Hi there! I am so excited to have you here.
Let me introduce myself properly, and share a bit about my story and why I started this blog.
I’m Jo and I live with my husband Dave, our three mostly grown-up children and our dog Artie. When I’m not working, writing or doing the chores, we spend a lot of our free time walking Artie and taking a trip whenever we can.
I am from Somerset in the UK and I haven’t always been a travel blogger, or even a writer but I did study English at University. My regular 9-5 job is supporting adults with disabilities. Previously, I worked in Primary Education for 17 years.
Dave is originally from Wales (his first language is Welsh), and he works in IT, even though he studied Sociology at university.
Oh yes, and I also run our small family Christmas tree farm!
So, why did I start this blog?
From my teens, I have always loved travel, although it wasn’t something I ever did with my parents. My first major trip was to stay with a school friend and her family in Hong Kong. While I was at university, I had the opportunity to spend a semester in Innsbruck, Austria.
As you might have guessed, I am a travel enthusiast and love all kinds of travel – whether it’s exploring cities, hiking through jungles or lying on a beach – I love it all!
I met Dave at uni, and we did a Eurorailing trip but after that we didn’t really have the budget for holidays, due to the usual student debt, etc.
Within a couple of years, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, we were married with 3 young children and holidays became short breaks in the UK.
By the time my youngest was 3, I was 35, a busy mum of three, working part-time in a school. Dave was just starting his own IT business, and money was tight – we hadn’t travelled abroad for 10 years and we really wanted to take our kids on a special holiday and make some memories.
Our first package holiday with On the Beach was a dream – an amazing villa in Menorca with a private pool. We couldn’t believe our luck! We had the most blissful week.
The next year, we booked again, expecting another fantastic stay. Instead, we got what I can only describe as a “hobbit villa,” sharing a pool with several other families… and an army of ants. I was crushed.
Complaints got us a small refund, but I learned a big lesson: I didn’t want to put my trust in travel agents again. So, I took matters into my own hands. I started researching how to book holidays myself – cheaper, better, and with full control over the details. And it worked!
Before long, I was planning everything – ski trips, Disneyland, Florida, Thailand, Jordan. Friends kept asking for tips: How do you find the cheapest flights? The best places to stay? Must-do activities? So, I wrote it all down and created my 10-step guide to DIY holidays and it grew from there.
Apparently, 38% of UK families book through travel agents, and that’s fine! But for the 62% who want to take control, save money, and create their perfect trip, my blog is here to help. You’ll find everything from planning and booking advice to ready-made itineraries in my Book My Holiday tool – so you can copy my trips or tweak them to suit you.
Our Travel Style
We think of ourselves as budget to mid-range travellers. We enjoy visiting new places but we do have our favourites and keep going back for more!
We would love to spend more time abroad but like most people, we have jobs and responsibilities at home so we can only go away for long weekends, and maximum two weeks at a time. But we make the most of the time we do have.
Of course, even though we research everything, we do make plenty of mistakes (that’s all part of the fun!) – I write blogs designed to be as helpful as possible so you can have a fantastic experience and hopefully benefit from our mistakes.
If you want to reach out and say “hi”or ask me any questions – I’m all ears and very happy to hear from you.
Our planned family holidays this year are old favourites – skiing in Les Gets and Menorca for my husband’s 50th birthday. And for our 25th anniversary – we’ve booked a trip to Dubrovnik and Montenegro.
Of course I’ll keep you posted!
In the meantime – you can sign up here for my newsletter with all the latest news, blogs and travel tips.
Happy travels!
Jo x
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