The Naked Guide? When I first met Monumental Adventure’s Flora Montgomery I was prepared. She was not your average former film actress - she had starred in Basic Instinct 2. Now I’ve never seen this sequel, but if it’s anything like the first I’m absolutely certain that there must be the odd bit of bare flesh on display. Whether or not it’s Flora’s, I am relieved to be able to say that to this day I still don’t know.
But when we did finally manage to catch up I was aware that she was just the tonic that the world’s faltering Tourist Industry currently needs. Focussed and motivated but with an obvious and sometimes wicked sense of fun she has put together quite a company – there really is nothing else quite like it out there.
You see, what she’s trying to do is make us all more aware of the cities around us; the sights and sounds that we take for granted day in, day out. She has started by covering, in quite considerable quality and depth, London, New York and Beijing. She’s called in a few favours from the likes of Tracey Emin, Joanna Lumley and Tom Hollander and together with her team she had produced a unique collection of videos of world famous monuments, decaying cemeteries, colourful markets, medieval pubs and even a statue of a gorilla, and this is just in London.
The videos are beautifully shot and give you a taste of what the monument or location is about. Soon after my first visit to the website I headed off to the Whispering Gallery at St.Paul’s Cathedral followed by a rather morbid afternoon at Nunhead Cemetery. Both were fantastic experiences – it was just a shame that neither Flora nor Tom Hollander were there to hold my hand.
Which is where we come in, surely? Surely. Because this is when there would be some considerable value in having an audio guide to hand. Most of these are not major attractions - certainly nowhere you’d find an on-site guide, either human or audio. How fantastic would it be to watch one of these videos and then, having decided where you’d like to visit, download the corresponding audio guides so that the experience could continue long after you left your computer?
We thought “very”, which is why we have setup a new in house initiative. Starting with London, we’re making all our audio content available as individual, site-specific guides. Essentially you’ll be able to choose what sites, locations and monuments you want to download onto your MP3 player, pick’n’mix style. No prescribed routes or set packages, you alone will be in charge of your own sightseeing destiny.
If you sign up to our feed or even go to our website and subscribe to our website we'll be able to tell you when the new service is available, which should be soon - very soon indeed.
In the meantime, StrollOn...
