Working Wednesdays: Travel Podcast in front of a room full of backpackers in Yerevan, Armenia

It’s been quite a crazy year for me but not just travel, the amount of side projects I’ve been involved with. In the past year, I’ve worked with the BBC, Vadovia (iPad app), Asia Rooms, Wanderlust and the County Down Spectator (newspaper in my hometown). But a recent highlight was the time I took part in a live travel Podcast while backpacking in Armenia. Humbled by the fact I’m now on iTunes (a bit of deserved payback from the time I once worked for Apple and they gave me an out of date iTunes voucher as my leaving present ha ha!).

I had been e-mailing to and fro with the guys from Love Affair Travel who run a series of completely inspiring Travel and Lifestyle related Podcasts. All their Podcasts are FREE to download, from their website and from the iTunes Store (I’ve put all the links at the bottom of this post). I was delighted that I was being given the opportunity to take part and I jumped at the chance. However, I was always busy backpacking and the chances of getting some quiet time with decent wifi to sit on my own in a room was just not going to happen.

So I simply waited for a moment on my travels where I at least had decent wi-fi. It ended up being Yerevan in Armenia. I had been in Georgia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan just before that but now that I was staying in the awesome Penthouse Hotel and Hostel in Yerevan, I could get online.

I sat on the settee in the middle of the lounge and arranged a time to do the Podcast. We messed up the times slightly as I had thought I would be Podcasting live at 8am, when most of the other backpackers would be asleep still. But no – it was to be 8pm. I took over the lounge for an hour or so, with my laptop and my words as I spoke to Ian Robinson from Love Affair Travel.

Just before I was due to start, I gave a quick warning to a few of the staff and travellers in the hostel. I didn’t exactly ask them to be quiet, as I wouldn’t do that, but I told them I’d be sitting in the lounge on my laptop for an hour doing a travel Podcast. They were welcome to listen in and be part of the background audience!

This included Bernadette from Germany, Graeme from Scotland, Michael from Poland and my girlfriend Panny Yu. They were all listening in. However just before I started the Podcast, I realised my headphones were crap – one of the ear pieces didn’t work. Michael from Poland stepped in to lend me his headphones – he was on route to Iran having just got his visa that day – thanks Michael!!

So I was all set. I sat there, drinking Tan (Armenian milky yoghurt drink) and speaking live over the web via Skype to Ian, who was in Australia at the time recording it.

I spoke about a range of topics from working in my local butchery, to backpacking in Europe, to working on broccoli farms, to my epic trip to Antarctica. It kind of reminded me of my endless days spent DJing on Nerve Radio, Birst and Radio Belvoir back in my student days. This time I was modern and doing an actual Podcast. I totally LOVED doing it. Everything flowed naturally and the audience in the hostel helped out – a few laughs from Graeme, my girlfriend sitting quiet in the corner taking a few photos and even the kids of the hostel owner running like maniacs up and down the stairs during the recording!!

It was all a bit crazy!

Fast forward a few months, and my Middle East backpacking stint is now over, and I’m back in Asia for a while. I write this from Bangkok, Thailand. The Podcast has just been released and I’m delighted with it!! Hope you guys would like to have a listen to it. I’m really happy that Love Affair Travel allowed me to tell my story on a Podcast, rather than the usual travel writing and written interviews I do. Here are some of the topics I cover:

I make that the 6 main types of media – TV (Sky Sports), newspaper (County Down Spectator), magazine (BU Alumni Magazine), online (Asia Rooms), Podcast (Love Affair Travel) and radio (BBC) that I’ve now appeared in during the last 12 months.

You should also check out the other Podcasts in the series and subscribe to them on iTunes. I was totally inspired at hearing Niall Doherty and Wandering Earl’s stories on there too. Inspiring stuff.

 

Coffee time…

 

You can download my Travel Podcast for FREE here:

http://loveaffairtravel.com/jonny-blair-unstoppable-travel-mindset/

You can also download my Travel Podcast and access all the other Podcasts on iTunes here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/love-affair-travel-podcast/id668329357?mt=2

And here’s that really cool song that was used by the guys on my Podcast – I love it!! First time I’d ever heard this song, The Devil Makes Three – Tow: