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- [00:00]
Lady Luck
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- [00:30]
Rakuten Advertiser
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- [01:29]
Bluff
N Now let the city I'll be doing.
- [01:42]
Claudia from Strictly Sardinia
Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Streetly Sardinia Podcast. I am Claudia, the person behind the Strictly Sardinia blog, this podcast, and the Strictly Sardinia Facebook community. Today's episode wasn't actually the one I had planned. In fact, I was also set to record an episode comparing the Emerald coast with the rest of Sardinia. I already had my notes ready and I was looking forward to talking about one of the questions I get asked the most often. But then something happened in my Facebook group that made me change my plans. A member posted a very detailed question asking for advice on planning an anniversary trip to Sardinia. He wanted recommendations of where to fly, where to stay, what route to follow, which beaches to to prioritize, what boat trips to take, and how to make the most of seven or eight days on the island. In other words, he was asking for a complete itinerary. I replied by explaining that a Facebook comment wasn't really the right place for that kind of personalized street planning. Some people understood exactly what I meant, others didn't. Over the next couple of hours I was called rude, disappointing, and perhaps my favorite of all, an AI bot. Now, I promise I am not recording this episode because I want sympathy. Quite the opposite. I'm actually grateful that discussion happened because it made me realize something. Many of you have been reading my blog for years, others have only recently discovered the podcast, and some of you are members of the Facebook group. But very few actually know who I am. You don't know what I did before I became a travel blogger. You probably don't know why I started swiftly Sardinia. You don't know what goes into researching a single article or recording a podcast episode. And perhaps most importantly, you don't know why I sometimes answer a question with a link to one of my articles instead of typing everything again from scratch. So today I'd like to introduce myself properly. Not because I think my story is particularly extraordinary, but because I think understanding where my advice comes from will help you understand how I work, why I work the way I do, and hopefully why so many people choose to trust strictly Sardina when planning their trips. Now, let's start at the beginning. I was born and raised in Cagliari, and despite spending about 10 years living abroad, this has always been my home. It's where my family is, it's where my closest friends are, my cat is here, and where my memories are. After living in the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, and then the United Kingdom again, I eventually came back to Cali because quite simply, this is where I wanted to build my life. What's funny is that if you meet people, if you'd met me 15 years ago and told me I had end up working in tourism, I probably would have laughed because tourism wasn't my background at all. I studied international human rights law and completed a PhD at the University of Essex. After that I stayed in academia, teaching and carrying out research at the University of Essex University College London, and later at the University of Cagliari, my hometown. My work focused on issues such as minority rights, racial discrimination, and freedom of expressions. So before I was writing about beaches, hiking trails and boat trips, I was writing academic papers and books. Looking back now, though, I can see that those years shaped the way I work today more than I realized at the time. Academic research teaches you to question information, to verify facts, to check your sources, to admit when something has changed. And that's exactly the approach I still take with my travel content. If a beach introduces a booking system, I update the article I wrote on my blog maybe a year or two ago. If parking regulations change, I Rewrite the if a hotel changes ownership or a restaurant closes, I don't want somebody arriving in Sardinia relying on information that was correct three years ago, but isn't correct anymore. Accuracy has always mattered to me. Eventually, my contract at University of Calgary came to an end, and instead of immediately looking for another academic position, I. I decided to do something that I always wanted to do. I traveled for five months through Central and South America, and that trip changed everything. When I came back to Italy, I needed surgery to remove my tonsils. I was almost 39 years old, which isn't exactly the typical age for that operation. I still remember waking up from anesthetics. I could barely speak, but I looked at my parents. That said something that completely surprised all all of us. I want to work in tourism. It sounds almost ridiculous when I say it out loud now. One moment I was recovering from surgery, the next, I had completely changed the direction of my life. The funny thing is that my mom wasn't surprised at all. She'd been telling me for years that I should do exactly that. Open a travel blog. Long before I saw it myself. She could see how passionate I was about traveling, researching destinations, and helping other people plan dirt trips. And she was right. I enrolled in a course to become a certified travel consultant. I traveled again. And then I poured everything I had into building a career that combined the things I loved. The traveling, research, writing, helping other people experience places in a more meaningful way. Looking back, that decision changed my life. And although I couldn't possibly have known it at the time, it would eventually lead me right back to the place where this story began. Sardinia. Like many people around the world, World Twenty20 completely changed my plans. Travel came to a standstill. For someone whose work revolved around traveling, that could have been a disaster. Instead, it became an opportunity. By then, I'd already been running my first block, my adventures across the world. For five years, I had learned a huge amount about writing, photography, SEO, building a website, and perhaps most importantly, understanding what travelers actually want to know before they visit a destination. Suddenly, during the pandemic, I found myself with something I almost never had before time, I started thinking about Sardinia. I had spent years writing about destinations all over the world. Yet I had never dedicated the same level of attention to the place I know best. The island where I was born. The island where I grew up. The island where I still live. So in May 2020, I launched Streetly Sardinia. The original idea was actually very simple. I wanted to create the kind of resources of I wished already existed. A place where someone planning a trip could find everything they needed in one place Instead of opening 20 browsers, tab, reading contradictory Facebook comments, trying to figure out which information was still accurate, and hoping for the best. As time went on, that mission became much bigger. Today, Streetclade Sardinia has hundreds of detailed articles, this podcast, a Facebook community, and a newsletter. But that philosophy hasn't changed. If anything, it has become even stronger. If there's one thing I'd like you to remember after listening to this episode, it's I don't recommend it. Places I haven't experienced first hand that might sound obvious. Surprisingly, it isn't. There are countless websites that recommend hotels the author has never visited, restaurants where they haven't eaten, boat tours they've never taken, beaches they've never set foot on. AI can do that. But that's not how I work. If I tell you that I love a beach, it's because I've spent time there. If I recommend a boat, a trip, it's it's because I've actually been on it. If I suggest a hotel, it's because I visit it. I stay there or research it thoroughly enough that I'm comfortable putting my name behind that recommendation. And trust matters to me. And trust is built over time. It's built by being honest, by updating information, and by admitting when something changes. It's built by saying, actually, I don't know, rather than pretending to have all the answers. I'd much rather lose a recommendation than lose my credibility. And that brings me to another point. People occasionally ask me why I spend so much time updating articles. The answer is because Sardinia changes regulation, changes at the beach, parking systems change, hotels change management, restaurants close, boat tours change routes or they stop working. New attractions open and old information becomes outdated. If I know something has changed, I feel a responsibility to update it. I'd rather spend another day rewriting an article than have someone arrive in Sardinia relying on information that was actually three years ago, but isn't anymore. My goal has never been to publish the greatest number of articles. My goal has always been to publish information that people can trust. That same philosophy has shaped every opportunity I've had throughout my career. One thing many people don't know is that I didn't start working with organizations like National Geographic, the BBC, Your News, Lonely Planet, or DK Eyewitness because they hired me to become a travel blogger. I actually no, it happened the other way around. I started blogging because I love traveling and writing, and over the years my work was noticed. Those opportunities came because of the blogs I had built. I've worked as a local host during documentaries, helping production teams with research and logistics. I've been interviewed on destinations I know well. For the K Eyewitness, I worked as a fact checker, reviewing information for one of their travel guides on Sardinia. Those collaborations have been incredibly rewarding, not because of the names themselves, but because they confirm something that has always mattered to me. Careful research matters, accuracy matters, local knowledge matters. I've also had the privilege of working with Turin's boards from all over the world. Places such as Alaska, Falcon Islands, Guyana, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Latvia, Northern Spain, Trentino and many others. Ironically, none of those tourism boards were from Sardinia, and in a way I'm happy about that. It means Strictly Sardinia has remained completely independent. Nobody tells me which hotel to recommend. Nobody tells me which beach to rank first, provided this should even be a ranking. Nobody tells me which restaurant deserves a mention. If I recommend somewhere, it's because I genuinely believe it's worth your time. If I don't recommend somewhere, it's because I don't feel confident doing so. The independence is incredibly important to me. In fact, one of the things that often surprises people is that I pay for almost everything myself, especially here in Sardinia. Hotels, restaurants, boat tours, museum tickets, parking, beach access, car rentals, ferries. Could I accept more complimentary experiences?
- [12:36]
Rakuten Advertiser
Probably.
- [12:37]
Claudia from Strictly Sardinia
But I'd rather pay a note that I can give you my honest opinion than feel any pressure, however small, to make something sound better than it really is. My loyalty has always been to my readers and listeners, not to the businesses I write about. Ultimately, that's why I believe people trust Strictly Sardinia. Not because I visited around 70 countries, not because I worked with well known organizations or I published hundreds of articles. Those things certainly help establish experience, but they're not the reason I believe people trust my work, because they know that if I put my name on a recommendation, it's one I genuinely stand behind. And for me, that's the only reputation worth having. Now, one of the things I hear most often is you're so lucky you get to travel for a living. And they're absolutely right. I'm lucky I get to do something I genuinely love. And I don't take that for granted for a second. There is another side to this job that very few people ever see. People see the finished article, the podcast episode, the Instagram photo, the Facebook post. What they don't see are the days and sometimes weeks that went into producing that piece of content. Content. A lot of people imagine travel blogging as Permanently being on holiday, beautiful beaches, great restaurants, camera in one hand, a cocktail on the other. The reality is rather different. Most days start at my desk. I answer emails, I moderate the Facebook group, I reply to comments, I check whether regulations anywhere on the island have changed. I work on articles, I update older articles, I research new destinations here in Sardinia, prepare consultations, I record podcast episodes. I. I deal with all the admin side of running a business. And then when I'm traveling around Sardinia, I'm not traveling like a tourist. I'm working. If I'm visiting a beach, I'm paying attention to everything. How easy is it to get there? What's the road like? Is parking straightforward? Has the parking fee changed? Are there toilets? Can you rent umbrella? Is there a lifeguard? Is there somewhere to eat? Can you pay by card? Has anything changed since the last time I was there? Because chances are someone will ask me those exact questions. The same applies to hotels, restaurants, BO tours, and everything else. I didn't just experience them. I analyze them, I make notes, I take photographs, I record videos, I collect information. And then I go home and spend hours turning all of that into something useful. Traveling is actually the easy part. The real work starts afterwards. People often ask me how many times I've been to certain places. The truth is, I've stopped counting. I've been to Alghero so many times that I generally couldn't tell you the number. The same goes for Magdalena Archipelago, Gulf of Orze, Punta Molentis, and pretty much any other place that you'll find mentioned on my Sardinia blog. Sometimes people ask me why I keep going back. The answer is simple. Because Sardinia changes. A restaurant that was excellent 3 years ago May have changed management. A beach may now require different sets of rules, advanced bookings, stuff like that. If I stop revisiting places, sooner or later my information would become outdated. And that something I'm not willing to accept. The same applies to research. A huge part of my work happens behind a computer. I'm constantly reading official websites, checking municipal regulations, looking at ferry schedules, verifying opening hours, reading local news, speaking to businesses and comparing different sources, trying to make sure that when I publish something, it's as accurate and up to date as I can possibly make it. My goal has always been very simple. I want someone planning a trip to Sardinia to find one article or one podcast I episode and have everything they need in one place. I don't want you spending three evenings trying to piece together information from Facebook comments, old foreign posts, or random websites. I want to do that. Work for you. That's really the purpose of street li Sardinia. To save you time, to reduce the stress of planning and to help you avoid mistakes and hopefully to help you have a better holiday. Another thing people often don't realize is that I pay for almost everything myself, especially here in Sardinia. Everything. Hotels, restaurants, boat tours, museums, everything. Can I ask for more complimentary experiences? Probably. But I choose not to. Because I want something to be. I want to be completely free to tell you exactly what I think. I never want to feel any under pressure, any pressure to make something sound better than it really is simply because somebody invited me. My loyalty has always been to you, to my readers, to my listeners, to the people who trust me enough to use my advice when planning their holidays. And that's a responsibility I take very seriously. And why I update my comment every time something changes. I ask myself a simple if somebody reads this article tomorrow, will they arrive in Sardinia knowing exactly what to expect? If the answer is no, I update it because I don't want anyone arriving at the beach only to discover that they should have booked in advance. Ultimately, that's what my work is really about. Not writing, not just traveling. It's about building trust. Every article on my site, every podcast, every recommendation I make, every answer I give, I'm asking you to trust me. And the only way I know to learn to earn that trust is by doing the work. By visiting places myself, checking the facts, paying attention to the details, by saying I don't know if I genuinely don't know, and by never recommending something simply because everyone else does. If you spend 10 minutes reading one of my articles, you're seeing the final 10 minutes of what may have been 20 or 30 hours of traveling, researching, writing, checking and updating. That's the part most people never see. But it's also the part that matters most that brings me to something I've wanted to experience explained for quite a while. Why do I sometimes say that's probably a consultation rather than a Facebook comment? The answer is very simple. There's a huge difference between answering a travel question and planning somebody's holiday. If you ask me whether Calagolorice is worth visiting, whether Cagliari or Alghero is a better base, whether you should visit Sardinia in June or September, those are questions, and they're exactly the kind of questions I enjoy answering. Now imagine a different message. We're arriving on September 20th. Which airport should we fly into? Where should we stay? Which beaches should we prioritize? Should we split our time between two or three places? Which boat tour should we take? Where should we eat? Which villages should we visit? Which hotel would you recommend? Every single one of these questions is perfectly reasonable, but together they become something else. They become a personalized itinerary. That isn't something I can answer properly in a Facebook comment or in a quick email. Not because I don't want to, but because it deserves more care than that. A good itinerary isn't simply a list of places. It depends on your interests, your budget, your travel style, whether you're traveling with children, whether you're comfortable driving, whether you're interested in hiking, archaeology, wine, food, photography, or simply spending every day at the beach. It depends on your arrival, airport, your departure airport, how many days you have. And there isn't one perfect itinerary. There are hundreds. And that's exactly why I offer consultations. People often think that they're paying for a one hour phone call. They're not. The call is just the beginning. During that hour, we talk in detail about your trip, your priorities, your interests, the things you absolutely don't want to miss, the things you don't care about. Then after the call, I spend another hour or two hours preparing a detailed itinerary. You'll receive a day by day travel plan, suggestions for accommodations, recommendations for activities and tours, restaurant recommendations organized by area, links to book services, online links to relevant articles on Streetlist Sardina. So if you want to learn more about the place, everything is already there. In other words, you're not simply paying for an hour of my time. You're benefiting from 11 years of professional experience, thousands of hours of research, my certification as a travel consultant, and a lifetime of living in Sardinia. It's a professional service and one I'm genuinely proud of. Now, before I finish, I'd like to return to where this episode started, the Facebook discussion. One person wondered whether I was an AI bot. I can assure you I'm not. Although I must admit I found that one quite funny. Other people called me rude, disappointing to their right. And you know what? That's okay. Not everyone will like my communication style. But I'd rather be honest and tell people what? Then tell people what they want to hear. That thing that frustrates me isn't criticism. It's seen the same questions arrive every single day about topics I've already spent hundreds of hours researching and writing about. Questions like where should I stay? Should I visit the north or the south? How many days do I need? What are the best beaches? Can you recommend a tour of Maddalena Archipelago. Those are exactly the questions that inspired me to create sweetly Sardinia in the first place. That's why the blog exists. That's why I started this podcast and the Facebook group. Not because I don't enjoy answering questions, but because I'd rather create one really comprehensive resource that help hundreds of thousands of people, then type the same answer over and over again. When I reply with a link to one of my articles, I'm not brushing someone off. Quite the opposite. I'm giving them the best answer I've already spent hours, or sometimes days putting together. The article is certainly more detailed than anything I could ever write in a Facebook comment. If there's one thing I'd ask for anyone planning a trip to Sardinia, it's before asking a question, spend a little time exploring what's already available on my website. Read a few articles, use the search function in the Facebook group. You might be surprised by the amount of information is already there. And if after doing that, you still have questions, ask away. That's exactly why this community exists. Before I finish, I'd like to leave you with one final thought. After spending 10 years living abroad, I chose to come back to Calgary because this is home. This island has given me so much. My family, my friends, my career, a way of life I genuinely love Streetly Sardinia is my way of giving something back. I'm not trying to convince everyone to visit every corner of the island or to create bucket lists. I'm actually quite against it. I'm not trying to set everyone to the same 10 beaches. My goal has always been much simpler than that. I want people to travel better, to understand Cerdina rather than simply passing through it. To support local businesses, to respect the places they visit, to live with memories and not just photographs. And if because of something you've read on the blog, heard on this podcast, or discussed in the Facebook group, your holiday turns out to be even a little bit better than it otherwise would have been then. I've done my job. Now, before I go, I'd like to say thank you for reading my blog, for listening to this podcast, for asking questions, and for trusting my recommendations. And thank you for allowing me to do a job that I genuinely love every single day. Next week, I promise I'll get back to talking about Sardina itself. I finally record that episode originally planned, about the Emerald coast and why it's so famous and how it compares to the rest of Sardinia. Is it worth visiting? Is it overrated? Are there places anywhere on the island that I actually think you should prioritize instead. I think it's going to be a fun one. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please consider following the podcast and leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform. It really help helps more people discover Strictly Sardinia. You can also Visit my blog, strictly Sardinia.com where you'll find hundreds of free guides to help you plan your trip. Or join the Strictly Sardinia Facebook group to ask questions and connect with other travelers. Thank you so much for listening and I'll talk to you in the next episode. Goodbye.
- [25:11]
Bluff
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- [25:33]
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