Simon Calder: Top of the world

You would assume that anyone with the words "travel journalist" on his or her business card would be among the most grateful people on earth. And why not? Surely their lives consist of one holiday after another, soaking up sun in five-star resorts, flying first class on someone else's bill and occasionally filing copy from the comfort of a champagne bar.

Travel writer, editor and presenter Simon Calder certainly considers himself lucky - but he has no use for the five-star resorts and complementary flights, thanks very much. He's made a name for himself as the man who pays his own way, but in his estimation that doesn't knock any of the shine off the career.

A self-effacing optimist, he claims that "sheer good fortune" led him to his unusual line of work. "I've always enjoyed the process of travelling and very much relish the opportunity. I guess I wake up every morning and feel lucky for what I am able to do as a job, and do my best to try and justify my good fortune!"

Raised in Crawley, Simon's first job was a cleaner for British Airways at Gatwick Airport, and later he worked as a security guard frisking passengers. During gaps between flights he started writing travel guides devoted to the subject of seeing the world on the cheap, and his first was the Hitch-Hiker's Manual: Britain.

After working as a BBC radio engineer, he became travel editor for The Independent in 1994, and soon afterwards began presenting for BBC2's Travel Show. He then became a regular presenter for the Holiday programme on BBC1, and in 2007 presented the last film in the final programme of the series, which had run for 37 years.

In addition to his work for The Independent, he now presents Simon Calder's Travel Clinic on London's news station, LBC 97.3, contributes regularly to BBC Breakfast News and GMTV, comments on travel issues for national and local BBC radio and TV stations, and is contributing editor for Condé Nast Traveller and High Life magazine.

Simon has the most immaculate manners, and stretches of the tape of our interview amount to duels of mutual thank yous, you're welcomes and good lucks. His intrinsically polite disposition was probably useful as he rummaged through the personal effects of travellers in his previous career, but undoubtedly it's one of the keys to his success as a professional traveller too.

He's seen as a consumer advocate, and Simon's honest, unbiased reporting is a refreshing touchstone in an industry that relies so heavily on PR spin. "I try and write as perceptively as I can. I'm trying to make sure that I inspire and inform and entertain in my writing. But it's not for me to say if I succeed," he laughs with trademark humility.

Fans and followers have no such doubts in his abilities, and in these penny-pinching times his budget travel advice is more in demand than ever. What does 2009 hold for the globe-trotting south Londoner? "I'm spending more time in the UK now than previously because I pay for all my travel and I'm very, very conscious of what Britain now offers relative to other places. I'll be getting up to Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, probably the Lake District later on in the year. London is the place to start because it is the hub of the rail network. I don't have a car, I always travel by trains, and I do everything I can to find the cheapest I can."

If you do have the cash to stretch to long haul, Simon offers a word of advice. "The thing is, most places will be exactly the same or pretty much the same in five years' time. One place which definitely won't is Cuba, so it's one place I urge people to get to if they haven't been there before."

When asked whether he prefers to keep his top travel choice for domestic travel a bit of a secret, his answer is telling. "Oh no, there's no point keeping anything a secret!" he exclaims. In addition to humility and manners, Simon's generosity is clearly central to his career success. "I don't think - particularly living in south London - you can go wrong with Brighton. It's very, very lucky having a place you can enjoy a little indulgence very close to hand."

Simon doesn't even need to go as far as Brighton, though, to be in travel mode. "I'm a tourist at all times," he maintains. "I enjoy being a tourist all the way from the South Bank through to the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill, Dulwich, and I even went camping one night at the campsite in Crystal Palace! It's a very good site, very well run."

For someone who's been all over the world, he remains conspicuously enthusiastic about his own backyard. "I've seen the way that south London has really grown in stature and appeal and everything. And now I think that wonderful curve of London from Westminster Bridge to the Oxo Tower and beyond to Tate Modern is really the touristic hub of London." In the heart of this patch you'll find his favourite London journey: "Anything that involves going over Waterloo Bridge has to be a good result, hasn't it?"

If a travel journalist could find cause to complain, you'd think it would be because the constant desire to move abroad must surely be an occupational hazard. Not so, however, in the case of the ever-gracious Mr Calder, who calls London "the official capital of the world". "It's a wonderful place to live and work and bring up children. We're very lucky to be living in the world centre of cheap travel at a time when we have so many opportunities. Wherever you're going, London is usually the best place to start."

www.simoncalder.com

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