After growing up in West Sussex, where I set fire to the hedge and learned about the dangers of cider, I studied English at Worcester University before going travelling from 1998-2000. I backpacked through India, Nepal, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia with my good friends Jim and Chris.
I lived and worked in Sydney for four months before flying home via the Cooks Islands, where the sunsets are wide and the drums are deep. Highlights included surviving India, trekking in Nepal and travelling on my own in Flores, where I learned how to talk more nonsense than usual in a completely different language.
Following a journalism postgraduate at the former London College of Printing in 1999, I have worked as a freelance travel journalist for the UK media. I have written features for the Guardian, the Independent, the Sunday Telegraph, the Evening Standard, the Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Marie Claire, Wanderlust, easyJet, Ryanair, www.thisistravel.co.uk, www.expedia.com and www.thehotelguru.com.
In Russia, there is no translation for "it's bit early for a neat vodka, thanks"
I used to work shifts on the Evening Standard travel desk as well. Subjects I have written about range from extreme snowmobiling in Russia, where there is no translation for "it's a bit early for neat vodka, thanks", to surfing in Australia, where a dolphin nearly nibbled my toe. I was the commissioning editor on bmi's Voyager magazine in 2007, which involved lots of proofing, editing and writing. Later that year I moved to Madrid for six months.
After freelancing for a range of travel publications from Madrid, I then moved back to London and worked as the managing editor at lifestyle management company Ten Group for five years. In September 2014 I launched Seasonal Cities, which I am also the editor of. This is a travel app covering 11 of the world’s greatest cities, with guidebook content written by resident travel journalists. The app is updated four times a year, changing with the seasons. It also has a unique weather function which matches the best venues with the weather up to three days ahead. Find out more at www.seasonalcities.com