“GETTING DRUNK IN A BAR IS A
BETTER WAY TO EXPERIENCE A CITY
THAN SIGHTSEEING”
Founder-Editor of the Urban Travel Blog, Duncan Rhodes is
a repository of knowledge on Eastern and Central Europe. He
is also the Editor and City Manager of Barcelona Life travel
guide and pens regular features for Conde Nast, CNN and
The Guardian
Duncan Rhodes
"I fear travelling
could become a
lot more boring
in the next 20 or
30 years."
We quote from your blog: “It was a trip
that started in Prague in 2002 and ended
in Sydney a year later that ignited his
passion for foreign climes and their
promise of adventure.” A year-long trip?
What took you on it?
The trip in question was a typical gap year
with two friends from University. We all
worked in London for three years after
graduating and then set off together. The
trip was unique because we didn’t end up
buying the usual round-the-world plane
ticket. Instead, we travelled over land and
sea from Prague to Bangkok, saw the
FIFA World Cup, 2002 in South Korea
before finally taking a plane to Australia.
There wasn’t one particular “aha”
moment during the journey but it did
give me the perspective that anything is
possible and I needn’t follow a typical
career path. That was important to me
because my parents are quite conservative
and I am quite risk-averse, so I needed
something big to happen to me if I was
going to break out of a London working
lifestyle that didn’t suit me at all.
What makes UTB one of the most followed
travel blogs? Yes, you have a strong team
of writers, but which promotion tools
worked best for you?
Every blogger uses a different formula
to promote their blogs, but I’m a bit old
school in my approach. I mostly rely on
Search Engine Optimisation techniques
to increase traffic on my website. It gives
38 Travel Secrets September-October 2015
our posts the best chance possible of
turning up in Google search results and
once people find the site, I try to turn
them into loyal readers by inviting them
to subscribe.
How should a visitor “experience” a city
rather than just see it?
I don’t like to be too snobby here, but a
typical tourist seems to pass over a city in
a very superficial way. They ride the tourist
bus, see the major sites, dine at the top
rated restaurants on Tripadvisor (which
is full of tourists, of course) but barely
interact with the locals. They see the city,
but don’t actually experience it. They don’t
know what it’s like to ride the Metro, or
order a coffee in some neighbourhood
bar where the staff don’t speak English,
and don’t attend any local art exhibitions,
concerts, parties. Even getting drunk in a
bar is a better way to experience a city than
sightseeing, because this way you talk to
people, interact with them, ask them for
local tips and advice and know more about
what it’s like to live there. I guess at UTB,
and particularly through our In The Zone
district guide, we want to highlight some
cool places, experiences and districts which
are maybe not mind-blowing like La
Sagrada Familia or The Vatican, but are a
part of the genuine daily life of the city.
UTB recommends: If you’re tired of
Paris’s famous but overcrowded avenues,
head for Le Marais.Considered the
hippest district in Paris, Le Marais is