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Regional daily journalist swaps Glasgow for Dubai

A journalist has swapped the streets of Glasgow for life in sunny Dubai after leaving a regional daily to start a new magazine role.

Sarah Swain has left her job as a senior reporter at the Glasgow Evening Times to work for Switch, a publishing company in Dubai which produces magazines for hotels and banks.

She worked for the regional daily for more than five years until last month and the highlight of her time there was a video interview with entertainer John Barrowman which featured in HTFP’s Funnies File when it got rather friendly.

Sarah, who is from Cleethorpes, moved to Scotland after completing a journalism degree in Sheffield and worked at papers including the Dumbarton Reporter and Helensburgh Advertiser.

Sarah Swain and John Barrowman

She then went travelling and worked as an assistant editor in Australia for home design magazines, before starting her role at the Evening Times.

Sarah told HTFP: “I loved living in Australia and wanted to come abroad again and there is so much opportunity in Dubai. Stepping on the plane was the hardest thing to do but now I am getting on fine.

“There are so many Brits here and I have got so many friends of friends to meet up with. It’s sunny every day and I’ve just rented a 28th floor apartment overlooking the glamorous marina. The people are helpful and friendly and I’d advise anybody to give it a go.

“I do miss the thrill of chasing a news story and its daunting to build up contacts again, but hope the new challenge of working on magazines, especially as they are for clients, will be satisfying.

While at the Glasgow daily, Sarah was presented with the Lung Cancer Journalist of the Year Award by the Global Lung Cancer Coalition after leading the paper’s Clear the Air campaign.

As part of the campaign, she told readers about her dad’s death from the disease when she was 17-years-old.

She added: “Highlights of my time at the Evening Times were covering the MOBO Awards in Glasgow, working at Hamleys in London for a day, meeting lots of inspiring people for my real life stories, going to Lapland with sick kids, and all the theatre stories I did, as well as the John Barrowman interview as I love him!”

Sarah is blogging about her move to Dubai, which can be read by clicking here, and any former colleagues who would like to get in touch can contact her by emailing [email protected].