Not long ago I was in Shakespeare & Company and came across a charming book, Mademoiselle London ♥ Paris (sometimes) by Katya Jezzard-Puyraud and Franki Goodwin. The collaboration between the two friends—who together are Mademoiselle London— has Katya writing and Franki designing. The book is fun, humorous and smart (helpful visuals to help you learn masculine & feminine French verbs), and since it’s in both French and English so it’s an extra fun way to pick up the language. And it’s just one of their many projects. Their Boarding Pass responses have me chuckling, and I love all the visuals! Thanks, Katya and Franki!

{Skipping around Paris. By Sab in Paris}.

Hometown:
Katya Jezzard-Puyraud: London
Franki Goodwin: Edinburgh
Where you live now:
KJP: Paris.
FG: London, but I am in Paris once a week to teach at the Parsons School of Design.

Last trip taken:
KJP: St Jean de Luz, South of France.
FG: Barafundle Bay, West Wales.
Next trip on deck:
KJP: Italy maybe.
FG: LA – I’m craving tacky Americana and wide open spaces at the moment!
One place you would go back to again and again:
KJP: Iceland.
FG: Japan
Place you’d most likely recommend a friend go visit:
KJP: Iceland.
FG: New York or Rome

Preferred method of transportation:
KJP:Train.
FG: Yep me too. Travelling on trains is good for the soul.
Place you’ve never been but dying to go:
KJP: St Petersburg or the train ride Paul Theroux wrote about in The Great Railway Bazaar.
FG: Berlin
Place you’d never go back:
KJP: A miserable campsite in Australia where bush turkeys tried to eat my dinner.
FG: I think I went to that same campsite! But for me it’s Romania. Sorry but it was just grim.
Most memorable trip in 2 sentences or less:
KJP: To Iceland where I saw humpback whales, pink mountains, an elvin colony and a sea troll who tried to drown me; where I heard ghosts and met bank robbers and Vikings; where I ate shark & chips and drank the best Coke in the world made from Icelandic spring water.

FG: To Japan where I met the most inspiring designers and artists, rediscovered my love of drawing, photographed vending machines, sat in baths with electric currents running through them and went to the circus.
How do you prepare for a trip?
KJP: At the very last minute.
FG: 1. Make a List. 2. Do things on list.
How do you record your travels when you’re traveling?
KJP: In my head.
FG: Photography, drawing, notes, even audio recordings and silly videos on my iPhone. Whatever I have to hand.
What is your favorite thing to photograph in a new place?
KJP: Old people.
FG: Food and Walls
On average, how many pictures to you take on a trip?
KJP: Not enough.
FG: I don’t count but my iPhoto takes a really, REALLY long time to open up these days.
What’s in your “designer travel kit” ?
KJP: I don’t have a kit – I mainly just worry about whether I’ve bought enough knickers.
FG: Big Sketchbook with a hard back, small sketchbook, Pencil case, iPhone, Pentax Digital SLR with Macro and Wide Angle Lens, Laptop (sometimes).
What do you do after a trip?
KJP: I bore people with stories as soon as I get back and download my photos about two years after that and wonder who all those drunk people were in my tent.
FG: Watch TV under a blanket and write more lists about all the things I have to download/upload/blog/retouch/print…
Favorite souvenir/thing to bring back?
KJP: Rocks.
FG: Food items with nice packaging. (I still have some sardines from a trip to Portugal in 2001.)

• website: Mademoiselle London
• online shop
• on Twitter: @msmllelondon
• on Facebook
• Franki Goodwin’s personal blog
• Franki’s Japan blog
• Mademoiselle London’s book on the graphic and poetic exploits of a boozy London girl lost in Paris is now available at half price as part of their December Discount click here to check out their site and buy the book.
  

Boarding Pass is a weekly column exploring the creative ways people travel—with more than 100 in the archives!