About Melanie – The Professional Traveller

My Professional Travel Experience

Here are some facts and figures about career and experience in travel.

I Have Over 37 Years Experience of Travelling Professionally

• I spent the first part of my career travelling throughout the UK and Europe for my role selling hydraulic equipment. This also included driving to Denmark a number of times and hosting supplier trips and events.
• Then I became a holiday Tour Manager, something which I still do. I travelled all over the world taking guests on escorted/touring holidays. I have taken over 10,500 guests on holidays.
• I now travel as a solo female traveller and use this trips as the basis of content for this website.
• More recently I have been visiting airport lounges in the UK to review them for this website too.

Travel Companies I Have Worked With

• Travelsphere
• Titan
• Saga
• Newmarket
• Wallace Arnold (Shearings) for British travellers.

Invergordon Cruise Port Experience

• I have extensive experience as guide for cruise visitors coming to Invergordon and have done nearly all the tours available. I have worked as a guide for over 15 years.
• I also work as a Pier Coordinator in Invergordon. I work with the cruise ships to co-ordinate all the coaches, guides and drivers on the port call. I’ve been doing that for over 15 years.

Independent Travel Agent

• In 2023 I became an Independent Travel Agent, helping people to book their holidays.
• I specialise in touring holidays and river cruises but help people to book anything.

Quick Facts Overview

How I Started in Travel Video

My Travel Work Experience

Seasonal Living In Italy

• Lived for one season in Lake Garda and another in Lake Como
• I hosted tour groups for a week, leading all the tours and dealing with all the issues.
• It was in the very early days of mobile phones and no internet so I am not sure how we managed!
• The Lake Garda holidays included weekly visits to The Dolomites, Verona, Venice, a full day Lake Tour and Limone
• The Lake Como holidays weekly visits to Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano, a full day lake tour, Milan and Bellagio.
• These holidays took place before there were budget flights so everyone travelled out by overnight coach with two drivers.

Hotel Representative Experience

• I lived in Lake Garda for a season and worked as a hotel representative. This involved driving my company car all over the Veneto region to do hotel health and safety checks.
• It also involved meeting guests and helping with any issues, including those travelling on the Orient Express.
• Oh how I miss the long Italian lunch breaks!

Global Tours for Holiday Companies

I have been lucky enough to take tours all over the place for the various holiday companies I have worked for. Here are some of the holidays I have done;

Notable Touring Holidays

China

I first visited China about 6 months before the flooding of the Yangtse Gorge. I picked up a stone from the bottom of the gorge and had it made into a necklace which I wear everyday to remind me of that trip. I led multiple tours to China including visiting Shangai, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xian, Beijing and more. I also visited the Yangtse Gorge during and after completion of the dam.

Australia

I am lucky to have visited Australia a number of times leading tours all around the country, as well as specialist wildflower tours, an East Coast driving tour and more. What an amazing country this is to visit. I have some lovely wall art to remind me of my trip and would love to go back and drive all around Highway 1, the road that goes all the way around Australia.

Seeing the Great Barrier Reef for the first time is something I will never forget, nor is hugging a koala and staying in the rainforest. Seeing the sunset and sunrise at Uluru is also unforgettable too.

New Zealand

My tour to New Zealand covered both islands, which are completely different. What wonderful scenery, rich history and lovely people there are in New Zealand. I have done all the tourist things like visiting the Franz Josef Glacier and taking the scenic train.

Thailand

I’ve been lucky enough to take various trips to Bangkok as a solo traveller by stopping off there on my way back from Australia. During these visits I headed off to explore the sights of this bustling city and visited places like the amazing floating market.

Singapore

Singapore was the regular stopover on the way to Australia. What a fantastic city this is to visit and I can’t wait to return again. We always had tea at Raffles and took a tour of the city. I have some lovely silk jackets that I got made to measure there as well.

Portugal and The Azores

I led multiple tours of the Azores. When I was first asked to go I wasn’t quite sure where they were. They are in the middle of the Atlantic and an autonomous region of Portugal. What a fascinating archipelogo they are – 9 islands and all different.

I’ve also taken tours of Portugal, including by train and travelled a number of times to the Algarve for my own holidays too, including my first ever proper solo trip!

Spain

Who doesn’t love Spain? I’ve taken several tours there and also visited myself with a wonderful solo female trip in Valencia. I will definitely be back soon.

Morocco

I led a tour of Morocco visiting Fez, Casablanca, Tangier, Chefchouen and Marrakech. It was pretty challenging as a female trip leader, and there were also plenty of organisational challenges along the way. We crisscrossed the country by coach which was a great way to see more of the landscape and we visited a school in the mountains supported by the holiday company.

Russia

I escorted a river cruise from St Petersburg to Moscow. This was one of the most challenging trips I have ever done due to a never ending catalogue of patients requiring hospital treatment and then a Norovirus break out on the river cruise ship. Russia blew me away, as did the friendliness of the people along the way.

Baltic States

I have taken tours through the Baltic States and also visited Riga in Latvia several times too. This is a very interesting part of the world with much to offer visitors.

Azerbaijan

This was a solo female trip that I took as I wanted to push my boundaries a bit further. It was definitely a challenge but such a worthwhile one. There are relatively few visitors so at one point I had to mime that I wanted the taxi driver to take me to an ATM and to do some grocery shopping – thank goodness for my O level in drama. Such an interesting city with the most amazing architecture.

France

I have led mutliple tours of Paris with groups, and also taken multiple tours on the TGV train from Paris down to Cannes before heading off to Italy. I need to go back on my own so I have time to visit all the attractions myself!

The United Kingdom

I have led tours and groups all over the UK including weekend breaks to cities like Chester, theatre breaks in London, TV themed breaks and much more. Most of the guests have been British holidaymakers but in the last 5 years they have been American guests.

I have also taken guests all over the Scotland, including out to the Hebrides and I have done 30 or so tours to Shetland with American guests. Oh Shetland – what a place you have in my heart! This amazing group of 100 islands is well worth a visit – it’s unlike anywhere else.

My Touring Holiday Testimonials

My Travel Journey

In the 1970s, I was lucky enough to enjoy long-haul holidays. I had some great experiences, including having a birthday cake with candles on a British Airways flight to America. (That was when you could smoke on a plane! – although I was too young then, it must have been choking!)

British Airways Junior Jet Club Member

I was a member of the British Airways Junior Jet Club. This club not only kept kids entertained on flights but also arranged many activities and trips in the UK.

Christmas Tours as a Girlfriend

When I was older I met a chap who was a coach driver. Girlfriends, wives and partners went on Christmas tours for free, so off we went. One year we went to Poland and another we went to Lake Garda. It gave me an insight into travelling with a group. I heard about Tour Managers from the drivers I met and thought it was something I would be good at.

Feeling inspired I sent off my CV and got a job – my first trip was 4 weeks in Lake Garda. I had just over a weeks notice. My passport had expired so it was a race to get that done in time and then I almost missed the ferry thanks to a huge accident on the motorway. It was quite a stressful start to the trip but thankfully it all turned out OK and it was the start of a fantastic career.

What It’s Like Travelling for Work

Travelling for work might sound glamorous but it often isn’t.

Alot of my early travelling was to work at exhibitions and events. That involved being on an exhibition stand all day and then heading back to the hotel and repeating the same journey again the next day. There was very little time for sightseeing and to be honest it was so tiring that I wouldn’t have been able to do it anyway.

For the vast majority of my career I have been travelling with groups. This has enabled me to go all over the world and see some amazing places. However, the needs and demands of the group always came before mine – it’s a job after all and not a paid holiday.

These tours have involved days of preparation time, researching all the information about the places the tour visited. In the early days, before the internet, this involved researching using my Britannica Encyclopedia CD-Roms which took ages as well as lots of visits to libraries!

When travelling with groups there is always something that needs to be done. Room allocations, dining requests, local supplier and local guide bookings to sort out. Then there are the inevitable issues that happen along the way to deal with – accidents and illnesses being the most common ones.

I could, and perhaps should, write a book about my experience of visiting various hospitals in different countries around the world!

Even if there is a day off in the itinerary it rarely means a day off for the Tour Manager. It more likely means a day to catch up on administration and paperwork!

I am lucky to have travelled with thousands of lovely people and enjoy amazing sights and experiences with them. Remebering my guests reminds me that most people are lovely most of the time and in most places.

My Solo Travel Adventures

In the last 5 years I have discovered the joy of travelling solo – completely on my own, not meeting up with anyone while away.

I absolutely love it. At times it is exhausting, challenging and frustrating and that is often combined with a sense of fear or danger.

For the most part I meet people who are amazing, helpful and friendly and I get to explore places completely on my own terms. I love just following my own interests and instincts.

The sense of achievement is amazing and it is a very addictive way to travel!

Even during a pretty rough trip to Istanbul I found plenty of memorable highlights that made up for the tough bits.

Places That I Know Well

I am lucky to have visited lots of places several times, giving me a deeper insight and understanding of the place, things to do, where to visit and more.

Here are the places I am most familiar with;

Shetland

Yes, I know it’s in Scotland but it’s so different and special that it deserves it’s own mention. Shetland is amazing, unique, unforgettable and very different from Scotland. In 2024 I will be visiting for the 17th plus time and I still love it.

My Travel Qualifications

I have been undertaking a lot of training relating to travel since I became an Independent Travel Agent.

Training includes courses about specific places, touring holiday companies and river cruises – all the things I specialise in!

My Fur Babies!

The hardest thing about travelling is leaving my family, although that is easier now than it used to be as my nephew has gotten older. However, leaving my dogs just gets tougher.

My dogs have been my best friends and kept me company through everything life has thrown at me over the last 12 years or so. They sleep next to me at night and they snuggle next to me on the sofa.

As I write this, during the Covid-19 period of life, they have been my constant companions now for 9 months. I have never been at home so much and they have kept me calm and sane through this craziness, helped me to focus while I work and helped me to appreciate life when at times that has been a bit harder to do.

I think the reason I love dachshunds, in particular, Lotty and Christy are my 3rd and 4th, is their characters. They are strong willed, independent and not very biddable – much like me!

Featured Media

Here are the publications or websites where I have been mentioned or quoted;

• The Press and Journal
• The Inverness Courier
• Highland News and Media
• Ross-Shire Journal
• Northsound News
• The Independent
• The BMJ
• Sky News
• The Herald
• MSN News
• Inkl
• The Northern Times
• Private Eye – 24th January Edition Page 16

Articles I Have Written or Contributed To

• Hidden Gems – Duncansby Stacks
• Best Places to See in the Scottish Highlands
• 2 Cameras 1 Bucket List
• A Hole In My Shoe – Avoiding Excess Baggage Fees
• A Luxury Travel Blog
• WanderingEarl.com

Some Other Places You Can Find Me

• LinkedIN
• YouTube
• Facebook
• Visit Scotland
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Medium
• Vocal

I’m A Member Of

• The Globetrotters Club
• The Royal Scottish Geographical Society

Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page may earn me a small commission if you make a purchase. This helps keep my website going at no extra cost to you. Rest assured, I only recommend things I genuinely love! For more details, check out my cookie policy., editorial policy and privacy policy

My Recommended Essential Travel Gear List

Find all the items I use on every trip all in one place

My Social Media Links

• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• YouTube

More Resources

• Travel Inspiration – trip reports, reviews, and more to inspire your next trip
• Time Saving Travel Tools – all the things I use to research and plan my trips
• Airport Lounges – Everything you need to know including lots about Priority Pass
• Invergordon Cruise Port – all you need to know to help your plan your visit
• Independent Travel Agent – a huge timesaver. I specialise in touring holidays & river cruises
• About Melanie – background and travel experience
• About the Professional Traveller – what this website is all about
• Work with Me – details of the services I provide