Laura Guiauchain

“I believe that when you are visiting a place for the first time, you have to accept the fact that it’s OK to be lost.”

Laura was born in Nice in the south of France and grew up in a small town near Strasbourg, Alsace region in north-eastern France.

As a teenager, she was constantly watching travel shows and daydreaming about exotic locations. It’s no surprise that Laura didn’t waste a second to start her journey around the world.

As soon as she graduated high school, Laura embarked on a one-year exchange program organised by the Rotary Club. Her destination: Mumbai, India!

For a year, she shared the life of Indian families, she studied English, she learned about their culture, traditions and customs, and she explored the city – may it be on foot, by bus, car or rickshaw. All the while making sure to document her everyday life with a camera in one hand and a video camera in the other. She recorded every single second of that year and all the amazing moments she experienced, and thus, a presenter was born.

Once the year was up, in 2005, she returned to France where she studied marketing at a French business school and continued to travel throughout her studies and then for work. Between 2009 and 2016, Laura lived all across Asia including Japan, China, Thailand, Philippines and South Korea.

Laura’s dream job has always been to be a travel host. She loves making videos and sharing her experiences and tips with other travellers. Laura first experienced working in television playing roles in the Korean MBC Global Media show Surprise Mystery TV and in several commercials and music videos. In 2015, she joined the cast of Arirang TV’s Bring It On and became a presenter for MBC ChunCheon A Tasty World.

Being a presenter has always been one of her dreams, which finally came true in 2017 when she hosted the Iceland episode of the Tough Trucks series.

Travel Philosophy

“I believe that when you are visiting a place for the first time, you have to accept the fact that it’s ok to be lost. I used to plan my trips very carefully but I realised that most of the time it’s the unexpected that makes the trip more memorable.”

“Even the rudest of people will instantly open up when you show them a minimum of effort by speaking their language. Don’t be lazy, don’t be that tourist, make an effort and you’ll be rewarded a hundred times over.”

“When I travel, I love to immerse myself in the culture of the country. Learning the differences in greeting people, eating, talking to one another. That means I might have to get out of my comfort zone and do things differently than I’m used to do. To be honest, that is the best part of travelling for me.”

Good and bad food

“The worst food I have ever tasted is without a doubt the Durian. I was in Thailand with my friends when they told me that I should try it. I had put it off for so long that I didn’t have a choice anymore, I had to try it. My friends looked so happy and they were expecting my reaction. I wanted to show a good face but as soon as the Durian entered my mouth I knew I hated it. This fruit makes no sense! The peel has thorns but the inside has a creamy texture. It smells worse than any cheese I’ve ever eaten and yet it has a sweet taste. Do you know that the smell is so strong that it is forbidden in the metro in Singapore? That alone should make you wary of it. You have been warned!”

Memorable moment

“In 2013 I worked as an Eco-Trail Leader for a British NGO for 3 months in Southeast Asia. I was supervising a group of 20 volunteers. Half of the group was giving English classes to Cambodian children while the other half stayed on a small island in the south of Cambodia to monitor the coral reef area. I supervised the island group. It sounds like a dream job, except that only 26 people lived on the island and there was no electricity or running water. We were sleeping on wooden floors or hammocks with a mosquito net as only protection against bugs, spiders, scorpions and centipedes. The toilets were just a hole in the ground that was quite far from camp and you had to fight off hermit crabs at night to get to it. To top it all off, I had a serious rash that made it impossible for me to go in the water and conduct the surveys. This lasted for a month and even though it wasn’t easy at times, I still think of this time in Cambodia as one of my best trips. It isn’t often that you have the opportunity to live simply and more in sync with nature. We were eating around 5pm because the sun set at 6pm. We were in bed by 8pm and waking up at 6am. We cooked our food with wooden fires and it was mostly vegetables but when we did have some fish, it was what we had fished ourselves. It was really rewarding and it made me more humble and grateful for the life I live.”