A scrapbook of life enhancements

From Flu, Free Themes & Foodie Finds… to Wander Away

“Career specialist, aspiring writer, foodie, traveller and retail therapist; lover of gadgets, mango daiquiris and sourcing the perfect downtown nosh.”

Well, hello 2011 Jane.

That’s how I introduced myself when Indulge Divulge first ventured somewhat tentatively onto the internet fifteen years ago.

The blog itself was created while I was wallowing in bed recuperating from the flu, armed with a laptop, a free WordPress theme and apparently far more confidence in my technical abilities than was entirely justified.

Its purpose was simple: document an impending six-week European adventure with my besties and share the journey with friends and family back home.

How hard could this blogging business possibly be?

Ahem.

That first little site was entirely self-taught, self-hosted, and, in places, undoubtedly held together by the digital equivalent of sticky tape. But it worked. We travelled. I wrote. People read.

And somewhere along the way, I caught another bug – thankfully far more persistent than the flu.

I fell in love with writing.

Back then, Indulge Divulge was my “little scrapbook of inspirational finds and lifestyle enhancements.” Career advice sat happily alongside décor, foodie discoveries, inspiration, personal musings, travel adventures and the occasional epic fail.

In other words, I wrote about whatever delighted, intrigued or amused me.

And, truth be told, I still do.

But over fifteen years, hundreds of posts, countless photographs and now four different blog themes, something gradually became very clear.

Travel had well and truly claimed the window seat.

Today, Indulge Divulge is less about telling you where to go and much more about sharing what I discover when I get there.

I love the grand sights, certainly. But I’m equally fascinated by the things other travellers might walk straight past – the tiny details, hidden corners, quirky histories, fabulous food, extraordinary people and unexpected moments that transform a destination into a story.

I travel. I photograph. I poke around. I ask questions. I hunt down the quirky bits. I occasionally get lost.

And then I come home and relive the whole glorious adventure by writing about it here.

Because I’ve discovered that travel isn’t simply about where you go.

It’s about what you notice while you’re there.

And now… Wander Away – our new IndulgeDivulge theme!

Which brings us rather beautifully to 2026 and Theme Number Four: Wander Away.

Fifteen years after teaching myself WordPress from my sickbed, I’m once again on a rather spectacular learning curve – this time involving Elementor, widgets, queries, taxonomy slugs, caching and other mysterious creatures that 2011 Jane would quite reasonably have assumed belonged in a biology textbook.

But look how far we’ve come.

From a free theme created to share one European holiday to a beautiful new home built around travel, photography, curiosity and storytelling.

The old Indulge Divulge hasn’t disappeared. Rummage deeply enough, and you’ll still uncover career wisdom, culinary adventures, décor, inspiration, personal confessions and probably a few things I’d forgotten I’d ever written.

They’re part of the story too.

But this new chapter belongs to travel.

To Adventure Hits and Curious Finds. To Handy Hints, Travel Tips and Tasty Treats. To beautiful places, peculiar discoveries and stories waiting around corners.

And perhaps that’s the nicest thing about looking back at that first introduction from 2011.

I described myself as an aspiring writer.

Fifteen years and hundreds of stories later, I think it might finally be time to drop the aspiring.

The retail therapy remains. The foodie is alive and extremely well. The traveller is showing no signs whatsoever of slowing down. And should anyone happen to know where they’re serving the perfect downtown nosh alongside a decent mango daiquiri, I’m still taking recommendations.

So welcome – whether you’ve been travelling with me since 2011 or you’ve only just wandered in.

Have a poke around. Look closer. Stay curious.

There’s far too much world left to indulge in…

and divulge about.

Jane x