CRISTINA CORI
TRAVEL, PHOTOGRAPHER, STORY
All'anagrafe Cristina ma per gli amici Spina, si definisce una "cacciatrice di storie". Cristina Cori it's the blog where those stories are told to us.
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Hello and welcome to Easy Travel Hosting. Could you tell us a little about yourself, story hunter?
Hi, thanks for the invitation.
Traveling is something I've done pretty much forever, for a while’ a family vice. In fact you can say that if it weren't for my parents' passion for elsewhere I would never have been born: I am the result of a mixed couple who met during one of my father's adventurous trips. From them I certainly inherited the passion for road trips because they educated me on traveling holidays in campers throughout Europe.
Experiencing so many new places, as well as developing a certain spirit of adaptation, stimulates your curiosity for what is different. Then, having grown up in a family context of cultural encounters, I also developed a predisposition for stories.
I am fascinated by delving into the stories of people, places, and crossroads of destinies. That's why when I travel I try to get in touch with the locals and spend time with them. I think that everyone's life is an incredible reservoir of adventures, reflections, teachings and dreams.
This approach allowed me to talk and live with people belonging to different cultures, make special friends all over the world and get to know my husband, a Bedouin from Petra. In fact, now I live in Jordan with him, but that's another story…
Photography accompanies you on your travels, what type of photographer are you? Do you spend hours looking for the perfect shot or do you shoot on impulse?
Photography is, together with writing, the vehicle I use to express and share my emotions while travelling. These are two passions that I have cultivated since I was a child and which I now cannot do without.
I studied photography (I still collaborate with Photosophia, the bimonthly photographic information magazine) and there was a long period of my life in which traveling was more like a job than a carefree experience. In fact, I went around with a lot of photographic equipment and took the concept of immortalizing the moment very seriously.
I was looking for the perfect shot, I lurked, I studied the places, the situations, the light… however I must say that over time I have become very relaxed. And thank goodness! Now I shoot with awareness, but in a lighter way (both in terms of effort and equipment).
In recent years my sensitivity has been oriented more towards stories with words rather than images. Now I mostly write while photographs are relegated to the (still important) role of accompanying writing.
You published a book about your train journey on the Trans-Siberian, could you introduce it to us?
In 2016 I undertook a long (about 4 months) and impromptu trip alone to place card (third class) on the Trans-Siberian Railway. It was an idea that had been floating around in my head for years, ever since I lived in Japan. For a variety of reasons I didn't think I would actually do it.
However, I did it and this incredible experience inaugurated a period of my life full of many trips and adventures that contributed to my growth. In fact, for example, upon my return I opened my blog and began to document my travels more assiduously and consciously.
Then one day, the publishing house Alpine Studio (specializing in mountaineering and travel literature) that followed my blog contacted me to offer me to write a book. They gave me carte blanche: I could freely choose the topic, style, length, photos… All. I had no doubts.
I chose to tell my Trans-Siberian story. This is how "Russia coast to coast in Trans-Siberian" was born, a book that gave me, and still gives me, a lot of satisfaction because many people send me private messages to compliment them and review it positively.
WHAT DO YOU DO TO MAKE YOUR TRIPS MORE ECOLOGICAL?
First of all, I try to base my travels on minimalism. The less you consume, the more you help the environment. I'm not one for luxuries, superfluities and comforts. For example, sleeping in a tent makes me really happy, which is why if I have the choice I opt for very Spartan methods and in contact with nature.
I also don't buy bottles of water (not just when travelling, but in general in my life): I always go around with my own bottle that I fill up. In some countries, perhaps tap water can cause stomach problems, but in that case you can use tablets that dissolve in water to "fix" it or a filter. I always have my cloth bags with me and try to limit and refuse plastic bags.
In the mountains I take my rubbish down to the valley with me as waste disposal in those places requires a lot of work and effort, so if every visitor brought the rubbish they create with them it would help considerably. This is especially true for isolated areas, like when I did the W's 3-day trek to Torres del Paine in Chilean Patagonia.
Sometimes small gestures that cost us nothing are really enough to make a difference.
Easy Travel Hosting Thank you very much to Cristina for giving us this profound vision of the journey.
If you want to find out more about her project, you can follow her on her website by clicking here. And on social media too!
Easy Travel Hosting it is 100% ecological Hosting tailor-made for travelers by travellers. Do you want to tell us your story? Contact us HERE.