You may have noticed that I’ve been pretty quiet recently but in the blogging world, if a person has a quiet blog, it usually means they’re super busy. I don’t usually write personal updates but so much has happened recently that I feel the need to fill you all in!

A new job

Last month I finished working for Gap Daemon. Only the month before I’d been promoted from Editorial Assistant to Community Manager which I was thrilled about but, like all good things, job offers are like buses and I was soon offered a job at Travel Bloggers Unite as the Social Media Manager. TBU holds conferences for travel bloggers and it’s really exciting to part of something that is evolving and expanding so quickly.

I’ve been working part-time for Oliver at TBU for a couple of months but I’ll be full time from Monday. It’s pretty much a dream job as I get to talk about travel blogging and chat with the awesome travel blogging community all day every day. The conference in Umbria last April was brilliant and I’m off to Portugal next month to check out where we’ll be holding the next conference. And the job gets even better because I get to work from home. Which leads me to my next point…

A new home

Yes I moved house! I’ve gone from a huge 6 bed house that I shared with a bunch of girls to my very own 2-bed flat. The Boy will be moving down from Wales next month (argh, yes, I’m going to be living with a boy!) but until then I’m loving the peace and quiet.

I’m in that girly stage of moving house and want to make everything look pretty and homey. I’m currently trying to decide which of my travel photos I should have printed onto canvas to cover the bare cream walls of the flat. And yes, I’m now that weird person that stalks strangers on Pinterest for decorating ideas.

And finally…

A new qualification (almost)

I have one more exam to pass and I will be a qualified multi-media journalist!

I’ve been studying part-time for the NCTJ qualification since September which has meant my evenings and weekends have been taken up by Media Law, News Reporting, Court Reporting, Sub Editing, Public Affairs and the dreaded Shorthand. Yes, it’s 2012 and they still make trainee journalists learn shorthand!

I cannot wait to get the qualification under my belt and have some free time to travel. It wasn’t long after I started the course that I knew I would never work as a journo in the traditional sense so there were many, many times when I just wanted to quit (big thanks to the likes of Abi King, Sarah Lee and Dylan Lowe for listening to me moan and assuring me that I should stick with it). I may never need to know the in’s and out’s of the government but I have learnt some really useful skills from the course (you can read about them here in an old post Can studying journalism help travel bloggers?)

So what’s the plan for July?

Now that I finally have my weekends back I plan to travel, travel and travel some more.

Next weekend I’m heading to Ghent with The Boy. I’m going to be writing about the trip for the World Travel Market website and it’s set to be an amazing weekend. I think the highlight will be staying in the Hotel Ghent where I will have a clock tower in my bedroom!

The following week I’ll be heading to Porto for some pre TBU conference meetings and research the best bars, clubs and restaurants in the area. It’s a tough job but someone needs to be on hand for recommendations during the conference

After that I’ll have a weekend in Wales. For those of you who don’t know, I’m from Wales (the accent comes out when I’ve had a few too many G&T’s) and I’m a country girl at heart so I’m looking forward to digging out my walking boots and relaxing in the fresh air.

I’m then working with the lovelies at Visit England and heading to Kent for a weekend. All Brits say this but we don’t explore what’s on our doorstep often enough and I’m looking forward to visiting ‘The Garden of England’ and birthplace of Charles Dickens.

After all that waffle I’ll leave you with some pretty pictures that will soon be decorating the walls of my new flat. Enjoy!

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