About Me

Hi, I’m Bex, a UK travel blogger who loves sharing the best of her home county of Hampshire and sharing top places to eat and drink. 

Jump to a section…

• Who’s that girl?
• What’s Bright Lights Big City about?
• How did the blog start?
• How is it going?
• Where would I like to visit?
• Press & News
• Work with me
• Boundaries Online

Who’s that girl? 

I’m Bex, a 30 something blogger living in Hampshire with her boyfriend Henry and a tiny chihuahua named Honey, who is honestly more Mariah Carey than canine! 

By day I’m a Digital Marketing and Social Media Manager for a top Hampshire museum. But outside of the 9-5, I’m either discovering the newest restaurants, heading out on a trip or promptly refuelling with a flat white or a cocktail!  

And, the rest of the time I’ll be out paddle boarding, rollerskating, walking, heading to see live music or festival. I’ll be there faster than you can say shotgun if there’s a supper club, outside dining experience or something creative in store.  

What’s Bright Lights Big City about? 

Treat this blog as your own fuss-free guide to Hampshire. In short, travel with a side of tapas!  

I’ll help you discover the best places to visit, fill your precious free-time with fun things to do and the most epic places to eat and drink, without the faff of planning. 

And, if I can steer you to try a local independent serving some serious vibes, excellent coffee and scrumptious creations, well then I’ve succeeded! 

That brings me onto how strongly I feel about supporting and sharing local independent businesses. These businesses are what make our high streets, cities, towns and villages interesting places to travel to and hang out in. 

Whilst my main focus is Hampshire, I do share my wider travels under ‘Destinations’ too.  

There’s even a travel kit recommendations under #KitForYourTrip. 

Want to know a little bit more? 

How it started… 

Bright Lights Big City is Hampshire based travel and food blog but, that’s not where it began. 

I started this corner of the internet in 2016 and originally wrote about all things PR, using it as a career tool to develop my writing and online skills. I was even featured on Vuelio and nominated for a UK Blogger award, and although I didn’t win, it was still a great experience. 

While I enjoyed this, my goodness, working in PR, events, marketing and social media and then blogging about it in my spare time became a bit of an overload so I started to escape into the world travel. And, we all deserve to switch off in our spare time, don’t we? 

By 2019 I realised I’d been enjoying consistently writing about my travels so I decided to make the switch permanent. 

While it might seem like a big jump in topics, my love for travel grew from extensive travel throughout my life and my love of supporting small local independent businesses from my hard working family who owned one too. 

How it’s going… 

Well I had big plans for 2020, a trip to Mexico for the Day of the Dead festival and plans to look at going to New Zealand in 2021. But, we all know the ongoing story there.  Shall we not dwell on that? Ok, agreed, moving on swiftly!

Instead at the moment I’m diving into my beautiful home county of Hampshire and the surrounding counties when it’s permitted. 

My dream would be to work on campaigns with global tourism offices, hotels and special travel and food experiences. You’ve got to have dreams and aspirations, right?

I’ve already been fortunate enough to work on local campaigns for some wonderful museums, restaurants and hotels, some examples include…

• Literary museum Chawton House
• Chocolatier Bonham’s Bonbons
• Mexican restaurant Mi Cocina
• Southampton Harbour Hotel
• Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre

And, I’ve also worked on larger national campaigns with…

• Marks & Spencer
• Royal Caribbean

Where would I like to visit? 

My top three places to visit abroad… 

🇳🇿 New Zealand 

🇵🇫 French Polynesia 

🇯🇵 Japan 

I’ve narrowed it down to three but honestly the full list, which I keep in a notebook by my bed, is obscenely long. Don’t even start me on travel experiences like the Inca trail, the hot air balloons in Cappadocia, Turkey or the Day of the Dead in Mexico.

Press & News

I keep a log of all of the blog’s achievements, news articles, significant mentions and mile stones in the Bright Lights Big City Press & News section.

Work With Me 

If you want to work with me please pop an email to HelloBrightLightsBigCity@gmail.com.

P.S. It’s healthy to have boundaries, especially online where everything appears to be on 24/7, here’s a few of mine so you know what to expect. 

Boundaries Online 

You can expect from me guides and reviews on Hampshire travel, attractions, museums, festivals, food and drink. I am also working on expanding and writing on other areas which you can find under the Destinations section. 

You will also find the odd post on independent businesses, hotels, and a lot about coffee. 

I’m working on a lot of content, so it might be that I’m working on somewhere you’re interested in. 

Everything I write I base on my own experiences. The only exception is my ‘5 Things To Do This Weekend in Hampshire’ series which is released every Friday.  

I found I needed a little bit of wiggle room and wanted to suggest fun things events or new businesses I’ve seen or found but couldn’t always get to. This series is my outlet for this without compromising my other posts. 

I love to hear from you but please keep in mind that I work a full time job so, often replies are in lunch breaks, or after work hours. 

And, if you’re a company or organisation reading this, I respectfully ask that you do not ask me to work for free or for free advice. If you don’t know why, then we’re already probably not a good fit!