I am a career diplomat, currently serving as HM ambassador to Latvia, and have over the course of my career combined diplomacy with travel writing. In particular, I have written four travel guides for Bradt. These include the first ever dedicated English-language travel guides to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, the latter now in its third edition. I am also co-author (with Lucy Mallows) of the Bradt guide to the Transylvania region of Romania, and am in the process of finishing a Bradt guide to Latvia, due for publication in summer 2024. This will be a completely new guide to a destination last covered by Bradt in 2007. The common thread of my travel writing and diplomatic work is to be found in my background as a student of geography, passionate about understanding places through their histories, language and culture.