Reeta Chakrabarti
The Travel Diaries
Holly Rubenstein
4.6 • 758 Ratings
🗓️ 29 April 2025
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week’s guest is someone who many of us will feel we already know. A calm and trusted presence in our living rooms each evening, she’s one of the most familiar faces in British broadcasting - BBC News presenter, correspondent, and author, Reeta Chakrabarti.
Raised in Birmingham, Reeta spent part of her teenage years in Calcutta, India - an experience that would later shape her global perspective both as a journalist and a writer.
Her career has taken her all over the world, from covering the war in Ukraine from Lviv, to reporting on the 70th anniversary of Indian and Pakistani independence and most recently, covering the Pope's funeral from Rome. She began her career behind the scenes in radio before making the leap to become a correspondent, and finally landing in the iconic BBC News presenting chair - at the age of 49, no less. Proof that there’s no one path to success and it’s never too late to pivot.
Her travel diaries today take us from Italy to Chile, Greece to India and much more.
Destination Recap:
Holly -
- Cothelstone Manor, Somerset, England
Reeta -
- Calcutta, India
- Rome, Italy
- St Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Italy
- Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome, Italy
- Lahore, Pakistan
- Santiago, Chile
- Valparaiso, Chile
- France
- Lviv, Ukraine
- Paris, France
- Taj Mahal, Agra, India
- Amorgos, Greece
- Brazil
- Argentina
Finding Belle by Reeta Chakrabarti, published by HarperFiction, out in hardback, ebook and audio on 8th May
*COMPETITION*
For your chance to win a 3 night all inclusive stay at LUXME hotel on the Greek island of Kos, head to my Instagram @hollyrubenstein. The winner will be announced on May 20th, T&Cs apply!
With thanks to my sponsors today -
Citalia - Discover the real Italy with Citalia, the UK’s leading Italian holiday specialists. Let the Italy Experts craft the perfect holiday for you and experience Italy like a Citalian.
Airbnb - Visit Airbnb.com and find out more. Prospective Hosts can learn more about how much they can earn sharing their space through the What’s My Place Worth Tool.
Saily - Download the SAILY app and use our code TRAVELDIARIES at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase
Thanks so much for listening today. If you want to be the first find out who is joining me on next week’s episode come and follow me on Instagram I’m @hollyrubenstein, and you’ll also find me on TikTok.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Today's episode is supported by Saly. Have you ever found yourself in a foreign city desperately hunting for Wi-Fi? Maybe you've been that person lurking outside a cafe trying to catch enough signal to load Google Maps. Yep, I've been there. But let me tell you, those days are over thanks to Saly, Miney Travel Essential. |
| 0:20.2 | Saly is a game-changing e-sim service brought to you by the same people behind NordVPN. |
| 0:26.2 | It means no more fumbling with local SIM cards, no more outrageous roaming charges, and best of |
| 0:31.8 | all, no more Wi-Fi scavenger hunts. Just instant, reliable data in over 190 countries. I recently tried it on a trip |
| 0:40.3 | to Italy and it was seamless. I landed, turned on my phone, boom, I was connected. No cues, no stress. |
| 0:46.4 | And the best part, if you're like me and you love hopping between countries, you can get a regional |
| 0:51.2 | or global plan so you don't have to keep switching e-sims. |
| 0:54.9 | Plus, it even has security features to help protect your data while you browse, |
| 0:58.8 | which is a huge win when you're using public networks. |
| 1:02.5 | So whether you're off on an adventure or just want to avoid data drama on your next trip, |
| 1:06.7 | download Saly from the app store and use my code travel diaries at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase. |
| 1:15.2 | That's S-A-I-L-Y in the app store using my code travel diaries at checkout. |
| 1:21.2 | The details are in the most recent podcast episode description box. |
| 1:24.5 | Thank you to Saly. |
| 1:30.5 | Today's episode is supported by Chitalia. Let me tell you, when it comes to Italy, |
| 1:36.2 | Chitalia truly knows how to bring the country to life. For over 95 years, they've been |
| 1:42.3 | helping travellers, just like you and me, discover the real Italy, |
| 1:46.0 | the Italy of hidden piazzas, local tritoreas and handpicked hotels that make every stay unforgettable. |
| 1:53.2 | Their team of experts live and breathe all things Italy, so they really get what makes this country so magical. |
| 2:00.9 | In fact, on today's episode, you'll hear Rita share her first travel love, the city of Rome. |
| 2:07.4 | And I can't help but dream of strolling through such an iconic city myself again and taking in some of her favorite spots. |
| 2:14.6 | If you end up feeling the same, Chitalia is here to craft your perfect Italian adventure. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 16 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Holly Rubenstein, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Holly Rubenstein and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.