The 7 Rules of Travel Writing
Travel writing comes with many questions: What is the best way to share a destination? How do you strike a balance between your personal experience while weaving in the voices of locals? How do you avoid travel clichés in your writing and go beyond the “X Things to Do In [Insert Destination]” listicles?
(How My Travel Writing Strengthened My Fiction.)
As a Senior Travel editor and author of the forthcoming travel memoir Call You When I Land, my career is about capturing the magic of travel in words. In my upcoming book, I detail my journey to becoming a travel editor—candidly sharing the highs and lows of chasing this elusive dream around the globe. In my day-to-day work as an editor, I find myself working with freelance writers, considering pitches, and editing travel stories on a daily basis. From my years of working in the travel media industry, here are a few rules for aspiring travel writers.
Rule 1: Consider What Makes Your Story Unique
With the rise of AI services, such as ChatGPT, it has never been more important to bring a personal touch to the stories we write. While ChatGPT can whip out a subpar guide to visiting South Africa, it cannot tell the story of your unique experience whale-watching in Hermanus or riding the wine tram in Franschhoek.
I believe the future of travel writing will focus on personal narratives that capture a person’s unique experience, strike a balance between their story while offering a larger context to a destination, and weave in local voices. An example of such a story is one that I share in my travel memoir, in which I traveled to Bogota, Colombia (my homeland), to investigate a mysterious murder in my family that had haunted me since childhood. While this story was personal, I expanded my writing to explore the political situation in Colombia at the time to weave in other voices and let those elements add color to my own story.
Rule 2: Keep Track of Everything as You Travel
Being a travel writer is all about observation. As you move through the world, you do your best to capture the sights, sounds, smells, and feel of a destination so that a reader on the other side of the planet can be transported to, say, the streets of Vietnam. When I sought to write my travel memoir, I was lucky enough to have years of journals and diaries that could help transport me back to what it felt like to be lost in the Borneo Jungle, hike alone through Iguazú National Park in Argentina, and have my Jeep break down next to a pride of lions in Kenya.
These journals were essential in fueling my writing, so my best advice is to keep track of everything as you travel. Jot down anything that stands out to you: how it feels to be seeing that historic landmark in Paris, what it smells like to be lost in that food market in Colombia, what it sounds like to be crossing that busy road in Hanoi, and what it looks like in that safari camp in South Africa. These observations—even if just a few sentences—will be very helpful when writing your story.
Check out Nikki Vargas’ Call You When I Land here:
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Rule 3: Be Cognizant of How You Portray Other Cultures
As travel writers, we have the power to influence how our readers view destinations, how they choose to spend their time and money when traveling, and how people choose to move through a new country. That awesome power comes with a lot of responsibility, so it’s important to wield it wisely and be cognizant of how we speak about and portray traditions, cultures, and other people. Do your due diligence in reporting, layer in official sources, and (much to my next point) layer in local voices.
Rule 4: Better Yet, Include Local Voices
One of the pitfalls of travel writing is how frequently destinations are filtered through the lens of non-locals. I’ve received many pitches for definitive guides to a city that the writer has spent only a few days exploring. When writing from a place of authority about a destination you do not live in or have not spent ample time visiting, it’s crucial to weave in the expertise of local voices. Not only can those local voices share invaluable advice on how to authentically visit a destination mindfully, but it’s important to allow those local voices to be a part of a story about their home.
Rule 5: Avoid Descriptive Clichés
Too often, the same phrases are peppered throughout travel articles to describe certain scenes. Phrases like: lush greenery, charming towns, crystal clear seas, and sun-kissed beaches. These phrases are popular to use because they do such a good job of invoking an image of a certain place, but the thing is, they are used so often that they’ve lost their luster.
Instead, I encourage travel writers to try and describe a destination in a way that is unique to their experience. It’s harder, yes, but a unique description leaves a lasting impression on your reader. This is something that I continue to remind myself of and work on myself!
Rule 6: Consider the Publication You’re Writing For
As a travel writer, it’s important to remember the publication you’re writing for or hoping to write for. Each publication has its own voice, tone, style, and focus. One of the things I look for in pitches is whether the writer has taken the time to familiarize themselves with the publication, ensure the story they’re pitching hasn’t already been published, and put thought into how their story idea fits our audience.
Rule 7: Travel Writing Can Go Beyond Travel
Travel writing can be much more than a destination guide. Some of the best travel writing stories I’ve read are articles and books that not only transport a reader to a destination, but offer a layered look at a place. Don’t be afraid to go beyond tourist activities or travel tips in your writing to explore the nuances of a destination, whether that means diving into its politics or examining its culture. Just make sure to weave in local sources!