Learning English

Question

What do you like about your job?

Keith

I like some elements of my job very much. When you're on holiday you tend to only see certain parts of the country that are pretty. But being a travel journalist, you get to see other parts of the country you wouldn't normally get to visit.

Question

What's the most interesting place you have ever visited?

Keith

I'd say the most interesting place I have ever visited was Angola. It's somewhere I wouldn't normally go, but I found being there very exciting.

Question

What's a normal day for you at work?

Keith

There is no normal day for me at work. Some days I might be scripting or editing or filming on location. Every day tends to be slightly different.

Question

Do you meet interesting people?

Keith

I meet some very interesting people. For example, only a month ago I was in South Africa at a town where they'd had problems with baboons inside people's homes. There was one man whose job it was to chase these baboons out of town. And to do this, he'd managed to perfectly imitate a baboon call. It worked very well.

Question

Do you ever feel scared?

Keith

I very rarely feel scared on location as we're very busy. We're too busy to feel scared. However, there have been some instances when we've been, for example, in the mountains with people we don't know very well who've had a lot to drink and we've had to leave in a hurry.

Question

Can you relax when you're working?

Keith

I can very rarely relax when I'm working. When other people who have gone on holiday or who are less busy on a film shoot can relax in the evening, they can have a glass of wine and maybe a nice, long meal. I have to go back to the hotel room and make sure everything's ok for the next day and to deal with all the pictures and video we've shot during that previous day.

Question

Is there anything bad about your job?

Keith

While being on the road can be exciting and exhilarating, I am a new dad and I have a very young baby daughter at home. Not only do I miss her while I'm away a week maybe two weeks at a time but I also feel very guilty that my partner has to take full responsibility for her.

Question

Do you have a dream job?

Keith

Being a travel journalist isn't like being on holiday. It is a lot of hard work and sometimes we can be working for 14 or 15 hours at a time. However, you will get the odd occasion where you're somewhere very nice, somewhere by a beach or in the mountains with a nice view and you're waiting for a cameraman or interviewee to turn up and you can then have a look around and take in your surroundings and at that time it does feel like you have a dream job, yes.