Adam Seper is our former editor, now travel consultant, and an all around awesome guy! Come meet the man who now helps you get the best deals on your around-the-world tickets.
1. What is your name, and what do you do at BootsnAll?
Adam Seper, and I am currently a personal travel consultant on the AirTreks side of things. I have been with BootsAll full time for 4 years now, starting out as a writer, then as editor until I made the switch this past June.
2. You’ve done an around the world trip with your wife. What countries did you visit, and which one was your favourite? (And why?)
We went to Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, New Zealand, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and India.
Colombia was our favorite, followed closely by Vietnam. Colombia’s diversity is great – mountains, beaches, big cities, jungles – they have it all. But lots of countries have it all like Colombia. The people are what pushed Colombia over the edge. They were awesome. So friendly, but more importantly, they were just happy. Always smiling. And it was contagious. It was impossible not to be happy!
With Vietnam, they had the same diversity, plus the food. The food, yeah, wow, just so, so good. The Vietnamese people get a bad rap for being a little rough around the edges and maybe not so friendly. While they weren’t as friendly as the Thais, as inspiring as Cambodians, or as laid back as Laotians, there was a certain energy with the Vietnamese people that we just dug. Loved that country. Can’t wait to go back.
3. What is one country, city, or place you’ve always wanted to see but haven’t had the chance to yet?
That’s tough, but probably Nepal. I’ve always wanted to go, and I still kick myself for not going during our trip when we were right there! I love the mountains, and in my eyes, there are no more impressive mountains than the Himalayas. I’ve also heard nothing but great things about the Nepalese people. Helping their economy after the rough go they’ve had lately would be a major bonus, too.
4.Tell us how you got started working with Bootsnall?
I started freelance writing for them back in 2010, which seems like forever ago now. I wrote quite a few articles for them when Sean and Katie (the editor at the time) approached me about writing a weekly column (RTW Wednesdays), which I jumped on. I had my own blog at the time, and I went to TBEX in Vancouver in June 2011 with the sole purpose of meeting Sean in person and trying to woo him. I don’t know if me meeting him in person had anything to do with it, but I was offered a full time writing gig a month and a half later. And I’m still here now – the longest I’ve been with one company since I started working!
5. Do you have any hobbies or special talents you’d like to tell us about?
Outside of the obvious (travel), I like hiking and biking but don’t get out as much as I’d like to (I use my toddler as an excuse, but the truth is I’m just lazy sometimes). I am a huge sports fan (Go Cards and Blues….and Rams, I suppose). I’ve also being seeing Phish for close to 20 years now. I always love to plan at least one trip a year to go see them somewhere. Their music and the whole experience of going to a show just makes me happy (and no, it’s not the drugs!), and there are few things I get as excited about as those few days before embarking on a journey to see my favorite band.
6. Where do you live, and what is one place here that you think is a ‘must see’ for visitors?
St. Louis, which is highly underrated. Our downtown is underwhelming for sure, but my city isn’t about a skyline or a skyscrapers. It’s about the neighborhoods. The city neighborhoods are the best – really diverse and unique – and there’s a lot of history in this city.
I’m gonna give you two must-sees. Gotta go to a ballgame if you’re here during the summer – tailgate before the game and go see some live music after. And City Museum is unlike any place I’ve ever been anywhere in the world. It’s so unique and so much fun for any age.
7. What languages do you speak and how well do you speak them?
Ugh. I speak an elementary amount of Spanish, which is sad considering I took 4 years of it in high school and spent 6 months in South America. Every time we visit a Spanish speaking country and I fumble through it, I tell myself that when we get home I’m going to learn it for real. I want to be fluent. But then I don’t.
8. If you could travel with anyone, dead or alive, who would you travel with?
I’m gonna be boring here and say my wife. We are awesome on the road together, and there’s just no one else I’d rather travel with. It’s our shared passion, and while we have so many incredible travel memories already, whenever I dream of traveling somewhere or think about another trip, she’s always in those dreams.
9. What is the most adventurous, or craziest, thing you’ve done while traveling?
As for adventure, I would say skydiving over the Swiss Alps. That was nuts. I had been bungee jumping several times before that, but I have never been as scared as I was before jumping out of that helicopter. And the rush of adrenaline during the free fall – WOW!
I’m going to save my crazy stories not for print on the site where I work! 🙂
10. You’re on a roadtrip. What are the top 3 songs in your playlist?
Phish, 8/17/97, Set II. There’s 5 songs in that set, and it’s over an hour long, but I listen to it in its entirety on every single road trip. ALWAYS.
11. For you, what first sparked the idea to travel?
Phish.
My family didn’t travel a lot growing up, just domestic trips not far from home.
But my first trip not with my parents was after my freshman year in college (1997) when me and three buddies took my parents’ minivan from St. Louis to the northernmost part of Maine for a Phish festival. Looking back, that weekend probably changed my life as much as our year-long RTW trip.
12. What piece of travel advice do you wish you could give your younger self?
Start earlier dumbass!
I didn’t have a passport until I was 26. TWENTY SIX! That’s absurd to me now. I pride myself on the fact that my 2.5 year old son has a passport and has already been out of the country. Travel expands your mind more than anything else.
Bonus Question: If you could be any superhero, who would you be and why?
I was asked this question at dinner at a hostel in El Chalten, Argentina, and my response garnered lots of weird looks, but for the few who remember them, I got lots of laughs, so I’m going with the same answer.
A Gummi Bear! If you grew up in the 80’s watching Saturday morning cartoons, you should remember that show. It was pretty awesome, and I like their “superhero power” of bouncing. That would be fun (I’ve always wanted to dunk a basketball, and being a gummi bear would give me that opportunity).