Hello to all budding vetlings and travellers, Jess here, aka ‘The Jet Set Vet.’ First and foremost, welcome! Thank You for Stumbling across my website and being interested enough to stay a while and look around!
This site covers a diverse range of topics, because I’m the kind of girl who has many great loves in life and I want to share these passions with all of you! I began this blog as a way of documenting my adventures ( and as a way of ensuring my mum knew I was still alive whilst gallivanting the globe!) but soon realised it had the potential to do much more good than that. It is a way to inspire and connect with people across the world and to encourage people to get out there and explore!
A little about me…
So as many of you have probably gathered (because I rarely shut up about it) I’m a working vet in the UK. I’m still pretty new at it, and find my new job both terrific and terrifying in equal measures! I am currently living it up in the north of England caring for all creatures great and small, but when I’m not living the James Herriot life, I’m chasing adventure across the globe and documenting my journeys to help fellow travellers do the same!
I want to share with you the highs and lows, laughs and tears that come with being a “Dogtor” both in the UK and across the globe. Someone once said that being a vet isn’t a job, it’s a life choice and I can’t remember who said it, but they most definitely weren’t wrong! So be prepared for stories of crazy animals, intriguing people, my less than glamorous moments and lots of amazing destinations along the way!
My blogging career began on my first big international trip to work for a neutering and rabies vaccination charity in Jaipur, India. It started as a way of telling my friends and family of the events of the day when the only contact with the outside world was a single computer with rather sketchy dial-up internet. However, on that trip I became a storyteller, I wanted to share my experiences and inspire others to come and visit India, to see and do the things I had. It also truly awoke my passion for travel, and I was addicted!
That first trip was during my time at university, still working towards the seemingly unreachable goal of becoming a veterinary surgeon. Now, having achieved full “Dogtor” status, my aim is to use my degree to travel around the world, explore different cultural attitudes towards animals and give back to those in need. I would love nothing more to take you all with me and dive into the world of animals in tourism to help promote ethical and environmentally friendly practices and ensure everyone knows how to find them.
After that, I travelled whenever time and money would allow and began blogging with more regularity as I discovered it was something I loved to do! I began focusing on my next big trip; to explore South America for two and a half months as a graduation present to myself! Once again, I was intoxicated by the culture, landscape and wildlife. Not only that but this trip came at just the right time for me after one of the most difficult few months of my life. This adventure helped me heal and I think it was at this point I realised what a lifeline travel could be to people and I wanted to share it.
I am amazed at how much my little community has grown and how many people I’ve been able to help via this platform which is truly a fantastic outcome I could never have imagined! This blog is my passion project and through it, I have had the opportunity to work with some fantastic companies and brands, have had some amazing experiences and gained so much new knowledge on this journey. I want to create a community of ambassadors to drive change, influence ethical tourism and most of all, encourage exploration of our fantastic earth!
Cut to 2019…. I found myself working at a mixed animal practice in the North of England. Unfortunately, this did mean travelling time was limited by my holiday allowance (adulting kind of sucks sometimes!), so, this drove me to focus on several shorter trips across the pond to Europe and exploring what was in my own backyard in the UK. I think this is something I want to emphasise in my blog, that travel doesn’t have to be thousands of miles away from home or quitting your job to travel full time. Travel is exploring, be that close to home or across the other side of the world!
Now, I think we can all say no one really expected that 2020 would bring with it a global pandemic!! As for many others, this ground my global exploration to a halt, and many a cancelled trip later, I rode out the uncertain times by relying on close friends and family and throwing myself into my job. During those months my blog was thoroughly neglected as it seemed pointless to write about travel when no one could go anywhere. I felt incredibly uninspired, and at times it almost felt distasteful to create content when the future of travel was so uncertain. However, during this time, one of the best things in my life did happen, despite the national lockdown – I met my adventure partner! Corey and I have now had a whirlwind 18 months and I feel like my life, which had thoroughly ground to a halt since 2020 has moved into the fast lane. The end of 2021 saw Corey and I take the perilous plunge into cohabitation (going well so far, I’m happy to report!), I took an amazing job opportunity to pursue my passion for exotic animals and we adopted our very first fur-baby, Bobbie!
Towards the end of 2021 we tentatively began to travel again, with awe-inspiring trips along the Causeway Coast in Northern Ireland, a relationship testing ten days tackling the North Coast 500 in a campervan and dipping our toes into the dog-friendly holiday scene in the Yorkshire Dales. These trips and those we have upcoming have finally re-ignited that passion to blog again!
So now you’re up to date with my life so far, what I now want to do is share with you some of my passions and the purpose of this blog….
Responsible Travel and conservation
WARNING! IT’S ABOUT TO GET A BIT DEEP!
Travel is my passion, I don’t think anything makes me feel more alive than submerging myself in another culture and getting out there to explore! I hope to inspire more people to experience this buzz, but to do so in a way which is sustainable, ethical and responsible. As a vet, I am an advocate for conservation and I aim to educate travellers to make wise choices when travelling so their experiences aren’t at the sacrifice of anyone or anything else. I truly believe one of the best ways to save our planet is to get people out there to experience it, and in doing so, to create ambassadors of all ages to provide education and preserve our amazing earth.
I am here to provide you with travel reviews and recommendations of places who work hard to provide responsible tourism. I will share tips on how you can be a more ethical tourist on your next adventure, things to look out for to determine if a company is being responsible and much more. With my veterinary background I like to think I have some idea what I’m talking about, so I can help you plan and promote companies doing their bit and giving back to our planet to make it easier for you guys to know where your money is going and to give you peace of mind during your adventures. Hopefully, together we can help build up the companies who care and avoid those that don’t!
Spilling Secrets About Life As A Vet
As a vet who is in love with her career, I want to encourage budding vets of the future to embark on this amazing lifestyle choice – it may not be the most glamorous of careers at times, but trust me it’s worth it!
Programs such as ‘The Supervet’, ‘Vet on the Hill’ and ‘The Yorkshire Vet’ have become increasingly popular in recent years as people are intrigued by this elusive, wild and rewarding career. However, like all good TV shows, a certain dramatic spin or rose-tinted edge can often be incorporated into these programs so I want to put my own spin on things and tell a vet’s story in my own way.
I will be inviting you to see the highs and lows of the job, how you as pet owners and customers can make our lives a little easier and take you behind the scenes of vet life both in the UK and overseas.
For those of you thinking of taking the first steps into this amazing career, I am hoping to inspire, encourage, motivate and give you some real talk on what to expect on the journey getting into, through and out the other end of vet school.
A Little Bit Of Real Life And Self Love
I also plan to document my journey through the relatable highs and lows of being a 21st century woman with a career and wanting more!
I want to chat about things I feel passionate about, books I’ve loved, hen-party planning, food, exercise (or lack there of!) and all those other things that mash in the minds of most women. People have told me if I want a successful blog I should niche down and only write about one topic, but where’s the fun in that!? I want to write about my passions and to me success is not defined by brand deals, press trips and a great salary. Success to me is if I’m happy and I feel like what I’m doing is worth while, yes I may not be saving the world writing about my top tips for planning a hen-do, but I may just be able to help a few fellow gals navigate the battlefield of keeping 20 opinionated women happy!
If this sounds like your cup of tea, subscribe to my blog to keep up to date with all the excitement, get amazing travel tips right to your inbox and help create a community of unstoppably awesome adventure ambassadors!
Subscribe to join the journey here!
Love,
Jess, The Jet Set Vet x
