Sarah Barrell

Sarah started out at The Independent on Sunday in the late 1990s where she became Travel Editor, before moving to New York to freelance for five years, specialising in the Americas. Returning to London, she worked on the 2010 launch of National Geographic Traveller (UK), where she has been ever since. Sarah was also Acting Travel Editor at Olive magazine, and Travel Editor at BBC Good Food, where she’s still a regular contributor.

A Londoner born and bred; Sarah’s family tree has been rooted in the capital for centuries. Channelling generations of itchy feet, she has lived and worked in Greece, Australia, and New York, and has spent months at a time exploring the Amazon and Indonesia.

With a background in radio, Sarah loves to tell stories in whatever form, and her student interest in languages endures. Married to an Italian, she learnt the language at night school, and interviewed 60 chefs for a travel cookbook on definitive Italian recipes. She lives in North London, a coincidental half-mile from where her grandmother was born.

To trek Japan’s mountainous pilgrimage routes; to explore Russia’s Kamchatka region, to sail around Sicily’s offshore islands; to free dive with whale sharks of Mexico’s Baja peninsula.