For blogger ‘Flyaway Girl’, hidden gems inspire travel niche

Penelope Louise, known as travel blogger Flyaway Girl, has been inspired by life in Gibraltar to build her niche online showing “hidden gem” destinations.

Over the years, she has amassed 114,000 followers on Instagram with posts about her trips to Japan, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Morocco, Greece, Germany, and moving to Gibraltar.

Penelope, who is from the UK, arrived in Gibraltar in November 2019, and not as a tourist, but to visit her husband to be that she’d met in Bosnia.

“I visited again in December, and then in January. In mid-February, I came to visit him for a month and then lockdown happened and I never left,” she said.

“We got married earlier this year, so I suppose that makes me an honorary Llanita now.”

After years of travelling and blogging, living in Gibraltar shifted her focus to hidden gems and sustainable tourism.

The impact of overtourism, especially from cruise ships, made her rethink how and why people travel.

She launched Flyaway Girl while working in Austria to share her travels with friends and family.

“Eventually, I learned about actually utilising Instagram correctly, aka sharing great photos and useful travel tips and not just casual snaps,” she said.

“And about [Search Engine Optimisation] for my blog. After graduating from university, I took my travel blog and social media full-time, until Covid put a bit of a spanner in the works.”

She hopes her content inspires meaningful travel.

“I hope they learn about amazing lesser-known places that they might not have known about before, and that they can use the content I create to plan the best trips that they gain lifelong memories from,” she said.

She’s nearly achieved her goal of visiting every European country, with just Kosovo and San Marino left.

“I set myself this goal when I was in my early 20s, with the original goal of visiting every European country by the age of 30,” she said.

“I turned 30 this May, so I didn't quite manage that. So far, the only two I haven't yet visited are Kosovo and San Marino.”

Travel has shown her Europe’s diversity even between close neighbours.

“Some countries are much more accessible, while others require much more effort to travel to and explore,” she said.

“Whether that’s managing a more complex language barrier… or just trying to figure out how to fly there from Gibraltar without needing three layovers.”

Fluent in English and German, with strong Spanish and some Japanese, she believes language deepens travel.

“From just being able to find coffee on a menu in Skopje to being able to chat with locals in Austria, Germany and Spain in their own languages, I’ve always found that simply making the effort, can truly improve your travel experience.”

“Whenever I go to a new country, I always learn (at minimum) how to say ‘hello’, ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye’.”

“And usually ‘a coffee with lactose-free milk, please’.”

With a background in German and International Management, she worked in Customer Relationship Management before pivoting to content creation.

“It's been a very different experience working with brands while being based in Gibraltar, as sadly some brands and tourism boards only want to work with you if you're based in the UK,” she said.

“My goal for the rest of 2025 and into 2026 is to work with more local brands… and to continue to expand on helping brands with their social media marketing.”

“Since I was last working as a full-time creator was 2020, the industry has definitely changed massively, so it's been quite the experience and the adventure returning to doing this as my full-time career.”

Her blog spotlights underrated destinations as her passion is shaped by what she considers Gibraltar’s overtourism.

“The other side of my love for lesser-known destinations comes from my super-budget travel days,” she said.

“When you're travelling on a tight student budget, this often meant travelling to a town or city that wasn't particularly well-known,”

“Combining this with my desire to try and combat overtourism has ended up with my niche in underrated and lesser-known destinations.”

This summer, Penelope’s top picks include Albania and northern Spain.

“If you are looking for some amazing spots that aren’t completely overrun by tourists during summer, these are absolutely them,” she said.

“Albania is becoming more and more accessible, with a variety of flights into Tirana as well as a ferry that goes to Sarandë from Corfu.”

“Alternatively, if you're looking to escape the heat of Gibraltar then the north of Spain is an ideal escape. One of my favourites was Ons Island (Ilha de Ons) in Galicia.”

“This lesser-known island in the Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park is ideal for nature lovers and beachgoers.”

“Also, the zamburiñas and pulpo are absolutely delicious!”

Visit her blog online: https://theflyawaygirl.com/

Or follow her adventures on Instagram: @the_flyaway_girl