Octavia Seymour

Animal you identify with: Flying Fish

If you could give one piece of advice to every single person in the world, what would it be?
Above all else be kind (and that includes to yourself).

What is your happiness hack?
For me it has to be surfing, paddling out either on my own or with a group of friends and spending a few hours in the water catching waves and enjoying the scenery really calms me down and I normally don’t stop smiling for days afterwards.  

Recommended read:
Tom Robbins is a favourite, introduced to me on a trip to South Africa and enjoyed ever since. Otherwise P. G. Wodehouse is a great read for short humour and I love any adventure / travel literature for inspiration (Jack Kerouac, Joe Simpson, Bill Bryson).

Recommended listen:
Secret devotee of Desert Island Discs and I love listening to audiobooks particularly when I’m driving - anything Stephen Fry reads is worth a listen to.

Recommended place to visit:
As much as I love travelling to far-flung places, I am also a huge advocate of exploring your own back-yard. Some of the best trips I’ve done have been exploring wild parts of the UK like Thurso in Scotland or small villages in Cornwall. As long as there is an opportunity to be active and a great pub I’m more than happy.

On a Sunday morning, we’ll find you…
If I’m in London with a big cup of coffee reading the papers at my parent’s kitchen table - I have four brothers and we try to get the whole raucous gang together on Sundays. Often my dad will cook something (helped by various siblings) and then we’ll go for a walk or to the cinema or something. If I’m in New York I would normally use a Sunday to explore an area of the city that I don’t know with some friends and cycle out to Red Hook or go surfing in Montauk.