Dubliner Jane Asple launched her Emma by Jane jewellery in 2017 after quitting her job as a buyer for Penneys. Highlights of her career so far involve pitching on Dragon’s Den, featuring in British Vogue, and winning awards such as Businesswomen of the Year at Network Ireland. But what of her travel highlights? In our fourth summer series instalment, we live vicariously through Jane’s memorable destinations and have a peep into her carry-on bag…

Our summers were spent with our country cousins, moving between all the houses from ours in Dublin to my aunts in Kildare during the Horse Show when they’d compete. And then on to Wexford for the final week of summer when all the families would rent a house near the beach and we’d spend our days horse riding, going to the Saltee Islands or re-enacting scenes from Jerry Maguire. The house was always full with friends and relatives, and someone was always in charge of the daily pranks.

When I was eight years old, we went to Disney World, Florida. It was so exciting meeting all the Disney legends and going on all the rides, and back then the American malls were so popular. I recently found the autograph book from our trip.

We were in Spain recently for a family holiday, which was really special as it was our first holiday as a family of four. Our holidays over the last three years have changed as we’ve a toddler and a baby to work around, but we try not let them dictate it completely and still get to enjoy dinners on the beach – just with a side of colouring books or building sand castles. If you’re like us, and love travelling to Marbella then a must-try is Tempora Restaurant in the old town, with a little pre-dinner gin and tonic in Orange Square beforehand. My parents babysat one night for us, so that was a real treat.

South Africa. We had a covid-era wedding and as a result we never got to do our honeymoon. We were about to book it in August 2020, thinking that by the following February life would be back to normal… but then one of the airlines went bust! Luckily we decided to hold off. So South Africa is now on the bucket list for when the kids leave the nest!

I run my own business so switching off completely has never really been an option. However this summer we decided to close the customer service side of the business for a week so I could have some proper time off, and that was amazing. I had our second child in late October, coming into our biggest time of the year, so there was just no downtime. I worked every day for the first seven months of his life, so I felt it was OK to turn the business off for a week and use the time to really re-charge and enjoy being a family.

I always have my swimwear in my carry-on if I’m going on a beach holiday. A throw-on dress that can take me to the beach or to dinner. I’ll always have some extra jewellery in my carry-on too – it easily elevates any holiday look.

Pestle & Mortar Cleanser. I love cleaning my face twice a day and no matter how many brands I try I always go back to this, my skin feels so clean and hydrated after using it. Then my Medik8 Vitamin C Serum. I love this product and have really seen an improvement in my skin since using it. I once read that if you’re time or money sensitive, just two skincare pieces you need to buy are a good vitamin C and a SPF – everything after that is a bonus, so I’ve lived by this rule ever since. I recently purchased Sculpted by Aimee Factor SPF50 Sun Mist and am loving it. It dries immediately into the skin which makes it so easy to get straight into your make-up application.

I am podcast obsessed, I could listen to about five a day if I was on my own. I love a mix of entrepreneurship, motherhood and then just sometimes a nice switch-off one talking about beauty products. I share all my podcasts and book recommendations that I’ve been loving in our Emma by Jane newsletter, which goes out the first Monday of the month.

I recently travelled to Lisbon with some girlfriends and I adored the city and how easy it was to get around. We did a huge amount of shopping, all the typical stores like Cos and Massimo Dutti, but the store designs there are just so beautiful. You felt like you were shopping in exclusive boutiques.

A year after having our first child we were invited to a wedding in Lake Tahoe, which we were understandably incredibly excited about. We left our one-year-old at home and travelled to San Francisco and Napa Valley en route to the wedding. But we were quite disappointed by San Francisco. The weather was not good – freezing, actually – and we were just not overly impressed by the city in general. We found it quite dirty, and the accommodation was overpriced. Really horrible versus the pictures we’d based our booking on.

Card game apps – FreeCell and Solitaire are always my go-to.

Beach bum. I actually become quite lazy on holidays.

On holiday, always sunsets. At home, I’m a sunrise girl!

Michelle Obama. I find her one of the most incredibly wise women to listen to. I think I’d just sit in silence, for the first time in my life, observing her and everything she’s saying. Secondly, Serena Williams. I’ve followed her career for many years but really took notice of her as a person when she spoke out about the catsuit she wore for the French Open [to help her blood circulation], just so she could play nine months after giving birth and almost dying [from a blood clot]. She has really spoken out for women since having her child and I admire her so much for that. Last but not least I’ve never met any of my four grandparents, and I would absolutely love to sit down with at least one of them.

Follow Jane @Jane_asple

And check out her jewellery brand Emma by Jane

@emmabyjane