Ash Bhardwaj: "Curiosity in everything, is so important"

Interview by Tom Warburton

Ash Bhardwaj is an acclaimed travel journalist and broadcaster.

When he’s not getting mixed up in the world of espionage or walking across the Himalayas, Ash co-hosts the travel podcast “The First Mile”, and writes a monthly column for Telegraph Travel.

Hi Ash, thanks for talking to us, tell us a little about yourself?

Hi. I’m Ash Bhardwaj I currently work as a travel journalist, filmmaker and podcast host. My dad was from India, and my mum is originally from North England and half-Sottish.

I grew up in Windsor in social housing, but won a scholarship to a Quaker boarding school and, from there I studied philosophy at university. I was offered a place at Sandhurst but decided to go down a different route and became a ski instructor, then moved onto filmmaking and writing.

You’ve had a pretty awesome career as a travel journalist, what was the most challenging journey you’ve made?

The most challenging, and emotional, was taking my father’s ashes back to the Ganges, in India, with my sister. The journey was deeply personal, and there were lots of things I discovered on the way about my heritage. It's not a touristy thing to do, but it was very insightful and rewarding for me.

What’s the hardest thing about being a travel journalist?

It’s definitely got to be making ends meet! Travel journalism is not well paid, the business model just doesn't stack up well. Building a reputation, and getting your head above the water in the market is hard, but to do it well and make money is nearly impossible.

Most of my income over the last decade has come from things other than travel writing, but as my credibility and reputation have grown, that’s changing.

You’ve recently finished a journey along Russia’s European border, including a run-in with the notorious Belarus KGB. How was that, and how do you deal with being caught up in the world of espionage?

I mean, I was just detained for a couple of hours for being in the wrong area. It can seem quite exciting brushing up against that world when you’re in Europe, and haven’t done anything wrong. But, I can imagine that the same thing happening in Iran or North Korea would be terrifying.

At the time, it was genuinely nerve-wracking, but as it was a product of me just getting lost, it turned into quite an amusing anecdote.

What's more poignant is that, after protests following Belarus’s presidential elections in 2020, the Belarusian security services rounding people up, imprisoning them and even torturing them. It’s a reminder that this isn’t a game, and that makes the whole encounter quite scary in retrospect.

Many of your journeys have been made on foot, is that a conscious effort, and does it give you a better understanding of the people you meet, and the culture you are exploring?

With walking there's less organising, less logistics, and less cost. You see and understand more, you do more, and you're more likely to bump into people. Walking allows you to experience so much more, whether it be the landscape, the culture or the people. Cycling might lead you to just whizz through and miss important parts of the journey. 

Walking is universal - everyone understands walking. Not everyone understands the viewpoint from a cyclist or canoeist. Walking allows the audience at home to resonate, they can understand what you feel, what you are experiencing so much more.

You’ve discussed the importance of diversity in travel writing and the industry as a whole, how do you think the industry should approach the issue?

Diversity and inclusion training should be just a box-ticking exercise; it should help you understand the challenges and opportunities that diversity brings. Diversity brings so much more to a company or organisation than many people realise. 

Diversity training, it allows you to build empathy with different backgrounds. This brings awareness of the challenges that some people face and creates a better understanding. People who are unaware of diversity aren’t bad – we all have prejudices – but being aware of those prejudices helps us tell stories more fully.

There was a recent example in which Rhiane Fatinikun (the founder of Black Girls Hike) wrote an article for a magazine, yet a picture of a white woman was used to illustrate the article. The magazine apologised, but their apology suggested that they didn't actually understand the issue: which was that they had erased a black woman from her own work, devaluing her contribution and suggesting that white people have more value.

The solution is to have more diversity, not just of colour, but a diversity of age, class background, and education. Include people who are parents, who are carers, who have disabilities. There are more barriers to opportunity than just gender and ethnicity.

Education can come from lots of different sources, and films or television can play a huge role. I recently watched “It’s A Sin”,(a TV series set in 1980s London during the HIV crisis), and it taught me about the prejudice that queer communities faced, and the struggles they had in drawing attention to that crisis. 

It was extremely well-written, and allowed viewers like me to understand the challenges of communities that we are not a part of. That allows us to be better allies in the future, and to speak up when we see prejudice occurring.

Going back to travel, there is very little representation in literature. The majority of travel books when I was growing up were by white men. When I was 18, nothing resonated with me, all the viewpoints of the world were from people who were very different to me. 

It’s important to read about travel by people from different backgrounds, but when they are all from a single demographic, it can be hard to see yourself as part of that activity (trave). More ethnical diversity in travel literature is a great step forward. More editors are beginning to think differently, and with more diverse decision-makers, we will see more representation in travel.

You previously headed to Albania to retrace the steps of the Special Operations Executive during WW2, was there any daring missions or operatives that captivated your imagination?

There was a guy called Brigadier Edmund Trotsky Davies, who oversaw operations by British operatives who had snuck themselves in, or parachuted into current day Macedonian and Albania. 

The guys preceding him were mavericks, whereas he was more of a staff officer., who had a fixed base with filing cabinets and typewriters. His base was like a proper office, and he eventually had to escape from German and Albanian collaborator patrols and spent a month or two fleeing through the mountains in autumn and winter.

Alongside Pip Stewart, you’ve recently launched a podcast series, “The First Mile” how did that come about and what do you think is so important about the first mile of any journey?

I’d wanted to make a podcast for five years, to do something that wasn’t just interviewed, and that had useful takeaways and inspiration, or tips on ways to travel or how to write. Particular in adventure.

People think the first mile of a journey happens when you cross the start line. But, getting to the start line is the hardest part. We wanted to cover the personal emotional and financial barriers that are often lacking in travel narratives. We wanted to cover that: getting to the start.

What three things should every budding travel journalist have with them whilst on assignment?

Cigarettes and conversations are definite, they got me out of trouble, I hate to say that, and I’m not encouraging anyone to start smoking! They are a way of opening a conversation, which as a travel writer is so important.

The capability and willingness to make conversations: that got me out of that situation with the KGB. Finding a common bond - such as playing rugby - has started conversations and got me out of tricky situations. It’s about finding that common bond and developing it.

Curiosity in everything, is so important.

With travel being your job, when you do get time off, what would be your perfect getaway?

I've recently discovered the joy of eating food in Italy. That and spending the weekend with food and with my family.

If you want to see more of Ash’s work you can find him on Instagram under @ashbhardwaj.