For McCool Travel’s 45th travel profile, I am happy to introduce you to Paula Froelich, the editor-in-chief of Yahoo Travel. When I recently send out a Twitter request asking for “fun travelers,” @PFro was the first suggestion. I have not yet met Paula in person but I follow her exploits online, including on her website, A Broad Abroad (and the video series). She wears a few hats, as you will see.
“Paula Froelich is the editor-in-chief of Yahoo Travel. She is also the New York Times best-selling author of the novel, “Mercury In Retrograde” and was the deputy editor of the New York Post’s gossip column, Page Six, for ten years. In January 2012 she won a Gold Medal award from the North American Travel Journalists Association for her piece in Playboy on Iraq, “Down And Out In Baghdad.” Paula is originally from Ohio and Kentucky and loves to travel to places where the USD still means something.”
Paula Froelich
Hometown
Cincinnati, Ohio
Always in my luggage…
earplugs, eyeshades, and iPhone
3 favorite home-away-from-home places…
- Mali
- India
- Los Angeles (don’t judge – my sisters live there and its become really cool in the last few years, I swear!)
a favorite travel memory …
My first big trip – two years out of college (Id been living in England) and I didn’t want to go home yet, so I “took the long way home” via India with my best friend in the world, Emily Wing. We didn’t know how long we were going for. We had $1,500 and were just going to go till the money ran out. Six months later we hit the US but that time in between was magical. It created the person I am today – I learned to trust myself and my judgement, I learned to like myself, and I saw life and met people that taught me invaluable lessons.
3 favorite travel brands…
3 money-saving travel tactics I use are…
- credit card points
- Clear Chapstick SPF (it has many, many uses)
- having a Rimowa carry on – it carries everything and is so light and easy to roll you save on tips and check fees
3 ways that I have fun while traveling are…
- always hang with the locals
- always be game for (almost) anything
- always eat with the locals
8 word (or less) travel mantra…
“There but for the grace of you go I” AND “why not?”
My favorite non-travel website…
AFAR, fathom, and anything Wendy Perrin does
most memorable souvenir…
A huge land tortoise shell I got in Mali that I bought from the famed Blind Hunter’s grandson… and is supposed to be a star trek transporter if you know the right chant (I don’t).
favorite cheap eat…
street food anywhere in the world
recent discovery…
Myanmar. It’s India in 1997.
I am fortunate to have met…
Everyone that comes my way. I really am an equal opportunist people lover.
I would like to meet…
Desmond Tutu
Thank you very much, Paula.
Follow Paula Forelich on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, and A Broad Abroad. Yahoo Travel on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Check out McCool Travel’s previous profiles. McCool Travel presents tips from travel experts in our 5 Minutes interview series—featuring travel industry giants, super frequent travelers, and adventurous persons. Previous 5 Minutes post: Shane Dallas.
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