51. Italy Travel Plans and Our First Year Podcast Milestones.
Hello and welcome to episode 51 of our podcast. In this episode we are having a bit of a show and tell.
We have hit some incredible numbers with our podcast and wanted to take the time to share with you and also reflect on our first full 12 months of podcasting.
We tell you our downloads stats, the countries that listen in and the most popular and least popular episodes.
We also share how our process has changed from our first episode in Paris up to now, as we are planning for our next series which we have coming up.
As this episode is published (May 2023) we are off to Italy and will be doing lots of episodes as we go – in our usual style of fun, informative and of course sharing the best places to enjoy a glass of wine in each city.
Listen to the end where we tell you our itinerary and the very exciting reason we changed our plans from going to Milan and are now having a weekend in Bologna (think fast cars).
Also listen to find out how you can help us with our travel plans in Italy - and also, we give you 11 ways – yep that’s 11 – that you can show support and help us grow the podcast – and none of them involve money.
Oh, and if you want to receive a digital postcard each week from Italy – then I will tell you how to do that as well.
Enjoy this wrap up episode and get excited for our Italian series.
Arrivederci until next week.
SHOW NOTES AND PICTURES BELOW
One year in and we can’t believe how much we love podcasting and how much our podcast has grown. It has become a bit of an obsession.
A year ago when we started our podcast sitting on the floor in our apartment in Paris we recorded our first podcast and we were buzzing. A year later we are much more organised and have a rough plan for each episode.
At first we were lucky to have 100 downloads a month – fast forward to today and we have 100 plus a day. I am a bit addicted to watching the stats, but it is so rewarding when you see all your hard work paying off.
We are receiving msgs and emails every week asking us for travel advice and people telling us that our podcasts have helped them plan their trips. That is the best feeling.
We have seen amazing growth since February – and we can’t wait to share our travel stories, information and pictures with more people.
One of our favourite cities in Spain was Seville. We talk about it in Episode 10.
We have been interviewed on 12 other podcasts, so far and have more interviews lined up.
We haven’t asked listeners to do reviews or leave comments previously. We don’t fill our podcast with adds like many do. At this stage it is a total labour of love. Now we do know that up to 90% of you are listening on either Apple or Spotify – so – if you have enjoyed listening to any or all of our podcasts could you please take the time while you are on the podcast app to go to Apple and leave a review and 5 star rating, or if you are on Spotify you can leave a 5 star rating or a comment as well. We would really appreciate it. We hope to shout out some great reviews on our episodes and highlight some here on our website.
Talking about where people are listening – we have people tuning in from over 80 countries – that blows our minds – some I haven’t even heard of. (We tell you which ones in the podcast)
The most listeners are from USA, Australia, UK, Canada and Spain – think Italy will be up there soon – more on why in a minute.
Our listeners seem to be spread over all our 50 episodes – the most popular so far is Episode 29 Barcelona and still at the bottom is the Chelsea Flower Show episode – which we think is still one of our best – go figure.
Our previous episodes have been about London, Paris, 25 Spanish episodes, four in Mexico, Gibraltar, six on Tasmania, several others from all around Australia and few about planning and how much our trips have cost etc. – and a couple of interview episodes.
We believe our point of difference and our strength is we do a deep dive into our destination. We don’t just hit the highlights and skim over what to do. Lyle does hours of research and I make sure we have it all in the right order and put it all together. Then of course we add the detailed show notes and pictures.
After tooting our own horn – it’s time to share what we have coming up. If you are reading this in real time (May 2023) we will be travelling around Italy.
We are spending 8 weeks exploring, researching and taking pictures for our podcast and website. Don’t worry though we will still have plenty of time to enjoy ourselves.
Here is our Italy Itinerary
Three nights Venice
Four nights Trieste
Four nights Verona
Two nights Bologna (for a very special reason to be revealed later)
One week Lake Como
One week Cinque Terre
One week Florence
Two nights in Tuscany
One week Rome and then a week doing a tour with friends from Rome to Amalfi.
We would love some help with our Italian trip. I know many of our listeners have spent time in Italy – so click on the link below to leave an audio message with your best recommendations of where we should go in each of the above places, especially great restaurants and of course the best place to enjoy a glass of wine, oh and what wine to enjoy.
We are so excited to do an in depth podcast series about travelling in Italy. Lyle has already done heaps of research. I’ve been checking out Italy travel FaceBook pages for inspiration.
Later in the year we are off to New Zealand – so will be sharing all about that as well.
So much going on.
If you have enjoyed any of our episodes so far then here are some things you can do (that won’t cost you any money, lol) to show your support for our podcast.
We have been around for a year and haven’t actively sort reviews and ratings, but now we realise that is the metric that other people look at to see if they should listen to the podcast, or if they should have us on their show for an interview or just work with us in general. So please pick at least one of the following 10 ways you can support our podcast.
1. Go to Apple Podcasts and search for Beach Travel Wine and leave a review and 5 star rating
2. Go to Spotify and search for Beach Travel Wine and leave 5 stars or a comment.
3. Leave a review on the podcast app you listen on, if not Apple or Spotify.
4. Follow or subscribe to Beach Travel Wine on your podcast listening app.
5. Follow us on Instagram or Facebook @Beach Travel Wine
6. Send us a voice message on the link below.
7. Leave a comment or review at the bottom of this page.
8. Share the podcast with a couple of friends or family members who you think would like to know about the travel destination episodes.
9. Send an email to leanne@beachtravelwine.com and say hi and give us a review that way.
10. Send a DM at Instagram or Msg with Facebook.
11. Oh and an extra one – join our email list because I am going to be sending digital postcards of our trip around Italy – so you won’t want to miss that one.
And one more thing – we would love to know where you are enjoying a wine (or cocktail or beer or even a coffee)– send us a pic, msg or email at any of the links above and share with us.
Now to tell you why we are off to Bologna.
Lyle’s godson – Harri Jones is a Carrera Cup racing car driver and is competing in the Super Carrera Cup in Europe. He is in the race prior to the F1 at Imola in Italy (near Bolgna) and we are going to be trackside to cheer him on.
Can’t wait for that either – that should make a good podcast episode.
Arrivederci amici xx