For a while, I thought my next sensible step would be to return to IT. Instead, I’ve decided to follow a very different path — combining my writing, travel experiences and personal travel planning to help other people create adventures that are genuinely worth it. Whilst IT is familiar territory; I know the industry, I know I can do the work, and on paper it probably makes perfect sense, I have been working as an unpaid travel agent for my project teams for years, grew up in the hotel industry, and studied travel and tourism at college when I was 17 years old. It is not exactly alien to me. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that “sensible” and “right” aren’t always the same thing.
And perhaps that is exactly what my new book series So… Is It Worth It? has been teaching me all along.
From writing about life to actually living it
When I started writing my new series, So… Is It Worth It?, the idea was simple: tell the truth about experiences. Not the glossy brochure version. Not the perfectly filtered Instagram version. The real version. What did it actually cost? What surprised us? What went wrong? What was wonderful? What would I do differently? And ultimately…
Was it worth it?
Our Paris, Venice and Orient Express adventure – became the first story, but it was never really just about trains, hotels or destinations. It was about memories. Family. Health. Challenges. Expectations. Things not going according to plan. Laughing about them afterwards. And deciding that sometimes an experience is worth far more than the price written on the invoice.
Then I realised something
I’ve travelled a lot. As a career woman organising international workshops for colleagues around the globe, as a married woman and as a single parent. I’ve cruised the Nile and stood at the pyramids with my children. We’ve flown over the Valley of the Kings in a hot-air balloon. That is NOT worth it! Death almost found us! I terrified the children and the entire idea backfired on me.
I’ve experienced safaris in Kenya and Kruger, festivals and life in Kilifi, retreats, islands, cruises, cities and completely different cultures. I have eaten sushi with Hippo’s in St Lucia, avoided vampires in Bucharest and Dracula’s Castle, Seen 4 seasons of weather in one weekend in Sofia, spent 2 years touring North America, travelled and written science fiction about Peru, where anacondas eat aliens, and on my radar is more of Greece, Turkey and Japan and more South America. I just cannot get enough – travel can be addictive. There are still more adventures coming too — including my Abraham-Hicks cruise through Spain, Portugal and Morocco that is just around the corner.
And every one of those experiences has given me another story. But it has also given me something else: an understanding of how much goes into making a trip actually work for the people taking it.
Because travel isn’t simply choosing somewhere beautiful and booking a hotel. And there is a big difference between being a tourist and being a traveller. Do you know what that is? I shall explain at the end!
Travel has to work for you
This has become increasingly important to me balancing life-threatening illness and yet still determined to not be house-bound and hiding from the world like my mother and so many chronically ill people choose to do.
Some people can book a holiday based almost entirely on destination and price. For others, there are another twenty questions running quietly in the background.
How exhausting will the journey be?
How many transfers are involved?
Can we slow the itinerary down?
What happens if someone needs downtime?
Will my child cope with the environment?
What is the hotel actually like?
How accessible is the experience in reality?
What happens when chronic illness, fatigue, neurodiversity or a hidden disability is part of the travelling party?
And sometimes the biggest question is simply:
Will this actually be worth it for us?
Those are questions I understand from lived experience. I’m not positioning myself as a medical professional or disability specialist. I’m a traveller who knows what it feels like when the things that other people consider minor details aren’t minor at all. And I think that matters. When the age of the child and situation of the family needs to be met accordingly and may not be the same year after year. Taking my twins on a Nile cruise in Egypt was very worth it at age 7 or 8 but at age 15? Abslutely no way! The stress of getting teenagers up early on the Nile or on safari in Kruger national park can ruin the holiday for the adults.
So I’m not going back to IT. At least, not right now.
I haven’t suddenly forgotten everything I learned from my years in technology. Far from it. That part of my career taught me how to research, problem-solve, organise, question assumptions, manage details and find solutions when the obvious answer doesn’t quite fit. And learn how to book all the travel for those global workshops for myself and the international team.
But right now, I want to see where this road leads instead. Alongside my writing and coaching, I can now help people plan and book travel instead of hopping on to another IT contract.
And suddenly, all these different pieces of my life make sense together. I can experience something. I can write about it honestly. I can tell you what I loved — and what I didn’t. I can talk about what things really cost, the bits nobody warns you about, and whether I personally thought they were worth it. And if reading about one of those experiences makes you think:
“I’d love to do that.”
I can now help you turn that thought into an actual trip.
This isn’t going to become a page full of holiday adverts
That was important to me. I’m not creating a completely different online personality where suddenly every second post is shouting about a seven-night bargain in the sunshine. I’m still me.
I’ll still be writing.
I’ll still be coaching.
I’ll still be asking questions.
I’ll still be sharing the funny bits, difficult bits, ridiculous bits and wonderful bits of real life. Just without the IT job 5 days a week and instead with the travel agent job for 3 days a week. I did not expect this to happen so where did it come from? I took my daughter on safari in Kruger – where Tammy goes in Book 1 of The Children of Pisces series and the animals fight with her, against the aliens, to save humanity. Writing fiction and non-fiction will remain my core passion. On this safari was another single mum travelling with her son and she is a travel agent and after spending 16 days together she offered me this job and said I would be great at helping people scared to travel with their health issues find holidays that work. It had not crossed my mind before. And after a few weeks of zoom meetings and knowledge she convinced me to take that leap!
And the So… Is It Worth It? Series will continue to grow. Whether I travel with my daughter or alone.
There’ll be real experiences, real costs, practical information, hidden gems, mistakes, things I’d do again, things I absolutely wouldn’t — and plenty of “Is it worth it?” verdicts. For anyone who likes what they read or just wants some good honest help finding the best cost of holiday booking then I am the travel agent for you.
There will also be something I think is missing from a lot of travel content: acknowledgement that the same holiday isn’t right for everybody.
A five-star resort can be spectacular and still be completely wrong for you.
An expensive direct flight might look extravagant until you consider what three connections will do to the person travelling.
A slower itinerary might mean seeing fewer attractions but enjoying far more of the holiday rather than getting sick and missing most of it by being too ambitious.
Sometimes the “best” trip isn’t the biggest, cheapest or most luxurious. It’s the one that works for the people actually taking it. And perhaps that’s the real link between everything I do Writing. Coaching. Travel. I am just studying a travel agents special certification in travel for invisible disability and assessibility travel. I am really excited because this is so up my street!
On the surface, they might look like three completely different things. I don’t think they are. They’re all about asking better questions. What do you actually want? What matters to you? What’s getting in the way? What would make life easier? What would make an experience meaningful? Are you really happy staying locked at home day after day?
And, of course the burning question…
So… Is it worth it?
And that question is very individual. So this isn’t really me abandoning one career and randomly starting another. It’s me giving myself permission to change and not to rush back into the career I already know simply because it’s familiar. I’m choosing to explore something that combines many of the things I care about: writing, people, problem-solving, experiences, travel and creating memories while we have the opportunity to make them.
I’ll continue travelling and writing about what I discover. I’ll continue building the So… Is It Worth It? series. And now, when one of those stories inspires you to have an adventure of your own, there’s another question I can help with:
“Okay… so how do I make it happen?”
That’s the new part.
And I’m rather excited to find out where it takes me.
Real travel. Real life. Real answers.
And if you decide it is worth it, I can now help you to get there and take away the overwhelm for you.
And what is the difference between a tourist and a traveller? A tourist goes away to escape. Whereas a traveller goes away to experience and inevitably ends up bringing a part of that experience back with them – changing them forever. I have always been a proud traveller.
This year has just been very unexpected. And being open to change and the universe directing you is exactly what I am all about. Follow me on The Rose Goddess Pod to learn more. Have a fabulous day. Love Rachael