Inside the Traveler's Mind: Kristin Luna of Camels & Chocolate

Kristin is lucky enough to travel the world for a living. What she doesn't cover with her day job, she shares on her blog Camels & Chocolate. With 40 countries and 44 US states under her belt, we figured she might know a thing or two about the art of travel. So, we asked her to stop by and share her tips for traveling the globe.

Name: Kristin Luna
Hometown: Tullahoma, Tennessee
Current Location: San Francisco, California

Where have you been?
Barbados, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, Denmark (lived there), Sweden, Germany, Netherlands (lived there), Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, France, Italy, Corsica, Luxembourg, Belgium, Scotland (lived there), Ireland, England, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, Maldives, Morocco, Greece, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and 44 U.S. States. I've physically been in quite a few others, though like some, I don't count airports as actual countries visited.

What's your favorite travel memory?

It's a tie: Riding a camel through and camping in the Sahara (it even spawned the name of my blog!), canyoning in Switzerland and skydiving over the Pyrenees.

Do you have a favorite airport?

Actually, SFO (San Francicso), which is just three miles from my house. I love it because there are never lines; I leave exactly an hour and 15 minutes before each flight, and I'm at my gate with no less than 55 minutes remaining. All airports should flow that effortlessly. Additionally, all of the fast food at SFO is of the healthy (and gourmet variety), none of this fattening McDonald's crap that rule most airports. (Sadly, my only caveat is that it lacks a Starbuck's, or any decent coffee shop really.) I also like many of the Asian airports, like Hong Kong, which seem to be in perfectly pristine condition (a bonus: they also have good shopping!).

What's on your essential packing list? What have you learned to leave at home and what can't you live without?

Essentials: A couple years ago, I made up a compact kit for the plane that includes: my passport, ear plugs, a pen (to fill out customs forms), notepad, a plush Nap eye mask from Brookstone, Ambien, nail clippers, Benadryl, Tylenol, Afrin (nasal spray), Emergen-C, cotton swabs, Band-Aids, thick socks for the flight (since I usually board in flip-flops to avoid taking my shoes off at security). I take it on every flight, and it hasn't failed me yet! Additionally, I never leave home without snacks, as you simply don't know when you might be stranded without food--the current front runner is Trader Joe's 100-calorie packs (chocolate graham toucans and oatmeal raisin cookies).

Live Without: I'm a runner and log 30 miles or more every week while in San Francisco. I used to take multiple workout outfits with me at all times, but after several trips of never even getting them dirty, I learned to pack a single tank top, pair of shorts, socks and sports bra which can double as both daytime wear and workout gear should I actually have the time to run, and leave the rest at home.

If you got stuck somewhere and were never able to leave, where would it be?

That's tough to say, because vacationing somewhere is far different than living there. For example, the Maldives is one of my favorite places, as I'm a beach junkie and would spend every day in the sun if I lived there. But would I get bored and suffer from island fever due to the sheer remoteness? Probably. And I've always had a soft spot for Edinburgh, where I lived in 2003. It will forever be one of my favorite cities on Earth, but I think the ever-present gloom and no chance at a beach vacation would send me into a spiral of depression. Thus, I'd likely go for somewhere like Portugal, where the weather is perfect, the food tasty, the culture endless, the language lyrical, and the natural landscape varied. That, or Hawaii--I think I could survive on the Big Island or Kauai any day!

Who's your travel hero?

Travel columnist and consultant, Chris Elliott. Even though travel writing is my profession, I've turned to Chris every time I've had a problem (like a rental car company giving up my reservation and charging me anyway). He's the Mother Teresa of Travel, in my opinion, and a real miracle worker (and genuinely nice guy at that!).

I'm also a fan of Thomas Kohnstamm, who created quite the stir with the publication of his book, Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?, last year. Despite the negative publicity he garnered, he's actually very friendly and approachable, a great writer, and was spot on about how much of the guidebook industry works. People who haven't ever experienced this firsthand were so eager to dismiss his writing as complete hogwash, but all of my travel writer pals and I thought his book was complete genius.

What's the biggest travel myth that you can debunk?

Travel=Expensive and that you must be the recipient of a trust fund to be able to globe trot often. Up until recently, many of my travels were cheaper than had I actually stayed put in NYC or SF (both places where I have lived recently), because I purchased tickets through miles and slept at locals' houses, in lieu of hotels. I've always been a big fan of CouchSurfing.com, and due to the amazing members on the site, I was even able to spend eight days in Iceland--on of the priciest countries in the world--virtually expense-free.

What mistake have you learned from that could help others to avoid the same mistake?

Sometimes it's smarter to take the easiest way, as opposed to the cheapest. When I was living in Holland (on a very tight budget, I might add), my friend and I wanted to go to Morocco for a couple weeks. We figured out the most economical way would include: a bus to the train station; train to Amsterdam; easyJet flight to London; Ryanair flight to Sevilla, Spain; train ride to Algeciras, Spain; ferry to Tangier, Morocco; train to Rabat; then a transfer to Marrakesh. As you can imagine, it was very easy for something to go wrong--and it did. We arrived in Sevilla on schedule, but got to the train station just as the last train was pulling out for the night. We didn't want to waste time, so we headed to the bus station to try to hop aboard the next southbound route. The next bus didn't leave until 5am (it was 9pm), so we crashed on the train station floor. A security guard came and told us we'd have to leave. We pleaded with him in broken Spanish, so he agreed to lock us in for the night. The next day, we took the bus to Algeciras, but missed our ferry. Then, we were sold the wrong ferry tickets and missed the next one. When we finally reached Tangier, we thought we had missed the only southbound train for the day, but alas, there was a time change somewhere along the Strait of Gibraltar, so for once, we lucked out. We did all this to save money, but in reality, our follies probably cost us much more than a direct flight to Marrakesh.

What's the first thing you do when you get off the plane or leave the airport?

Turn on my phone, and text my boyfriend, mom and dad as soon as I land. They're a bit weary of all the air travel I do and follow my flight path online, every. single. flight. I'm also addicted to e-mail and refresh my inbox the second I have a signal; it's a real problem, I'll be the first to admit.

What do you plan before you leave home and what do you leave to chance?

It depends on if I'm on assignment or just going for vacation. Ninety percent of my travel these days is for my job; thus, most things have to be planned in advance. Luckily, the boards of tourism or CVBs generally do a lot of this for me (in terms of hotels, restaurants, etc.), so I just have to find unique story angles. But even then, I often don't know what I'm going to write about until I get on the ground and stumble upon it myself.

For vacation, I'm more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants kind of girl. My boyfriend and I spent 16 days in Central America in October. We had bought our flights in and out of Guatemala City, reserved the first three nights at a really cool hotel in Lake Atitlan (only because I found an excellent deal online in advance), and nothing else, not even a rental car booked. And it worked out well, because we didn't really need as much time in any one place as we initially thought. I was glad we weren't locked into any existing reservations, and much of the time, we wound up just driving through the country and seeing what we could find.

You find yourself in an unfamiliar situation while on the road. What do you do? How do you approach a problem? What advice would you give to a timid traveler?

The first time I ever backpacked solo--on a couple-month trip through Europe when I was just 19--I had more of these than I'd care to remember. I helped free African refugees from Austria (paranoid the whole time that I would get arrested myself), was held at gunpoint in a train car in Italy and got lost late at night in Paris' Moulin Rouge district. Each time, I was terrified and didn't think I'd make it out alive--particularly as I was always alone. But it's best to keep your composure and not to freak out--if you get frazzled, it only gets so much worse.

Each time I'm lost or find myself in an uncomfortable situation in a city or country I don't know, I head to the first hotel I find. Generally, they're quite helpful and can direct me where I need to go, or else call a cab to take me there.

If you're traveling solo on a train through a rough part of a country (or overnight) as I was, speak with one of the train attendants in advance and ask that they routinely check on you for your safety.

And, most importantly, keep in touch. Before I ever go on a trip, I forward all of my flight and hotel information, as well as a rough itinerary to my mom, my boyfriend and a friend, just so I have various people who can keep tabs on me should something happen to me. I also bought a phone with international capabilities so I'm never completely out of touch and keep a list of emergency numbers in whichever country I'm visiting on me at all times.

Your most memorable meal....

Kangaroo in Australia. It was spicy, chewy and, overall, quite tasty! I'm such a psychological eater that I'm not very adventurous when it comes to dining, though if I don't know what it is beforehand, chances are I'll try it.

What's your take on souveniers? What do you bring home with you?

Nothing anymore. I take a ridiculous number of pictures, which serve as the best souvenirs possible. Plus, they require no additional packing space whatsoever!

If the country has a well-known market, I try to hit it up and find some funky piece of jewelry to take home with me--I'm big on accessorizing and love to be able to say I got something in this country or another when someone asks me where a necklace is from. And in places known for their handcrafts, like Turkey and Morocco where I went crazy on a buying frenzy (but it was just all so cheap!), I like to pick up pillow covers, tapestries and other lines. The markets, however, are often very hit or miss and full of tacky tchotchkes, so I do my research in advance to decide whether or not it's even worth my time.

Do you have a travel experience that's changed how you look at the world or changed your life?

I was raised in the South, where many people are intolerant of cultural and religious differences. In the span of a year, I had a series of experiences with the Islamic community that helped heighten my own awareness of religious sensitivities. First, I was living in Holland following Theo van Gogh's murder and saw how much of the country revolted against the Muslim population--which accounted for one million of the 16 million inhabitants--living there, simply because the murderer was from Morocco (though a Dutch citizen). It simultaneously broke my heart and enraged me by how the Dutch government handled what they deemed the "troublemakers."

Shortly after, I got the chance to go to Morocco for a few weeks, coincidentally during Ramadan. Even though my friend and I weren't Muslim, we suffered alongside the locals, as there weren't restaurants or stores open during the day where we could buy food, and we weren't allowed to eat until after the Islamic community finished their one meal a day just past sunset. That gave me a whole new perspective on being hungry, as well as respect for how faithful Muslims are to their religion.

Following that, I moved to Denmark, which just happened to coincide with when the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, published that series of offensive cartoons about Muhammad, causing an uproar in the Muslim community and much violence to ensue. It was an interesting few months, all-around, but taught me to respect a people's beliefs, even if they don't necessarily mesh with my own.

What's your next trip?

Cook Islands and New Zealand in March. It's also the first assignment my boyfriend has ever gotten to go on with me in three years (he's a photographer and will be doing all the shooting), so I'm doubly excited.