Hari Kunzru

OT You were a travel writer once&hellip Did you take it on for the travel or for the money

Hari Kunzru I&rsquove always loved travelling but, after years of backpacking, it came as a revelation that you could call an airline and they might offer you a ticket to your destination of choice because you were covering it as a travel writer

OT Have you travelled to every continent

Hari Kunzru Barring Antarctica, yes, but there are still huge gaps &mdash I have never been to Russia and I would love to go.

OT Do you visit India often

Hari Kunzru My father was the only one of the immediate family to shift to the UK, so there&rsquos a lot of close family here in Delhi whom I visit regularly. I came to India earlier as a backpacker and travelled hippie-style down and up the coast through Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Gujarat&hellip I will be returning again for a family wedding and then again after the literary festival in Galle (Sri Lanka).

OT Is there a kind of travel that you prefer

Hari Kunzru I am glad that work takes me travelling to so very many places, but it does unfortunately take me more to the cities. I would like to travel to remote corners with a backpack. I backpacked through South America where I ate rice and beans for my entire journey (I wouldn&rsquot like to dine on the same fare again). But I like travel to have a purpose now, whether it is for a festival or for research. And I try and make my spare time in a place a combination of culture and relaxation.

OT Any new destination on the radar

Hari Kunzru I would like to go to Mongolia for my honeymoon, if we can get past the logistics.

OT Are visas the problem

Hari Kunzru Not really, the country that is really difficult for visas these days for me seems to be India, with the two-month restriction on re-applying for a visa

OT Where have you been recently

Hari Kunzru I live in New York now and that&rsquos great, because road travel is so much easier there than in the UK. I needed to meet a writer near Texas and used that as a pretext to drive along the coast all the way to Texas. And though it was work that took me to Los Angeles and thereafter to Albuquerque in New Mexico, I took the opportunity to drive from one place to the other, rather than travel by air. I find that road travel opens up so much more of the country.

OT Do you think a traveller&rsquos approach to a country should be with a completely blank slate, or should one read up guides and history books

Hari Kunzru I think it would be a mistake to go to a new country without having some prior knowledge about it. I think you might fail altogether in engaging with the country or the people if you do that. However, the journey should not be about ticking off things on a list. You should always be open, to a chance encounter in a café, an opportunity that may not feature in a fixed itinerary, and be open to going with that chance.