This is Chris Danner.

Chris posted his STA application video on January 30th, one of the firsts to display his quality for the world to see and judge. I watched it once, chortled periodically, and watched it repeatedly after. I remember showing my parents his video before the top twenty were picked, thinking he had a good thing going for him and betting he’d do well.

Top twenty rolls around and his flowin’ film is up there for the prize. Being obsessive as I often get with these travel endeavors, I took notes on each video and participant, trying to figure out what makes them tick. My notes for Chris read something like the requirements listing on the STA website; I guess he fit the mold quite nicely by my interpretation.

Brazil Cafe and his strong presence on camera solidified his standing as a true contender for an intern role; the viewers certainly agreed, as did STA. I was sitting at the kitchen table, drawing a tiger for two youngins, when a phone call rattled my soul and informed me I was going abroad with Travelin Danner himself. The wheels started a-turnin.

The following evening, our voices collided via mobile services, and the swapping began. Planets aligned, woodland creatures paused to look in my bedroom window, and an hour and a half conversation begat intense excitement for the upcoming trip that will hopefully blow viewers’ minds! I was indeed shocked and thrilled before, but my mind won’t stop running now.

Get to know the dude

He likes books.

Shantaram,  East of Eden,  The Sun Also Rises,  For Whom the Bells Toll,  The Divine Comedy,  Lolita,  One Hundred Years of Solitude,  Love in the Time of Cholera,  The Lexus and the Olive Tree,  The Tipping Point, most things Shakespeare wrote (let’s be honest, he wasn’t always on his game) anything Oscar Wilde ever wrote (he, in my opinion, was always on his game),  a good amount of Chaucer, I love my Homer and Virgil, I enjoy Decadent literature in general, as far as more recent writers I’ll get to them after I read all the people who influenced them.

His ears work.

Partial to classic rock,  jazz,  blues,  country (don’t hate it if you haven’t listened to it),  electronica, hip-hop (the good stuff, don’t bore me with whatever you just heard on the radio, if it’s legit…I’ve been knowing about it),  trance, the best music of the 80’s in the worst kind of way.

He thinks when he wanders.

Travel Philosophy: The person who is gunna figure out the meaning of life is gunna have a dirty passport. If I haven’t been somewhere, that’s reason enough to go there, if I haven’t tried something, that’s probably reason enough to try it. Res ipsa loquitur.

Dead people inspire him.

“No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Manor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.” – John Donne

Favorite motivational speech:  St. Crispin’s Day speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V.  Read it, then try to argue against it, I wish you all the luck in the world.

He’s all up IN the History of Art.

If I could choose one piece of art to have in my prison cell (while I served out multiple life sentences for strangling whoever decided to make sagging cool), what would it be? “Pygmalion and Galatea” by Jean-Léon Gérôme because I’m a sucker like that.

Statements of Fact

If I had to pledge allegiance to the Celtics in exchange for a plane ticket where would I go? Petra, Jordan.

What song would I choose for my Say Anything moment? “Your Love” by The Outfield.

His Tender Side

History and art are my two great passions in life. I can not burp, I just don’t know how so I am a very polite dinner guest. I enjoy things that I am horrible at, like golf or guitar hero. I hate socks and would prefer never to wear them. My emotional stability is pretty dependent on the Lakers. People who say I am well traveled clearly don’t understand just how big this world is. If I make it the pearly gates, I want St. Peter to have a three finger single-malt scotch neat in his hand; that way I’ll know whether or not I want to go to heaven.

This is a cross-post from Lindsay Clark (the other World Traveler Intern) who published this on her blog shortly after talking to Chris for the first time.

Pygmalion and Galatea Photo Credit: griannan on Flickr