Where and why
In my search for newspaper commissions I have nearly drowned boogie-boarding the Zambezi, am now scared of hippos, am really beyond jumping off Indian mountains and rather past testing Nitrox diving systems.
I’ve travelled a lot in Africa and can write about pretty much any aspect of the safari industry. My most detailed information is of Kenya and South Africa, where I’ve researched and written guidebooks. I’ve also travelled a fair bit in West Africa (Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal (twice), Mali (twice), Niger, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Togo, Ghana and the Ivory Coast). I know Madagascar pretty well, I’ve been there on three extended visits. I’ve also had extended stays in Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Malawi (twice), Zambia, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Uganda (three times) and might have forgotten a few.
I have written a recent guidebook to Thailand and know the country really well through many visits and stays. I also have travelled throughout Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Vietnam (twice), the Philippines and Laos, visited Burma twice and Indonesia four times, as well as making a long stay in Bali to update/improve a guidebook.
I have researched and written a guidebook to Spain and know patches of the country really well. Have travelled all over South America in a nine-month trip and have later returned to revisit Paraguay, Brazil and Guatemala. Have visited plenty of islands in the Caribbean, including three weeks driving around the Dominican Republic and five weeks motorbiking through Jamaica (where ‘skill and nerve’ is respected – and required). In the Middle East I spent time in Dubai while tourism was just a dream, know Egypt really well (the Western Desert oases as well as the latest Red Sea hotels), have driven all around Jordan and visited Morocco many times, both by air and overland.
There are also a few odd places I’ve been that might fill an editorial gap. Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Palau: all countries that don’t normally fit into easy categories.
I have plenty of experience of adventure travel. I’ve motorbiked around Karnataka, boogie-boarded the Zambezi, canoed the Mana Pools, learned to paraglide on the Western Ghats, sailed twice across the Atlantic, Scuba-dived all over the place, in fact I’ve done all the various desperate activities you have to do to get work as a freelance as well as those that only travel writers easily get the chance to do for free. I’ve also visited enough hotels, exclusive lodges and all-inclusive resorts to easily rank and compare.
My writing has been appreciated too. I was awarded Travel Writer of the Year for two years running by the British Guild of Travel Writers from 2007-2008. Might have been more but for many years I didn’t realise you had to enter yourself to be in with a chance.
I’ve written a few recent features about property, mainly for the Times. My feature on cheap islands correctly predicted the crash. Another waxed lyrical about property in northern Tuscany, while a feature about extra Council Tax on granny annexes attracted a flurry of me-too articles. On local papers I reviewed cars every week, and have supplied a scatter of travel-related motoring features to the Telegraph over the years, as well as some motoring rants. I’ve written about health for the Sunday Telegraph’s travel section, with features on Rabies, Malaria, Dengue Fever and Lyme Disease and have always tried to monetise any experience. Even a disastrous foray into allotment gardening resulted in a feature for the Telegraph; ‘Grow a Little from a Lot’.
I still write about travel for websites – when they pay – including Weather2travel and others – but not when they don’t.
With 40 years of travel experience I can supply features on most parts of the world and on the occasions when I am required to write about places I’ve never been I take great pride in providing convincing, compelling copy.