Sarah J C Gillespie
@sjcgillespie.bsky.social
Scottish-Filipina travel writer 🏴🇵🇭 Words in Nat Geo Traveller, The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian and more. Glasgow-based. sarahjcgillespie.com
Editors: would it annoy you if a writer (me) put multiple pitches for the same country in one email? Obviously you could only take one, but I feel it would be so much better for me and the host country if I could get multiple stories assigned straight away for one destination
July 15, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Editors: would it annoy you if a writer (me) put multiple pitches for the same country in one email? Obviously you could only take one, but I feel it would be so much better for me and the host country if I could get multiple stories assigned straight away for one destination
Airlines: "Arrive three hours before international flights."
Also airlines: "The check-in desk opens two hours before the flight."
💀
Also airlines: "The check-in desk opens two hours before the flight."
💀
April 21, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Airlines: "Arrive three hours before international flights."
Also airlines: "The check-in desk opens two hours before the flight."
💀
Also airlines: "The check-in desk opens two hours before the flight."
💀
First-time TravMedia Awards finalist! How lovely 🥰 #TravMediaAwards
April 16, 2025 at 10:14 AM
First-time TravMedia Awards finalist! How lovely 🥰 #TravMediaAwards
I'm not deleting Twitter (still holding on in some vain hope that Musk sells it) but I am going to be winding it down and making Instagram my main social media platform for now. Follow me (and I'll follow you back): instagram.com/sarahjcgille...
April 14, 2025 at 9:05 AM
I'm not deleting Twitter (still holding on in some vain hope that Musk sells it) but I am going to be winding it down and making Instagram my main social media platform for now. Follow me (and I'll follow you back): instagram.com/sarahjcgille...
I can't be the only one who procrastinates by researching productivity tools
April 11, 2025 at 10:06 AM
I can't be the only one who procrastinates by researching productivity tools
The ideal AI endgame (for me) would be that it writes all my emails, and everyone else's emails, so eventually everyone has these personal assistant robots that talk to each other and no one has to deal with email ever again. One can dream...
April 10, 2025 at 8:26 AM
The ideal AI endgame (for me) would be that it writes all my emails, and everyone else's emails, so eventually everyone has these personal assistant robots that talk to each other and no one has to deal with email ever again. One can dream...
Been a bit of a stressful week – luckily, four days of stomping around the East Neuk of Fife is just what the doctor ordered 😍🏴 #inntravel
April 4, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Been a bit of a stressful week – luckily, four days of stomping around the East Neuk of Fife is just what the doctor ordered 😍🏴 #inntravel
I feel for the PRs whose press releases end up "below the fold" (the "[Message clipped]" banner) in news roundups. That's the equivalent of me getting an OOO at the beginning of an editor's annual leave – that pitch is DOA 😐
April 3, 2025 at 8:26 AM
I feel for the PRs whose press releases end up "below the fold" (the "[Message clipped]" banner) in news roundups. That's the equivalent of me getting an OOO at the beginning of an editor's annual leave – that pitch is DOA 😐
Pisses me off when I disembark from a Not Ryanair flight and there's still a 15-minute bus ride to the terminal. Looking at you BA/Heathrow T5, you really couldn't have designed it better?!
April 2, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Pisses me off when I disembark from a Not Ryanair flight and there's still a 15-minute bus ride to the terminal. Looking at you BA/Heathrow T5, you really couldn't have designed it better?!
Is it taps aff weather yet? 🏴☀️
April 1, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Is it taps aff weather yet? 🏴☀️
That's twice in a month now that I've been emailed by an editor about a potential commission, only for said editor to abruptly leave their job days later. Was it something I said? 😅
March 31, 2025 at 9:27 AM
That's twice in a month now that I've been emailed by an editor about a potential commission, only for said editor to abruptly leave their job days later. Was it something I said? 😅
My insiders' guide to Manila is out today in the SCMP's PostMag! Thanks so much to my interviewees and the people who helped me find them 🥰
Insiders’ guide to Manila, Philippine capital and cultural melting pot
Locals share their tips on what to see, do and buy, from discovering iconic landmarks and hidden gems, to encountering Filipino craftsmanship.
www.scmp.com
March 18, 2025 at 10:01 AM
My insiders' guide to Manila is out today in the SCMP's PostMag! Thanks so much to my interviewees and the people who helped me find them 🥰
Going to have to be stricter in working only with travel companies/tourism boards where everything is comped from the off. Getting into drawn-out conversations about flight support and a hundred other particulars is devastating for freelance income (I don't get paid for emails)
March 12, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Going to have to be stricter in working only with travel companies/tourism boards where everything is comped from the off. Getting into drawn-out conversations about flight support and a hundred other particulars is devastating for freelance income (I don't get paid for emails)
I'm currently laid up with Covid and being very unproductive indeed, but you should still read my productivity guide on Talking Travel Writing today 😉🤪 Well worth getting a subscription if you don't have one!
March 11, 2025 at 10:28 AM
I'm currently laid up with Covid and being very unproductive indeed, but you should still read my productivity guide on Talking Travel Writing today 😉🤪 Well worth getting a subscription if you don't have one!
Realising that a single four-day trip to Japan completely decimated my stock of business cards 🥲
March 4, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Realising that a single four-day trip to Japan completely decimated my stock of business cards 🥲
If anyone gets an AI-generated email from me I apologise; it will be because I've accidentally clicked the stupidly annoying "✨ Polish" button that keeps popping up all over my Gmail
March 3, 2025 at 10:05 AM
If anyone gets an AI-generated email from me I apologise; it will be because I've accidentally clicked the stupidly annoying "✨ Polish" button that keeps popping up all over my Gmail
If a client asks me to file by "29 Feb", does that mean I have three years to write the piece? 😆
February 28, 2025 at 11:06 AM
If a client asks me to file by "29 Feb", does that mean I have three years to write the piece? 😆
Delighted to share that I've been shortlisted in three Inspire Global Media Awards categories (including Photo of the Year?!)! 🏆🥳🎉🎉
February 27, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Delighted to share that I've been shortlisted in three Inspire Global Media Awards categories (including Photo of the Year?!)! 🏆🥳🎉🎉
OK I feel like I've asked loads of people and read blogs and seen a lot of different opinions so... Simultaneous pitching. To declare or not to declare? I've read that it's polite to, but I've also read a lot of "it's none of their business" or "they know you're doing it anyway"
February 26, 2025 at 11:14 AM
OK I feel like I've asked loads of people and read blogs and seen a lot of different opinions so... Simultaneous pitching. To declare or not to declare? I've read that it's polite to, but I've also read a lot of "it's none of their business" or "they know you're doing it anyway"
Last week I ordered kinilaw at a Filipino restaurant in London and they served me ceviche and I'm still upset about it
February 24, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Last week I ordered kinilaw at a Filipino restaurant in London and they served me ceviche and I'm still upset about it
#journorequest Any #PRs have a client who does menopause retreats? And I mean a specialised retreat, not their usual stuff given new branding (no I don't have a deadline or publication, this is a general expression of interest at the moment)
February 20, 2025 at 9:26 AM
#journorequest Any #PRs have a client who does menopause retreats? And I mean a specialised retreat, not their usual stuff given new branding (no I don't have a deadline or publication, this is a general expression of interest at the moment)
I aspire to this kind of pettiness https://buff.ly/4jW0N2a
Glasgow pensioner complains about pavement parking at police HQ by sending cops framed photos
Paul Studley wrote to the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to raise concerns over 'dangerous' parking near the office. His complaints come as pavement parking is officially banned across the city.
buff.ly
February 14, 2025 at 12:19 PM
I aspire to this kind of pettiness https://buff.ly/4jW0N2a
Three bars in the top 50! Get innnnn 🏴 🍸 🍹 🥂 https://buff.ly/3Ew95gU
February 14, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Three bars in the top 50! Get innnnn 🏴 🍸 🍹 🥂 https://buff.ly/3Ew95gU
My Fukuoka guide is out now on Adventure.com! Quite possibly the tastiest piece I've ever worked on. 🍜 😋
A guide to Fukuoka, Japan's 'city of noodles'
With strong claims to the origins of ramen, udon and soba, modern-day Fukuoka is considered Japan’s ‘city of noodles’.
adventure.com
February 13, 2025 at 9:26 AM
My Fukuoka guide is out now on Adventure.com! Quite possibly the tastiest piece I've ever worked on. 🍜 😋