Home > About Me

About Me

This section was originally called About Us, but since La Vida Local is a one-woman operation, Us sounded faintly like the Royal We. So About Me it became.

My name is Laura Byrne Paquet, and I'm a freelance travel writer and editor based in Ottawa, Canada. From renting an apartment in New York to careening through the Andes on a bus surrounded by teenage Argentinean water polo players, I enjoy living like a local while travelling—and writing about it later. My articles have appeared in more than 80 publications in Canada, the United States and Europe, including National Geographic Traveler, Islands, enRoute and Chatelaine. I've also written 11 books. You can find out a bit more about me on my main website.