Want to know how to travel in style, just like the pros? We check in with frequent fliers to find out how often they fly, their favorite destinations and what they never leave home without.
Name: Lindsay Tigar
Occupation: Freelance Travel and Lifestyle Journalist
Hometown: Asheville, NC
Residence: None at the moment! Before becoming a digital nomad, NYC for seven years.
Website: lindsaytigar.com
Twitter: @LindsayTigar
Facebook: Lindsay Tigar, Writer
Instagram: lindsaytigar
Short bio: Lindsay Tigar is a travel and lifestyle journalist and digital nomad. She writes for a myriad of publications including Travel + Leisure, Vogue, USA TODAY, Reader’s Digest, and countless others. Travel company Contini named her one of the 35 change makers under 35 for 2018 for her journalism and global charity work. From 2017-18, Lindsay traveled the world for a year via Remote Year, living in 12 international cities from Europe and Asia to South America.
How often do you fly? At least once a month, often times up to three.
How many countries have you been to? 29 (30 if published in Sept!).
How many continents have you been to? 6
Earliest travel memory: I was a late bloomer to travel—didn’t get a passport until I was 25 and took a quarter-life crisis trip with my friend. As a kid, I remember endless summer nights at our lake house on the NC/GA border, catching fireflies and having bonfires.
Favorite American city: NYC or bust.
Favorite international city: Ooo tough! A mix between Prague, Paris, Kyoto, and Lima please.
Least favorite country: Sorry Argentina, but after living in your lovely country for two months, I’m steak-ed out.
Friendliest people in the world: The natives of Thailand—while traveling through the rainforest, we stopped at a small village that grows crops and raises livestock for their income and I met a woman who didn’t know her age and was blind, but just wanted to touch your face and feel your energy. Every place in this country, I was met with kindness.
Also, Colombia. As the nation still recovers from its turbulent past, locals are eager to show the modern character of the country- from the graffiti art and coffee to the joy and pride they have for one another. Of all the South American countries I’ve lived in, I found Colombians to be the warmest and most vibrant.
Favorite World Heritage Site: Machu Picchu!
Favorite airline: Emirates. Still hoping I get to fly first class with them one day :)
Aisle or window: Aisle! My bladder is ungodly small.
Favorite airport lounge: Oh, tough! Love the one in Auckland, NZ. And in Santiago, Chile.
Favorite U.S. airport: JFK!
Favorite international airport: Heathrow.
Favorite hotel: Phulay Bay, Ritz-Carlton Property in Krabi, Thailand. I still dream about the oversized bed and red onions so great, you could eat them on your own.
Favorite cruise line: Princess! Going on their Alaskan cruise with my mom next May.
Favorite travel credit card: Chase Sapphire Preferred—worth the annual free for all the perks!
Favorite island: Tough one! I really love Krabi, Thailand, and the whole freakin’ country of Japan.
Favorite beach: Bondi Beach, Australia.
Favorite fancy restaurant: Carmen in Medellin, Entocea in Barcelona, Four Seasons Buenos Aires steak restaurant Elena, Osaka inside of The W Santiago.
Favorite hole-in-the-wall: Corner Bistro in NYC—best burger in the world! Also a very small local sushi restaurant in Kyoto Japan that I refuse to share because it can’t get famous. If you go there though, it’s near the McDonald’s.
Favorite bar: Another tough one! Uptown in Buenos Aires, Park Bar in Lisbon, KGB Bar in Cartagena, Letna Beer Garden in Prague, Molly’s Irish Pub in Lima, rooftop of The W in Santiago.
Favorite fruit: Melon of any kind. I went to a Balinese healer last year and he told me if I ate enough melon, I’d cleanse my heart and meet my husband. I now eat melon daily :)
Favorite food: Big fan of avocados, tacos, steak, sushi…basically anything.
Least favorite food: Sorry, but can’t go foie gras, pate of any kind and cauliflower.
Drink of choice (in the air and on the ground): Cabernet from Chile, dirty gin martini.
Favorite travel movie(s): Eat, Pray, Love, Wild, Romancing the Stone, National Lampoon anything.
Top 3 favorite travel newsletters/magazines/blogs: Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler.
5 things you bring on a plane: Headphones, an oversized sweater, earplugs, chapstick, socks.
What do you always seem to forget? A converter! And often, at least one piece of clothing in a hotel room. Not sure how I do this.
What do you like least about travel? Adjusting to sleep. I’m a difficult sleeper, so jetlag, sleeping in a hostel, sharing a bed, is always hard for me. Once I’m over it though, I’m the happiest camper.
What do you want your loved one to buy you from an airport Duty Free store? Perfume—I collect the bottles and use them as decor once they’re finished.
Favorite travel app(s): MapsMe, TripScout, Google Translate.
Most embarrassing travel moment: After a eight-hour flight from Kyoto to Bangkok, Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur, and a very long night of sleep, my friend and I took to exploring the city. We spent the whole day seeing the sights, battling the heat and by the end of the day, we picked up takeout and walked back to our apartment, thoroughly exhausted. My friend is South African and she was talking about the deserts common in her country, and I was so mesmerized by the discussion of food that I…fell in a hole. Bags went everywhere. My purse up in the air. One leg was fully in a cement hole, the other one out. My friend laughed, realized I was stuck in a hole, then came to help me. I managed to be just fine, minus one giant bruise on my right arm that lasted six weeks. I now pay close attention to where I’m walking in Southeast Asia.
I’m embarrassed I haven’t been to: Hawaii, Los Angeles—an actually, plenty of the United States! I’ve stuck mainly to the coasts. My best friend just moved to LA, so I’m assuming I’ll be forced to visit soon :)
What’s your dream destination? Fuji!
Favorite travel charity: Techo. I was part of Yugen Build, an effort by my remote traveling group to build homes for those living in extreme poverty in Bogota, Colombia. Over the course of nearly seven months, we raised $86K, enough to build 43 homes. Over a weekend in June, I helped to build one of three homes, and it was a life-changing experience.
Best travel tip: Try your best to go with the flow. It seems so simple, but it’s impactful. So many things will go wrong, but they make for the best laughs and experiences.
