The Questionnaire

"I have very little patience for ignorant, incompetent people who don’t care that they’re ignorant and incompetent."

What are you doing these days?
I am a travel writer who gets out and about a lot and I edit several travel-related websites including PerceptiveTravel.com and PracticalTravelGear.com. I am finishing up a book called Travel Writing 2.0 about how to hopefully make a living from writing in the digital age. And getting ready to move to Mexico for a year…

What turns you on creatively?
In others’ writing work: good stories, clever writing, and something said in a new way. For me, interesting people, new places, good music, movies that surprise me, and ideas that make me want to write about them.

If you were a mind-reader whose mind would you like to read?
Probably Warren Buffet’s because it would make me wealthy and I wouldn’t have to work so hard.

If you could travel in time, which era would you visit?
The period of time when Tikal was at its height of power. Assuming you’d drop me in what is now Guatemala and not what is now Greenland…

What is your favorite sound?
The wind whistling through the trees in a forest. It’s very soothing and stimulating at the same time.

What is the album or song that influences you the most?
I spent too many years as a musician and music biz exec to pick just one. I like to listen to interesting global electronica when writing though: Thievery Corporation, Zero 7, Karsh Kale, Mexican Institute of Sound. What influences me lyrically is good wordsmithing, a song that says something universal in a clever new way.

Who would you like to collaborate with? And why?
Writers don’t really collaborate, so n/a.

What drives you crazy?
Dogmatic people who are too set in their beliefs to see the rest of the picture.

What makes you laugh?
The Simpsons, 30 Rock, Spongebob Squarepants, Modern Family, the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, Demetri Martin, my daughter.

If you had 3 wishes what would they be?
To be wealthy enough to live comfortably, for my family to stay healthy, and to have as much hair as I did when I was 20.

What is the craziest thing you ever did?
The really crazy nights I don’t remember very well and am going on hearsay, so I’ll take a pass on that one.

What makes you feel embarrassed?
That I live in a country where dumb unemployed people still think health care is a privilege and not a right. And that there are enough people like that to elect George Bush Jr. not once but twice.

What are your favorite web-sites (not including the ones that you are participate in)?
The ones that tell me what I need to know without making me work to find it. So that could mean BootsnAll for travel info, Flyertalk.com to find frequent flyer info, Amazon for buying stuff, Wikipedia when I just need a simple answer or explanation, Flickr for Creative Commons photos. The best websites are great without showing off or wasting time with a splash screen. (Sorry artists, but web surfers don’t care much about graphics—except clean ones).

What is the silliest thing you have ever done?
Join a basketball league of 20-somethings when I was 39.

How would you make the world a better place?
Everyone would be blocked from watching cable news, would be forced to read The Economist or listen to NPR or the BBC (their choice), and they would have their choice of either traveling abroad or having a person from another country living in their home.

What is your biggest weakness?
I have very little patience for ignorant, incompetent people who don’t care that they’re ignorant and incompetent.

Where will you be in 10 years?
Hopefully living a simpler life in a country that’s not moving at such a fast pace 24/7. Making a decent living without putting in so many hours.

Associations
Love – My wife of almost 15 years, my love for longer
Death – Depressing, but a handy plot device…
God – A comfort mechanism
TV – Brilliant when it’s The Wire, a complete waste of time when it’s dumb reality shows.
Family – Compromise
Politics – Should compromise
Internet – Lifeblood
Happiness – Requires the right attitude
Blogging – Job + Escape + Creativity + Brand=
Tim Leffel – Value travel expert, webmaster, and occasionally great writer

Tim Leffel is an award-winning travel writer, author of several travel books and the editor of Perceptive Travel.

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