Q. Where are you based?
Perth, WA
Q. What outlet do you write for?
I like to spread the good word across a few publications, including Traveller, Explore, NZ Herald, AWW, We Are Explorers, News Corp, DK Eyewitness guidebooks and more.
Q. Who is your audience?
I don't think I could pigeonhole myself for a niche audience; however, I do love covering left-field adventures, under-the-radar destinations, glorious eats and cultural experiences (traditional and off-kilter).
Q. What are your travel specialties?
I love sharing a quirky tale. Tell me something that would raise eyebrows, and I'll go for it. I love the unexpected and having my curiosity sparked.
Q. What is a professional pet peeve?
My name is my email address. Go that extra "mile" and use it when sending me a press release, please! Being addressed by name makes all the difference, and not feeling like you are the recipient of a PR scatter-gun approach.
Also, get familiar with my work and my role (I'm a freelancer, not on staff) before sending a pitch email. I'm sure I'm not alone in being sent random pitches, such as kitchenware and pet goods, or travel items to consider for product round-ups and pitches to write about a destination I've never been to. For the latter, if you want me to cover the destination, work with me to experience it first!
Q. In your past professional life, you were …
I have lived and breathed the travel industry since my uni days, studying a Bachelor of Tourism and Public Relations and working part-time as a travel agent. After uni, I worked at the travel wholesaler, Asia Escape Holidays, in a sales and marketing role before following my dream to travel the world. A year later, I moved to Sydney to work at SBS. Missing the sunny West Coast, I returned to work at Singapore Airlines by day and as a Perth walking tour guide by night. Soon enough, I got itchy feet again, and bought a one-way ticket to Europe, bounced around the continent solo before working in a backpackers' in Estonia. Phew!
I had a lot of time to kill working night shift at the hostel, getting paid a pittance (€20 for 10 hours' work), yet I loved my stint. After scrubbing bathrooms and baking bread, I would write blogs for a travel company. And who would've thought that working the graveyard shift would lead to a career in travel writing? Eleven years later, here we are!
Q. Where would you like to return to?
Estonia - I would love to see all the changes in Tallinn and explore more of the country.
Q. What's on your bucket list?
Galapagos, Cuba, Ghana, Trans-Siberian, Trans-Mongolian railway. I love feeling out of my depth.
Q. Where do you travel for fun?
I've had a love affair with South East Asia since my first backpacking trip there in 2005. My idea of heaven is being led by the nose around incredible street food.
Q. Your funniest (or most harrowing) travel story is …
While I could write a book about crazy experiences - for better and for worse - if we ever meet in person, feel free to ask me about my backcountry Alaska multi-day hiking trip gone wrong and my Eurovision story. Both are my wildest stories that I have never written about (and probably never will). A good laugh in retrospect!
Q. What advice would you give your younger professional self?
Be open.
Network.
Don't take rejection personally - yes, it sucks, but it will only make you stronger and more resilient. You got this!
Q. What nugget would you like to add that we haven't touched on?
Community is so important. While we all vie for travel editors' attention, it's important to champion our peers, celebrate their successes, and support each other. Sure, it's a competitive industry, but we all have different voices; different stories to tell; there's space for all of us.
Many of us work in silos, and to me, feeling part of a community, building connections with fellow writers, and having honest conversations has been invaluable. To be a freelancer without good relationships with my peers? I would've called it a day long ago!
Q. How best should people contact you?
Feel free to reach out to me via email, julia@theroamingflamingo.com. If you're partial to an improv musical, feel free to follow me on IG @theroamingflamingo
