Globe-trotters

Name: Julie Cécile Catherine Davy

From: France

Birthday: 04/12/1983

Julie by Julie: I am 27 and will turn 28 somewhere in India. Well, that’s the plan anyway. I was born in a little town called Chartres in the “attic” of France (the region with all the fields) and lived there for 17 years before I left to study “business” in Paris. At first I wanted to study languages but business seemed to be a better option for my future. I spent 2 years studying in a prep school to enter ISG and take their multinational” course. The cool thing about that course is that you spend your 2nd year studying abroad: Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand and the USA as far as I was concerned. I graduated in 2006 and worked as a postwoman while looking for a job. I found one and started as a Marketing Assistant at Altares – Dun & Bradstreet. 6 months later I was moving to London to work for Adecco. 4 years later, I am packing my bags to travel the world. I can’t wait!

So that’s my life in a nutshell.

I love: traveling (that’s a good start), sleeping (and I’m good at it – very handy when you are travelling on night buses, sharing dormitories or passing time in airports), food (thai, tex-mex and italian are my favourite cuisines and I love eating as much as I love cooking), Diet Coke (yes I know it is bad for me but I can’t help it, I crave my daily can at 3.30pm every day), Apple (I have 2 iPods, 1 iPhone, 1 iBook G4, 1 MacBook Pro, 1 iPad2 and I will never stop buying their products), TV shows (my favourite are Six Feet Under, Lost and Dexter but I watch about 15 different ones every year – how I am going to do without them?), going to the cinemas (it is so expensive these days that I will only pay for the films you need to see on a big screen), Sigur Ros (I discovered them in 2001 and have loved their music ever since – I went to Iceland because of them, skipped work one afternoon to see the drummer at the House of Parliament presenting a petition and saw them 4 times in concert, I like Jonsi’s music too), my favourite brands: Roxy, Rough Guides, Muji, Gap, Fnac… oh and my friends and family too!

I hate: snakes (I am ophiophobic, yes there is a scientific word for my condition – fear of snakes, believe me I have tried to “cure” it by visiting a snake farm in Thailand, it didn’t work, it got worse), lamb (my religion forbids me from eating it anyway), R&B (Kwasi will tell you that I move my head when I hear this music, maybe but I really do not like this type of music, this is always R&B that you hear blurting out of your neighbour’s house at 4.00am on a weekday) and football (I am rugby girl).

Name: Emmanuel Kwasi Anim Adjei

From: Ghana

Birthday: 11/09/1977

Kwasi by Kwasi: At the time of writing im 34 years old but like to tell people im 27yrs. Sometimes i do get away with it other times, im caught out. I was born in Ghana (Accra) and have 5 sisters and 3 brothers. Big family i know.

Left Ghana and moved to London at the age of 13 and been in London ever since. Left my family behind to come live in England which was tough at first because being in such a huge family, i have nephews and neices that i grew up with, who became my brothers and sisters as my siblings were a little older than me and too old to play tom foolery with me and had no one to play with. In our house you had at least 5 or 6 kids around to play with or even neighbours you can hang with.

Studied accounting and finance at Uni but later on changed career to Marketing. Worked for British Gas for 2 and half yrs as a marketing exec, at Adecco as a Marketing Manager for 2 and half years managing 4 brands and my previous role before embarking on this journey at The IT Job Board as a Brand Manager, managing brand in UK, and brand managers in Germany and Benelux.

Likes and didlikes – Like my tv shows (especially US shows ) such as Californication, Dexter, Entourage, True Blood, The Wire, West Wing, Broadwalk Empire, Rubicon…never reallygot into Sopranos. Also enjoy my British programmes such as Inbetweeners, Extras, The Office (UK Version), Vicar of Dibley and an all time fave of mine Keeping Up Appearnaces.

I enjoy a good laugh, banter so hoping to meet interesting people on the way.

Dislikes: I hate heights, have fear of open spaces. I like humble down to earth people, these are the guys/girls i get along with and can chill with. If you think you are something and you probably are and throw that in my face, you’ll be out of the door. Just dont have time for BS. Money doesnt impress me as long as you show me respect, you’ll get it back. Also dislike bad table manners or bad hygiene.

My choice of music has changed quite a bit as i grow older, when i was younger it use to be a lot of Motown and Soul, so we talking about Anita Baker, Roberta Flack, Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder (influenced by my bis sister Joyce), then on the 90’s my other big sister Akua also got me listening to Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey. Nowadays i listen to everything, a lot more rock/indie music – Cold Play, Kings of Leon, Killers, U2..etc.

Im hoping this journey and experience will bring out the adventurous side of me and push me further. Learnt how to swim last year and tried snorkelling so will at some point would like  to try scuba diving. As i hate heights, would like to conquer that fear on this trip, so hopefullt Nepal and Inca Trail in Peru will sort ot out.

I guess thats me.