10 Questions with Olivia of High Culture on a Low Budget

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
As a former employee of the fine arts and a lifetime traveler, I often find that culture and hopping a plane/train go hand in hand (for me at least). Yet I also hate the misconception that the fine arts are for fine budgets. So when I got into travel writing, I really strove to make the “other” side of high culture known to people going through Europe on a shoestring budget. There are cheap opera tickets, free days at the museum, public concerts, etc., and High Culture on a Low Budget is a haven for all of those goodies (plus the occasional splurge). In addition to being breathlessly plugged-in, it has also recently launched weekly columns for travel playlists from some of the best-known travelers, ask a local Q&As, and cheap dates for the weekend warriors.

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
That may have to be my first post, which was Vienna’s Universitat Grosser Festaal with its gorgeous Klimt ceilings. I love Vienna; if I had to live in one city for the rest of my life I’d park my derriere on Mariahilferstrasse and be quite happy. And, since the University is closed to the public, you kind of have to use some fancy footwork to get in there. I’m all about being a little sneaky to get some great art. However, my most popular post remains the Paris: Opera Garnier and Beyond so I guess I did something right there, too—I’ve been told your most popular posts are generally the ones that are most “you” (as it were).

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
I used “blow job” in tandem with a post on a Polish art gallery. Take that, Fodors. Like I said, I try to give high culture a spin for the Gen X and Gen Y crowds. We didn’t necessarily grow up with weekends at the philharmonic or afternoons at the museum. So it’s about making that part as exciting as the part where you can do it all on 10 Euro.

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
I think like most teenagers in my generation, I must have played around with Blogger in high school. But my first major blog was started when I moved to Italy. It was an easy way for me to keep in touch with my friends (all five of them) and to get in daily writing exercises. I wound up getting some recognition for it in the blogosphere and in the Rome edition of Metro for having a no-holds-barred view of my travels (including a few wild nights around Europe). I had fun with that for about a year before turning to service-oriented travel blogging.

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the Internet?
“Or the Internet?” Wow, that’s a wide range. I’m going to go with Tila Tequila here. Seriously. What the hell? Another pet peeve I have as a writer is how easily others can rip off your work and how flimsy your side of the argument holds up without any hard copy proof. I’ve pitched via e-mail to outlets that have in turn rejected me and then assigned my story idea to an in-house writer. I’ve seen some of my posts (which, in the interest of full disclosure, will occasionally include sentences lifted from press releases, event details, etc. Which, coming from a PR background, I can tell you is exactly what they’re there for) lifted into other blogs and websites. That sort of pettiness frustrates me, but you learn to develop a thick skin.

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
I’m addicted to my WordPress blog stats page. It helps me figure out what I did on what day to make my hits jump (or plummet), I can monitor which posts are the most popular over time (which is what led to the playlist inception). And it also helps me monitor where I get my incoming links, etc. It’s a pretty simple service, but one that helps a great deal.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
I’m kind of with Barry (of Inn of the Last Home) on this one; HC/LB is my baby and I’m a little protective of it. I’m the mommy that will listen to the advice from other mommies on the playground, but the minute one of them tries to otherwise shape my kid directly, I’ll probably be the one smacking her down in the sandbox with my tweed handbag and leather boots. I am, however, all for interviews and guest contributions (vis-à-vis playlists) to my blog, and I have a long wish-list for travel mix-masters for the latter. Off the top of my head: Anthony Bourdain, Cedric Klapisch, Barack Obama, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Julie Delphy, Eric Ripert, the folks at Hidden Europe magazine, Takahashi Murakami, Tim Gunn…they all travel, right?

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
It’s taught me about the communal/community aspects of writing. Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. And my straw reaches across the room, and starts to drink your milkshake. I drink your milkshake. Oh, wait, I think that may have been how oil has made me a better person. But there are some communal/community aspects of writing that can only be learned through blogging, I believe. It creates a dialogue that can go almost instantaneously between blogger and readership, and that encourages honesty and authenticity from bloggers. I always take the extra five minutes to make sure I’m giving out the right information; I’m not too proud to e-mail an institution or put off a post to make sure it’s on pitch (as it were). And then I drink your milkshake.

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
Discipline. If you say you’re going to blog every day, blog every day. That doesn’t mean that each post has to be on par with Hemingway or Tolstoy, but you’ll get in the groove of writing on a set basis and it will make the process much more natural and easy. If you’re blogging to further your writing career, this sort of daily exercise will help you exponentially. Also, look for ways to make your blog engage with your readership if you are looking to build a large fan base. Starting this month (April), I’ve been emphasizing the community aspect of HC/LB and am excited about the turns it’s taking. While I am not entirely for someone else writing my blog, I love the idea of someone else speaking on it.

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
Being a displaced New Yorker, I’m all over New York Magazine’s blogs — Daily Intel, Grub Street, The Cut, etc. I feel like they keep me plugged into my home and give me a mix of politics, fashion dish, cultural goings-on, foodie news, and New York gossip. I was also really happy to see Alex Robertson Textor launch Spendthrift Shoestring last year; he’s an amazing travel writer and was one of my first editors, so I already have some built-in loyalty. Bias aside, he has a great sense of style when it comes to writing (and 80s Europop) and constructs engaging narratives on a word budget. No small feat.

Categories: Ten Questions, Travel & Culture