Calling Victor Jeffreys an event coordinator feels like calling a unicorn horned transport.
We always find ourselves adding little details because of what Ive learned the day before in town.
What does your travel typically look like?
I host a lot of things on behalf of the company, on behalf of our 13 properties.
Whether its hosting readers, or events that are run by our editorial leads.
I usually will show up a day before an event.
I hang out in the city that Im in, get a sense of what the city is like.
We always find ourselves adding little details because of what Ive learned the day before in the town.
Id never been there, it was fucking freezing.
Theyre building these castles.
I never would have thought of this.
How do you pack for a trip?
I went to India for three weeks and did not check a bag.
On the way back I did, because I basically took an empty bag and then came back.
This last time that I was in India, I took a film camera and a small handheld.
The pictures either good or not.
I cant freak out because of what camera I have.
Ive gotten better about packing less electronic crap.
But thats a big part of my packing.
You have the camera, you have the flash, you have the memory cards.
I travel with a computer basically to download the pictures, which is ridiculous.
And then the chargers for all of them.
So theres a lot of shit right there.
you might wear those things all the time and just wash them and they dry overnight.
Is the Speedo for personal taste or because it fits in your luggage?
Whats your luggage like?
I think its anIncase roller bag.
Its hard on the outside.
you’ve got the option to undo a zipper and it gets fatter.
It fits on the airplane.
Its got a little pocket for a computer in the back.
I have on the side, basically a man-purse leather thing that I really like.
In that would go my computer, camera.
It gets heavy, its bad for your back to do the one-sided thing.
I just found another backpack that I actually took to India with me.
Thin, black, I dont know what it is.
Slim, very slim.
Do you bring snacks?
And when Im at the airport, at most Ill get a yogurt, basically.
Im always so impressed by how many people are drinking at all hours of the morning.
Its just something about the airport that allows you to drink.
Whether youre on business or vacation.
I pull out a sheet of paper and a pen and Im like, You do it now.
Many times Ive exchanged little drawings.
How do you entertain yourself?
I carry art supplies everywhere, always.
So at least three paint brushes.
And markers, always Sharpies, and pens.
I always carry around little notebooks.
Drawing, drawing, drawing, drawing.
People look and they want to see, especially when I dont speak their language basically.
Its a fun way to interact with people.
I pull out a sheet of paper and a pen and Im like, You do it now.
Many times Ive exchanged little drawings.
Ill go to a second-hand store, or my closet, and find a plain white button-up shirt.
I take it with me.
Three years ago I went to Japan, and it was during cherry blossom season.
These Japanese people were loving what I was wearing.
The impetus is to have something from the place.
Im making a piece of clothing from the place that I know Ill wear at home.
I probably have six or seven of them.
I also used to do a series ofjumping photos at different places.
Where do you eat when you travel?
Im a very easy eater.
I dont care that much.
They find the place and I enthusiastically appear, but I dont really care that much to be honest.
People give me recommendations, or Ill ask someone in the hotel or something.
I like eating by myself.
But I wont eat alone in a restaurant that has no one in it.
Thats just depressing to me.
Whats the best meal youve had on the road?
AtA Reverie, it was effectively a mushroom soup, but it came in the form of tea.
So it was in a tea kettle and you served it into cups and you drank it like tea.
They called it mushroom tea.
I liked the ceremony of it.
The menuwas all puns.
It was ridiculously crazy puns.
The space itself was weird, they had too many things going on.
But the food was really good.
Where do you stay?
Im back and forth.
I like the idea of the Airbnb.
If I have friends who live in town, Ill ask wheres the gayborhood, whats around.
As the trip gets longer, Im less likely to do an Airbnb.
If youre there for a week for work, suddenly youre cleaning up all the time.
Whenever I travel, my bedroom in my home must be totally clean.
The bed must be made.
What do you do when youve arrived?
Ill definitely check out the bathroom.
Figure out where Im going to take the dirty picture of myself in the hotel.
Connect to the internet.
And if its a long flight Im going to take a shower.
But if not, it stays in the bag, bag stays closed.
People are already cleaning up after me.
I want the room to look nice.
Not with all of my shit everywhere.
Then I go outside and start walking.
Find somewhere to eat, or find the big art museum.
In Philadelphia I went to the Barnes Foundation.
Theres a really good Netflix documentary about this.
Philadelphia somehow figured out a way to ignore his will, and they took all of the shit out.
They built another fabulous museum, and they tried to replicate the house inch-by-inch.
What travel apps and gadgets do you use?
This is how I find out, what is the party to go to together.
What souvenirs do you pick up?
Im really good about writing postcards.
So I buy tons of postcards and write them to my friends and I always write one to myself.
Just so I dont forget that I went there.
I wish I could tell you I had a box with all of them, I dont.
Who knows where they are?
I send lots of postcards.
There used to be mail drop boxes in airports, and theyve basically stopped that.
Just because of bombs.
And then I hope that they do it!
What was your biggest travel splurge?
Probably this last trip to India.
I went up to Pushkar.
U.S. dollars go pretty far there.
Marble walls, gardens, swimming pools, peacocks.
What was your biggest travel emergency?
I did have a little scare recently.
I went to India and I got a one-time entry visa.
My friend saw all these Instagram posts.
Hes like, You should meet me in Sri Lanka for the weekend.
I looked it up and its $60 round trip, like an hour flight, hell yes.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I thought that I was screwed…and the visa actually lets you in twice.
So that was a close call.
I snuck into Cuba in 2005.
This is under Bush.
I was working in finance at the time.
Its the U.S. that doesnt want us to go to Cuba.
Cuba couldnt care fucking less.
They stamp a sheet of paper thats not stapled in your passport.
Cuba, Cuba, fun, fun, fun, great.
Flight back into Mexico.
Of course when I flew the first time into Mexico, they stamped my passport, Welcome to Mexico.
When you fly back into Mexico, they stamp your passport, Welcome to Mexico.
I was freaking out.
I stand at JFK at immigration for however long.
He just stamps it.
I canceled that passport as soon as I got home.
