Know when it’s time to head home
Posted: September 30, 2012 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: know when to go home, matador network, matadornetwork.com, spencer klein, travel journalism, travel writing, traveling home Leave a comment »The three-by-three model discussed in Chapter 4 guides the travel journalist through the process of traveling. Included in the process is the preparation to travel, the reporting trip, then writing and publishing. Matador Network author, Spencer Klein, offers advice to readers on the exact opposite: how to know when it’s time to stop traveling and go home.
When the existential satisfaction of open time and nothingness and learning for learning’s sake gives way to distant thoughts and a yearning for routine, that’s a good sign you want to head home.
Some of Klein’s eight signs it’s time to stop traveling and go home include:
You are rationing salted peanuts, you’ve just sold your pocket knife, and last but certainly not least: you’ve agreed to write a copy for the BuenaVista Condo Development marketing brochure.
From layaway to house swapping: Options for self funding
Posted: September 30, 2012 Contents: Chapter 7 | Tags: budget travel, budgettravel.com, cheap travel, Fran Golden, house swapping, layaway, saving money on travel, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel writing Leave a comment »“How much will it cost?” Is often the first question following an idea to travel. Chapter 7 discusses the funding opportunities for the travel journalist and like Chapter 7, BudgetTravel.com’s Fran Golden investigates unique methods to saving money as a traveler.
The first method is a form of self funding:
Layaway. It’s not just for buying those expensive Christmas gifts anymore. Travelers are able to put down a deposit on a trip and pay continuously until the trip is paid for. Sites like Searsvacations.com, elayaway.com and Gate 1 Travel offer these types of services.
Golden also offers advice on obtaining lodging fairly inexpensively. Sites like homeexchange.com and digsville.com allow travelers to swap homes with a local resident of the desired destination who is also planning a trip to the journalist’s home.
Ask and you shall receive — travel savings
Posted: September 26, 2012 Contents: Resources | Tags: budget travel, budgettravel.com, deanna cioppa, frugal, frugal traveler, travel experts, travel journalism, travel savings, travel writing Leave a comment »One way to save money? Talking. BudgetTravel.com’s Deanna Cioppa advises that simple human to human interactions can lead to discounts on airfare, lodging and cruises.
The author asked several travel experts for simple questions travelers should be asking to save money. Some of the questions include:
- Is there an upgrade available?
- Are you running any local deals?
- Is there a tourism card available?
Some of these questions seem like no brainers but often times travelers forget, are too intimidated, or think its useless to ask them. According to experts, start asking these questions to ensure a more complete, inexpensive trip. Besides, it won’t hurt to ask.
Writing about home as a destination for others
Posted: September 26, 2012 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: backyard, karen gibson, stay home travel, travel journalism, travel writers exchange, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 4 offers this advice to journalists who wish to write about destinations but cannot afford either the cost or time it takes to travel: write about your home as a destination. But who wants to read about your boring old town, right? According to Karen Gibson of Travel Writers Exchange, many readers do.
One may think that their own backyard is dull and lacks excitement but, as Gibson points out, chances are people that live on a Caribbean island or in Paris probably don’t think their homes are exotic either. The author advises that travel writers do not have to stick to traditional travel publications as outlets for this work work. Rather, look to other publications about lifestyle, retirement, parenting, and food to diversify outlets and increase the chances to be published.
Getting it wrong on jet lag
Posted: August 27, 2012 Contents: Resources | Tags: jet lag, new york times, stephanie rosenbloom, travel journalism, travel writing 1 Comment »A New York Times travel advice column got it wrong on one aspect of jet lag.
Stephanie Rosenbloom, the Getaway columnist, advised that when flying east…
you must expose yourself to light early, advancing your body clock so that it will be in sync with the new time zone.
That’s the opposite of what experts advise, as the example she cited points out. When flying east, you should delay exposing yourself to light so as to retard your body clock’s syncing with the new time zone.
This isn’t new advice: I remember reading 15 years ago about air travelers from the U.S. arriving in London wearing welder’s goggles until noon or thereafter. Dark sunglassses are just as effective — and more fashionable.
SmartBrief, a news feed for travel aggregators
Posted: August 25, 2012 Contents: Chapter 6 | Tags: aggregation, asta, smartbrief, travel aggregators, travel blog, travel journalism, travel writing 1 Comment »Aggregation, or “curation” as some bloggers prefer it, is the practice of blogging about content created by others.
Most aggregators set up feeds that push content to them. SmartBrief is a daily e-newsletter that pushes content about 25 key industries — including travel. Ten travel-related associations have signed on as partners with SmartBrief to add its advertising messages to the content SmartBrief aggregates and email to subscribers. It’s free, current and useful.
I subscribe to the ASTA-partnered feed and find at least one thing of value daily.
A new approach to the three-by-three model
Posted: August 25, 2012 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: McDonalds, three-by-three model, travel journalism, travel writing 8 Comments »The three-by-three model described in Chapter 4 accomplishes two imperatives for the travel journalist. One is journalistic excellence. The other is journalistic efficiency. In other words, get as much good stuff as possible for the least investment of time and money.
The model proposes that the travel journalist report, write and publish (or prepare to publish) three stories over a three-week cycle. Week One is at-home pre-work. Week Two is the reporting trip. Week Three is back-at-home writing and publishing.
I explored a variant of the model during a recent reporting trip to Prague. I was there to test-drive TOL’s Foreign Correspondent course. The at-home pre-work assignment was to come up with a story idea. Instead of three stories — one sure thing, a story that emerges from serendipity, and a story based on gathering string — as…
New edition of best “how-to” text published
Posted: August 25, 2012 Contents: Resources | Tags: jacqueline harmon butler, louis purwin zobel, the travel writers handbook, travel journalism, travel writing Leave a comment »I advised in Resources that travel journalists with time to read just one of the “how-to” texts should order The Travel Writer’s Handbook: How to Write — and Sell — Your Own Travel Experiences. That was the 6th edition, published in 2007, in which Louise Purwin Zobel and Jacqueline Harmon Butler provided comprehensive, coherent, accessible advice.
A 7th edition was published in April 2012, and is stronger in several ways. Most importantly, this edition recognizes that opportunities to publish in print are in decline, and most new opportunities are to be found online.
Butler handled the new edition on her own. Zobel died in June 2008.
