ghosts in both Sumperk and Olomouc. That was a first.
[When we found out we were playing in Bratislava, Slovakia we did a bit of research and stumbled upon Novy Most (New Bridge) which crosses the Danube River. It is the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge to have one pylon and one cable-stayed plane. I knew I had to take a photograph of this amazing structure. We discovered a restaurant inside the saucer-shaped building atop the bridge called UFO, so that is where we had my birthday dinner! We could see Bratislava Castle from our table and pretty much all of the city and river. It was quite spectacular and unforgettable.]
Solo travel tip: Pack less. I tend to pack too much. Last year I was able to snag the 5-day All You Can Jet pass from JetBlue Airlines and traveled solo for five weeks across the United States (I extended the monthlong JetBlue pass another week by using my American Airlines Advantage miles); I learned how to pack less. I learned how to dress in layers and stick with a color palette that would all work together. For me, that usually means dark-colored clothes, but that seems to work better anyway when trying to blend in as a local in Europe. Also, take a disposable camera in addition to your digital, or beloved film camera. I once had my digital stolen with over 350 images of my trip, including photographs taken while recording in a studio near Bristol, England (I could see Wales from the window). That is a place I may never get to visit again. Luckily, I had one disposable camera with me and captured one roll of film during my entire trip. It didn’t quite make up for the 350+ lost ones, but I still have two images from that roll framed. I’m grateful I had it. I would say take a journal if you are the journal keeping type. I always take one, but never write in it on a consistent basis.
Family travel tip: Discuss (or even better, write down, possibly in a travel journal you will take with you) what you desire to see or experience in each destination. Compare your lists and make a master list of places that everyone wants to go to. Plan your solo excursions around those group outings. Try to meet at least once a day for a meal all together when possible.
Camera equipment: Olympus PEN E-PL1, Panasonic 20mm Lumix G lens, Lensbaby Composer with Tilt Transformer lens. That is my digital set-up. My film based cameras include Holga 120S, Holga 120CFN, Holga 135, Brilliant 35mm, Yashica A, Diana F+, Lomo Fisheye, Lomo Golden Half, Smena-35, Lomo ActionSampler Clear, Lomo Pop 9, SuperSampler, Polaroid 600, Fuji Instax Mini 25, Polaroid Land Camera The Reporter, Oktomat, and a Black Slim Devil.
[I had a difficult time choosing just one photograph from the Sedlec Ossuary. It is one of the most stunning places I’ve ever been. It is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people. Apparently, earth from Golgotha was sprinkled over the cemetery and it became a desirable burial site throughout Central Europe. When it came time to build a church on the site, the mass graves were unearthed. In 1870, František Rint, a woodcarver, was hired to put the bones in order. What he did was create a work of art. In the center of the church there is a chandelier that contains every human bone in the body. My husband was a bit creeped out, but I didn’t want to leave. I was in awe. It was about 50 degrees F outside, but in the church we could see our breath it was so cold.]
Do you always carry your camera with you? (if so, in what?): When I’m traveling I always have my camera with me. At home, I have it with me about 5 out of 7 days. It used to always be my Holga, but recently, it’s been my Olympus PEN. I carry it in a small shoulder bag that I purchased for my camcorder. It’s small enough to put inside a large purse. I am in the market for something proper to carry my digital gear in though. When I take out my film cameras, I carry them in a navy blue 1970s train-case. It’s perfect for road trips because the cameras are easily accessible, but protected. It doesn’t work well for plane or train travel though. I haven’t found anything that works well for carrying around my various film cameras during overseas travel. Thankfully, with technology, I have a cell phone that takes good photos. If I leave my camera at home, I have a creative photographic tool with me at all times.
What is the best thing about traveling as a part of your job? Traveling as part of my job allows me to experience new cultures, see breathtaking architecture, take photographs, meet locals and try to find my place in the local experience. As a performer, I get the chance to be connected with the places I visit almost instantly because I meet the locals who are hosting the shows or hosting us in their homes. Touring overseas is especially thrilling for me. I love hearing different languages every day and meeting people in remote places who have a similar passion for music.
[When we went for our morning espresso, we found out Dame Elizabeth Taylor had passed away while we were in Vienna, Austria.]
What is the worst thing about traveling as a part of your job? There never seems to be enough time to explore. I want to immerse myself in the local culture and always hope for at least a half day or more in each place. That means I have to get to sleep after the gig, or I am too tired to wake early enough to venture out for more than an espresso. I am inspired visually as a photographer when traveling as a musician, but have to get to the next show, so the photographer in me is sometimes frustrated when on tour. It is quite often I see something amazing from the car window and we don’t have time to stop.
What recommendations do you have for those that would like to find work in a field similar to your own? Be prepared for a lot of DIY work. I’ve been involved in booking and promoting every tour I’ve been on. I have managed nearly every band I’ve been in. It’s not a fruitful business, but if you love it and work hard, you can make it what you want. These days it’s easier for musicians to get their music out into the world and connect with each other. Technology is really on our side (in most aspects).
[I am new to using GPS systems. We had one for this most recent tour. I’m grateful we did, but in my learning curve, I accidentally chose to accept a route without toll roads. This took us out of our way and we were nearly late for load-in. The magic of my mistake is that we drove by this church. I saw it from the road and begged that we stop so I could take some photographs. I was there all of 10 minutes and a local arrived to see what we were up to. He didn’t speak to me, but saw me with my cameras and paused for a moment to look up at the church, as if he forgot how amazingly beautiful it is. After getting back in the car, I re-routed us, realized my mistake and why it was taking us so long to get to Bratislava, Slovakia.]
Soapbox: If you’re drunk in some lovely French wine-making village, please don’t yell out, “I’m hungry. I want some cheese. Mangez!” to your girlfriends. It’s obnoxious and it kind of ruins it for the rest of us Americans. Please do drink loads of wine and eat mounds of cheese, but don’t holler through the cobblestone streets about it.
Why is travel personally important to you? I feel like every time I travel, I learn something about myself in addition to learning about a new culture or different part of the world. I love to learn. I never want to stop learning and I feel I learn better through experience.
What’s the biggest mark travel has left on you? I want more. I can’t seem to travel enough. It’s left me more curious. Call it an addiction. I rationalize that it’s a healthy one. Small Texas towns are just as interesting to me as walking the streets of Barcelona. I love to explore, especially in cultures that are vastly different from mine. An hour outside of Austin is surprisingly different.
What’s the biggest mark you have left on the world? I hope I’ve taken some interesting photographs and made beautiful music along the way. I hope to make a positive impact as a traveler by expressing my curiosity, respecting my surroundings, and being vulnerable to new experiences in new cultures.