The Nomad Files with Jess Carey

Welcome to the “first” official Nomad Files interview with a traveller who is not myself. Today I’m interviewing Jessica Carey of Ordinary Girl Extraordinary Dreamer who blogs about travel, food, and favourite places in her home town of Melbourne.

So Jess, tell us a bit about your story and what types of adventures you go after.
My story… tough first question! I guess my story is that I’m a very restless soul who’s not content with the idea of just having a “nice, comfortable life” anymore. I guess I’m a bit of a masochist, too – I like to bite off more than I can chew and put myself in some uncomfortable situations, because I hate stagnancy. I like to be moving and learning all the time, that’s my norm, and that’s why I love the travelling lifestyle. The types of adventures I go after are adventures where I will have opportunities to learn and grow. I want to spend my life meeting as many people as I can, hearing their stories, eating their food, seeing their lives unfold and participating in as much living as I can!

Can you let us in on a secret? What is one place or town you’ve been to in the world that was truly off the beaten track?
One of my favourite places that no one seems to know much about is Lucca, a tiny old town in Tuscany, Italy.

What did you do there and why should I visit?
You need to visit Lucca to experience a different world! It’s a beautiful, old town, completely enclosed by Renaissance-era stone walls; you can actually walk along the top of the walls, which gives you one hell of a view of the city!

It’s only around an hour and a half train trip from Florence, which actually makes it super accessible, and other than the walls, one of the other best things to see is the Guinigi Tower, which has an incredible rooftop garden!

One of my best travel memories though, and one which is still so clear in my mind, is from the visit I took with my family. We went over at Christmas time, so it was absolutely freezing cold, and Lucca completely came into its own… Christmas markets selling food and mulled wine and beautiful little handicrafts, but my most vivid memory was ice-skating with my sisters on the lake. It was the most surreal, amazing experience, being in this little town with cobble-stoned streets, ice skating in the town square!

How did you find out about this gem?
Both sides of my family are Italian, and we visited Italy as a family around 10 years ago; Mum, Dad, myself, and my two younger sisters shoved in a car, spending 6 weeks driving around the country. I’ll never know how Dad got through that… Anyway, Mum and Dad have family all around the country and we stopped in a lot of little towns to stay with various family members. One of Dad’s cousins lived in Lucca, and I completely fell in love it! I returned to Italy last year with my husband (his first visit) and we made the trip out to Lucca again, where that same cousin now runs a little B&B with her partner – still every bit as magical as I remembered it!

What was the food like? Was it different to anything you’d experienced before?
I guess this was a bit of a different experience for me having grown up in a very Italian household; the food was familiar to me, but at the same time, still really different. Both sets of my grandparents have vegetable gardens, so I grew up eating amazing fresh food a lot, but in Italy it’s taken to a new level. Particularly in such small towns like Lucca, it’s a lot easier for them to be self-sufficient and grown their own produce than importing it all, and it might sound cliché, but you can taste the difference. The food was simple, never more than a handful of ingredients, but they worked magic with them.

What were the locals like? Did you have much interaction with them?
The locals were beautiful, as they tend to be in most small towns all over the world.  Being able to speak the language was a massive help for me, because there aren’t a heap of English speaking locals (not like you’d find in bigger cities like Rome or Florence). The first trip is a little hazy, given that it was so long ago, but I remember a lot more clearly last year’s trip that some of the store owners seemed a little wary of us because it’s not a big tourist town. But greeting them in their own language always seemed to put them at ease and they were all really helpful in giving us directions and sightseeing tips!

Was there anything you actually missed out on doing that you wish you had? Any tips for your fellow travellers?
This might sound a bit bizarre, but the best thing to do in Lucca is to get rid of your map, and just walk! Walking the streets is akin to walking through a picture book. It’s such a truly beautiful place, still relatively untainted by commercialism, and the best way to experience a place like this is to throw away your plans and just wander around.

One massive tip would be to ask the locals where to eat and what to see – you don’t need a map or guide book when you’ve got locals on hand to give you real knowledge!

Changing lanes a little now, can you share with the internet one hidden gem of a favourite city that people might not be aware of when visiting?
Absolutely – I’m a Melbourne girl and I love my city, but so many people who visit Melbourne don’t venture out of the CBD, which means they miss SO much of our culture! So when you come to visit Melbourne, do yourself a big favour and catch a tram or a train or a taxi into my favourite suburbs – Fitzroy and Collingwood. It’s not so much just a physical location, but more a state of mind and a way of life. The area has been re-vamped a lot in the last decade or so, and it’s now the hub for our city’s famous foodie scene and café culture. Think hot new restaurants and bars, second hand treasure troves, casual beer gardens and live music venues, artists markets selling handcrafted goods and seriously amazing street art. You haven’t experienced Melbourne without a visit here!

Where do you live on the internet and social media for people to come visit?
My main online home is http://ordinarygirlextraordinarydreamer.com/ where I write about the food I cook and eat, the books I read, and my travels and adventures.

Thanks so much for joining me today Jess and for sharing a little about Lucca, it sounds incredible! Definitely go and check out Jess’s blog to learn more about her stories, her city and most deliciously, her eats.

If you’d like to join in the fun and be interviewed on the Nomad Files, please send an email to luke@backstreetnomad.com and I’ll set you up.