Hello and thank you for visiting my travel blog!
Let me start of by saying yes my name really is Claire. I’m always surprised by how many people ask if that’s my real name!
I’m a UK travel blogger currently based in London but originally from a place called Farnborough in Hampshire. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of it, not many people have!
I started this travel blog over 4 years ago as a fun way of documenting my travels. I never dreamt it would gain as many readers as it has! This section of the blog is for those of you who want to know a little bit more about me…
I got the travel bug later in life than a lot of my fellow travel lovers. When I was growing up trips abroad were about finding some sun for a couple of weeks in the year. It never really mattered what country we were in, just as long as there was some sun.
So what changed? After breaking up with my long term university boyfriend I started to think about what I wanted out of life. Suddenly I realised I wasn’t in a rush for that ‘perfect family’ that everyone around me was chasing. I thought about how my older brother had taken some time out to travel around Australia and thought about doing something similar. I took a ‘tester’ solo trip to Paris and the rest was history.
What Can You Expect from Curious Claire?
I don’t have a specific style of travel. I don’t want all my trips to feel the same. Of course I have favourite things to do while travelling so I naturally get drawn to them.
Luxury Vs Budget
So when I first started traveling I was all about the budget travel. Why spent loads on a trip when you can do it for cheap? Plus when I started my career I really didn’t earn that much so it was basically either budget or don’t travel. And you meet so many amazing people while staying in hostels.
But the older I get the more I want comfort when I travel. I’m ready to swap the 16 bed dorm room with a snorer, a party goer and a noisy early riser for a comfortable king size bed in a hotel where I don’t have to share a bathroom. Now that my career has reached a point where I earn more money I’m happy to splurge a bit more.
Beer Vs Wine
I’ve been a fan of craft beers for many years now so I love tasting different beers from all the places I’ve visited. If a place I’m visiting has a brewery tour you can bet I’ll be booking a tour!
Although I was always a beer girl, in the last year I’ve been getting more into wine. I never realised so many places actually make wine, including my home country! Now my brain can’t decide if I should be trying the local beer or the local wine…. I mean most of the time I end up trying both!
Hiking Vs Diving
As much as I love exploring cities, I’m a nature girl at heart. Hiking takes you to some of the most amazing secluded spots. I love climbing to the top of mountains. I have knee problems so it’s always a challenge for me but the views always make it worthwhile.
However, I’ve always been a fan of water at heart. I can sit by the ocean for hours and feel so calm and relaxed. When I was younger I would spent my whole vacation days in a pool. So after getting my Open Water license in Thailand a few years ago I’ve been discovering an amazing world underneath the oceans surface.
Local Food Vs Vegan Food
I spent most of my life being a fussy eater and refusing to try anything new. If I didn’t know what it was I assumed I didn’t like it. Thankfully I grew out of this way of thinking during my early 20s (yes it really did take that long!) and now I’m on a mission to try all foods around the world.
But in the last year I’ve been switching to a more plant based diet. When I’m cooking at home pretty much all my meals are vegan. It’s only when I travel I tend to eat meat or vegetarian dishes. I’m at that stage where I kind of want to go full vegan but I still want to try all the local foods of the places I visit. It’s kind of an internal struggle of mine recently!
