Welcome to Storytowns
About us
Storytowns Founder
Jarrod Pickford
Why we exisit
Back in my free spirited 20s and 30s, I discovered the world of hitchhiking and I loved this form of traveling! It was exhilarating! I’d find myself in the middle of some country standing on the side of the road grinning and waiting for my next adventure. And who were the heroes in this adveture? The drivers! They were not just a ride to me, but a travel guide. They never just offer me a ride; they shared their worlds with me. From the pizza-perfect lanes of Italy to cute Welsh villages down the back roads of Wales, every ride was an entry ticket to a new story.
Local homemade foods, sips of age-old wines, dance moves I hadn’t seen, and of course, paths so hidden that even Google Maps would be like, “Wait, where?!”
Every road, every town, every quirky resident told me stories and now I was part of their story as they were mine. With Storytowns, we’re bottling up these tales, just for you, where every town’s heartbeat becomes a story… and without you having to hitchhike.
Cheers Everyone,
Jarrod
Our vision
I loved my Lonely Planet guides! Who didn’t? Sure, they were somewhat cumbersome to travel with, but my ‘Europe On a Shoestring’ was a permanent resident in my backpack.
Flashback to 2018, while working on The Hitchhiker Podcast (found on spotify), a brainwave hit me: What if Lonely Planet had audio guides, all narrated by local folks? They’d share those secret nooks and tales of cities, towns, and neighbourhoods, making travel so much richer!
Lonely Planet took another path, but I, fuelled by this idea, ventured forth. From a small Aussie town, with heaps of regional pride, we started this audacious journey. It’s incredible to see how far we’ve traveled (pun intended).
Now, our dream is that every town on the globe will eventullay have its very own Storytowns audio guide presented by the locals.
About Storytowns
Want An Audio Guide For Your Community? Contact us.
