07 Travelers of the PNW: Brian Chou

Brian Chou, 23

University of Washington, Business Administration - Operations and Supply Chains Management (OSCM)

Born-and-raised in New York (specifically Long Island). However, I like to think New York and Seattle are 1a and 1b, as Seattle has given me my closest friends and inspired my outlook on what it means to live.

Hobbies: All things food, sports, reading

What is your relation to the Pacific Northwest?

I spent my formative years in Seattle at the University of Washington. The communities and friends I stay in touch with these days are primarily based in Seattle, so I hope to make the PNW a permanent home someday.

Why is travel important to you?

Travel gives me the opportunity to enjoy different foods and the cultures borne from them. I find food culture the easiest way of experiencing another place; there are as many common threads as there are idiosyncrasies between food cultures, so to understand both of them is what I ultimately hope to get from my travels. Food, at the very least, acts as a compass when I travel; good food often leads you to interesting places.

What is your most memorable travel experience? How has it impacted your life and future travels?

My first time clamming in Cape Cod remains my fondest travel memory. There's a spot called Morris Island that turned out to be a hotbed for quahog clams at low tide. Once my family realized that digging up clams was both straightforward and fun, we just kept digging. I forget how old I was, but I was young enough to dig up clams with flimsy, plastic toy shovels into a couple of plastic toy buckets without it looking bizarre or unnatural. After a few hours, we headed home with several pounds of freshly dug clams, from which my mom made linguine alle vongole for dinner.

It was a moment of education, kinship, and appreciation. While digging, my parents noted which clams were too small to take and why it was important to control harvests as a means of conserving wildlife. It gave me a new appreciation for many things, including marine life and those whose livelihoods depend on it, as well as the difference that cooking with fresh ingredients makes. Cape Cod was our family's summer pastime, so this memory reminds me of the simpler times that served as the foundation of our family's bond with each other.

How would you describe your travel style? Are you a meticulous planner or a go-with-the-flow kind of traveler? What are some best practices you have learned to help you travel as best you can in your own way?

I'm a hardcore planner, often to the hour. Sometimes I hate myself for it, as it reminds me that I still need to work on building trust in my own instincts. On the other hand, I'm always thinking about the need for contingencies, perhaps a reflection of my more cynical side. Improvisation is not a strong suit of mine, so it brings me peace of mind to know that I have plans B through Z should s**t hit the fan. An eased mind makes travel easier and more pleasant, so it's just a matter of how people achieve that.

Most of my travels have been to cities, so on that front, I would say figure out food and transit plans for urban travels at the very minimum. Once sustenance and mobility are addressed, there's more freedom to actually enjoy the place, since you'll know where the good food is at and how to get there. For more remote areas, despite being a meticulous planner, I think being flexible with expectations and generally open-minded are especially important.

How does coming “home” (wherever or whatever that may be) feel after you travel?

Definitely a relief. Travel is exhausting regardless of how much I enjoyed it, so coming home to a familiar place gives me the space and comfort to properly absorb and reflect on those travels and regain a sense of normalcy.

What are your future travel plans?

The more immediate plans that come to mind are revisiting old stomping grounds. My first major trip out of quarantine will be back to Seattle, which I haven't gotten a chance to revisit since graduating. Seeing familiar faces in person, rather than through a screen, is what I look forward to most. Following that, I hope to spend some summer time in Cape Cod, which was my family's summer tradition for so many years growing up.

As far as international travel goes, I've started building a bucket list, which includes Greece, Portugal, Taiwan, France (Normandy region, Lyon, and southern coast), the Great Barrier Reef (before it unfortunately becomes unrecognizable), Bornholm (a Danish island off the coast of Sweden), and back to the Netherlands (where I spent four months studying abroad).

How has the PNW helped shape who you are?

Growing up in New York, I always searched for reasons to remain cynical. Not that the PNW has turned me into an optimist, but it has made me realize that some places are always worth fighting for, including both New York and Seattle. It gave me a more sophisticated outlook on what it means to be independent, healthy, and supportive. It shaped my personal and career priorities. Most importantly, it showed me that it is possible to build a lasting community of your own, no matter where you go, distance be damned.

If you were to describe the PNW in three words, what would they be and why?

Genuine, balanced, and green.

Genuine in that most people I come across are humble, light-hearted, and actually curious and interested in what people have to say. I don't think Seattle freeze has ever really hit me.

There's a great balance in the PNW lifestyle, where there's interesting and important work going on, a variety of amazing land- and seascapes that people appreciate and enjoy, and just a well-rounded approach to life.

Green is pretty self-explanatory, spanning from the great forests to the healthier lifestyles to the general appreciation for the environment and its services.