Escapism Magazine
While working or Square Up Media I regularly contributed to Escapism, the UK's largest travel magazine, which goes out to over 100,000 people in London (Zones 1 & 2) every month. I wrote content for both print and online and was responsible for some of the sub-editing for each month's issue. The highlights of my time working for the magazine were researching and contributing copy for our Refugee Crisis Special edition, and a long form write-up of a trip I took to Abu Dhabi on behalf of the magazine in October 2015.
In issue 32 of Escapism I travelled to my ancestral home, County Kerry, Ireland, to visit the Skellig Islands (pg 55). Home to a remote, 7th century monastery, the islands were used more recently as a filming location for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The piece details my trip there, and to other areas of natural beauty in the region.
I wrote a piece about music festivals in 2016 for Escapism 29, based on my experience as Web Editor of Festival Baby. The article focused on interesting festivals in both the UK and abroad, and features Groovest, Tramlines, Colours of Ostrava, Secret Solstice and more.
For Escapism 26, I wrote a long form write-up of a press trip I took to Abu Dhabi in October 2015. The feature, which can be found on pages 43-47 in the Issuu link below, includes details of some of the regions finest restaurants, a look into the hospitality of the Emirati people and a trip to world's largest falcon hospital, where we discovered just how much the birds are revered in the region.
Issue 25 of Escapism was a special issue for the whole team as it was the first ever issue to feature no advertising. The magazine was a special report on the ongoing refugee crisis affecting Europe and the countries from which immigrants have been coming. In this issue, I wrote a short piece about a Malian music group, Songhoy Blues, and their remarkable story. Additionally, I followed this up with some practical, music-related ways that readers could help refugees. (Page-74-5)
I occasionally wrote the Means of Escape feature for Escapism, which required me to source and then write about unusual experiences a person may discover on their travels. In Escapism 23, I wrote about the 'Melody Road' in Japan, a road that makes musical noises when cars drive over it.
In Escapism 22 I wrote Means of Escape (Page 15) as well as Short Stay (Page 27), a regular feature about a UK city. In this case, I visited Sheffield, staying at the Brocco on the Park hotel. In addition to writing about the hotel, the feature recommended places to visit in the city and things to do.
For Escapism 21 I wrote the Means of Escape feature (Pg 13) about a research station in Antarctica which is built on wheels to prevent it sinking into the ice.
Escapism 19 was a special issue for the Festival Baby team as it was focused on summer festivals. Accordingly, we were asked to contribute much of the copy to the festival feature (Pages 31-41), which included researching different festival packages, festival gear and other festival-related content.
