Talking Travel – Kirsty Marrins

Hello and welcome to Talking Travel Women Radio station's weekly show, travel news from around the world, fascinating guests and answers to all your burning travel questions. Hey, Holland. Now, today we're joined by travel, food lifestyle blogger Kirsty Marins, who will be sharing her travel highs and lows. Hello, Kirsty. Hi, Kay. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you for having me. And have we caught you in the country for once? You have, yes. I know you're just back from your travels. Yes, we just got back from Rome where we spent the Easter weekend. Fantastic. Fantastic. Well, you escape the monsoon weather here in Blighty, so just going to ask you a few questions, really. So hopefully our listeners get a feel for your travel lifestyle when you're ready. Well, firstly, I know following all your travels on Instagram and social media and your blog managed to get away a lot. What would you actually like to do, though, on travels? Well, obviously we like to relax and explore, but if I'm really honest, we like to eat and drink. I think if you really want to experience a culture, then you really need to eat and drink local cuisine and also really try and find out where the locals eat. So, for example, if we get a taxi from the airport, we often ask the taxi driver where they like to eat, which restaurants they would recommend. And actually we found some absolute gems away, one of which is a fabulous restaurant in Amalfi, right on the marina. And every time we go to Amalfi, we always go back to that place and. And we probably would never have discovered it if we hadn't asked our taxi driver. So live like a local and tap into the local experience. Yeah, definitely. And where was it that you last went to? Was it Rome then? Yes. So we went to Rome for Easter and the weekend before that we did a weekend away here in the uk to York, which was amazing. And then before that we spent in Boston in Massachusetts, which was amazing. Loved it. Absolutely freezing. It had been like the coldest weather they'd had for about 100 years and it was like minus 13 during the day and that's degrees Celsius, not Fahrenheit. I've never been so cold, but it was amazing. Just fabulous city and I can't wait to return. Fantastic. So you've, as you said, you've been to Boston, you've been to Rome, where? Do you know where you're going to next this year? Yeah, so we've got a few sort of summer breaks planned already. My husband is Italian, so we go to Italy a lot over the summer. Which is amazing. Although I'd still quite like to explore, you know, some other parts of Europe in the summer. But we're off to the Amalfi coast in July. So we're going to Positano and then Ischia, which is an island. Yeah. And then we've also got a short break, I think of about four or five nights in Taormina, which is in Sicily. And then we're also planning a trip to Polignano Amare, which is in Puglia. That's what we've got booked so far. And then I'm hoping in November to go to Cape Town and possibly Kruger National Park. Very nice. Busy times ahead. Yes. Yeah, we like to make the most. And you'll leave? Absolutely. Well, as a travel blogger, I know you're on the road most of the time, so to speak. Of all the places you say was your favorite, Kirsty? Oh, I think it's. It's actually impossible just to choose a favorite. I mean, we've been to some honestly truly amazing places. But I think if I have to choose a country, I'll probably say it because I've seen so much of it and obviously because my husband is Italian. He got married. Exactly. It's like a second home. We even got married in Bologna, where he's from. And specific places within Italy. I'd probably say Ischia, Positano, the Aeolian Islands, Florence, Verona, Rome. All of the above for choice. Absolutely. As you said, you've mentioned Italy, you've mentioned South Africa. Which destination do you wish to travel to yet? I would absolutely love to go to Machu Picchu in Peru. To be honest, it's been on my like, must see list for years and we actually came close to looking at a few years back, but then it was just quite a lot of fights and just opted instead. It's a long way. And we wanted to also combine it with Brazil or Argentina, and it just became a bit complex. But there's just something about it that just do it. And I just really want to go on my bucket list too. But turning to your own country now, what would you recommend? Tourists see that perhaps isn't in travel guide. Yeah. So, well, I'll talk about London, where I've lived for the last 14 years. I think obviously people, especially if they traveling here for the first time or want to see all the typical tourist spots and if they are heading to London, then I really suggest walking across the road for lunch at St. Catherine Ducks. I mean, to be honest, I only discovered it a few Years ago. But it's an amazing marina, full of shops and restaurants and bars. And then afterwards you can walk off by walking along the Thames towards Wapping, which is a really cool area. And you'll see an amazing view of Tower Bridge as well. And if you're feeling energetic, you can actually just continue walking all the way along the south bank towards Westminster. Excellent tips. We might save that, though, for when the rain stops. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And a question I'm quite interested in is how you plan your holiday. Very active social media. Yeah. So I mean, we have a combination. When it comes to Italy, it's often my husband suggesting places or it may be, I've seen, for example, once we kind of have a destination mind, we will sometimes use a travel agent, especially if the trip is quite complex. Or I might post in some travel Facebook groups that I belong to or, you know, read some blog posts from travel bloggers. And obviously if I know someone from that country, then we'll ask them for their recommendations. But I also love to buy a travel guide for every place that we go to. Obviously they're really helpful, but I also love looking at them on my bookshelf and it's kind of like a little memento, really, of, you know, all the holidays that we've had. Memories. Yeah, absolutely, yes. And how often would you say as a travel blogger then that you go away? Well, I mean, I'm freelance, so I'm lucky enough to obviously not be constrained by annual leave. But my husband does have annual leave. He has about 30 days a year and we use up all of it, so we probably go away from around maybe five to seven times a year. Wow. And producer Natalie in the studio is turning green here with envious, as am I. Incredible. Sorry, who do you travel with? It's usually your husband. Yeah, it's predominantly my husband, probably 9.5 times. And he's Italian, so I presume that explains then all the trips. Yes, exactly. And a final question, tourism. Well, I think I'm going to talk more about South Africa, which is my home country, and I really feel that really booming there in 10 years time. I think, you know, some will tend to think maybe it's still a bit unsafe, but actually it is really safe and it's a really attractive destination because it's actually really affordable to people living in the UK and even the us. You know, the exchange rate is really in our favor and, you know, you've got great weather, fabulous food and wine. The wine is in South Africa, so it's really inexpensive. You've got a diverse landscape, lots of wildlife, you've got the sea, mountains, vineyards, quite simply destination in my eyes. And I think a lot more people are waking up. Fact that even though it is a long flight, there's not really any time difference. So there's no jet lag. You don't really lose time traveling. Yeah, exactly. Because you know, they're evening flights and it's really inexpensive. Yes, favorable. Exactly, yes. Fantastic. Thank you ever so much for joining us on travel, Kirsty. Thank you for having me. And perhaps you'd like to give our listeners a little bit, Doug, about your travel blog. Sure, absolutely. So I write a travel blog that's called what Could Next? As well as travel, it also focuses on food. So, you know, restaurant reviews or cooking classes or, you know, events that I go to. So tomorrow I'm actually going to an apparel spritz event at the Shard. So that will be amazing and will be on the blog. But you can also find me on Twitter and Instagram. My handle is LondonKiss and I also have a Facebook page, what Kirstex. So I'd love to see your listeners come and chat to me on any of those channels. Excellent. Thanks, Kirsty. Thank you so much. Kay, Kathleen. Bye. Hi, I'm Sarah Austin and I'm the founder of the really Helpful Club, an online and offline community that helps supports and connects thousands of women in our personal and business lives. We are buzzing. Join us to share and discover your best ideas. Come to our events to meet other members and learn something New book now for our London workshop on 10 May, helping you prepare for and manage the menopause. Membership is free. Join now by visiting reallyhelpfulclub.com Please also find us on thewomensradiostation.com hi, I'm Yekaterina Brechowa, head of Conference Production City and Financial Global and I want to tell you about our vote 100 Women in Business Summit at the Royal Garden Hotel on 17th of April. 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