✨ Welcome back to our series, TravMedia's Travel Writer of the Week! ✨

Each week, we'll be shining a spotlight on one of the incredibly talented, passionate, and inspiring Journalists or Editors from our amazing community.

This week, we'd like to shine the spotlight on freelance travel writer - Nicole Trilivas.

We hope you enjoy - happy reading !!

Where are you based?
I was born and raised in New York, but I've been based in London for the past ten years, and it's the city I now call home. Let's grab a coffee sometime!

What outlets do you write for?
I write across the UK, US/Canadian, and Middle Eastern markets. Lately, I've been doing quite a bit for Travel + Leisure and The Telegraph, though that is always evolving.

What are your travel specialties?
I focus on luxury travel — the more expensive, the better. Of course, these days it's not just about price, and expensive does not always mean luxurious. I'm especially interested in experiential luxury: rare, one-of-a-kind experiences that money alone can't guarantee.

Are you in-house or freelance (or both)?
I am fully freelance.

What are your professional pet peeves?
Emails with large attachments (they usually get deleted, which is a shame, as I never know when I might need something later). Press releases missing basic information such as opening dates, starting rates, and a link to images.

I'm also surprised by how often people misunderstand the term “entry-level” or “starting rate”. About once a month, I'll hear that rates vary by season or room type — and of course they do — but what I'm asking for is the lowest rate the property will ever offer.

And if I make a very specific call-out, I do get frustrated when responses completely miss the brief. For example, I once asked for hotels in off-the-beaten-track destinations and someone sent me a Maldives resort. Please don't waste anyone's time. If you simply want to get a hotel on my radar, send it directly — don't reply to a targeted request pretending it fits when it doesn't.

In your past professional life you were…
A creative director at an advertising agency in New York City.

Where would you like to return to?
Right now, I'm dreaming about my next big safari trip (I take one every year). Maybe Tanzania?

What's on your bucket list?
Where isn't on my list is probably the better question. If it were safe to do so, I'd happily travel everywhere.

Where do you travel for fun?
I can't remember the last trip I took that wasn't connected to work in some way. But that's alright, because I genuinely love what I do.

What nugget would you like to add that we haven't touched on?
Just a quick note on gratitude: this is such a lovely industry, and I feel very lucky to be part of it.

How best should people contact you?
Please email me at ntrilivas@gmail.com And a friendly reminder to check your spam folder regularly — many of us freelancers end up there from time to time, as we don't have company email addresses. Feel free to follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nicoletrilivas/