Marie Barbieri, Freelance Travel Writer

Marie Barbieri is an award-winning freelance travel writer and photographer. She has been writing across the world for more than 25 years, and left her native home of England to live in the “otherworldly” landscapes of Australia 14 years ago. 

Despite starting her career writing about holistic health and wellbeing, Marie began her freelance travel writing after travelling across the Greek Islands and winning a travel writing competition for the UK-based title: Greece magazine. The publisher produced a suite of other travel titles, such as France magazine and The Italian magazine, which she also began writing for.

She was first drawn to Australia back in the “pre-digital age when handwritten flight tickets were carved into carbon copies”. Marie describes Australia as a “somewhat science-fiction-like land” and “magical” when comparing the differences to England.

“My deep love for Australia only escalated over the decades, until my life ambition became immigration.”

Marie says that her relationship with travel and journalism are “interconnected”, despite the fact that she does not consider herself a journalist. She instead draws upon the way writing is able to “share the inspiration and splendour of destinations and experiences” with readers.

“Us writers are fortunate to be able to have access to magical, and sometimes, life-changing encounters. We can happen upon unexpected and memorable human moments while interacting with other souls in foreign countries that we likely will never meet again.”

“To then be able to share that with others by way of words and pictures colour-splashing the pages of a reputable magazine, newspaper or website is the ultimate high.”

However, being a travel writer does come with some drawbacks. The arrival of the 2020 COVID-19 worldwide lockdown put her travel writing career on a “tilted axis”. But Marie says that it also had a silver lining. 

“Being forced to halt entirely during that first main lockdown, suddenly picked me up, shook me hard, and forced a reset of my brain. It enabled me to re-evaluate and take stock of every aspect of my life.” 

“I have been lucky during the pandemic, and had a slow-release manageable flow of work, with assignments widely spaced out. It’s allowed me time to recalibrate, work out what’s most important in life, and what I plan for my future.”

Ultimately, Marie describes her work as a travel writer as “food for the body, and medicine for the heart, mind and soul”.

“For me, travel is my education and my own life journey. And photographing it as I go along is my living diary of endless savoured moments in time.”

“One of the most rewarding feelings is when readers write in to my editors, or contact me via my website, sharing how my words helped them in some way, or that my story has inspired them to visit a destination or experience something I have written about. Travel, landscapes, people, wildlife, and the joy and the pain of discovering it all — these things all connect us at the heart.”

Marie’s pitching preferences: 

“It’s best to contact me via email, with an explanation of how we might be able to work together. I am always open to new collaborations. It’s up to us to keep our tourism industry alive and kicking. Together, we can do (almost) anything.”