Welcome to “TravMedia's Travel Writer of the Week," where we highlight an active journalist or editor within the TravMedia community. We have so many amazingly talented, successful and inspirational professionals in our midst — let's meet Bonita Grima...
Q. Where are you based? Margaret River, Western Australia
Q. What outlets do you write for? Who is your audience? What are your travel specialties? I'm freelance, currently writing regularly for Explore, Australian Traveller, International Traveller, and Stuff NZ. I have also contributed to BBC Travel, The West Australian, Gourmet Traveller, Broadsheet, and various other travel publications. I also occasionally chat about travel as a guest on ABC national radio.
As for specialties… while I write about all aspects of travel, from budget to luxury, I love writing about adventure and cultural travel the most
Q. What are your professional pet peeves? People not getting back to me on time, and not reading emails properly.
Q. In your past professional life, you were… I worked in the broadcast industry for 20 years, in Australia and the UK. While I've had many roles over that time, including as a remote camera operator and copywriter for GWN, radio content assistant and producer for BBC Radio Scotland, and production coordinator for the ABC, my main role as a producer's assistant/director's assistant over the years meant working in busy TV newsrooms and studio control rooms.
Q. Where would you like to return to? Lisbon. I love the people, history, romance, food, art, and laid-back vibe of the city. Also Lisbon's backstreets where you can find hidden treasures waiting
Q. What's on your bucket list? Wellness in Bhutan, cycling round Cuba, and hiking in Patagonia. Oh, and Porto – see answer to question 8 for why!
Q. Where do you travel for fun? I love road trips anywhere really, but I also love returning to the Pilbara region of WA where I grew up.
Q. Your funniest (or most harrowing) travel story is…Trying to get to Porto from Madrid. After a 24-hour flight from Australia, my partner and I were planning to go to Porto the following day, but the universe had other plans. Originally wanting to overland it there, when we tried to book a rental car, it seemed all cars were unavailable, buses were booked out, and the train booking system/website was down. We then booked a direct flight but when we arrived at the airport, the plane was delayed and then cancelled after waiting around for hours. We booked another flight which also got delayed… again …and again, until it was finally cancelled too – 10 hours later. After wasting a full day and night sleeping on airport benches, we decided to fly to Lisbon instead where we ended up having a great time.
Q. What advice would you give your younger professional self? I wish I had followed my true passion for writing sooner and made the transition to travel writing earlier.
Q. What nugget would you like to add that we haven't touched on? When someone really wants to share something with you, whether it's information or advice, you should listen. Even if you think it won't be useful or you don't have time or you're not interested, hear people out first because what they want to share with you may be exactly what you need to hear.
Q. How best should people contact you. Email is best. Follow to connect with me on TravMedia to access my email.
You can also connect on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonita-grima-940354152/ and follow me Instagram @bonitamaygrima
