{"id":10726,"date":"2019-04-08T14:12:50","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T14:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/face\/?p=10726"},"modified":"2021-03-02T15:24:15","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T15:24:15","slug":"megan-starr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/megan-starr\/","title":{"rendered":"Travel writer Megan Starr"},"content":{"rendered":"Approx read: <\/span> 7<\/span> mins<\/span><\/span>

Megan Starr loves going places. She\u2019s been to over 95 countries and 45 US states.<\/h2>\n

Megan Starr is a travel writer based for now in Frankfurt. A self-proclaimed Geography Nerd, she\u2018s explored the depths of Pittsburgh as well as the outer reaches of Azerbaijan. Whilst Megan eagerly shares her best images and experiences from a place, she isn\u2018t afraid of telling travellers what didn\u2018t work for her.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re a straight-shooter. If you don\u2019t like something, you don\u2019t sugar-coat it:<\/h4>\n

\u2018The two cities are on completely different planets. Almaty\u2019s planet being one I\u2019d like to live on and Astana\u2019s planet being one I\u2019d like to see sucked into a black hole forever.\u2019<\/h4>\n

Do you think that there\u2019s pressure\/expectation for travel writers to love everything?<\/h4>\n

Most definitely.\u00a0 There are so many people that sugar-coat every experience and make it sound like everywhere they go is paradise.\u00a0 The fact of that matter is that you just can\u2019t like everywhere you visit and some places will hit at you deeper than other places.<\/p>\n

There are many travel bloggers and writers that take press trip after press trip and feel this obligation to write positive reviews about it because they know the people running it and they made money from the experience.\u00a0 That is why so much of what is out there these days are uninspiring listicles.\u00a0 Either the person feels obligated to write positive (or neutral) reviews on the experience or they never got to know the destination in the first place because they saw it on a paid and organized press trip.<\/p>\n

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Astana, Kazakhstan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bullies and cups of tea<\/h4>\n

On the other hand\u2026 I do regret the way I wrote about Astana.\u00a0 True, I hated it at the time.\u00a0 I loathed it more than any other place (I found a place to match it after all these years though) I had traveled to.\u00a0 However\u2026 the city is home to a lot of people and I kind of attacked the city in a bit of an immature way back then.\u00a0 While I regret writing that, I have never deleted it because I think my relationship with Kazakhstan has matured and evolved over the years.\u00a0 I have since been back to Astana and while it will never be my favorite city, I enjoyed myself there the second time around and I actually found many fun things to do in Astana<\/a> unlike my first trip.<\/p>\n

I think one of the hardest things about travel writing is knowing how to balance your thoughts and emotions and to convey it to readers in a way that is not bullying a place for not being your cup of tea.\u00a0 I missed the mark on this one.<\/p>\n

With that being said, Almaty<\/a> is still my cup of tea and I love that city so much and regret nothing I said about the southeastern Kazakh city.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been stomping around Central Asia and post-Soviet countries for donkey\u2019s years. How do you handle BS at border crossings?<\/h4>\n

I cry.\u00a0 Okay not really\u2026 only sometimes.\u00a0 The older I get, the more anxiety border crossing cause me.\u00a0 I am claustrophobic and carrying heaps of baggage around causes me severe panic, so I think I was destined to be a hermit who never leaves my flat.\u00a0 But, what\u2019s the fun in that?<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t had too many issues at border crossings, thankfully.\u00a0 I received an absurd amount of questions one time going from Tbilisi to Yerevan<\/a> (I had just been in Azerbaijan) but it was painless.\u00a0 And one time, I had border guards in Kazakhstan pretend to lose that dumb white piece of paper they make you hold on to and fine you $250 if you lose it, though.\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t funny no matter how much enjoyment they got out of the look of despair on my face.<\/p>\n

You have thoughts<\/em> on bribes. Explain.<\/h4>\n

Ugh\u2026 nothing irks me more than when entitled westerners pay bribes for their own benefit.\u00a0 I have known people to pay money to guards at closed off buildings so they could go in and take photos so they can appear to be \u2018cool\u2019 on their travel blog.\u00a0 I have seen these scenarios so many times and it really upsets me.<\/p>\n

I have many friends who live in countries where bribery is a part of everyday life.\u00a0 Sometimes, their family members can\u2019t get medical treatment without paying a bribe.\u00a0 This kind of mentality is destructive and countries will struggle getting rid of this if entitled foreigners come in and see this \u2018cheap\u2019 bribes as a way to score the cool photo they want, etc.<\/p>\n

Every time they sneak into places and opt to pay the bribe if caught, someone who lives in that country has to pay a bribe they can\u2019t afford just to keep their apartment or to get medical treatment.\u00a0 Now, I know sometimes you get caught in a situation where a bribe is the only option (carrying certain passports, etc)… but there are so many times travelers put themselves in the situation of having to pay a bribe for some selfish reason and I have a huge problem with that.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be part of the problem.\u00a0 Please.<\/p>\n

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Gyumri, Armenia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For heading somewhere new, what\u2019s your travel philosophy? Spontaneity or research?<\/h4>\n

I would like to say spontaneity, but really it is just laziness.\u00a0 I have traditionally been really lazy with research and I just take places as they come.\u00a0 Those days have caught up with me.\u00a0 Now that travel blogging and writing is my full-time job, I feel an obligation to get the best information possible for my readers\u2026 and that often requires research before going to a destination.\u00a0 Instead of looking up specifics, however, I seek out what people are looking for there.\u00a0 Then I try to build content around that when I am traveling so that I can help them with their queries and still have a little fun when on location.<\/p>\n

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As a writer and photographer with a travel blog, how to you balance life\/work when on holiday?<\/h4>\n

This is something that I struggle with, to be fair.\u00a0 I just got back from Greece and I spent 90% of my time there working.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t work 4-hour days\u2026 I am behind a computer almost 12-14 hours daily.\u00a0 However, I was in Puglia, Italy before that trip working and I managed to keep a better balance.<\/p>\n

One thing that does help me is that I rarely travel to places for short amounts of time.\u00a0 I tend to travel to places for many weeks or a month at a time.\u00a0 This allows the balance to take place in a natural manner and I always leave feeling more knowledgeable on the place than when I arrived.\u00a0 Maybe short trips just aren\u2019t my thing.<\/p>\n

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Nomad\u2018s land Kazakhstan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some people say that travellers should avoid countries that have human\/animal\/ethical\/environment issues. Thoughts?<\/h4>\n

Yikes\u2026 this is a tough one!\u00a0 Truthfully, I can find something unethical in every country\u2026 or at least something I disagree with.\u00a0 Norway, a country with a dang near spotless reputation, has a company being brought to international attention for drilling in Australia\u2019s oceans and damaging a sensitive ecosystem.\u00a0 I think it depends on what is important to you.<\/p>\n

My own country (USA) has plenty of human rights violations and I would still advise people to travel there.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like the way many former-USSR countries treat animals, but I would still tell people to travel there.<\/p>\n

There is only one place in this world I would never go to with its current state and situation and that is North Korea.\u00a0 And there is one place I would never, ever go to in my entire life regardless of the situation- and that is Antarctica.<\/p>\n

What’s the deal with Antarctica?<\/h4>\n

I just think humans should leave one place untouched and pure. We have ruined everywhere else and while we will likely indirectly ruin Antarctica by forcing climate change upon it anyway, we really don’t need to travel there and mess with animal breeding patterns, leave tainted soil on the earth, and see it so we can ‘check off our last continent.’ For me, the only people that should be down there are scientists and researchers. We are all entitled to our own opinions and I respect the decisions others make… that is just mine.<\/p>\n

A common misconception about travel writers is\u2026<\/h4>\n

We just travel and have fun.\u00a0 If someone saw my recent Greece trip and how I sat in a cafe on an island 14 hours a day behind a computer screen, they would have cried for me.\u00a0 It is a lot of work.\u00a0 But, at the end of the day, I truly feel like I have the best job on the planet.\u00a0 If I am behind a computer screen doing unexpected work that got dumped on me last minute at a cafe in Greece where I can see turquoise water and beautiful scenery out my window, I haven\u2019t got it too bad.<\/p>\n

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Echmiadzin Armenia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Got a tip for a hot destination in 2019? Where? Why?<\/h4>\n

Armenia!\u00a0 The country has so much to offer that I can\u2019t even wrap my head around it – scenery, incredible food, new government, oldest winery in the world, birthplace of Christianity. It really has something for all types of travelers whether they are young or old and whether they are adventurous or have a voracious appetite.<\/p>\n

My best friend and I (he is Armenian) are even in the process of launching an Armenian travel website called AbsoluteArmenia.com<\/a> that will help travelers get that practical info that has been traditionally missing in order to help them with their trip to the country.<\/p>\n

I also think Kazakhstan is a very underrated destination and I hope to see it on more people\u2019s radars this year.\u00a0 It has, hands-down, the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life (from a diversity perspective).\u00a0 There are mountains, teal lakes<\/a>, steppe, desert, canyons, and so, so much more.\u00a0 I just hope they keep that visa situation friendly and don\u2019t close off like the constant threats indicate.<\/p>\n

all images\u00a0\u00a9Megan Starr<\/p>\n

twitter.com\/MeganCStarr<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whilst Megan eagerly shares experiences from a place, she isn\u2018t afraid of telling travellers what didn\u2018t work for her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[521,1201,1200,1199],"class_list":["post-10726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-storyteller-spotlights","tag-female-solo-travel-tips","tag-hot-destinations-2019","tag-megan-starr","tag-travel-blogger"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10726"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11544,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10726\/revisions\/11544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}