Q: What was your first job and what did you learn from it that you still use today?
A: As a teenager I worked in a snack bar at a roller skating rink where I learned the importance of heating food to a safe-for-consumption temperature (and to never work for cash-in-hand!).
Q: What’s the first thing you do when you start a new position?
A: For me, it’s all about getting to know the people, building relationships and soaking up as much information as I can…and asking a lot of questions.
Q: What advice would you give someone wanting to start a career in travel now?
A: Go for it! If the most exciting part of your year is the trip you take on your annual leave, you probably need to be in travel.
My best advice would be that everyone has a different bucket list trip and if you can be as passionate about theirs as you are your own, it’ll never feel like work.
Q: What did the pandemic teach you about yourself?
A: I learned to enjoy doing nothing. I’m the kind of personality that loves to keep my mind occupied, whether it’s studying something new (I’m a serial student), or simply reading a book or watching a movie. I’m always doing something.
But suddenly I had a lot of time on my hands and once I’d completed the Netflix library, not much to occupy it.
Spending so much time alone and without distractions, like going for a walk with no headphones or taking a nap in the sun, taught me so much about myself. And now that the world is turning again, I relish setting aside time to relax and reset.
Q: If you hadn’t gone into travel, what career path might you have taken?
A: I spent over a decade in the wine industry, so I’d most likely still be there. Luckily there is also plenty of wine in the travel industry, so I haven’t really had to give up my other passion!
Q: How do you think the travel industry is looking at this moment in time?
A: It’s a really exciting time to be in travel! We had a few very scary years in the industry, but I think something positive that’s come out of it all is that people are re-evaluating what’s important to them.
I think there’s a sense of seizing the day post-pandemic, in that people aren’t waiting for the opportune moment to tick off those bucket list trips anymore.
Q: Who would you most like to sit next to on a plane, living or dead?
A: Great question! Probably Leonardo da Vinci, not only because I’m a massive history nerd and could ask him a million questions about the 15th century, but I think it’d be really cool to see him witness the evolution of his flying machine.
Q: What are some of your favourite spots around the world?
A: At the absolute top of my list is Florence. I spent three summers studying renaissance history there during university and it played such a formative part of my early 20s.
A close second is anywhere in Portugal. It’s where my family is from, so holds a special place in my heart and is such a beautiful part of the world. It has everything – beaches, vineyards, history and my personal favourite, pasteis de nata!
Q: What is your best travel story?
A: When I was studying in Italy during university, a small group of us took a day trip to the Vatican.
Upon arriving at St Peter’s and seeing the massive crowd for what we thought was the basilica, we decided that we would give the interior a miss and instead head straight into the square to take a few photos (it was 2012 and Instagram was just taking off, so we all fancied ourselves professional photographers and had the DSLRs to prove it).
After bypassing the queue and squeezing through to the piazza, we heard a massive roar from the crowd behind the barricades. Right behind us, not 20 metres away, was the Pope!
We later discovered that we had forced our way into the press section (thanks, I think, to our over-the-top equipment) and had a VIP seat on what turned out to be a Catholic holiday!
Q: What are you most looking forward to about working with Uniworld?
A: Going on my first river cruise! It’s all the things I love about travel: being immersed in a destination and its history and culture, good food and wine, the convenience of unpacking once in your floating boutique hotel and a little bit of luxury.
