Just say yes: travels with Michaela Guzy

Michaela Guzy on the magic of going solo, opening your heart and buying South African designs.

I grew up in St Louis, Missouri, US, and we would often go to a cabin on Lake Michigan with my extended family for our holidays. Michigan is still my favourite place. We’ve been heading there every year since I can remember. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, but somehow my family always found a way to bring us out into the wilderness. It was like camp, but with family.  

I remember more fondly our family cruise (when my sisters and I were young adults) around the Irish Sea. It was so fun exploring new places with my mom and sisters. I discovered wine makes family time more fun and tolerable.

Over the years, I've had some very remote adventures. In 2019, I went to Sierra Leone to document Dr Jane Goodall's return to the country to celebrate chimpanzees' being named the national animal. Our shoot was fraught with every foreseeable challenge (lack of electricity, food poisoning, missing my water taxi to the airport because I was being held at gunpoint). But after all that the people of Sierra Leone have overcome in recent times — extreme poverty, civil war, poaching, mud slides, ebola, COVID-19 — they are so happy, so welcoming and forward thinking. I couldn't help but be motivated to share their stories with the world.

My favourite international city is Cape Town. It's like the best parts of Los Angeles and San Francisco had an affair with South Africa and their love child was Cape Town. It has world-class restaurants and hotels, wineries in every direction, penguins, art, design, fashion, music, killer sunsets and you can be up and down Lion's Head and at your desk by 9am.

Solo travel forces you to be more curious and open minded. It also makes you more approachable. I've had so many life-changing experiences because I just said yes to someone new I met when travelling. The only things I've really regretted in life are the things I didn't try. 

Travellers may come to Africa for the animals, but they fall in love with the landscapes and they return for the people. Every time I visit, I feel like my heart gets ripped out of my chest and returned to me on a silver platter — I feel different, I see differently and I am forever transformed by the people I've met.

When it comes to adventurous eating, I always like to try things twice. In my travels there are two exceptions: mopani worms in Namibia and guinea pig in Peru. I am still traumatised from both.

Depending on the time of day when I arrive in a new place, my first stop is always to either a local coffee shop or watering hole. I sit at the bar, talk to the barista/bartender and observe the clientele. Then I engage in conversation and ask lots of questions . I also research the best vintage shops. I've also found that vintage shops are usually in “cool neighbourhoods” with hip and trendy people in the shops, venues and restaurants nearby.

When I had a house, I used to collect magnets and artwork as souvenirs. As a houseless nomad, I now collect from local designers — so many from South Africa. I love hats by Crystal Birch, bags by Missibaba, jewellery by Ida Elsje, Philippa Green and Shimansky.

Favourite hotels? I am obsessed with travelling around Africa. I love the range in style of hotels from the wine lands to the cities to the bush. The Royal Portfolio never disappoints. Their foundation also supports projects in each of the communities where they operate hotels.

People freak out when I say I'm headed — as a solo female traveller — to Mexico, Yas Island, Madagascar and just about anywhere in Africa. Some of it is reverberations from the pandemic; some because they've just never been. The reality is that anything can happen at any time. You need to use your head and be alert.

I believe that the more you travel, the more your eyes, mind and heart open to the people, places and purposes around you. The walls come down. You realise you are more alike than different. It's a gift I wish everyone had the chance to experience.

Where to next? I've always been obsessed with crossing the deserts of Chad and riding across Mongolia on horseback. I can't wait to see my favourite animal (penguins) in Antarctica and I've only scratched the surface in Ethiopia.  

BLOB: Michaela Guzy is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and travel journalist. She is behind the series Oh the People You Meet with Michaela Guzy; a visual podcast called InspirationStation; and a short-form series called Sleeping Around Safely. Find out more at ohthepeopleyoumeet.com.