My work

A quick overview

I work as a writer and editor, plus an occasional podcast host or guest, panel chair or moderator, Japanese proofreader and trip planner. I’ve worked on many and varied projects including books (including two new, sole-authorship titles), apps, website pieces, blog posts, newspaper and magazine articles, hotel reviews, bespoke itineraries, and podcast episodes.

For five years I worked on the in-house editorial team at Rough Guides, alongside writing for the guidebooks, website and podcast, and co-hosting the podcast. I became a freelance writer in 2018, and since then I’ve worked in editorial, commercial and B2B across print and digital media.

Among the companies and publications I’ve written for are National Geographic Traveller (and Traveler, the US one!), Wanderlust, The Telegraph, The Times and Sunday Times, The i newspaper, Britain Magazine, English Heritage, Michelin, DK, Raconteur, Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, the Tokyo Convention and Visitors Bureau, loveEXPLORING and Culture Trip. My Amazon author page lists some of the print titles to which I’ve contributed.

Specific examples

My first sole-authorship book was with the wonderful folks at DK, who approached me about writing an inspiring, experience-based title about Japan. The result – of which I’m very proud – was Ultimate Japan.

A year later came my second sole-authorship book, one of the first titles in Rough Guides’ Travel Edit Series: Travelling with ADHD. The book goes through the whole process of planning, going on and returning from a trip, with practical tips about managing each step and destination inspiration drawn from Rough Guides’ catalogue. ADHD has had both positive and negative impacts on my experience (personal and professional) of travel, and this is a book I wish I’d had years ago.

As an intern, editorial assistant and then editor at Rough Guides (2013–2018), I edited more books than I can count. I specialized in the UK and Latin America, for example on our Devon & Cornwall and Costa Rica guides, but worked across all of our lists, for example on Pocket guides to Reykjavik and Tenerife & La Gomera.

As well as editing other people’s words, I’ve written plenty of my own in Rough Guides titles, from The Rough Guide to England to Make the Most of Your Time on Earth. I also proofread all new Japanese text in The Rough Guide to Japan and The Rough Guide to Tokyo (sixth and seventh editions of each), then updated several chapters of The Rough Guide to Japan (eighth through tenth editions) in 2019, 2023 and 2026.

I’ve written about Japan for The Times and Sunday Times, both print and online, on several occasions. As well as contributing a good dozen Tokyo and Osaka hotel reviews – the Peninsula and Palace were among my top picks – I’ve written digital pieces including 15 great places to go, and 12 beautiful places to tempt you off the beaten track. My favourite, though, is an introduction to the incredible Kurobe-Unazuki Canyon Route through (as in, literally through the rock of) the Northern Japanese Alps. I was the first English-language journalist to experience the route, and had the chance to write a gorgeous double-page spread for print and even more detailed online piece.

For The Telegraph, I visited Gifu and wrote about the lives of traditional craftspeople, as well as using my time in Alberta to write a branded piece on winter activities . I’ve also applied my extensive research into Japanese cuisine (it’s hard work, but someone has to eat all those noodles) to a round-up of 10 of Japan’s most iconic dishes, and provided insight on Cornwall during the Covid-19 pandemic and on Japan’s efforts to curb overtourism.

For The i newspaper, I created an insider’s guide to Japan, suggesting how to plan your first trip, and explaining why you should make a beeline for Tohoku on your return.

As well as my work on the print side for Rough Guides, I’ve written articles on Japan, the UK, South Africa, Denmark, the US, Iceland and plenty of other places for roughguides.com.

I’ve written several articles about Japan and Canada for Culture Trip, including a piece on Kyoto’s New Year traditions for the print magazine.

As well as their Tokyo destination page, I’ve written several articles and galleries for loveexploring.com and lovefood.com, covering the UK, Japan, Canada and Denmark.

For Britain Magazine‘s 2019 London Guide, I wrote a piece on the city’s best afternoon teas. Then, for the March/April 2019 issue of the magazine, I did the arduous work of drinking delicious English wine and writing about it…

I’ve also worked with Raconteur several times, writing on technology in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for a Sunday Times special report on the Internet of Things. Outside of travel, I’ve written for Raconteur about art in the digital age and the importance of inclusive language. The latter was for a DE&I special report for the Sunday Times.

I’ve been quoted as a travel expert (very fancy) in Stylist, The Telegraph and Wanderlust as well as featuring in a Publishers Weekly piece on podcasts in the travel publishing industry. Ultimate Japan was also included in a PW roundup of “Japan guides for curious travelers“, and Travelling with ADHD was featured in a PW piece on the excitingly “growing contingent of titles aimed at addressing the needs of disabled travelers and outdoorspeople”.

I co-hosted, -researched and -wrote season three of award-winning podcast The Rough Guide to Everywhere. I’m pretty proud of everything we did, but my labour of love was the DNA travel episode.