Today is a dream come true, a career first; I’m off on a press trip to Portugal with Simply Be. That may sound a little cheesy but hey, I’m dairy free, let me have that little indulgence. I have wanted to go to Portugal for so long and to be going with a brand who I have shopped from and produced content for for YEARS means the absolute world to me.
We’re going to be staying in the fabulous Casa Fuzetta villa which will be our Self Love Island of sorts. We’re going to be doing a ceramics class, a boat trip, having a chef cook a meal in the villa for us and creating lots of content while we’re out there if we would like to. There’s press, a vlogger, models and influencers going as well as Simply Be and their PR team. I’m sure it is going to be epic!
When I got the email, I’m not embarrassed to admit, I sat and cried my eyes out. I’ve never done anything like this before but have always wanted to & my turn has come.
I’m really proud of myself to have been invited on this trip because I’ve worked my absolute peach off to get to this point over the last nine years and built myself a career out of a hobby. While it may not be a hard job physically in the way that manual labour is or hard in the sense of a surgeon or care worker, it certainly is mentally difficult; there are not many jobs where you show up 365 days a year, without payment or reward the majority of time and where you’re open to constant criticism and trolling from thousands worldwide without any support. I’m my own legal team, accounting, admin, photographer, art director, stylist, you name it and that’s before you get into the content creation that I actually set out to do, but that’s self employed life and so many other people are in the same boat. I can’t complain because I chose this and I LOVE my job but its important for me to remind myself of what I do do, especially when on the surface, it all looks so easy!
That’s why I’m so proud to have been invited on this trip as it means so much to me. This isn’t something that I am taking for granted, I know that I am very fortunate to have been afforded such an amazing opportunity & I appreciate it all the more because I’ve worked for this.
I want to bring you all along with me on the trip on my stories and instagram posts and I would really appreciate your support on them. I see myself as representing women who are shaped like I am and those who want to see more diversity in the posts they see online.
And although it may be controversial to say, I also feel like I’m taking one for the smaller bloggers out there as the majority of the time, trips like this are understandably reserved for those with hundreds of thousands of followers. So thank you Simply Be for valuing me & my audience in this way. I hope you know how much I appreciate it.
Of course I’ve picked out my outfit for the airport, kindly gifted to me by the Simply Be team. The Figleaves Curve Embellished Hoodie is absolutely fabulous for wearing on a flight as its baggy and comfy yet still looks stylish, as are the Figleaves Curve Embellished Joggers that I’ve tucked my ribbed white vest into. Over the top, I’ve got a staple Western Ripped Denim Jacket on which I’ll also be able to wear over cute summer dresses during the trip. I’m taking the Adidas NMD trainers away with me to as I don’t seem to get swollen ankles when I wear trainers on a flight, my Tripp suitcase and my Alexander Wang Rockie bag, all of which I bought forever and a day ago but they’re still going strong.
Now I’m at Newcastle airport writing this so all that’s left to say is…
#SimplyBeSummer, I’m coming for you!
*Post contains press samples, info about a press trip and affiliate links
