ABOUT

Hello! I’m Paula Edwards, and I really hope you enjoy my travel blog! Well…..mostly travel; you’ll also see the odd post about trips to the theatre or cinema, visits to restaurants, general observations about anything I like – and, no doubt, the odd rant about things I DON’T like!

I’ve been passionate about travel for as long as I can remember, and after my sons were born, I eventually swapped my ‘other life’ as a fashion designer for one in travel, which gave me a chance to visit some wonderful places. After 10 years in a big high street agency, I moved to an independent travel company, looking forward to tailor-making dream travel experiences for discerning customers. Bad move – I was made redundant within a year when the company closed down. Now I work with lots of lovely people in a job which has nothing to do with travel. But oh, these itchy feet….! I need (no exaggeration, it really IS a physical need!) to be connected with travel, and I love writing, so a blog seemed like the ideal way to talk about my travels – past, present and future.

I’m afraid I don’t have amazing stories of roaming alone among nomadic desert tribes, or bungee jumping my way across New Zealand. I’ve never (yet) backpacked my way across any continent, nor do I scuba dive with manta rays. I haven’t set foot on polar ice caps, or climbed a (proper) mountain. I don’t have decadent luxury holidays in 5 star hotels with private butlers, and I have never eaten pickled snake intestines in a backstreet market.

But…

I’ve had some really fun times in far-flung places – some cheap and cheerful, some more exotic – and I’ve always loved finding interesting details that maybe lots of other tourists won’t have seen. I have to fit my travels around my job and my budget, so I do everything I can to make the most of the places I go to. I always keep a journal on my travels (although it does tend to become more sparse towards the end of the trip….do I catch up with a little more journal-writing on my last night, or do I stay out for just one more cocktail under the stars at the beach bar….?!!). Most importantly, I try to hold on to a mental picture of my surroundings while I’m away; I always stop to take in everything that I can see, hear, smell and feel at a particular moment. I know I can conjure that moment up again when I need it most (like in a traffic jam in the pouring rain on a cold November evening…). My blog will be a way of collecting those memories in one place, sharing tips, photos and information, re-living the highs and lows of travelling with my family, with friends, with other travel agents and alone; and remembering the places I’ve seen, the food I’ve eaten and the people I’ve met along the way.

I’d like to think that my wonderful, grown-up sons (Sam and Jack) will enjoy my blog, and go off and have their own adventures before that horrible point when they realise that the number of places they want to visit far exceeds the amount of time and money they have available! I hope my husband Colin will understand that I really WAS working hard (well, sort of!) during all those fantastic free Travel Agent Fam Trips I’ve had, when I swanned off to somewhere tropical and left him behind. And I hope that someone will read some of my posts and think “I wish I was there….”!