✨ 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 - Emma Gibbs!

We hope you enjoy - happy reading !!

Where are you based?

South Oxfordshire

What outlets do you write for? Who is your audience? What are your travel specialties?

I've written for The Guardian, The iPaper, The Independent, BBC Travel, Scotland Magazine, BRITAIN Magazine, Adventure.com and JRNY Travel Magazine, among others. I'm also the author of North Coast 500: Britain's Ultimate Road Trip, for HarperCollins, and Scotland's North Highlands, published by Bradt Guides. The latter won 'Travel Guide of the Year' at the Inspire Global Media Awards 2026. 

My main speciality is Scotland – to the point where most people are surprised that I don't live there (I'm working on it!). While I'll very happily write about all parts of Scotland, the Highlands are a particular focus, and I'm currently working on another Slow Travel guide, this time about beautiful Perthshire. I also write about the rest of the UK and flight-free European travel, and have interests in sustainability, wildlife, walking, whisky and family travel. 

Are you in-house or freelance (or both)?

I'm freelance. 

What are your professional pet peeves?

Not enough PRs and the companies they work with being open to overland travel to reach their destination(s). In fact, limited support for travel is a real issue, whether from PRs or train companies etc. With fees stagnant and on the low side, it can be incredibly difficult to make a trip work if you have to pay travel expenses to get there. Another is that guidebook coverage is seen as the poor relation of magazine/newspaper coverage and so it can be hard to get support from people for it, though the reality is that coverage in a guidebook will provide you with an audience for the lifetime of that edition (often 3+ years), while old articles can easily get lost online. Also, as a writer with children, I'd love to see more people open to family press trips. 

In your past professional life you were …

Until February 2026, I was Editor-in-Chief of JRNY Travel Magazine. Prior to being freelance, I worked as an in-house editor at Rough Guides and, before that, at DK Travel. My very first travel job was writing brochure copy for a luxury travel company – though my first post-uni job was entertaining the masses as an actor at The London Dungeon.

Where would you like to return to?

Scotland, always! Particularly Shetland and the Hebrides, though I haven't had a long trip to the North Highlands since I finished writing my book and I'm desperate for some proper time there. 

What's on your bucket list?

Orkney, Islay and Northumberland. I'd like to do a big European rail trip with the kids next summer, and I'd love to finally make it to Venice – off season and by train, of course. 

Where do you travel for fun?

This summer we're taking our first flights in a decade to spend three weeks in Malaysia and Singapore. As a family, the places we return to most often are the Isle of Lewis, the North Yorkshire coast and France. 

Your funniest (or most harrowing) travel story is …

Getting lost thanks to a diversion on a walking trip in the Black Forest, which saw my friend and I having to descend a very steep hill on an incredibly narrow path with a huge drop on one side, not knowing where we were heading or how long we would be on the hill for. My friend was petrified so it fell to me to be the brave one... I ended up holding her hand and singing her the song I sing to my kids when they get scared! 

What advice would you give your younger professional self?

Don't see other people as competition – celebrate their successes as you strive for your own.

What nugget would you like to add that we haven't touched on?

I often find that PRs disappear once they don't have good news for you or can't support a trip – it's always really frustrating to just be met with radio silence, and of course stops you from moving on to find an alternative, so I'd always prefer it to just be told 'Really sorry but we couldn't make this work for you' as soon as possible.

How best should people contact you?

By email at emma@emmagibbseditorial.com or on Instagram @emmgibbs_words.