Usually Takanami family road trips are essentially work related. It may sound like a cop-out to complain, but when you hit the road with husband and child and 6 weeks to interview and shoot with 14 subjects whilst covering half a nation and tens of thousands of kilometres of coastline, the stress can mount up.
Before we embark on these work trips, my job begins. As the editor/coordinator I am on the phone and email months in advance planning. Not only do I need to make sure the surfers/shapers we want to meet with are available, I have to book time with them that fits with our travel schedule, and always allow some breathing space in case the weather or waves don’t agree. Then comes the financial planning which usually involves endless back and forth correspondence with possible sponsor such as airlines, rental car companies, accommodation etc, and more often than not weeks of negotiations can turn into a final ‘actually we don’t think we can help out this time, good luck with it though!’ and I end up back at square one.
By the time we hit the road the pressure has already mounted. The initial high of embarking on a dream-like road trip doing what we love can too easily be crushed by stress, shit weather and a screaming kid in the back seat. But somehow we manage and the end result is worth any and all of the pain!
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