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Lost Girl of the Week: Julia Dimon

Lost Girl of the Week, Websites and Blogs — By on February 26, 2010 at 11:01 am
This week’s featured blogger, Julia Dimon, of traveljunkiejulia.com, is not only a travel expert who has traveled around the world four times, through six continents, across over 80 countries, but also a writer, TV show and Kayak.com’s “Chief Travel Junkie.”  Her blog gives fellow travelers expert travel advice, stories from exotic destinations and budget travel tips. Julia is also the co-creator and co-host of Word Travels, a 39-episode National Geographic TV series. The show follows two travel writers as they jet set around the world, under pressure and under deadline.

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Travel Junkie Julia Dimon

My name is Julia Dimon and I’m a travel junkie. I’ve been around the world four times, to over 80 countries across six continents

Travel has given me the chance to do a whole bunch of weird and wonderful things: I’ve hiked with silverback gorillas in Uganda, snorkeled with whale sharks in Mozambique, climbed The Great Wall of China, dog-sledded in Greenland, camel trekked in Jordan, slept with lions in the Serengeti, lived as a Buddhist monk in Korea, survived a survival course in the jungles of Belize, wrestled with indigenous female Cholitas in Bolivia, made lip-plates with the Mursi women of Southern Ethiopia, spent a night of “torture” in a Latvian prison and snacked on local delicacies such as silk worm, goat brain, six-inch scorpions and severed human toe.

I love going to off-the-beaten track places, from Colombia to Rwanda…the http://www.youtube.com/user/juliajdimon

Julia on a camel in Wadi Rum

more remote, the more intriguing.  I’m eager to push beyond typical travel and uncover the strange, the cool, the taboo. I’m known as having a bit of an ‘iron gut.’ I’ll pretty much eat anything: from deep fried scorpions, to boiled dog, to snake blood from a freshly killed cobra, to moriche worm (Check out this video of me eating the giant jungle slug

Learning about other people’s cultures and experiencing the lives of others, uncovering the on the ground reality of a particular place, busting cultural myths and stereotypes, being socially aware…these are my travel passions.

So how did my insatiable desire for travel start?

I guess my addiction started at an early age. My mom is a spa/travel guru (www.traveltowellness.com) and our family often traveled with her while she was on assignment. Visiting places like Venezuela, China, Costa Rica and Cuba spawned an early interest in exploring the world and learning about cultures different from my own.  A life-changing learning experience, travel helped me understand the beauty of diversity….thanks mom!

Having wet my travel appetite, I craved more. In high school I went on a supervised, two-week trip to Italy. I was sixteen, impressionable, and thrilled to be living outside the watchful eye of my over-protective parents. It only took a few days of Renaissance art, chocolate gelato, and handsome Italian boys before I was officially hooked.

Since then, I worked as a professional travel writer and I’ve traveled….well, a lot. I spent 365 days straight backpacking all through Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Among my favorite spots are: Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Jordan, Slovenia, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, Egypt and Morocco.

My goal is to empower others to follow their dreams and get out there and connect with other cultures. Like the Lost Girls, I’m living proof that YOU can do it! Keeping yourself safe and acting smart on the road is always a top priority, but my experience has shown me that it’s not a big, bad, scary world out there…that the benefits of experiential travel far outweigh the scary headlines and alarmist travel advisories.

Reach out to me at www.traveljunkiejulia.com<My site is full of tips, advice and experiences from around the world. Feel free to write me with your questions or your very own travel experiences.

Safe travels!

Julia

Follow Julia on Twitter!

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