Monday 30 June 2014

Varun's Diary (Monday)

What is life without the internet? A little stressful I can tell you ...

A couple of years ago I visited Nashville, Tennessee. It was a shocking (good) experience. The Eagles is country music (!) ... and Roy Orbison is not in the Country Music Hall of Fame! Who could imagine ... ?

One day it was left to Graceland (Elvis is alive!) and one day it was right to Dollywood - which is located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Dollywood is - of course - Dolly Parton's playground. It was ... um ... interesting.

It was so, so, SO wonderful to see Dolly "headlining" Glastonbury yesterday!

Hit after hit after hit ... culminating with "I Will Always Love You" ... what an amazing pair of lungs that Dolly has! Amazing!

ONLY shame was that Kenny Rogers wasn't there to duet on "Islands in the Stream"!

Anyway - this week is a busy one BUT I am taking a couple of "Shakespeare Days" (!) ... and then next week ... it's "Back on the Road Again" (Jamiroquai)...

Have a great week y'all ... (ha!)

Song of the Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiwcOaaRo1Y



Saturday 28 June 2014

Saturday:

THIS MORNING (Saturday) - 11 am (UK time) is my THIRD 80s radio show which is all about travels featuring: Sting, Eric Serra, Bucks Fizz, Madness, Bowie, Phil Bailey ... and many, many more ... 

Listen LIVE on www.pulseradio.org or www.tunein.com (Pulse 104.4 PM) or via the "tunein app" ...

The show is available in the UK, USA, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Latvia, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Uruguay and many more ....

HAPPY LISTENING!



Friday 27 June 2014

It's Friday and the rain is pouring down. 

I did stop still this morning (in bed with a chai tea latte) and listen to the rain-music on my roof ... quite mesmerising.

Anyway - my plans for the weekend (live music and outdoor fun) have been scuppered ... so Plan B will have to swing into action (although I am unsure what this is).

The forecast is rain with more than occasional suni spells!

OKAY - so I spent a wonderful hour in my local supermarket last night - I was the ONLY shopper in my local 24-hour store!

Sushi anyone?

It may be a Ghost Town but so much fun zipping down the aisles. The night workers put the music on loud and can be seen (occasionally) Dancing in the Streets (sic).

THAT reminds me:

Saturday morning - TOMORROW - 11 am (UK time) is my THIRD 80s radio show which is all about travels featuring: Sting, Eric Serra, Bucks Fizz, Madness, Bowie, Phil Bailey ... and many, many more ...

Listen LIVE on www.pulseradio.org or www.tunein.com (Pulse 104.4 PM) or via the "tunein app" ...

I know I am up against Glastonbury - which ironically receives Pulse FM in the village ... !

The show is available in the UK, USA, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Latvia, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Uruguay and many more ....

HAPPY LISTENING!




Thursday 26 June 2014


Three years ago today, this was my view ...

Bahamas

How I wish it was the same today!

No worry - I feel a beach trip coming on ... VERY soon 

Song of The Day: David Bowie - Feel So Lonely You Could ... -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSb9O1hepEA&feature=kp



Wednesday 25 June 2014


Game of Thrones has really got into my system! The new series is over (boohoo)... so to make up for it, I have decided to live in a castle ... (joke) ...

No, on the way to Glastonbury, there is this AMAZING castle at Nunney ... which was built in the 14th century.

It did see battle .. and had a huge hole blown into it by a cannon in 1645 (English Civil War).

The castle has a moat - once had a drawbridge and is located in a stunningly twee, cute and cuddly English village.

I cannot believe that it is going to rain heavily over the weekend after days of dry, hot & sunny weather.

Music festivals in the rain are NO fun! 

Grrrrrr ....

Counting down the days until ... Shanghai!

Monday 23 June 2014



It's been a year and a couple of months since my last proper Daily Diary entry. I am not sure I will be posting every day from now on but initially every few days will be good start.

Welcome to the new Dolce Vita Productions/Inside Luxury Travel website (www.dolcevitaproductions.co.uk)

The wonderful ladies at Magellan (& Max the Pooch) have been busy building over the past few weeks and have gone for an easy to navigate, simple site ... filled with original HD video (with much more to come) and soon production-stills, competitions and much, much more.

The new series of Inside Luxury Travel with Varun Sharma starts airing from July 21st - first in the UK then the Rest of the World. Last year we filmed: London, St Petersburg, St Lucia, Valladolid (Spain), Peloponnese (Greece), Bali, Oman, Abu Dhabi, Lausanne (Switzerland) and Prague. We - and I mean Ele, Neil and myself - had a lot of fun ... and made many friends along the way.

The 2014 series has a new look and feel but is still brimming with pure luxury. Each episode has unique touches – for instance the individual call-sign on the tail-fin of the private jet in the opening titles.
One of our competition winners later this year will see their name on a tail-fin (details to come).

We start filming a new series - our eighth - next month ... starting off with ... Shanghai!

So July is "Shanghai Month" on this website. It's the first time we have filmed in this city and I am quite giddy with excitement.

So - what have I been up to since we "wrapped" last year?

Well, firstly, I have been taking cooking lessons! I can now create 41 "hot" dishes which means that takeways are now becoming a thing of the past! I actually enjoy making a mess in the kitchen! And I haven't poisoned any of my family & friends ... yet! Thank goodness for dishwashers! Ha! Also I have learnt that grapefruit is the best slice for Hendrick's & Tonic! Honest .. try it! Apparently my roast potatoes, choice of champagne (!) and chicken fajitas are to "die for"! Not bad for a person who used to struggle with boiling water. I have also discovered the "ethic" aisle in my local supermarket. This has opened a whole world of noodles, rice and other yummy (& healthy) foods!

I have been taking the odd ballroom dancing lesson! I was desperate to attend a "white tie" Ball in Vienna this year. I have the invite and now, I have a few moves ...! Well ... embarrassing shuffles anyway.

I have and am going to see loads of live music ... both classical and funky! Yes, The Purple One is still ringing in my ears! What a man ... !

I have been trying to keep fit! Yes, running, tennis, swimming, cricket and loads of walking! This is going to be the "fittest" series yet. You may have seen that I have finally got my PADI Open Water diving certificate and this means that I can now going on diving holidays and certainly enjoy myself more on filming trips where scuba is a feature. There are a few of those coming up...

Oh ... and I have been travelling ... !

I am not going to announce the full 2014/15 schedule yet ... but ... there will be cities, islands and the odd cruise ...

The monthly 80s radio show is still on-air! It's a dream come true to host my own show - playing my favourite decade! I have listeners as far as Australia and California! So, so exciting!

A few years ago I was advised that to make a success of anything, you need to surround yourself with people better than you in their field! SO I have! I have lovely Sue and Alexandra at Magellan doing all the PR, Chris the "tech" stuff, Matt the fitness training, Ele & Neil are the dream-production-team, Nina is heading up Sales and Marketing, Emma is still producing, the guys at Flame are distributing, Rusty & Max are team mascots ... and there are couple more significant people now involved who I will introduce in time. All this means that I now can cut back on the travelling and most importantly the stress. I will now ONLY film for one week in the month BUT will do little international/national trips in the middle to keep myself busy and sane!

So, it's all now suni and warm and happy here at ILT/DVP HQ.

I will try and keep the Diary going as much as I can. The lovely Sue & Alex look after the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google + and Tumblr accounts ... with me on very occasional weekend duty ...

Please enjoy the new series and I wish you all continued happiness ...

love, Varun x



Twitter: @insideluxury
Instagram: insideluxurytravel
Facebook: www.facebook.com/insideluxurytravel
 and www.facebook.com/insideluxtravel
Website: www.dolcevitaproductions.co.uk
 
blogger template powered by fraktiv