Cuba and the Suffolk coast help garner award for Claire

Suffolk-based Claire Boobbyer was recently awarded Travel Writer of the Year by the British Guild of Travel Writers. Here, Claire talks of writing about the places she loves the most

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m a freelance travel writer writing for much of the national press and a couple of international publications, too. I started my career as a news journalist attending inquests, council planning meetings and reporting on a campaign to save the Tunbridge Wells Opera House from being turned into a pub! I later pivoted into guidebook work. I cut my teeth at Footprint Guides (publishers of the fabled South American Handbook, now in its 101st year of publication under its new imprint, Bradt Guides). I wrote my first guidebook – to Guatemala in 2001. I’ve travelled widely in South America, Central America, Cuba, Southeast Asia and Morocco, in particular.

Are you Suffolk born and raised? What do you love about the county?

We moved to north Suffolk four years ago after my partner got a job in Cambridge during the lockdown. We fell in love with the county after taking a map-making course at Snape Maltings during the pandemic and exploring the region over a weekend. We’re renovating our home near Halesworth, and it will be a years-long job! I grew up in the countryside and used to try and escape to the bright lights of London as often as I could but now, I love living amid the fields, fruit trees and wildlife. The Suffolk skies, walks by the sea, bird watching, making medlar jelly, rescuing a barn owl that fell down our chimney, and then into our downstairs loo; dining at all the wonderful restaurants in our corner of the world, exploring wrecks and ruins in the fields, and photographing the light make me happy.

What got you into travel writing in the first place? What country did you fall in love with first, and why?

I took a late gap year after training and working as a journalist for a few years. Four of us backpacked from the bottom of Chile to the tip of Colombia. We met Brian Keenan and John McCarthy along the way, swam with pink river dolphins in Bolivia, bathed in a mud volcano, and my finger was bitten by a piranha on a fishing expedition. I wrote up the story of my run-in with a piranha for a Radio 4 travel writing competition and won a highly commended award. I was hooked. The idea of being paid to travel started percolating. Going to Latin America changed my life. I fell in love with the language and culture and moved to Barcelona for six months to attend class.

You’re a travel expert on Cuba – what is it about that country that fascinates you?

Cuba is a deeply fascinating and perplexing place. So much beauty, so much warmth, and the music, fruit shakes, cocktails, the golden light; it is fraying terribly at the seams and yet, somehow, battles on – notwithstanding that hundreds of thousands of people have left the island for greater opportunities elsewhere. A truly heart-breaking situation.

What makes a good travel writer, in your opinion?

That’s a good question. Writing is just one part of my job. First up is thinking about story ideas to sell to editors. I need to convince them to commission me. I generally don’t lack ideas. I keep tabs on multiple outlets – like social media, newsletters, the news, Google alerts, to help me. Pitching is a lonely job and it’s easy to take rejection personally. It’s something all freelance writers need to learn to not take personally. I’m tenacious, too, which is a strength in a field full of knock backs. On the road, I’m highly observant and use my photographic eye to zoom in on detail.

Speaking fluent Spanish has helped me gain depth for certain stories. As a travel writer, I’m juggling pitching, travelling, writing, admin and finances all at once. Time management is something I often struggle with!

What does it mean to win Travel Writer of the Year 2025? And a piece about Suffolk helped you win?

The Travel Writer of the Year 2025 award given by the British Guild of Travel Writers is a very prestigious award. The judging is made on a portfolio of four stories. My articles were about the determined entrepreneurs of Havana; following in family footsteps in Lahore and to discover where Rudyard Kipling had met my great great grandmother; the craft spirit and beer revolution in Vietnam (which involved a lot of drinking!); and exploring the Suffolk coast with the Rings of Saturn as my guide. I was totally over the moon to have won. There’s a cash prize, too, which is most welcome! I’m very proud, especially, after working particularly hard this last year and a half.

Yes, when we moved to Suffolk, I started reading books on the area and came across The Rings of Saturn by Max Sebald. It’s not a particularly easy read and there certainly isn’t a route map but that was half the fun – working out how to do it and how long it would take. I followed in Sebald’s footsteps taking five days to walk down the Suffolk coast weaving in bits of history and observations along the way.

Is there anywhere in the world you haven’t written about yet, but would like to?

I would really like to head back to Pakistan. My Mum and I are hatching a further plan to follow up on more family history there. I’ve never been to Brazil and would love to. Same goes for Buenos Aires and Lisbon, and I’d love to see the wildlife and nature of Borneo and Indonesia. I’ve never been on safari either. I did spend the first year of my life in Zambia with a monkey as my best friend. That doesn’t count, though!

Visit Claire Boobbyer – Travel Writing, Photography & Cuba Travel.

Featured image of Claire Boobyer – supplied