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

when you've worked with one destination so many times your Google search results are just reminders of stuff you already wrote #Ecuador

Airlines: "Arrive three hours before international flights." Also airlines: "The check-in desk opens two hours before the flight." 💀

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...

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...

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 😐

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? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿☀️

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 🥰

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!

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

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?!)! 🏆🥳🎉🎉

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

#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

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. 🍜 😋

Obsessed with this restored Arts & Crafts home just outside Glasgow. Now just need to find £675,000 from somewhere https://buff.ly/4aSQgRf

When I was new to this industry, I followed a lot of bad advice from "expert" writing bloggers with no more clue than I. Such as: "You should send five pitches per day (in addition to, y'know, your actual paid work)." Five?! That's completely insane

Writing a 2,000-word narrative feature: ☺️ Writing a 50-word writer bio: 😫 🤬 💀 🤡 💩

My entire Google Workspace (Gmail's the worst, but I'm also seeing it with Drive etc now) has slowed to a crawl lately. Anyone else had this happen and managed to fix it?

How fortunate it is that I love whisky, because there are a surprising number of Scottish people who don't and yet it's usually the first thing people ask me about when I tell them where I'm from 😂

A week after returning from Japan, I am still thinking about the social customs I would like to see adopted everywhere: - bowing - exchanging business cards with EVERYONE - presenting business cards, money and gifts with both hands - loudly welcoming people

A wee request to PRs and editors... when sending a press trip invite/assignment, please give the trip dates INCLUSIVE of travel days. Otherwise I may find myself double booked 😅

Manila! Looking for interesting people to give their recommendations for the city, for a feature. I have a few in mind but also curious to see if there's anyone I've missed. Get in touch by EOD Monday 3 Feb – email [email protected] #Philippines #journorequest

Have been poleaxed by jet lag since getting home, despite not experiencing it at all in Japan. Whoever said "west is best" was talking total BS

Expectation of a 14-hour flight: "I'm going to write a 12-month career plan and a 2,000-word feature and 20 pitches like the HUSTLER THAT I AM" Reality:

One of the exquisite delights of travel is staying in an average three-star hotel, but then being presented by a breakfast that would beat the hell out of most restaurants #Japan #Fukuoka

This "British pub" in Fukuoka is called Morris' Hippo. I suppose I get the "Morris" part, but why the hippo...?

Have any of you successfully managed to become the "grab and go" type of packer? If so, want to share some tips to help a stressed travel writer out? 😅

OK I think the Pokémon airline safety video might be the best thing I've seen in a long time

Trying something new for this long-haul flight in the hope that I don't end up with a three-day nosebleed for once. If anyone wants a review lmk

Yet another reason to send that pitch – if nothing else, it reminds editors that you exist. I've lost count of the number of times I've had a pitch rejected, only for the editor to email again a few days later: "By the way, would you be interested in writing up [in-house idea]?"

Filing taxes is pure boredom punctuated by the mad dopamine rush of discovering a previously unaccounted-for expense that'll knock £££s off your final bill

Glasgow's on Time Out's 50 Best Cities list for 2025, and they asked me to explain why (which wasn't difficult). Read the full list here:

Amazing what I can achieve when I suddenly don't have a crippling chronic illness

I have no idea why it took me so long to buy a luggage rack. I still wouldn't say I "like" packing but I certainly hate it less now that I have my coffee table back.

The aurora borealis was being awfy showy on New Year's Day. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

If I lose all my work to Chat GPT I might reinvent myself as a cryptic crossword setter because seriously wtf is this

Fun travel tip: forced perspective and a few plastic dinosaurs can make all your travel photos more interesting.

I was speaking about PMDD on Woman's Hour this morning! Interview begins at 30:24 x www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

I’m at Laboratorio Espresso and it’s the best coffee I’ve had in Glasgow yet all I can think about is this sketch 😂