Adventures, ambitions and Kate Adie

I was brought up in North Oxfordshire but always had a hankering to get out into the big wide world and make my way as an international journalist. My hero was (and still is) Kate Adie, and this propelled me through university so that, not long after graduating, I was on a plane heading off into the big unknown.

I travelled through the Middle East, Africa and Asia before settling for a while in Cyprus, where my journalism career started at the Middle East & North Africa franchise of the Travel Trade Gazette.

From there, I moved to Dubai, where I enjoyed a successful career editing and leading some of the most successful travel and hospitality titles produced in the region. I worked for two large publishers, ITP and NPI Media, the latter saw me also dipping into the burgeoning real estate market, as I worked on the launch of Cityscape magazine.

Being a travel journalist is the best job in the world. You get to see amazing places, meet great people, fly front of the plane (sometimes) and do things you never would have imagined – such as enjoying mint tea around a roaring fire in the dark of night in the South Sinai desert with a Bedouin tribe (a fond memory).

As part of my travels, I did some volunteering in Cambodia, helping a local NGO called PEPY renovate a primary school in the Chanelas Dai district. It was an amazing experience that has lived with me ever since.

And I did actually get to meet Kate Adie and let her know how she inspired me.

After 14 years of amazing adventures, truly living the dream, I returned to the UK to settle down and have a family – a different set of adventures is now unfolding.

I like to think that all my travels add extra spice to my writing. Get in touch and see for yourself.

Discover more about my writing. Visit the Journalism and Content Writing pages of this website.