PERSONALITY PROFILE
BY LANI GERING
Scott takes a break on the South Inylchek Glacier in Kyrgyzstan • Witnessing sunrise over the Maasai Mara in Kenya from a hot air balloon • Summiting the World’s highest free-standing mountain, Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania • Successfully reaching Everest Base Camp in Nepal • Free diving with sea turtles in Samoa • Witnessing the scale and majesty of Victoria Falls in Zambia by helicopter • Canoeing and wild camping in the Okavango Delta in Botswana • Descending from South Inylchek glacier in Kyrgyzstan by former soviet army helicopter • Witnessing sunrise over Petra, Jordan • Driving the entire length of India in a motorized rickshaw • Watching the sun rise over the ancient temples of Angkor Wat, Cambodia
The World Through the Eye of Scott Dicken
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any of you loyal readers will recognize this guy. His photos and writings have been appearing on the pages of the Old Town Crier every month for the past few years. This month we took the time to interview our resident travel columnist, Scott Dicken, author of Take Photos, Leave Footprints. I met Scott several years ago when he was a single guy reporting to one of my BFF’s after transferring to DC from London. She was working in the DC office of the UK-based Crown Agents at the time. We have since become friends as well. Being a Brit, he has that charming accent and wry sense of humor that most English people possess. He is definitely a good guy to invite to a party! As I have gotten to know him and his beautiful wife Ashton on a social level, I find their adventures quite entertaining and I thought you all might like a bit of insight to his love of travel and what inspired him to establish his travel blog, TakePhotosLeaveFootprints. com. OTC: Tell us a bit about yourself and what inspired your love of travel. SD: I grew up outside of London. My summers typically incorporated the family’s annual vacation, and throughout the year, my friends and I organized weekends away whenever low-cost European airfares and hostels afforded us the opportunity. It wasn’t until a month-long expedition circumnavigating Iceland when I was 17 that the travel bug truly bit hard. This led to month-long trips to South Africa and Chile in between university semesters. I wanted my career to include travel opportunities, and that decision resulted in me moving to Washington, DC (which explains my predominantly English writing style, but occasionally Americanized spelling and 4
April 2022
grammar). Now with an American wife in tow, my job takes me around the World. In any month, I could travel to any combination of countries in SubSaharan Africa, Asia, the South Pacific, Europe, and Latin America. My holidays are similar – my wife and I like to vary continents each year and to push our vacation allowance to the limit. This has taught me that it’s possible to travel the world and visit new places with just a limited vacation allowance and a whole lot of desire! What’s your favorite country? Second to “how many countries have you been to?” this is probably the question I get asked most often. It’s also the one I most struggle to answer. Each country is so different and there are certain aspects about a lot of individual places that I really like; making it near impossible to give a definitive answer. However, if I was really pushed then I’d probably say Namibia. I’ve spent a few months in Namibia and no matter how many times I visit I still get the same giddy excitement I got as kid the first time I visited Disneyworld. The diversity of landscapes and cultures means that every morning you wake up to a different experience. What is your favorite on-the-road moment? Honestly, I don’t have one. Sometimes the simplest of things, like a good glass of wine and some arancini sitting in one of Rome’s many squares can be the highlight of a trip. On other occasions I’ll go well out of my way to capture a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experience. That said, some of my most memorable travel moments that always spring to mind include: • Gorilla trekking in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park
• Scuba diving in some of the most bio-diverse waters in the world in Egypt • Witnessing a voodoo ceremony in the Voundoun capital of the world; Ouidah in Benin • Mountain biking through the national parks of Swaziland (now Eswatini) • Experiencing the wildebeest migration in the Serengeti, Tanzania • Cooking Christmas dinner for 30 people whilst camping on the Torres Del Paine Trekking Circuit in Chile • Diving with sharks off the coast of Fiji What’s your favorite city? Outside of the two cities I’ve lived in for any significant amount of time (London and Washington D.C.) I’d have to say Rome, although Hong Kong ran a close race. I’ve visited Rome several times and had some amazing experiences. There’s obviously a huge number of sights to see, but Rome is more than that. Half the reason I love Rome centers on the cultural experience. There’s simply nothing better than spending an afternoon eating your way around the city followed by an evening sitting in a piazza drinking wine. It’s the ultimate form of relaxation and self-indulgence. What keeps you sane on the road? I always find this an interesting question because it’s the road itself that keeps me sane. Travel writing and blogging is a hobby for me. Unlike a lot of other travel writers and bloggers who are living the dream, I spend a substantial portion of my time sitting at a desk. Thankfully, my work takes me out on the road for about 3-4 months each year (at least it did before the pandemic), most often to Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Without those regular departures from the office I imagine I’d go stir crazy. PERSONALITY PROFILE > PAGE 5
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