Marie-Eve Vallieres

Marie-Eve regularly blogs on her European whereabouts, expat experiences and discoveries. She’s visited over 17 countries and lived in both the UK and France. A travel addict and crazy cat lady with a sweet tooth.

You can work pretty much where you want to – on the road, do you find it hard to work or do you just have fun and work when you come back home?

It depends. When on a press trip, it's very hard to not work at all because that's what bloggers are all about - live presence. It's constant tweets, photos, Facebook, Instagram, Foursquare, etc. And there's replying to all the important emails after a long day of touring. That's pretty hard because press trips are very tiring, and even though our day out is finished, it doesn't mean our work day is over despite everybody else going to sleep. But when I'm at home and having my own schedule, it's not hard at all to work, because it doesn't feel like work to me. I love what I do.

Do you feel many people are envious of your lifestyle?

I think so, but mostly because they largely underestimate the amount of work that goes into travel blogging. Or should I say, successful travel blogging. Most people will think it's all about free trips and the occasional tweet, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I think that if they knew the actual lifestyle I have, they would think twice before saying "You are sooo lucky".

In which countries have people recognised you, even when you thought nobody would?

In Ireland. I was on a press trip with a guided tour through Ireland and when I mentioned which sites I was the owner of, somebody yelled that he loooved my blog. That was my first fan encounter, and I was giddy with excitement. I may or may not have shrieked.

Which three items would you never travel without?

iPhone, sunscreen and husband. iPhones do everything (photos, social media, music, GPS, silly games while waiting for the plane), sunscreen because I tend to fry like a lobster in the sun, and husband because he's cute and he intimidates the occasional buggers that had a drink too many.

Are there any specific souvenirs or other things you collect from the places you go to?

I collect postcards. I have over 200 of them in total, and I picked about 100 of my favorites to put up on my wall as a constant reminder that I am incredibly lucky to travel so much. It also works as an occasional inspiration trigger.

Tagged as: France

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