Celebrity Travel Addicts: Rachel Rudwall from Rachel Roams

In this Celebrity Travel Addicts Q&A we chat with TV Host, Producer, EMMY-Nominated Camera Operator, and Writer Rachel Rudwall from Rachel Roams. Check out how her wanderlust lifestyle began, her favorite cities and where she’s headed next!

How did your passion for travel get started?

Ever since I was a baby, I was curious about the world around me. According to my parents, I spent my youth as a filth-covered nudist, shirking clothing in favor of playing outdoors in the buff. While I haven’t retained the nudist streak, I do still count curiosity as one of my favorite traits.

How many days/weeks are you traveling in any given year? What are the types of places do you like to visit?

My work projects vary widely in terms of content goals, duration, and location, so it’s really variable from year to year. Some years, I’m gone 75% of the time, while others, I host and produce projects in my home base of LA. Regardless of whether I’m in Los Angeles or overseas, I love exploring places that provide ample opportunity to be outdoors.

What is it that you want audiences to gain/ learn from your work videos and photography?

I want people to feel inspired and connected… to learn about people that are “different” from themselves and recognize that we’re all the same deep down.

Name your top three destinations you’ve traveled?

Impossible question! I’ll break it down in sections. Top 3 for Outdoors: Patagonia (both the Chilean and Argentinian sides), Iceland, and East Africa. Top 3 for Food: Japan, India, and Shaanxi Province, China. Top 3 Cities: Mexico City, Copenhagen, and Edinburgh.

Give us your ‘Top 5’ list for one of these destinations, like a mini-guide or to-do list of sorts 

Mexico City Must-Do’s:

1) Stay in Roma Norte for its brilliant cafe culture, bookstores, and walkable boulevards. Grab a coffee at Panaderia Rosetta, tacos and micheladas at Tacos Alvaro Obregon, and dinner and cocktails at Romita Comedor.

2) Immerse yourself in Coyoacan’s leafy avenues marked by giant, colonial homes. Stop at one of the restaurants near La Plaza for mezcal tasting, and if you’re feeling hungry, stop by the nearby food halls for a meal.

3) Explore Chapultepec Park for some time outdoors. It’s the largest green space in Mexico City.

4) Stroll the world-famous Anthropology Museum. Behind each individual room/exhibit is an outdoor garden, and each garden has a different design, so make sure you don’t skip those. Either before or after the museum, make sure to watch “El Baile del Palo”, a.k.a. the “Pole Dance”, a show in which men climb a 30 foot pole, tie themselves to it by a rope, and then slowly unravel from the top, swinging in circles above you as the pole rotates.

5) Take a day trip to the pyramids at Teotihuacan. They’re giant ancient Mesoamerican ruins, and will transport you to days long gone.

How many countries have you visited so far?

Somewhere between 60-65

Your top three favorite cuisines?

Indian, Japanese, and Californian

Favorite restaurant in the world?

n/naka in Los Angeles

Your favorite travel movie?

Motorcycle Diaries

Favorite international airport?

AMS (Amsterdam)

City with the friendliest people?

Lusaka, Zambia

Your favorite traveling companion?

My husband, whom I met overseas 10 years ago!

Best way you kill time while traveling?

Currently: reading Harry Potter. Usually: people watching.

What is the most exotic place your career has taken you?

Remote stretches of the Alaskan Arctic where I shot shows for History Channel, Discovery Channel, and Nat Geo

Your best bit of travel advice for someone who is about to embark on a life of travel?

Recognize that fear is healthy, but it’s important you don’t become beholden to it. What you do with your fear (move through it? become paralyzed by it?) will determine the course of your life.

What are 4 things you could never travel without?

A camera, granola bars, good walking/hiking shoes, and ear plugs

What is your ultimate dream destination?

The Annapurna Circuit in Nepal

Your favorite travel quote?

This isn’t travel specific, but it’s my favorite quote of all time:

“We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us even in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavour. It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.”

― Henry David Thoreau, Walden 

Where to next?

Either Antarctica or Israel!

Bio

If you want to know what it’s like to climb Kilimanjaro, paraglide with a hawk (a.k.a. “parahawk”), ice climb while simultaneously shooting a PBS show, or SCUBA dive cage-free with bull sharks, Rachel Rudwall’s your gal. She likes the stuff that makes palms sweaty, and brains explode with inspiration. As TV Host, Producer, EMMY-Nominated Camera Operator, and Writer, Rachel has traveled six continents, lived in three countries and journeyed through over 60 nations. She hosts for networks like ABC, HLN, and Travel Channel, crafts custom content for brands like Mashable, BMW and Chase Bank, and has produced such balls-to-the-wall shows as Ice Road Truckers and Ax Men. You can also catch Rachel giving TEDx Talks and Keynote Speeches, writing for publications like AFAR, and going off-grid on backpacking expeditions every time she has a spare moment. Follow Rachel on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and RachelRoams.com.

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