About

Information about Melanie May – travel journalist and food and wine writer.

Don’t you know who I think I am?

Prepare for some information overload…

I am a qualified school teacher, windsurf instructor, sailing instructor, further education lecturer, first aid officer, snorkel instructor, powerboat driver and safety boat driver. I’m a qualified open-water diver with an orange belt in kickboxing. Hi-yah!

I am a full-time food and wine writer and travel journalist. I’m a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers and the Irish Food Writers’ Guild. In January 2019, I won the ‘Best Newcomer’ award at the Travel Extra Travel Journalist of the Year Awards. I also hold a WSET Level 2 Award in Wines and Spirits and a WSET Level 3 Award in Wines. Click here for more information about my current work as a travel journalist.

Information About Melanie May - Food Writer and Travel Journalist
Information about Melanie May – “I have dyslexia and ADHD”

Me by numbers:

This is my first blog. I’m 42. I did season work for two years and backpacked for 3.5 years. So far, I’ve travelled to 61 countries. I have been to five of The American Society of Civil Engineer’s Seven Wonders of the Modern World, and I have been to four of the New Seven Wonders of the World and two of the New Seven Wonders of Nature and three of the Seven Wonders of the Industrial World. At the moment, I have six tattoos and four piercings. I have six higher education qualifications. I’ve one brother and 48 cousins, and I had two dogs, Portia and Morse. I’ve had more than 20 jobs in the last twenty years, and I’m ok with that.

Information About Melanie May - Food Writer and Travel Journalist
Information about Melanie May – “I am commitment-phobic”

Me by words:

I think the following quotes sum up my attitude to life:

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear” – Mark Twain

“Don’t take life too seriously, nobody gets out alive anyway”

I live my life by those two quotes, and, as a result, that tells you quite a bit about me. I’m not fearless but brave and love to take risks. I don’t take life, or myself, too seriously. We get one life, and I want to live mine in a way that leaves me with lots of laughs, experiences and stories. So far, so good…

Melanie May snowboarding in Austria
Information about Melanie May – “I ramble”

Me by travel:

I am obsessive about numbers and lists. When travelling, I write how much I spend, how far I drive, and where I eat, sleep and play. At the time, my lists don’t serve much use, apart from highlighting how much money I spend on coffee and cake (my staple diet), but I know they’ll be valuable information to somebody else, hence why I started this blog – I want to share my lists! Also, I want to share great finds and awful pitfalls. And I want to encourage women to go it alone, get out there and travel independently, so I am sharing my diary entries too. I hope these will give you a sense of what it’s like to be a solo female backpacker and how wonderful it is.

Melanie May blog information page writing her travel diary
Information about Melanie May – “I overshare”

Me by food:

Presently, I am back living in my hometown of Dublin. I am a full-time freelance writer, photographer and content creator specialising in motoring, food, wine and travel.

To keep my travels alive, I recreate dishes in my Irish kitchen that I have eaten around the world. I adapt them to suit the available ingredients and then write, photograph and blog about the recipes. Food plays a huge part in my life, and my travelling and I hope to combine them seamlessly in this blog. I’m hoping they mix well to create one big fat bellyful of laughs and dishes that you will enjoy and keep you coming back for seconds.

A female taking a photograph of the Grand Canyon
Information about Melanie May – “I love to make people laugh”

Yet more information about me…

Me by lists:

My favourite cities

Mexico City

Salzburg

Rome

My favourite countries

Jordan

Austria

Mexico

My wish list

Cuba

Somaliland

Madagascar

Want even more information about Melanie May?

Read my blog posts for more stories about my life.

If you want to work with me, check out my portfolios:

Click here to view my food photography and styling.

Here’s the link to my travel writing and content creation.

Click here to view samples of my food and wine writing.

12 thoughts on “About”

  1. What would Melanie May say? Melanie May may say many things… Great to see your fun and delicious blog up and running… On my end, I ended up settling in Colombia, currently in Bogotá with a 4 month old son and trying to get the music career off the ground… life’s pretty sweet…. Anyway, whenever you want to head back to one of your favorite countries, we’ll be here waiting for you with open arms. Abrazos grandes!

    Gabriel

    Reply
    • Ah, Gabe, it sounds like you are doing really well. Congratulations. I hope Chaco is doing well too! Keep reading the blog, you will feature in it when I write about Colombia! Besos x

      Reply
    • Hi Shane, thanks a million for saying that. I spend AGES, far too long, on the design of my site as I think it is so important. I want people to be able to read it and navigate around easy. I’m chuffed you said it was clean and easy to get around. I can retire now!

      Reply
  2. Wow we have a genius in the extended family.

    I am So proud to be your uncle.

    Keep up your unique takE on the one possessiOn we all value……life.

    Reply
  3. Hi,

    I just wanted to reach out and let you know that your content has been quite helpful for me.

    My friends from Allthingsaustria recommended your site and I’ve not been disappointed at all 🙂

    Cheers,
    Mihkael Caron

    Reply

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