Get Paid to See the World: How to Launch Your Travel Writing Career

by Jennifer Stevens

Imagine sliding out of bed and knowing that your "work" for the day is to scuba dive along the Great Barrier Reef… or shop at an open-air market in Madagascar… or attend the opera in Vienna. Travel writing is perfectly suited for anybody with terminal wanderlust.

Don’t get me wrong, as a travel writer you will spend some hours with your bum in a chair and your hands on a keyboard.

But in my book, of all the kinds of writing you can do -- fiction, academic, marketing, technical, etc. -- travel writing is the most fun… and the most rewarding in terms of the quality of life it helps provide.

Let me explain…

An Excuse to Travel

Perhaps you already took a long vacation this year. You might find it hard to explain to that voice in your head -- the one that monitors your bank account -- that you’re going to take another. But if you can make enough money selling a story about your trip to cover its cost… or at least defray, say, the cost of the airfare… well, then, that is not such a bad arrangement.

And, in fact, you can do much better than merely defraying your costs. I have one travel writer colleague who generated a whopping $12,000 from a single trip by selling and reselling the stories he wrote and the photos he took.

Another travel writer friend and her husband spent a week on a boat in the waters off Belize, diving twice a day, sunning on the deck, eating meals prepared by the boat’s gourmet chef, and enjoying the company of a handful of fellow scuba-diving enthusiasts. Before she booked the trip, she approached the company that runs the program and was able -- as a travel writer -- to arrange a discounted rate for the all-inclusive vacation. And then, when she returned home, she sold an article about it and made a few hundred dollars to help cover her costs.

Once you have some track record as a travel writer -- a couple of published stories to your name -- you’ll be able to do the same sort of thing. Plus you'll most likely be able to take deductions on your taxes for the “business expenses” associated with your travel and writing.

Travel writing is about more than just the good-value travel deals, though.

Experience the World in a Richer Way

It’s also about seeing the world in a new way. It demands you pay greater attention to where you are than you might if you were just passing through as a tourist. You must train yourself to notice the smells, the sounds, the tastes, the cultural differences… what people are wearing and what they’re talking about.

Part of what makes travel writing so fun, in my view, is that it gives you such freedom to talk to people wherever you go. You learn so much more about a place when you're able to get the "inside" scoop from the locals. It's something few tourists ever manage.

But as a travel writer… well, it's part of your "job" to sally on up to the bar and strike up a conversation… to chat with that shopkeeper and accept when she invites you to tea… to offer an enthusiastic smile and say, "with pleasure" when the translator-guide you've spent the day with asks you to meet his family and share dinner in his home.

To me, it’s this meeting people and this uncovering of the universal truths and fundamental differences about destinations the world over that gives life its greatest texture and interest.

Gain Freedom and Flexibility

Whether you choose to launch a full-time career as a travel writer or you’re planning to do it on the side, it will prove an accommodatingly flexible “job.”

You can live anywhere in the world and do it.

And, in fact, you don't even have to travel. Your home is a destination for somebody, after all.

Read More… and Notice More

Practically speaking, how do you get started?

If you want to be a travel writer, you should read travel articles. Subscribe to at least three travel publications -- some might be free travel newsletters you get online, others print publications -- and set aside some time to read them.

You want to start to get a feel not only for what you like and admire in an article, but also for the many different kinds of articles that exist.

Also, train yourself to notice more. The best travel writers are observant travelers. You can be one, too.

In fact, it’s critical. Because the more you notice -- the more specific, interesting details you pick up, that is -- the more rich material you have to include in your articles. And it’s those rich details that editors like.

How do you do it?

Seven Habits of Successful Travel Writers

1) Rely on more than just your eyes. Certainly, pay attention to what you see. But also take note of what you hear, what you smell, how things taste, how they feel. If there’s a low, stone wall surrounding a village cemetery, don’t just scribble in your notebook “low, stone wall.” Go up to it and check if the top is dusty. Exactly how low is it? What sounds do you hear as you lean on it? Is there cheerful chatter from the kids sent to leave flowers? Or is it utterly silent, save for the occasional bird call and the scratching of squirrels?

2) Count. How many steps must you climb to reach the top of that lighthouse? How many steeples do you see jutting up above the rooftops? How many tables does the café hold? How many tourists are standing in line? Specific numbers help provide the precise details strong articles always include.

3) Pick up papers -- maps, brochures, local newspapers and magazines, brochures, postcards, menus, business cards. I keep a one-gallon Ziploc bag in my suitcase when I travel, and at the end of each day, I toss into it whatever papers I’ve gathered. If I got a business card from somebody I spoke with, I make a note on the back, reminding myself who that person is. If I got a menu from a place where I enjoyed lunch, I scribble on it what I had and what I thought of it. I’ll flip through a local paper, scanning for odd-ball items and ideas about what I might do the next day, making note of local politics, finding out what controversies are raging. You won’t likely use all this material in your article, but it’s all useful as you piece together a context for this place you’re visiting.

4) Talk with locals. No matter where you are -- in a bar, a café, a shop, a taxi -- strike up a conversation with a local. Ask directions. Ask for suggestions about what you might do or where you might eat. Inquire as to how things have changed in the past decade or more. Ask this person where he or she takes family and friends who visit.

5) Shop with locals. Poke your head into as many “tourist” shops as you like, but make sure you also spend some time where the locals shop. Go to a grocery store and pay attention to what’s on offer. Investigate an outdoor market or a hardware store. By paying attention to how the locals shop, what they buy, and how much things cost, you’ll uncover all sorts of interesting quirks you’d never find out if all you shopped for were t-shirts, snow-globes, and fridge magnets.

6) Get into a local’s home. I’m not suggesting you climb in a window! Get yourself invited for tea or lunch or dinner... or just a quick tour. It’s amazing what you’ll learn once you step over a threshold into the private world tourists never see. You’ll instantly know more about people’s priorities, about how they order their lives... indeed, maybe a good bit about how that society is ordered. Here, again, notice how things look, feel, taste, and smell. (How do you get invited in, you ask? I promise: Strike up conversations, and you’ll be surprised at how hospitable people become.)

7) Travel more. The more you travel, the more places you see, the better able you’ll be to distinguish something that’s really unusual. You’ll develop a more well-rounded perspective. And you’ll gain something else there’s no other way to come by: judgment.

Read about Jennifer Stevens' amazing course, The Ultimate Travel Writer's Course.

Related learning materials:

The Ultimate Travel Writer's Course

As you'll see from my review, I love this course. In fact, I was so impressed and excited by it, I'm going to take it myself. (And I'm the kind of person who maybe takes a course about once every five years.) Read my full review here...

Michael Masterson's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting

Improve your copywriting skills and enter the very lucrative market for direct marketing copywriters. This is a comprehensive course and my #1 recommendation for anyone who wants to learn how to write copy that drives results. Read my in-depth review

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