About Emily Luxton

About Emily written in white text over a pink opague box on top of a phot. The photo shows British travel blogger Emily Luxton sitting in the desert next to a fire with the sun setting behind her. She is wearing a long red ress and sunglasses and there is an iron kettle on the campfire.

Welcome to my travel blog! I’m Emily Luxton, a British travel blogger and writer specialising in solo female travel & adventure.

To date, I’ve visited over 60 countries – 32 of them solo – and 6 out of 7 continents! I’ve written guidebooks for Lonely Planet, climbed Mt Fuji in the dead of night to watch the sunrise, bungee jumped in India, spent the night in a favela in Rio, learnt to be a Samurai in Japan, and even come face to face with a black bear whilst hiking solo in Canada!

I’m a solo female traveller in my mid-thirties, based in Dorset, England – and I’ve been a full-time blogger for over a decade now!

To learn more about what this blog is all about, head over to the About page – or keep reading to find out more about the girl behind the blog…

About Emily Luxton

British travel blogger Emily Luxton taking a selfie with a blue lake behind her with a dense forest of pine trees on the far side. She is wearing a dark green sweatshirt and a black baseball cap with Los Angeles written on the front, and her long blonde hair is in loose bunches.

I grew up in Weymouth, a small seaside town on the South Coast of England, but for as long as I can remember I wanted to travel.

It took a long time for me to actually make that dream happen, but ever since I did, there’s been no stopping me!

In 2014, I quit my job to go backpacking in South America for five months… and I never went back to a “real” job. These days, I live in Dorset (my favourite part of England), and travel as often as I can! Somehow, I made travel blogging a full-time job: I’ve won several awards for blogging, and have also been published numerous times as a freelance writer. I’ve even written several guidebooks for Lonely Planet!

Solo Female Travel Blogger

As a solo female travel blogger, I’m all about adventure, and pushing myself to try new things whenever the opportunity arises.

But I’m also a big wimp! I’m not talking about massive challenges like hiking Kilimanjaro or traversing jungles solo. Adventure can be as simple as taking your first-ever overseas road trip, spending a night onboard a train, or camping just down the road from your home town! It’s all about getting out of your comfort zone a little, trying something new, seeing just how much you can handle – and having fun doing it!

My travel styles vary from trip to trip, but really, it’s all about having fun. I’m a child at heart! I value experiences over sightseeing, I love train travel and road trips, I LOVE a good theme park, and I’m frequently the “last woman standing” at the party!

I love to travel and explore, to get lost and discover hidden gems, to discover a place through its food, and to challenge myself with new experiences as much as I can. If that sounds like you, I think you’ll like this blog!

Get to Know Me

To find out more about me, check out the blog posts below. Or keep scrolling down to read the story of my blog.

Button - the text reads About This Blog in white, behind is a photo of emily wearing white t shirt and black leggings with a yellow backpack standing on the edge of a cliff with a view of a lush green landscape beyond.

Buttone. The text reads Travel Stories in white. It is laid over a photo of Emily wearing a white shirt and dark blue denim shorts walking away from the camera along a road which winds away into the distance.

Button. The text reads Portfolio in white letters. The photo behind shows Emily in a long red dress being swept up by the wind standing on a cliff edge with bright blue sea and a grey rocky island beyond.

My Blogs

Emily Luxton Travels – an award-winning travel blog focusing on my own personal travel stories and experiences.

Dorset Travel Guide – An in-depth locals guide to Dorset, England – from a girl who was born and raised there!

emily wearing denim shorts and a white short sleeved shirt sitting on a brown bean bag on a wooden terrace overlooking green farmland and paddyfields with mountains in the distance. there is a golden retriever sitting next to her on the wooden terrace and part of a grass frond roof overhead. — *Making friends in northern Thailand!*

Why I Blog… My Story

When I was about sixteen years old, I decided that I wanted to be a travel writer. Writing had always been a lifelong dream, as had travel and adventure, so when I discovered the genre I was instantly in love. But, over the years, things went a little off track – as they often do.

A lack of self-belief, a lot of university debt, a few other devastating life changes (like losing my mum when I was 18), and far too many overwhelming fears led to me ignoring those dreams until they were almost forgotten. Luckily, a friend who believed in me much more than I did gave me a book on travel writing for my birthday and I – somewhat timidly – launched this travel blog as an experiment, to see if I was good enough.

That little experiment paid off! At the beginning of 2014, I quit my ‘day job’ to travel and blog full time with my (now ex) boyfriend, starting with a five-month trip to South America.

Close up of Emily with a capuccin monkey on her shoulder. She is wearing a black raincoat and has her long blonde hair in a poneytail and is smiling at the camera. — *In Peru on my first backpacking trip – way back in 2014!*

12 years of blogging

It’s been over 12 years since I started blogging, and the journey has been a long one. Over the years, I’ve gathered a following the size of which never ceases to amaze me! I’ve learnt a huge amount about blogging, marketing, and who knows what else. Plus I’ve made some amazing friends in the industry, and – most importantly – travelled as much as I could.

I’ve grown both as a blogger, and personally, especially in terms of self-confidence. It’s been one hell of a journey, but I’m grateful for every single second – even the mishaps, of which there have been hundreds! I hope that above all else, my blog shows other people in my position that it is so important to believe in yourself.

If there’s something you want to do, whether it’s to travel the world, make it in your dream career, or anything else: it all starts with you. If I’d never taken those first scary steps – starting the blog, buying those plane tickets, quitting my job – I wouldn’t be where I am today, able to proudly say that I’m now a pretty successful full-time travel blogger. It’s never too late to achieve your dreams!

Follow My Adventures:

Follow me on Instagram @em_luxton

emily wearing a black wrap mini dress with white flowers, standing in front of a large metal cage with an animatronic velociraptor looking over her shoulder. — *Meeting the locals in Universal Studios!*

I’m Here to Help!

This blog is all about helping other solo female travellers plan their trips and adventures. Especially solo female travellers who are in their thirties and over (although all are welcome) – “flashpackers” who toe that line somewhere between budget backpackers and luxury travellers.

My aim is to share practical, useful tips and in-depth info to help you plan the most amazing trip possible, whether you’re going away for one night, one week, or one year! I always try to be honest, helpful, and thorough (this is where my guidebook researching & writing skills come in handy)!

I pay for around 50% of my travels myself, and I always disclose when I’ve been given a trip, hotel stay, or product in exchange for a review. Freebies don’t cloud my judgement, either: if there’s something negative to say, I’ll say it.

I also share travel stories and personal posts from time to time – and post most trips live on Instagram stories (I’m occasionally quite funny)! Give me a follow on socials to keep in touch – and see where I end up next!

Thanks for reading!
Emily x