About Joanne Amos

Hi, I’m Jo, The Wandering Wordsmith. I’m a travel blogger and professional travel writer, providing specialist travel copywriting, travel writing, and proofreading and copy-editing services.

In January 2015 I packed up my worldly goods, slung a backpack over my shoulder, and set off on my adventures as a long-term traveller and digital nomad, before finding a home base in Portugal in 2020.

This website contains musings from my wanderings, along with travel tips and resources. It’s also the home of my travel copywriting business, and offers travel writing advice for businesses and budding travel writers and bloggers.

About The Wandering Wordsmith

The Wandering Wordsmith website has been on its own journey. It started life as the base for my SEO writing business, before gradually morphing into the home of my travel copywriting services. In 2019 I merged my travel blog, The Road to Wanderland, into this site (which is why some pictures on my earlier posts have a different logo).

The Wandering Wordsmith documents my desire to live a life less ordinary, while discovering the world – and figuring out my place in it. Plus, it offers a creative outlet for my travel writing and photography.

Whether writing for my clients or penning my travel stories, my goal is to inspire curiosity about the world and encourage people to travel mindfully. I tap into the power of storytelling to create connections between people, cultures and places, and I value authenticity, both in my travel experiences and in the way I run my business.

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How Can I Help You?

My Travel Story

I didn’t have a career path in mind as I was growing up, choosing to study subjects based upon my interests. This led to an eclectic range of A Levels, a BA in Classical Studies & History of Art, and an MA in Greek Archaeology.

But from my first trip abroad – a family coach trip to Paris – travel had me under its spell. (While my second trip ensured that I’m always early to check in for flights, as my family missed our flight home!)

In 1996, I had my first taste of independent travel on a month’s Interrail trip in Europe with my sister. We navigated through France, the Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Greece and Italy with just a guidebook – in those heady days of travel before mobile phones and when the internet was barely a thing.

But it took me a while to figure out how to find a career that could give me the freedom to travel as much as I wanted to. And for a while, I doubted that I could.

After a sun-soaked season working as an island manager on the tiny, unspoilt Greek island of Tilos, a 16-month jaunt around New Zealand and Southeast Asia, and a lot of soul-searching, I finally took the plunge.

I built a business as a freelance writer and proofreader, minimised my belongings, put the essentials into storage, and set off with a backpack and my Mac.

How I Travel

My travel ethos is to travel slowly. I want to get to know a place via its culture, traditions, food and drink, nature and wildlife, and by meeting locals and getting off the tourist trail. Not rushing through countries to tick them off a list.

Because I work while travelling, I prefer to stay somewhere for a minimum of a month, preferably longer. I started out living in Airbnbs and I still use them where necessary, though I’m wary of their impact on communities. But I’ve fallen in love with house sitting, because you live in a community, in a real home, and because, well, pets!

During my nomad years, I mostly travelled in Europe, for various reasons. I was devastated by the outcome of the Brexit referendum and determined to appreciate as much of our continent as possible before we lost our freedom of movement.

As a solo female traveller, it’s also comfortable though. I’m European. This is my home. And it’s a spectacular, diverse and fascinating continent. Some of the places I most want to visit outside of Europe (hello, Central & Southern America!), I’m less confident about visiting alone. So that’s clearly my next challenge…

The Year Travel Stopped

In 2020, everything changed! The combined forces of Brexit and Covid-19 brought my travels to a screeching halt. I was housesitting in Paris at the time, about to go to a travel conference in Sicily. That was cancelled and I went back to my parents’ home in North Norfolk, UK, where I saved money and plotted my move to Portugal, while we looked after each other during the strangest summer.

In September 2020, I moved to Portugal and set up home in Setúbal, a charming city about an hour south of Lisbon, known for its incredible fish restaurants and the gorgeous nature and beaches all around.

I chose Portugal for practical reasons (great tax advantages for newcomers and easier route to citizenship, which is my ultimate goal), but I soon fell in love. Once travel restrictions have eased I can still spend up to six months a year travelling without losing my residency. And until then, I’m loving every minute of setting up my first home in six years and exploring my new country.

Not all those who wander are lost

(J. R. R. Tolkien)

Disclosure

Some of my posts may contain affiliate links, which means if you purchase products or services via them I may earn a small commission, the amount of which varies from product to product. This costs you absolutely nothing, but helps with the running costs of this website, and may buy me a bus ticket or glass of wine.

I only include affiliate links to products and services I use myself and that I truly recommend.

For further information, see my privacy policy.

Follow My Journey

If you’d like to stay connected, follow me:

If you have any questions or just want to say hi, email me here – I’d love to hear from you:

joanne@thewanderingwordsmith.com

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All Photos Joanne Amos