Hi! I’m Anna,
Freelance travel writer & intermittent blogger
A bit about me: I'm 38 years old, and over the past decade I've earned my living by traversing the globe and writing about it. Mostly by updating Lonely Planet, Trailblazer and Rough Guide guidebooks, but also by contributing to the travel sections of The Independent, BBC Travel and more. It's not as glamorous a lifestyle as some believe, though I have no complaints: my work and wanderlust have taken me across six continents, to places as diverse as India, Uzbekistan, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Arctic Canada and Patagonia. More recently, I've stayed closer to home, with city gigs across Europe. In hindsight, the purchase of a plague doctor mask in Venice in October was a bit on the ominous side...
​
Early in 2019 I relocated from the UK to Cómpeta, one of the pueblos blancos (white villages) in Andalusia. It was partly due to Brexit - I wanted to retain the option of living on the continent - and partly for health reasons. A bout of pneumonia contracted in Kenya in 2017 almost killed me; a year of respiratory issues followed and I was finally diagnosed with a chronic respiratory condition. Since Cómpeta is in the mountains, on the edge of a national park, I figured that I could spend my spare time hiking and convalescing in the fresh mountain air.
The current Covid-19 pandemic is upending countless lives, including my own. So I've decided to use this space to record my experience, and that of the people I know. This is very much a work in progress and I'll be guided by the unfolding events.
​