Personal stories

Carrying on with our guest post series where writers offer their thoughts on living the life you want to, not the one you think you should. Introducing Gigi Griffis… Five years ago, I was doing exactly what a good born-and-raised American girl is supposed to do. I had a prestigious job as the lead copywriter … Read more

We were surrounded by naked people – something that’s come to be expected on sunny German days in the wilderness. We’ve moved past the red-faced, eyes-darting discomfort that our English heritage provides and have come to appreciate this natural abandon.  But not today, it seemed. We’d come to Berlin’s forest, the Grunewald, for a picnic. … Read more

Long-term travel has become our norm. We choose a place and we make it home, sometimes for weeks, more often for months. We make friends, we find favourite cafés and create a rhythm someplace new. We learn what time the market cuts its prices, how to ask, “¿Hay wifi, por favor?, and how to top … Read more

I turned 30 a few weeks back. Some say that makes me an adult, but I often feel that’s a destination that works itself ever further away with every passing year. Wonder keeps one young, and this life fills me over and over. However, despite not yet knowing the feeling of the word adult, I have … Read more

Part 1: Going back “It’s your Mum. She’s in hospital. Come back quickly.” I got that phone call eleven years ago, aged 19, sitting on a beach in Thailand.Mum had been diagnosed with MS when I was three. When I was ten, I remember describing it to my friends: “It just means she can’t walk”. … Read more