Category
Inner travel – working locally
Posted: January 22, 2013 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: backyard traveling, inner travel, local, matador network, matadornetwork.com, sarah menkedick, travel advice, travel blog, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel writer, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 4 discusses the importance of travel writing without the traveling. Sarah Menkedick of the Matador Network encourages the concept of “inner travel.” Menkedick describes the process of inner travel as
It is a full-on sensory experience that yanks all those dormant parts of oneself, the parts that go plodding through the day to day in familiar places without really seeing, to life. The best way to experience “inner travel,” the process of moving oneself out of a familiar mental space, is to take no detail for granted.
Real culture
Posted: January 22, 2013 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: local foreign culture, matador network, matadornetwork.com, sarah menkedick, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel writer, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 4 suggests several criteria to guide the travel journalist in bridging cultural divides. Sarah Menkedick of the Matador Network encourages the travel journalist to consider modern aspects of foreign culture as authentic. In her article Menkedick compares traditional Chinese culture symbolized by dumpling restaurants versus modern culture represented by adolescence pulling all nighters in the local McDonalds. In Menkedick’s view both equally represents the local culture. Here’s an excerpt:
This idea of authenticity often reinforces the same set of power relations travelers hope to undo: the control of dominant, technologically advanced, “modern” countries over more “primitive”, poor countries. Why is it that “modern” countries are free…
Rules to help writing
Posted: January 22, 2013 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: guardian.co.uk, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel skills, travel writer, travel writing, zadie smith Leave a comment »Chapter 4 outlines the essential skills and knowledge for the travel journalist. The guardian.co.uk put together a list of rules by Zadie Smith that may make any writer better. Here are a few of her rules,
- When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time doing this than anything else.
- When an adult, try to read your own work as a stranger would read it, or even better, as an enemy would.
- Don’t romanticise your “vocation”. You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no “writer’s lifestyle”. All that matters is what you leave on the page.
- Leave a decent space of time between writing something and editing it.
Step by step to bliss
Posted: November 19, 2012 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: andrea ross, conde nast travler, fixers, perrin's people, translator, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel language, travel research, travel specialist, travel writer, travel writing, wendy perrin Leave a comment »Chapter 4’s “Finding ‘Fixers’ for Translation, Logistics” introduced Andrea Ross, a travel specialist who’s arranged translators and guides for me across Southeast Asia. Ross is one of Wendy Perrin’s “Perrin’s People,” some 150 travel specialists Perrin regards as the best in the business. Perrin has been supplying this list to Conde Nast Traveler for the last 13 years. Ross returned this year as one of two travel specialists focused on Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Ross also is the subject of a step-by-step guide to using travel specialists written by Janet Nezhad Band. Though intended for travelers, the advice is relevant to travel journalists.
Air and rail combo
Posted: November 19, 2012 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: air and rail combos, christine negroni, new york times, save time and money travel, travel column, travel journalism, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 4 encourages the travel journalist to investigate the misery of air travel. The travel column of nytimes.com offers travelers another route, take the train. According to an article by Christine Negroni, travelers in Canada, France, Germany, and Spain are all leading hubs for air and rail combo travelers. Negroni’s advice can save the traveler time and money.
Air travelers in Canada, France, Germany and Spain may increasingly find that they are doing part of their journey on the ground, as airlines work with rail companies to sell tickets for combined trips.
A step ahead of the stomach ache
Posted: November 5, 2012 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: budget travel, budgettravel.com, Fran Golden, stay healthy while traveling, travel health, travel journalism, travel research, travel safety, travel sickness, travel tips, travel writer, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 4 offers brief advice on how to stay healthy while traveling. Budgettravel.com‘s Fran Golden offers similar advice coaching travelers on how to keep their stomach safe while traveling. Golden offers a few tips every traveler can remember to avoid being apart of the 50 percent of travelers that receive some type of stomach sickness while abroad, he advises:
- One easy rule of thumb: If your lodgings don’t allow you to flush toilet paper, don’t drink the water. It’s a sign you’re visiting a region with an unsafe water supply.
- As for food, “Boil it, peel it, or forget it” has been the standard recommendation. Make sure food is served piping hot. If it’s been left out to cool, it could be harboring a growing colony of bacteria.
- Fly from flies. Never eat food that isn’t protected from insects, which can contaminate even freshly cooked…
Safety first, deploy decoy wallet
Posted: October 28, 2012 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: christopher elliot, national geographic, safety travel tips, travel advice, travel journalism, travel safety, travel writer, travel writing 1 Comment »Chapter 4 gives the travel writer two pieces of pre-travel advice on safety while traveling. Christopher Elliott of The National Geographic adds to this advice by offering the writer tips to solve every crisis during travel. Elliot offers this bit:
Regardless of your locale, always watch your things when in a new place. Carry a throwaway wallet or decoy purse containing daily cash and old photos but nothing that would make you hesitate to hand it over in a holdup. Keep a credit card and cash in an inside pocket. 1. Hand over the fake wallet. 2. Notify the police.
Do not hesitate to hand over anything in a hold up, no material object is worth risking your life.
Lead, Pitch
Posted: October 28, 2012 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: craft perfect pitch, david miller, lead, matador network, matadornetwork.com, perfect pitch, pitch, travel journalism, travel journalist pitch, travel writer pitch, travel writing 1 Comment »Chapter 4 teaches the travel writer about different story elements. David Miller of the Matador Network offers advice to the travel writer on how to craft a perfect pitch. Miller discusses the importance of the Lead and how ultimately a good pitch can only get the writer so far. Miller offers six ways to improve the lead of the story a few are:
- Lead with the narrator in a problematic or overtly stressful situation.
- Lead with a disarmingly simple and short declarative sentence.
- Begin in-medias-res, with descriptions placing the reader in the middle of a scene.
Remember the lead must be able to capture the readers attention to force them to read the rest of the story.
Sharpen travel writing skills
Posted: October 20, 2012 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: how to become a serious travel writer, Julie Schwietert, matador network, matadornetwork.com, travel journalism, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 4 discusses reporting and writing skills. Julie Schwietert, of the Matador network, offers advice on how to become a serious travel writer. The majority of her advice is reflected in the text however she has these few tips to add:
- Learn when to break the writing rules you’ve been taught
- get a writing partner
- prepare for rejection
- invest in yourself
- develop other relevant skills
- learn how to use an anecdote
- there is no such thing as objectivity
Adhering to Schwietert’s advice is a sure way to sharpen the necessary tools to become a serious and effective travel writer.
