Continue cruising
Posted: January 22, 2013 Contents: Chapter 3 | Tags: cruise, cruise safety, tom stieghorst, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel safety, travel weekly, travel writer, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 3 discusses the importance of cruising to travel readers. The cruise industry is in need of some good news after the tragic sinking of the Costa Concordia. 2013 may be the turn around the industry is looking for according to Travel Weekly. Tom Stieghorst of TW reports,
Deployments in 2013 will feature more cruise segments that can be combined into longer voyages. Celebrity Cruises, for example, will offer more short cruises in Europe that can be paired with a second short cruise with a different set of port calls.
2013 may give cruise readers more to read about.
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.
Sleep capsules
Posted: November 19, 2012 Contents: Resources | Tags: frugal, frugal traveler, japanese capsule rooms, pods, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel on a shoestring, travel technology Leave a comment »Resources gives the travel journalist advice on how to travel on a shoestring. Pod hotels are listed as a resource to consider in order to sleep comfortably for a considerably low rate. Taken a step further are the Japanese capsule rooms. The rooms are about 3 ¼ feet wide and 6 ½ feet long – just enough for a bed, a small lcd tv, an alarm clock built into the wall, and free wifi. These tiny rooms go for about $46 a night. Perfect for any backpacker.
Cruise story: Safety
Posted: November 19, 2012 Contents: Chapter 3 | Tags: beverly beyette, costa concordia, cruise, cruise safety, l.a. times, la times, latimes.com, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel safety, travel writer, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 3 gives the travel journalist angles to pursue while writing a travel story about cruising. With the recent sinking of the cruise ship “Costa Concordia” another topic to consider is safety. Here’s a bit from Beverly Beyette’s article for the L.A. Times:
It’s a cruise vacation, promising lots of fine dining and drinking, new adventures and relaxation. What could go wrong?
As the 4,200 people aboard the cruise ship Costa Concordia found, just about everything. The Jan. 13 capsizing of the Concordia off the coast of Italy, in which at least 11 people died, caught the world — including the cruise ship industry and its passengers — off guard and is shining a spotlight on cruise ship safety concerns.
Is it possible for today’s megaships — some hold as many as 6,000 passengers —…
Poverty tourism
Posted: November 19, 2012 Contents: Chapter 3 | Tags: ethics, journalist ethics, moni basu, poverty travel, travel ethics, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel writer, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 3 explains a dilemma travel journalists face when exploring stories about poverty. Can the journalists contribute to the impoverished or are they gazing at subjects as in a zoo? CNN.com writer Moni Basu explains a recent trip to India and her thoughts on poverty travel.
Others in the group also tell me that this is an India they might not have otherwise seen. And maybe they were wiser for it, sensitized to problems that can be unimaginable back home.
How can that be bad? There’s no better way to learn about a place, after all, than to experience it.
Still, as the foreigners turn in their donations for Salaam Baalak Trust, I can’t help but think about the day for what it was: a tour of poverty. And hasty, I think. In all of less than two hours, our look at others’ lives is over. The only people I have spoken to are connected to Salaam Baalak Trust…
Expatriates going home
Posted: November 19, 2012 Contents: Chapter 2 | Tags: expatriates, julia preston, new york times, new york times travel, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel writer Leave a comment »Chapter 2 discusses the expatriate as a fast-growing nontraditional audience for travel journalism. That may be changing. Countries are calling their expatriates back home. Julia Preston of the New York Times explains in an article,
Returning scholars and business people are offered housing subsidies and tax exemptions to locate new enterprises in government-designated districts. One program is designed to attract Chinese expatriates who hold overseas patents in specialized science fields, the report found. China is also recruiting Chinese managers in high-level positions in non-Chinese companies.
Federal policy and the traveler
Posted: November 19, 2012 Contents: Chapter 2 | Tags: adie tomer, brookings institution metropolitian policy program, federal regulations traveler, robert puentes, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel research, travel writer, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 2 warns the travel journalist of the cost of traveling. In addition to price the travel journalist should be concerned with United States Federal policy. According to Adie Tomer and Robert Puentes from Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program,
federal regulations restrict competition and complicate travel in and out of the country. Even with major deregulation in 1978, the United States still prohibits international airlines from operating domestic routes. With domestic airlines consolidating routes and leaving many communities with fewer direct flights, does it make sense to restrict carrier options for these communities?
These are some of the major federal policies that affect travelers. Policies eventually trickle down and affect pricing. The frugal travel journalist should also beware of…
More to blogging
Posted: November 5, 2012 Contents: Chapter 5 | Tags: duct tape marketing, ducttapemarketing.com, john jantsch, search engine optimization, seo, travel blog, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel technology, travel writing Leave a comment »Getting published is no longer just about sending letters to magazine and newspaper editors. According to John Jantsch, an author and contributor at ducttapemarketing.com, blogging isn’t enough anymore either. Jantsch offers this advice on how to have an easily accessible optimized blog:
I believe the best approach currently and in the foreseeable future calls for a 2-prong strategy to content development that feeds both readers and spiders. I believe that we must create what I’m calling classes of content that address the growing demand for real-time updates and long-term sustainability. When I talk about classes I’m talking about how we build, display, link to and optimize our content. I believe we need develop content strategies along these two classes: attraction content and foundation content
Dealing with editors
Posted: October 23, 2012 Contents: Chapter 5 | Tags: editors, Julie Schwietert, matador network, matadornetwork.com, relationship with editors, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel journalist editor, travel magazine editor, travel writer, travel writing, travel writing editor Leave a comment »Chapter 5 delves into the pitching and getting published process. Julie Schwietert of the Matador Network shows the writer how to properly develop a relationship with an editor before getting work published. Schwietert also gives the writer advice on how to deal with negative feedback from editors. Here’s a bit of her advice,
They change words in your story- or even reshape it entirely.
How to respond
Try to react to this situation with as little ego investment as possible. These types of decisions aren’t intended to cramp your style–otherwise the editor wouldn’t have worked with you in the first place. Understand that editorial decisions reflect a complex algebra of factors, including the editor’s understanding of the publication’s goals, audience, and even finances; many of these variables won’t be clear to you at all. If something really rubs you…
Add Google+Local to arsenal of travel apps and gadgets
Posted: October 3, 2012 Contents: Resources | Tags: dennis schaal, travel apps, travel gadgets, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel technology, travel writing, usa today, usa today travel Leave a comment »Resources mentions four Gadgets and Apps Every Travel Journalist Should Carry. Tack on Google+ Local. Travel.usatoday.com’s Dennis Schaal offers this description:
“If you’re traveling and looking for a restaurant, hotel or attraction, then Google has revamped its local-business search results through the prism of restaurant-review specialist Zagat and Google+, its own social network and answer to Facebook.”
