Think Tank on Reconceptualisation of VFR Travel at University of Surrey

I recently returned from the UK where I was fortunate enough to be involved in a Think Tank on VFR organised by the University of Surrey (http://www.surrey.ac.uk/shtm/events/surrey_think_tank.htm).   It was great to be in a small group of people who are all interested in VFR in slightly different angles.  There was a big focus on the mobility aspect of VFR, in the ways that immigrants maintain connections and relationships with their home land, how technology is used to continue those relationships, and the impact of VFR travel patterns on migration flows and broader cultural practices.  There were a few presentations that focussed on the touristic aspect of VFR as well.  A possible special issue in Mobilities may come to fruition.  It opened my eyes to the mobilities side of VFR, and the impact on migration flows- many people seemed to come from an immigration background, and this exposure to a broader range of literature should help strengthen my own work, particularly in the analysis stage of  my current thesis.

Reflection on first few interviews...

I have started data collection, and interviewed two people so far.  It's been a really fascinating experience in many ways.  Most importantly, the stories people are sharing are really interesting, and personal, and overlap the hosting experience with areas of their lives relating to family relationships, personal identity, and touristic experience in their communities.  I've found the participants so far have been seemingly very happy to tell their stories, and although perhaps a little perturbed by the camera at first I honestly don't think it adds any awkwardness to the conversation after a couple of minutes.  One problem I have to put more forethought into is the balance between allowing the conversation to flow, and wanting to capture a reasonable quality of video.  After successfully recording two interviews in terms of actually capturing video and audio I'm less nervous about the real basics, but I need to think about camera angle and lighting.  The last interview was in the person's back yard, which was lovely in many ways, the greenery and sunlight created a great atmosphere; but the neighbour's air conditioner, and regular air planes provided interruptions  and as the evening fell the lighting became very poor.  I will have to work out how to include the words and stories- it may be that there are noise interruptions etc., but as I move forward I'll think about these conditions before we start the conversation; I don't want to cut someone off and say "can you just hold that thought until that plane has passed by", as this isn't how people talk, and may position our conversation as a videoed interview rather than personal conversation.  However, this is all a good learning experience for me, and the technical aspect of my data collection will only improve as I continue.