About
My love of travel began with a solo flight to Johannesburg at age 8. From Black Tomato to co-founding my own tour company, to finding home in Taghazout and becoming a travel writer with bylines in The Telegraph and Lonely Planet. I combine my experience and skills to bring clarity, creativity and joy to travel writing and trip planning.
Early years
My childhood was spent between the UK and South Africa. I took my first solo flight at age 8 from Heathrow to Johannesburg to join my father, who had emigrated there for work. So began my love affair with travel and the African continent.
After boarding school in West Sussex, I worked for Walt Disney in Florida, returning the following year to study at Leeds University. On graduating, I booked a round-the-world ticket (for £800) and took off with some friends. Arriving back in London a year later with an empty bank account and a notebook full of stories, a writer in the making.
Into the travel industry
I found my way to the travel industry, working for Flight Centre UK, and became a nerd for flight routing and three-letter airport codes. When a friend recommended a travel start-up that was recruiting, I took a leap and joined the three founders of Black Tomato in creating one of the industry’s most innovative travel companies. Here, I learned to discern luxury, how to splurge for a treat and when to save, usually for the experience.
After four years, I saw an opportunity to branch out, and along with a colleague, co-founded Sally and Alice Travel Co, a niche tour operator specialising in bespoke holidays to Africa and the Indian Ocean. After eight years of learning on the job, travelling to far-flung places, visiting hundreds of safari camps and lodges, a yearning to slow down and write became too loud to ignore.
Finding home: Taghazout
It was whilst writing a review of a yoga-and-surf holiday in Morocco for The Global Retreat Company in 2018 that I discovered my love of surfing and a new home, Taghazout. In 2019, I trained as a yoga teacher and taught meditation and yoga at surf hotels and on retreats in Morocco. Through everyday life in Morocco, surfing, and yoga, I found balance and connection to my authentic self.
Becoming a writer
In March 2020, Morocco closed its international borders for two years, a quiet period during which creativity, domestic travel, and blog writing flourished. As tourists started to return in 2022, I realised these online posts had value; with many changes during COVID, everything in print was out of date. This blog (and a friend who shared the job ad) set me up to co-author the Lonely Planet Morocco guidebook in 2023. That led to the DK Eyewitness commissioning me for their guidebooks and to me becoming a professional travel writer with bylines in The Telegraph, Lonely Planet, The i Paper, Adventure.com, EasyJet Traveller, Etihad Beyond, and Time Out.
I connected deeper with Morocco, found my voice and learned how to create engaging, stand-out writing. My blog is a place for me to share stories that are too niche, too personal, or too ahead of the trend for mainstream publications. I update the blogs regularly.
Today
As people adapt to AI for travel research and planning, I realised that the volume of information and unlimited options were confusing people and taking the joy out of planning. My travel planning, Clarity Calls, combine my itinerary-planning skills with the extensive firsthand research I do for my writing, a way to share my expertise and bring a human touch to the planning process.
Family and friends are at the heart of what I do. My father passed away in 2021, a few weeks later, my niece, Amelia, was born. In 2026, my brother and I travelled to South Africa with her, introducing us to the joy of family safaris once again. Through lived and travel experiences, I am fortunate to have an extensive network, that feels like family, across Africa that inspires and supports me. I am intentional about who I work with; I value authenticity, presence, well-being, trust, honesty, hard work, professionalism, and connection, all balanced with fun and the occasional splurge.
If any of this resonates, let's talk.
Book a Clarity Call or get in touch to discover the next step.