Tag Archives: work

hols at home

12 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by in sevilla, spain, travel, trips, work

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sandals 2015

So yeah, the BIG NEWS is that I’ve decided to take a couple of weeks off, and possibly longer. Well okay, not exactly OFF in the sense of not working, or going away somewhere, just not doing my tapas tours for awhile so that I can focus on getting caught up on my other work (massive backlog of blog posts and photo editing) as well as work on some new ideas for We Love Tapas. Re: the latter, there are a couple of things coming up this autumn that I think will be very exciting, but I do need some time to get those going properly. Yeah, I know my Trip Advisor rating will probably suffer as a result, with all the posers racking up fake reviews on a daily basis but, to borrow the pithy words of the Divine Marina O’Loughlin… “I don’t hate it because it enables reviews of and tickets for cruel animal attractions, or for its climate of blackmail-enabling entitlement. I hate it because it’s shit.” Suggest you read this article.

Of course it’s great that while I am “away” I can steer my clients towards We Love Tapas, because the team is going to be working all summer long. Meanwhile, my summer getaway plans are still going ahead, with Galicia Getaway booked for the end of August, though I may swap San Sebastián for London, not sure. Or do them both?? Really no idea at this point. All I know is that for the next week or so I am on “hols at home”, which is mostly about doing a lot of research and writing. But it feels great, and I’m also focusing on healthy light eating at home. Feel very privileged that I can work like this, doing things I love, in the way I want to do them. Anyhow, watch this space…

tools of the trade

18 Saturday Jun 2016

Posted by in blogging, computers, home, work

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mk330

When I bought Sterling – less than a year ago – I also splashed out on a new HP wireless keyboard and mouse. Well, the keyboard started sticking not long after, though it still actually worked, so I just put up with it. Then the mouse stopped scrolling, which I tried to live with but it was just too frustrating. So for awhile I had two mice on the desk… one that scrolled (but was also “sticky” so not good for general use) and the HP one. Then yesterday I thought – what the hell am I doing? – and went out and bought this baby. Which already feels better than the HP one ever did. But I mean honestly, I know I use my keyboard a lot, but I also have a light touch, so what’s with products that seemingly self-destruct after a short time? At least for now it’s actually a pleasure to be typing (and scrolling) again.

on helping…

20 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by in blogging, food & drink, internet, sevilla, spain, work

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help line

Don’t get me wrong… I love helping people. And I love sharing my knowledge about Spain. Which is what led to the labour of love that is Sevilla Tapas and its various offshoots. Which then led to me offering food & wine tours, and later on personalised travel planning. Meanwhile, I keep updating my websites as best I can, as time (and money) allows, so that others can also enjoy and benefit from my experiences.

But what I don’t get are the people who email me saying what a nice website I have and then ask me to recommend specific tapas bars for their short stay in Sevilla, or hotels that would suit their particular requirements, local sights they shouldn’t miss, or possible day trips they should take while they are here, etc…

Guys! All that info is there. It has always been there. It’s there for you to use and – I hope – will be useful. Happy to share and all that. But please don’t ask me to take time out of my busy day to organise your holiday with “my favourite picks” based on your special needs… you can actually find that out yourselves by spending some time on my sites. I did all that research so you wouldn’t have to start from scratch. If you’d like a personalised holiday itinerary, or a fabulous food & wine tour, then I also offer those services. But you do have to pay for that. I’m not complaining, but I always feel a bit mean when I don’t have time to get back to these people.

Have to say though, that it always makes me happy when I get an email from someone recently back from a holiday in Sevilla who tells me what a fabulous resource my sites were for them, how they helped them have a much better time than they would have managed on their own. That makes my day!  🙂

day job

28 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by in markets, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas tours, work

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day jobmarket “picnic” during a Market & Tapas Tour

During Semana Santa last week I only offered tapas tours at lunchtime, due to the massive crowds and processions in the evenings. Bars are also packed solid then. I remember back when I first started doing the tours I would do them pretty much whenever I was asked, including when the Semana Santa processions were on. Lesson learned. I guess in some ways it was “fun” in the sense of everything being very unpredictable, with clients knowing that anything could happen (or not happen, as in, not moving from one spot for half an hour). But in the end I decided this really didn’t represent my Sevilla Tapas Tours and, frankly, these tours were exhausting.

Anyhow, last week was a nice balance of being busy but also with enough time to relax. And it struck me around mid-week how it felt a bit odd only working during the day and having the evenings free. Like a proper day job! Because I’d say about 80% of my tours happen in the evening. So it was a nice break from the routine.