Linda Karlsson paused her dream of working as a photographer when she met the father of her children, and instead switched to apartment rentals in Ibiza. Now she is separated and has picked up her career again – but lives with the downsides of tourism.
“I could write an entire book about it,” she says.
Linda Karlsson is from Norra Fäladen in Lund and now lives in Ibiza with her two sons.
A first step abroad
After high school, like many young people, Linda was eager to get out into the world. The opportunity appeared in the staff room at the home care service in the late 1990s, when she spotted an ad from a family in Skanör looking for an au pair in Alicante.
“From the staff room, I called and said that I was applying for the job.”
That became the first of many journeys, and the beginning of a life abroad, guided by her heart and sense of adventure.
On her first trip to Asia, here at the northernmost tip of Indonesia (Pulau Weh, Aceh) in 2001
From cleaning hotels to studying philosophy
After Alicante, she worked as a hotel cleaner in Mallorca.
“Then it became more advanced. I started going on long trips in Southeast Asia and Africa. And I kept doing that until I began studying.”
Inspired by her travels, she enrolled in a bachelor’s program in religion and philosophy in London. Her parents back home in Lund doubted the career opportunities.
“Well, you don’t really become anything. But it was truly right for me. It was absolutely fantastic.”
After a long stay in Mexico, a thirty-year crisis set in – which led her to rent an apartment in Möllan, Malmö. Rich in travel and life lessons but unsure of her direction, she decided to give Sweden an honest chance. Yet restlessness soon crept back in.
Choosing photojournalism
“It felt like all doors in Sweden were just closing for me, that everything was impossible and complicated. And I missed life and movement, colors, a bit more chaos in some way.
I thought then that I love taking photos, writing, and traveling. So I could become a photojournalist.”
Linda during her photojournalism studies, here pictured on a mission in Raval
She once again waved goodbye to Sweden. After a one-year master’s degree in photojournalism in Barcelona, she began freelancing for Swedish media. Assignments kept coming, and she was published in several newspapers.
Love and a new life in Ibiza
Then Linda fell in love with the father of her future children.
“And life took a completely different turn.”
Suddenly she found herself in Ibiza, in love and expecting a child. Together they rented a house and sublet it to tourists.
“So I became a mother and a ‘business owner’ in Ibiza. I completely stopped photographing and writing and all the things I love to do.”
The business went well. They hosted groups and arranged yoga retreats. But after a few years, the glamour wore off.
The downside of tourism
She grew tired of catering to demanding tourists, the couple separated, and then the pandemic struck.
Linda found herself a single mother of two, and suddenly on the other side of the rental market.
“I could write an entire book about that.”
She saw the harsh reality faced by locals: homeowners renting only to tourists in summer at outrageous prices. Police officers, nurses, and doctors sleeping in their cars. Many left homeless.
Here Linda stands at the top of Dalt Vila, her favourite place on the island, a UNESCO world heritage site filled with historical magic
“I realized how incredibly difficult it is as a single parent to afford rent, which had already risen a great deal by then. I am ashamed of what we did. But I didn’t know that this was the other side of the coin.”
Rebuilding a career
Today, Linda and her sons live in a one-room apartment in Ibiza between September and June. In July and August, the landlord rents the flat to tourists, and the family stays in Sweden.
“The way we have it now is actually pretty ideal,” she says. They’ve been lucky to have a place to return to, and time with the boys’ grandparents in Sweden. Still, she admits:
“I wouldn’t have chosen Ibiza again, precisely because of the housing problems and the fact that it’s a party island.”
The winters, however, are beautiful and harmonious.
Even though life after the separation has been tough, she has had the chance to return to the career she began in Barcelona nearly fifteen years ago. She now manages social media for hotels, restaurants, and authors – photographing, filming, and helping them spread their message.
“It’s a really fun job, and very creative.”
When her children are grown, she dreams of leaving Ibiza behind.
Linda in Naples, June 2025
“Italy is probably the country I’ve fallen in love with the most during all my travels,” Linda Karlsson says.