{"id":4907,"date":"2015-09-25T11:38:07","date_gmt":"2015-09-25T09:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rickzullo.com\/?p=4907"},"modified":"2021-11-12T22:51:12","modified_gmt":"2021-11-12T21:51:12","slug":"ricks-italy-blog-tour-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/ricks-italy-blog-tour-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Rick’s Italy Blog Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Italy
Photo Credit: New York Times. “Fiesta Lounge on a Panagra DC-6 bound for South America in the early \u201950s.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once upon a time, just traveling cross-country was a labor-intensive task and a logistical challenge, to say the least. It required months of planning, tons of equipment, and several strong horses, mules, oxen, or camels. The traveler him\/herself needed to be in excellent physical condition, and arriving alive at the destination was not<\/em> a foregone conclusion. One could expect to encounter illnesses, violent weather, and hostile natives on any given journey.<\/p>\n

Then about a half-century ago, commercial aviation ushered in the Golden Age of Travel, where folks \u201cdressed to the nines\u201d and sipped champagne at 35,000 feet on their way from New York to Buenos Aires. Travel itself was exciting and glamorous, and the destination was almost unimportant, as long as it was far, far away.<\/p>\n

Travel agents were like magicians, conjuring up epic voyages from a cozy office space lined with posters from exotic locations. Tell them your dreams and they could make them come true. Luxury travel was the new \u201cit\u201d item of conspicuous consumption in the 50s and 60s. A passport stamp from Milan was more prestigious than the designer handbag brought back from the “quadrilatero della moda.”<\/p>\n

Traveling in the Information Age<\/h2>\n
\"Can
Can a full “body cavity search” be far behind?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well, that\u2019s all over now. What we\u2019ve gained in affordability and access we\u2019ve certainly lost in comfort\u2026and dignity. TSA lines are the height of incivility, herding us barefoot like cattle through the mazes of x-ray scans and metal detectors, often resulting in public humiliation as a complete stranger feels us up from head to toe in front of an audience.<\/p>\n

The information glut on such sites as TripAdvisor overloads us with choices, causing temporary moments of paralysis when we fret over every minor decision right down to \u201cWhere will I eat breakfast in Florence on day three of my trip? Help! I can\u2019t decide!\u201d (I know this to be true, because I get emails all the time from travelers who are distraught over where they can find \u201cauthentic\u201d gelato in the center of Rome, as if their very happiness depends upon it.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is fatal to know too much at the outset: boredom comes quickly to the traveler who knows his route as to the novelist who is over-certain of his plot.\u201d \u00a0\u2013Paul Theroux<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Furthermore, our addiction to information threatens to extract all the joy and surprise out of every trip, no matter how remote or \u201coff the beaten path\u201d we wander these days. Spontaneity in travel has been dead for quite some time, and yet nobody seems to be mourning the loss.<\/p>\n

We all hunger to be someplace other than where we are at the moment. I am certainly no exception to this clich\u00e9. But it still pains me to see four people sitting a picture perfect lunch table overlooking the Amalfi Coast, each with their head down pecking away at their Smart Phone, either updating their Facebook status or chatting with friends back in Cleveland. What\u2019s the sense in traveling if your thoughts never leave\u00a0home?<\/p>\n

Technologically Enhanced Italy Blog Tour<\/h2>\n

This year\u2019s version of my Italy blog tour is an abbreviated itinerary compared to last year\u2019s tour de force, but I\u2019ll still be covering nearly the entire length of the Italian peninsula, from north (Milan) to south (Aeolian Islands, Sicily); and the width, from east (Rimini) to west (Levanto).<\/p>\n

Despite every lamentation about technology at the beginning of this post, I\u2019ll be trying out some new equipment on this trip. My excuse is that since I\u2019m a travel blogger\/podcaster, it\u2019s my duty to stay up to date with current trends in digital media. (Or else I\u2019m just a hypocrite, which might also be true.)<\/p>\n

Here are two new technologies that I\u2019ll be trying out during this year’s Italy blog tour for your voyeuristic pleasure.<\/p>\n

Periscope <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"rickThis is the latest \u201cnext\u201d thing is social media by the folks who brought you Twitter. In an effort to make the world smaller still, Periscope is a streaming video app that allows you to broadcast live to the entire globe from wherever you are. Going live will instantly notify your followers who can join, comment, and send you \u201chearts\u201d in real time. The more hearts you get, the higher they flutter on the screen. But while your followers can see you and comment, you cannot<\/em> see them\u2026only their \u201chearts\u201d and comments. Hence the exquisite voyeuristic nature of this new platform.<\/p>\n

Oh, and broadcasts are available for replay for up to 24 hours. After that, they\u2019re in the wind!<\/p>\n

This is totally new for me, but it might be fun. There\u2019s no editing or dubbing, so what you see is what you get! Check it out by downloading the app for iTunes or Android, and then follow me: @RickZullo<\/p>\n

Portable Microphone with integrated iPhone app<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"iRigMic\"<\/a>So yes, it\u2019s all about being mobile and spontaneous. This is an uncomfortable departure for me, as I\u2019m used to taking my time writing blog articles and podcast questions, and then editing them until I\u2019m happy. Not so with these new technologies, which promise for more \u201cauthentic\u201d content. Whatever that means.<\/p>\n

Towards this end, I\u2019ve purchased a portable microphone that records on my iPhone via an integrated app. My goal with this device is to capture interviews in situ rather than from the quiet comfort of my home. My hope is that these on-location interviews will become future podcast episodes.<\/p>\n

For anybody in Rome that wants to participate, I’ll be doing a few impromptu interviews at the weekly Tuesday event with the Expats Living in Rome group on 6 October. Details to follow on Facebook soon.<\/p>\n

Travel Blogger Destination Italy<\/h2>\n

\"travel<\/a>Finally, the highlight of this tour (for me) is my second appearance at TBDI in Rimini. This is actually the third year of the event, which strives to introduce travel bloggers to global travel brands for the purposes of collaboration.<\/p>\n

This year I\u2019m honored to be one of the speakers, and I\u2019ll be presenting on the topic of \u201cPodcasting to revitalize your blog, grow your audience, and add authority to your brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you have a moment, I would really appreciate your support by subscribing to my podcast on iTunes, and downloading a few of the episodes. Here:<\/p>\n

The Fatal Charm of Italy<\/a><\/p>\n

This will help my show gain more attention within the Apple search engine, and expose my podcast to a larger audience.<\/p>\n

Grazie, and stay tuned for \u201cLIVE\u201d updates from the travel road in Italy!! Ciao!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time, just traveling cross-country was a labor-intensive task and a logistical challenge, to say the least. It required months of planning, tons of equipment, and several strong horses, mules, oxen, or camels. The traveler him\/herself needed to be in excellent physical condition, and arriving alive at the destination was not a foregone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,344],"tags":[384,201,345,25,178],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4907"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}