About

Please note, as of January 2022 this site is no longer active.

Hi, I’m Abbi.

I’ve always loved to travel. After spending a year in France & Italy while studying, I finished uni and couldn’t wait to get on the road. What started as a six week backpacking trip in Southeast Asia became three years working whilst travelling in Asia, New Zealand and Europe.

Now, I’ve moved back home to the UK and sustainability is my focus. I travel around my full time job, staying at eco-friendly accommodation with environmentalism at the heart of my actions. At home, I look to reduce my impact on the planet in as many ways as possible. Join me on my journey to becoming more environmentally conscious – through zero-waste, thrifting, veganism & more.

My story

I’m 27 and I’m from a city in England called Peterborough – don’t worry, no one else has heard of it either. When I was younger, we went on family holidays to France, Spain and Greece, but it was when we went to Rome that I decided I wanted to learn Italian and move to Italy.

A few years later I started my degree in French and Italian, where I got to spend my third year abroad in France and Italy. I loved it, and I knew I wanted to travel further. After a few too many pizzas and glasses of wine, I was set on finishing my studies, saving some money and embarking on an adventure.

I started what was meant to be a six-month trip to Southeast Asia in January 2015 with my ex. After only seven weeks abroad, we were robbed in Cambodia, our passports were stolen, and we had to come back home to the UK.

Luckily, we didn’t give up on travel. Instead of heading back to Asia, we booked a one-way flight to New Zealand where we travelled and worked for 18 months on a Working Holiday Visa.

We planned to come home for Christmas and then head to South America. But things didn’t go to plan. We were growing apart and broke up a few months later. After a difficult year, I spent a month travelling India solo.

Returning to the UK for a third time, I settled into a new job quickly, and the appeal of long-term travel began to wain. I was finished with staying in budget hostels and moving destination every few days. I had loved living in New Zealand, but long-term travelling had lost its appeal.

Then I met Isaac. We share the same love for travel and the outdoors. After some incredible trips abroad to Ireland, Norway, France, and Bali together, we bought our first house together a year later. We live in my hometown – the very place I always thought I wanted to escape from.

Now, Isaac and I travel as much as our annual leave and salaries allow, either from our own pocket, or working with tourism boards and brands through this blog. I live a very busy and full life; if I’m not working, I’ll be at the gym, walking the dogs, seeing friends, or creating content for Spin the Windrose. Weekends are spent in my vegetable garden or hiking in the hills.

Aged 21 on the beach in France where I worked for a year as a language assistant

About Spin the Windrose

I started Spin the Windrose shortly after graduating in August 2014. I wanted something to prove I was definitely going to travel, after having dreamed about going on a ‘big trip’ for so long. The blog was mostly just a place to share my experiences abroad with friends and family.

Then people I didn’t know started reading my blog and thanked me for recounting my stories – particularly when I moved to New Zealand on a Working Holiday Visa. From then I decided to revamp it, studied a lot of blogging techniques, and began to earn an income from my site.

I started out with the goal of inspiring people to travel – to get out there and see the beautiful world we live in. Everything was about how cheap I could do it and how long for.

Since then, my goal has changed alongside my lifestyle choices. Whilst I still travel as much as I can, I’m much more conscious of the impact that my movements around the globe, and my daily habits have on the planet.

Therefore, this blog encompasses my love of travel alongside sustainability. Responsible, ethical travel options are explored, alongside vegan travel guides and sustainable living at home.

Where did the name ‘Spin the Windrose’ come from?

After exhausting all variations of travel/ nomad/ wandering/ adventure-style names, I somehow stumbled upon the word ‘windrose’. It’s technically two words but I think it looks better as one.

A windrose is another name for a compass. This word just seemed to fit: my middle name is Rose and for some reason, the word ‘windrose’ reminds me of my favourite childhood film, Pocahontas! The ‘Spin the’ part followed on quite easily; I wanted to imply the feeling of freedom to be able to go anywhere you wish; you can simply spin the windrose.

You can view my copyright notice here and my Terms and Conditions of Use here.