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
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
and www.facebook.com/insideluxtravel
Website: www.dolcevitaproductions.co.uk
