Welcome, I’m Candace!

DIGITAL CONTENT CREATOR | Travel BLOGGER | trip curator

I’m a 27-year-old Capricorn, coffee-loving, Enneagram 3 (look yours up – it’s life-changing!) who moved to London at 18 from the US and never looked back.

On my platforms you’ll helpful & real-life travel guides to make your dream trips come true in London, the UK, Europe & beyond.

If you’re keen to learn a bit more about my personal journey to England and creating Candace Abroad, here’s a deep dive into my story.

Let’s break it down by year…

2014 – 2015 – The “Where Do I Fit?” Year

My London journey starts all the way back to my junior year of high school in a suburban town called Morristown, New Jersey.

I’d moved ‘up North’ as the Brits would say from sunny Florida when I was 8, which I think planted the seed for never feeling one particular place was ‘home’.

During that time, I loved being creative with new business ideas (think cupcake pop-ups, lemonade stands and t-shirt selling), working on my personal blog, taking film classes in school and exploring NYC just a short train ride from my town with a camera in hand – slowly but deliriously surely falling in love with the idea of living in a big city and living an alternative life.

Anywho come college time as all my peers excitingly decided where they’d spend the next four years – I found myself feeling uninspired by the idea of going down the same path as everyone around me (while still wanting to go to university and continue my education).

As fate would have it, I saw a ‘Now This’ video on Facebook soon after about studying for free in Germany, which led to another retargeted ad (thanks Zuckerberg) on studying in London. My heart knew it in an instant before my head could work it out.

I was going to London.

2016 – 2019 – “The Uni Days”

A Tier 4 visa and lots of savings later I moved to London at 18 without ever having visited.

And within one week in the city, I knew I would plan to call it my forever home.

The next 3 years would be full of firsts. My first time travelling in the UK and Europe, my first time falling in love, with a Brit no less – my first heartbreak, and my first big girl job in marketing after realising my degree in Public Health & Health Promotion (with dreams to work in the NHS) wasn’t fulfilling me as much as I thought.

During this time, I budget travelled a lot, went out in the Mayfair London club scene a lot (only when free drinks were included, of course), and had every bit of fun you’d expect from a 18 – 21 year old living in London.

2019 – The “Shanghai, Thailand & Blogging” Years…Oh…and a MBA and a C Word

Graduation check. What next? Given my now very deep love for travel formed over my university years, combined with being totally Type A (no matter how hard I try) I decided to combine the two and get my TEFL to teach English at a private school in Shanghai for a year before moving back to London for my MBA in International Business.

I moved to China in 2019 right after graduation, even got to speaking a bit of Mandarin and then…well we know what happened.

During that period I left Shanghai to teach for my company remotely from Thailand hoping things would settle down with the C word – but ended up living there for 6 months!

With more time than ever before I decided it was time to finally do something with my love of writing, travel, and creativity and start my blog for real this time – Candace Abroad.

2020 – 2022 – MBA, “The Startup Life & London Part 2” Years

Back in London with a new-found pandemic-fied schedule – I went all in with my blog, finishing my MBA and working in influencer marketing for London startups.

I started to build a community online, launched a travel podcast, founded a meetup group for young professional women in London, met my forever guy and finished my MBA.

It was a crazy time and I definitely got burned out on several occasions, but I also became obsessed with the feeling and proof that I could truly accomplish any dream I put my mind to (an American trait I never plan to give away!).

Day-in-the-life-of-a-full-time-influencer

2022 – 2024 –

“The Influencer Life” Years

With a new and glorious post-work grad visa to my name preparation met opportunity and I took the crazy at the time leap to leave my upward marketing career in the London startup scene to take my social media (Instagram and TikTok) and my travel blog full-time. And it paid off!

Between the freedom & flexibility, travel opportunities, creativity and network it opens you up to – it truly is one of the best jobs in the world in my opinion (P.S. – I’ve got tons of blogging and social media tips if this is a route you’d like to take too). But, please bear in mind it still very much is a job.

However, it’s also extremely easy to lose yourself in the process trying to keep up with trends, algorithms and consistently churning out content, and that’s exactly what happened to me.

I lost touch with why I started (a love for London & travel, creativity, writing, and connecting with women) and had to find my way back in 2024.

2025 – What’s Next?

Writing all of this out has made realise life really has a way of going in directions you could have never expected.

That 18-year-old girl that hopped on a one-way to London is now 27. So now what?

For me – it’s more travel around my city and beyond, more continuing to build a life in London, more writing helpful guides for you to use for beautiful trips across the UK, Europe & beyond, more sharing and more connecting with the absolutely lovely women in this community on my socials and more.

Cheers!

Candace x