Passionate about travel, Fiona Govan didn’t hesitate to uproot her life in the UK in 2006 to become a foreign correspondent in Madrid for The Daily Telegraph. She went on to cover everything from tourism to terrorist attacks. No stranger to traveling, Govan had spent the previous decade exploring four continents and 10 countries.
She created an impressive career writing for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Local in Sweden, France, Germany and Italy. In September, she left her most recent position as the editor of The Local in Spain and The Olive Press to pursue a personal book project.
How did you get into journalism and traveling the world?
I was in my 20s in the UK unsure of what I wanted to do. I debated going to law school or journalism, and honestly, the journalism program was much shorter. Though I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I knew I wanted to travel and write stories about what I saw, which journalism gave me.
I ended up going to the rest of the Middle East into South Asia. I made it through by picking up odd jobs until I ran out of money so I would go back to the UK to make as much money as possible so I could go travel again because that's really what I enjoyed.
How did your family react to you leaving the UK?
I left for a month-long trip with a friend to Egypt and I ended up calling my family to tell them that I was not going to come back and instead, I was going to Israel and work there so I could travel more. I sent them maybe a postcard a week, they never knew where I was but that’s just how I was.
How did you balance a personal life with your unpredictable work schedule?
You just don't have a personal life. For example, I got a call on a Friday morning from my editor saying there's a girl that's gone missing in Portugal, how fast can you get there? I had a friend coming out from London that Friday. I told her I'll probably be back Saturday and then I didn't come back for four months. I was constantly dropping everything and going on. So being a correspondent for a national newspaper is not conducive to having a family life.
Why do you still choose to stay in Madrid?
The UK is where my family is, but it never felt like home. I ended up settling in Madrid because I fell in love with the culture and the weather. It's the only place I can see myself living now. I moved on to more stable journalism positions in Madrid like the Olive Press and just knew it was time for something else in my career.
I am taking my first break in my career to take care of my sick dog, Rufus. I still love storytelling, so I am working on a more personal novel about the different generations of women in my family, but by no means do I feel like this is the end of my career, I know I have at least 20 years left.
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