Olivia Typaldos

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Location
Athens, Greece
School
University of Southern California
Expertise
Abandoned sites, Greek islands, LGBTQ+ travel
  • A former documentary researcher, Olivia uses her well-honed research skills to deep dive into the histories of the ghost towns and nature destinations that she often writes about for Islands.
  • Olivia is a frequent solo traveler, who hikes to abandoned and lesser-known sites all around Greece that even her local friends have never heard of or visited.
  • When she was 22, Olivia walked 500 miles alone across Spain on the Camino de Santiago and kept a daily journal for the entire trip, which marked the start of her travel writing.

Experience

Olivia is a writer who lives in Athens, Greece, where she spends half of her time traveling. For four years, she worked as a Greece specialist for the travel site, Kimkim, where she published write-ups of over 100 hotels in Athens and Crete that she visited. She is the go-to travel expert in Greece for family, friends, and readers, thanks to her extensive travels around the country and her detailed, organized information about both alternative and mainstream destinations. Her specialty is Crete, where she spent nine months doing field research for her first novel, a queer historical ghost story about the Greek Civil War and intergenerational family trauma.

Education

Olivia has a bachelor's degree from the critical studies program at USC's School of Cinematic Arts.

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Stories By Olivia Typaldos