1. Who are you?
My name is Bart van Poll. With my wife Sanne, I founded Spotted by Locals – a cityblog network by locals in 23 cities in Europe in 2008.

2. What do you like about what you do?
Traveling! Our passion for travel was the reason we started this. In every city we go, we meet many interesting locals who are interested in writing for us. Meeting people with a passion for their city is so much fun!

3. What don’t you like about what you do?
Right now, we have quite a lot of technical projects, like the PDF-version of our cityguides we’re about to launch. It’s nteresting for our business, but it also means spending a lot of time behind our laptops. We prefer enjoying cities, and talking to locals!

4. Please tell us about ‘SpottedbyLocals’ and your aims?
www.SpottedbyLocals.com is a series of cityblogs that offers travelers the opportunity to experience cities just like a local, by offering local tips through a new network of blogs on European cities. On the 23 cityblogs real locals write about the spots they regularly frequent in their city, and update this information regularly. All Spotters are presented prominently on the site with their real names, a picture and a detailed personal profile. We met all our current 130 Spotters in person.

5. Are you working with other blogs and if yes, which ones and why?
Yes, we cooperate with a few other websites, who are also passionate about “local travel”. E.g. www.Tripbod.com, GoingLocalTravel.com and www.whl.travel. Together, we try to explain the benefits of “going local” while traveling:

  • Understanding other cultures is good for the world
  • Buying local is better for local businesses

6. Your TOP 3 city experiences and why?
That’s a difficult question… When people ask us what our favorite city is, we also tell them it’s the city we’ve been living in for the last 11 years, Amsterdam. It’s a compact city, but there’s more than enough new things to experience at any time. And it’s so beautiful… Every time I drive my bike around the Canals, I’m proud to live in Amsterdam

7. Your TOP 3 food/restaurant experiences and why?
1. A picnic on the riverside in Ljubljana in mid-summer 2009 with a bottle of white wine and plastic cups! They call it “the beach” in Lubljana:
www.spottedbylocals.com/ljubljana/trnovski-pristan
2. Meat galore in Zagreb at Bistro MZ in Zagreb. 100% local guests only, and Barbecue smell in your clothes, guaranteed.
www.spottedbylocals.com/zagreb/bistro-mz
3. Bangladeshi food in Budapest – Better than in Bangladesh (where I’ve tested the food too!)
http://www.spottedbylocals.com/budapest/bangla-bufe

8. What are your favourite websites and why?
I love catching up with our local writers (“Spotters”) on www.Facebook.com and www.Twitter.com – it’s so nice you can see what everybody is up to.