I’ve had an interest in travel from a very young age, ever since boarding that plane to Majorca with family and friends back in the 90’s, sitting in the cockpit and even getting a little memento from the captain in the form of the flying route on a paper map!!

Fast forward to 2020 where having spent the last 17 years working in a heavily regulated utility industry that was beginning to take its toll on me and faced with a reorganisation or redundancy. I opted for the redundancy route and decided to establish myself as an Independent Travel Agent. It was something that I had been thinking about for a long time and the timing may not have been ideal; who in their right mind would open a travel agency during a pandemic when restrictions prevented all travel!

The skills that I’d picked up through my previous roles were transferable into my role as an independent travel agent, Customer Service, IT and Marketing being the key skills required to make a success of my business and despite a rocky start with the wrong host agency, I soon found Merlin Travel Group and grew from strength to strength.

It’s this proven success that has seen me take my career to the next level and I am pleased to be part of the Merlin Travel Group team as Business Development Manager. Working with all of the head office team, I am responsible for the development of new members to Merlin Travel Group, and whether they are new to travel, returning to travel or an experienced agent, we have a range of packages to ensure they too build successful travel businesses.

Outside of the day jobs (as I still run my Travel Agency) I love to get away as often as I can, sometimes I take work on holiday with me, but other times where I know the Wi-Fi connection won’t be great I like to have a little R&R. My favourite long haul destination would have to be Mexico, favourite city break destination Krakow and my favourite European destination would have to be Gran Canaria.