Gadling's Travel Talk in Rome

Back in 2010, the travel news site Gadling had a video show called Travel Talk (billed as GadlingTV’s Travel Talk), a fun series hosted by travel junkies Aaron Murphy and Stephen Greenwood. They covered travel news and usually featured a destination along the way. The show has ended: its YouTube channel hasn’t posted a new episode in about fifteen years, and Gadling itself stopped publishing and now survives as an archive owned by the travel news company Skift. The three episodes they shot in Rome are still up on YouTube, though, and they make a fun little time capsule.

The Travel Talk team went to Rome on Alitalia’s inaugural direct flight from Los Angeles in the summer of 2010 and turned the trip into three episodes. Alitalia stopped flying in October 2021 and ITA Airways took its place, so treat the flight part as history. The city part holds up nicely.

Travel Talk - LAX to Rome in Style

In which the Travel Talk hosts take the first non-stop Alitalia flight from Los Angeles to Rome, demonstrating that business class on Alitalia was pretty sweet, and Aaron sets foot in Europe for the first time.

Travel Talk - Ancient Rome

In which the Travel Talk hosts visit some of the highlights of Rome - including the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Spanish Steps - and show you how to re-find your tour group when you get lost. (Oops.) A few things have changed since they filmed it: the Pantheon charges admission, the Colosseum sells timed tickets with your name on them, it costs EUR 2 to go down to the Trevi Fountain’s basin, and you can be fined for sitting on the Spanish Steps.

Travel Talk - Vatican, Vespas, & Rome’s Nightlife

In which the Travel Talk hosts discover the difference between the Vatican and the Holy See, get around the lines at the Vatican Museum, and rent shiny red Vespas to zip around the city.