Interview with Lara Dunston and Grantourismo – Podcast 07

In Episode 7 in my travel podcast series, you’ll find an interview with travel writer and blogger, Lara Dunston who’s embarking on a year long project together with her husband, photographer Terry Carter, which they’re calling Grantourismo. They’ll be travelling the world, staying in different apartments around the world sponsored by Home-Away holiday rentals in the UK and you’ll also hear from Sarah Chambers of Home Away on why the company decided to take this approach to promoting their holiday properties.

Link to audio file

Show notes

In the podcast we talked about;

• How Lara first got started in travel writing, working in public relations, film-making and media studies which developed into travel writing, first on a part time and later on a full time basis.
• The realities of being a travel writer – from the fun bits such as eating out in great restaurants, as well as the more mundane bits such as updating guidebook information.
• How Lara and Terry work together as a husband and wife as well as a working partnership.
• How Lara and Terry deal with the practicalities of moving all their belongings, laptops and camera equipment around the world and how they persuade airlines to waive their excess baggage charges.
• The advice Lara has for those who’d like to adopt their lifestyle as a travel writer or location independent worker.
• How Lara and Terry came up with the idea of taking a contemporary Grand Tour for a year, getting into the culture of each place and travelling more slowly and with an authentic flavour.
• What HomeAway Holiday-Rentals can offer travellers looking for holiday apartments, and how they wanted to promote the benefits of extra space and privacy and staying in local neighbourhoods.
• How Home Away wanted to tap into consumers looking for travel information online and to provide them with something that would inspire them to a different way of travelling.
• The Grantoutismo itinerary that includes Marrakech, Spain, Paris, Montenegro, Puglia, Sardinia, Venice, Asia, Indonesia, New York, Austin Texas, Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, South America, Kenya and back to Europe in January 2011.
• The trends that Lara sees in travel writing and blogging, with the recession hitting traditional media, leading to travel writers exploring new ways of working on line.
• Sarah Chamber’s view that more travel companies are promoting themselves through inspirational content on-line and will be experimenting with approaches like the Grantourismo project.
• You can follow Lara and Terry’s progress at Grantourismo and on Twitter
• You can find holiday apartments like those Lara and Terry are staying in at VRBO (HomeAway Holiday-Rentals)

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