She was born in Aberdeen but grew up and attended school in Bristol. She has lived in London since 1992.
Career
She worked in the music industry in London until April 2003 when she left her position at BBC Music to make a 10-month solo motorcycle journey of approximately 20,000 miles from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. This resulted in her first book, Lois on the Loose, which was published in the UK in 2007 by Arrow, an imprint of Random House, and in the USA by Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press. It has also been translated into German, Dutch and Italian. It is currently published in the USA by Lee Klancher's Octane Press. The Telegraph said it ‘Roars along at a breakneck pace and is full of snappy accounts and funny asides.’ In 2006 she made her second long-distance solo motorcycle expedition from London to Cape Town, a journey of approximately 10,000 miles. Her route involved crossing the Sahara and traversing the Congo Basin and Angola. Her book about this trip, Red Tape & White Knuckles, was published in 2008 in the UK by Arrow/Random House and in the USA by Octane Press. It was excerpted in The New York Times where it was described as ‘Breezy and upbeat... enough to make readers reach for their helmets and aim for a remote part of the globe.’ In 2013 and 2014 she made two solo motorcycle tours of Iran, which is the subject of her third book, Revolutionary Ride, published in 2017 in the UK and USA by Nicholas Brealey/Hodder. The Telegraph listed her as one of ‘Ten Great Female Travellers’ for International Women’s Day 2015. She contributes regularly to various publications and her writing has appeared in The Telegraph, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Independent and CNN. She is a contributing editor to the US travel magazine, Overland Journal and contributes as the regular travel consultant on BBC Radio 5 Live’s ‘Up All Night’ programme. She is also the co-founder and curator of The Adventure Travel Film Festival with her husband, the long-distance motorcyclist and film-maker Austin Vince. The festival takes place annually in the UK and Australia.
Lois on the Loose published by Arrow/Random House and Octane Press Published in Germany as Vollgas Published as Lois Onderweg in the Netherlands Published as Verso Ushuaia in Italy
2008
Red Tape & White Knuckles published by Arrow/Random House and Octane Press
2017
Revolutionary Ride published by Nicholas Brealey/Hodder
