Jetstreams over London by Lindsay du Plessis

Home Biography
A brief autobiography of a freelance journalist PDF Print E-mail
User Rating: / 0
PoorBest 
Travel is a funny business. It looks so glamorous and jet-setting, with coffees is the airport lounge, room service in posh hotels and unique adventures. In reality, it is a game of waiting around airport lounges, very expensive scrambled eggs via room service and adventures that have probably been had by most tourists before you. And yet, it ignites an excited flame inside me every time I set foot in a new place.

I have loved travel from an early age. When I was a child, my parents used to take us to all sorts of places in South Africa, often going via the “scenic route”. We were not one of those families that never ventured outside our comfort zones. We went camping down the West Coast, in the middle of the Free State and on the Garden Route. We went on visits to game reserves, waterfalls and mountain ranges. We got to know the rests stops on every major highway in the country.

On the international front, I have been privileged to spend time down the east coast of the USA, from Maine to New Hampshire to Virginia to Florida. And I have seen a good deal of the Rhine valley in Germany. During my last year of school, I boarded a tour bus for three weeks and made a whirlwind tour around Europe, visiting 9 countries in 21 days. Needless to say, we did only the most touristy of things in every place we visited, but it was glorious.

Just because I’m a sucker for punishment, and no real desire to stay in the same place for very long, I finished four years of study at Rhodes University and two weeks later found myself in the Scottish highlands. I mainly decided to put myself through the agony of waitressing to pay off my student loans, and spent a year working and travelling in Scotland.

Then, when the rain and snow became too much for my sunny South African soul, I moved to London to work at the SA Times, a newspaper aimed at South Africans living in the UK. I worked there for a year, during which time I travelled to Wales, Ireland, all around England and the United Arab Emirates. I also wrote many features, profiles, reviews and sports pieces.

And now I am home in South Africa, where my heart really is. I look forward to writing travel pieces, features and sports articles for anyone who wants me to, and if anyone needs a book reviewed, feel free to sent it over.