How Many Years Does It Take to Become a Travel Writer

Travel writing — for many it may audio similar a dream job, but it comes with its own challenges! Enter Kristin Luna, travel writer & truth-teller! She was kind enough to respond some of my questions about what it really means to be a travel writer, & you might be surprised at what you read!

Past the way, her personal travel weblog, Camels & Chocolate, is fantastic! I just had a large read through & love it, information technology'southward very inspiring & it reminds me to do more travelling!

Tell us about what you do.

I'one thousand a travel writer. I travel anywhere from 5 to seven months out of the year for a diversity of guidebook, magazine and paper assignments. I likewise accept a lot of pictures–more as a hobby and a scrapbook of my travels than anything–and I also pen a personal travel blog on the side.

What does an average day at piece of work look similar for you?

Information technology varies by the day–that's what I love about my task. When I'thou at home in San Francisco, I spend mornings in front of the estimator pitching, researching and writing stories, and often afternoons and evenings coming together with visiting tourism officials or attending media events.

While on the route, my "average" mean solar day can consist of anything from mingling with sharks in the Bahama islands to swimming in the Arctic Ocean in a bikini to gorilla trekking in Rwanda.

Practice you work alone or with other people?

When I'1000 not traveling, I spend almost days alone in my home office. I interact with my editors via e-mail, of course, but I become hours without speaking an aural word to everyone. It tin be solitary at times, but that's why my husband and I recently adopted a Maltese puppy–now I have a abiding companion!

While on the road, there are always people around–whether other travel writers or bout guides helping me with a story or interviewees. Information technology's the all-time of both worlds, I think: I spend a lot of time interacting with people in other parts of the the world, but I too go my tranquillity fourth dimension, too.

Is this what yous wanted to exercise every bit a kid? Did you stop up in this job by "accident" or was information technology a planned career choice?

E'er since I was two years old and dictated my showtime "book" (well-nigh Disney princesses, naturally) to my female parent, I've said I wanted to exist a writer. By the age of 14, I knew I would major in journalism once I went to higher, and then I started out with gigs and internships at local newspapers. Information technology never really occurred to me, though, until I hit my early on 20s that I could travel full fourth dimension doing what I dearest, writing, and telephone call it a career. When I was in college, I landed my first weekly travel cavalcade and, a twelvemonth later while living in Europe, scored my first guidebook contract with Frommer's. It took awhile to make travel writing a total-time paid job, only once I figured it out, I knew I was doing what I was meant to do!

How long agone did y'all start on this path?

I've been working in some grade of journalism for virtually 14 years now. Travel, in particular, has been my focus for the past six.

How long were you doing information technology before yous made it into your career or primary grade of income?

I started foraying into travel about six years ago. At the time, I was working in New York at a fashion magazine past twenty-four hours and covering the cherry carpet circuit for a variety of women's and entertainment magazines by night. I wrote all my freelance travel manufactures in my "downtime" (i.e. when I wasn't working on anything in the office or else at home on weekends). Travel writing is a very difficult industry to pause into–and doesn't pay that much in the showtime–so it was important that I had a steady stream of income while I was getting my feet wet. Having what were substantially 2 full-time jobs while getting started allowed me to beget to do just that.

I still accept the occasional women's magazine consignment, editing gig or glory effect as supplemental income. One matter y'all must acknowledge upfront if you want to be a travel writer is that it's never going to be a particularly lucrative career; therefore, I rarely say no to a not-travel assignment that lands in my lap. But, for me, the benefits of doing what I practice far outweigh a lofty salary.

Did anything pregnant happen to become you lot to that indicate, or was information technology a series of pocket-size steps?

All small steps. The media manufacture is tiny–sometimes alarmingly so–so I'd exercise ane big project for i editor, who would then refer me to an editor at another mag, and slowly my career snowballed from at that place.

What kind of education do y'all have?

I have a available'south of science in journalism and electronic media from the University of Tennessee, with minors in magazine writing, newspaper journalism and photography. I studied abroad during my inferior yr at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and I'grand pretty certain information technology was that semester and the solo backpacking I did earlier the course that cemented my love for travel. I was fortunate to grow upward with a mom who loved to travel and took my sister and I all over the United States, but prior to that semester, the only international travel I'd done was to England, Italia, Mexico and the Caribbean. After graduating, I completed a one-year mail service-graduate degree in international journalism and world politics in Kingdom of the netherlands and Kingdom of denmark, though to be honest, that was just an excuse to alive abroad again and get some more traveling under my belt. But I met my husband through that very programme, so I'd say it paid off in the stop!

Do you lot think official qualifications are important for someone entering your manufacture?

In all forms of journalism, it's more about experience and less about education. I think everyone should go to undergrad and get some sort of degree in the media field to make certain it's what they actually desire to do, but in most cases, any degree higher than that doesn't necessarily pay off if yous simply desire to be a author or an editor. Rather, it often sets you back: While you're out spending another year or two in a classroom, your peers, your contest, are out getting a leg up on you by working and gaining actual field feel. Having a few internships is very necessary in landing a staff chore. A lot of full-time staffers were likewise first in-house freelancers, and so that'southward another way to go–trying to get a temporary gig as a researcher or copy editor–if you can't make it the door the traditional way.

And sadly it is a field that is much about "who you know," and then networking is crucial. I knew no one when I first moved to New York, but continued with two alumni from my university who helped me land interviews in the showtime. 1 of those interviews resulted in a job at Newsweek.

For travel specifically, having a region y'all specialize in, an expanse you lot know inside and out–whether it's where you currently live or have spent pregnant amounts of time in the by–is key. Now that I've established myself as a California "expert," I oft have magazines approach me about doing stories from San Francisco, LA and Vino Country. Aiming to specialize in areas that are either remote–like Nepal, where there aren't a whole lot of English language-fluent travel writers on tap–or are widely covered, like London are Paris, are smart moves. If international travel is your want, knowing multiple languages plainly helps significantly.

If you went to school, did you enjoy studying? Could you run across where information technology might atomic number 82 you at the time? What advice would you give to someone else who might be studying to become into your industry?

I loved every last one of my journalism school classes, from copy editing to broadcast reporting. I would highly encourage anyone wanting to pursue a travel writing career, or merely journalism in general, to go to J-School and take equally many varied classes inside the field that you lot can. You lot might go in thinking you lot'd similar to be a features writer for a travel magazine but come out realizing the TV side of things is more for you.

What exercise you recall is the best matter about what you do?

I get to see the world on someone else'southward dime! I also would like to call up I'm a more open-minded, well-rounded individual thanks to all the places I've seen and people I've met. I grew upwards in a small community in the heart of the Bible Chugalug, where many people have never been west of the Mississippi, so my work has allowed me to expand my horizons a bit.

What's the worst thing?

People, without fail, tell you you lot accept "the dream job." And certain there are parts of it that stone. Merely–merely similar with any job–there are parts that suck, too. My friends tend to meet the amazing trips I go to keep, simply not know the eighteen-hour days I log, all the hotels I have to inspect, tourism officials I meet with, the hours tardily at night and very early on in the forenoon before my day even begins where I'm stuck in front of a calculator trying to come across deadlines, the days of sitting in my abode office in San Francisco when I'k not really traveling, the pitching a story 27 times before someone finally shows interest. I'1000 never really off the clock. I pretty much piece of work in some form or some other vii days a calendar week, and it'southward hard to separate my piece of work and professional person life–much to the dismay of my husband, who would like more of my undivided attention.

You also accept to exist set up to pack up and become at a moment'south notice, or be willing to pull all-nighters for several days directly when an editor offers yous a last minutes assignment with a quick turnaround. In essence, it may audio like a fun job, which it is some of the time, merely it's not all lounging on beaches and staying in five-star resorts. And it's tough to maintain some semblance of normalcy or a routine in your home base if yous're ever on the go.

Would yous telephone call yourself a workaholic, & if so, are you alright with that? Do you think that'due south normal for your industry?

Without a incertitude, yep. I'd like to be less of a workaholic, but in the current land of the media where page space is limited and publications have slashed their rates, I find myself doing double the work I was doing two years ago for no more money. I do think this is fairly standard in my manufacture–especially now with the number of magazines that have folded and jobs that accept been cut in the last three years.

What would your number 1 suggestion be for someone who wants to do what you do?

Get out there and travel on your ain beginning. Know that it'due south what you want to exercise before you pursue it equally a career, because one thing's for certain: It will exist a long metaphorical route ahead of you should you choose this path. As an unknown writer, no one is going to pay to send you around the world. In the showtime, you need to accept an initial pool of trips from which to write. You don't have to frazzle your savings fund to do it either. When I was starting out, I did a lot of cheap backpacking past using CouchSurfing as a means to stay in many unlike countries for free.

…How virtually number two?

Intern. Don't ever say no to an opportunity, even if it pays very trivial or not at all. Nothing's going to be handed to you on a argent platter–not in the travel writing earth. You have to be scrappy to arrive in this industry.

Start a weblog. Fifty-fifty if no one reads information technology, information technology will go you lot in a habit of writing daily–and y'all never know who in the manufacture might stumble upon information technology and be impressed by your writing panache.

What do you wish you had known when you lot showtime started out?

That people will do what they have to to get ahead. Hailing from the Southward, I was pre-wired to give anybody the do good of the doubt and presume that all people had good intentions, and that came back to kick me in the ass many times. Have a thick pare, and expect out for yourself. I won't say don't trust anyone, simply definitely watch out who you do. Again, it's a minor manufacture–particularly the mag globe–and people will have no qualms with slandering your name if it ways they go something in return. It's pitiful but unfortunately truthful.

Are there any major misconceptions nigh your chore or industry?

That it'south piece of cake. That's it's not really "a job." Often, people just see the travel side of things and remember I "holiday for a living." The travel is the easy role–well, jetlag and insane amounts of fourth dimension spent inside airports and planes aside–the fun stuff if you will. The hours of time spent behind a computer trying to sell your piece of work, meet ridiculous deadlines and condense a 2-week trip into one,000 words–or much less–is when it gets hard.

People also tend to call back that a) I must go to fly first class everywhere (I wish!) and b) I must have mega miles. Not true on either part. If I'm on an assignment, the person footing the nib picks the airline (the cheapest seat and nearly convenient route, I imagine), and when I wing for personal reasons, I always current of air upward buying the most inexpensive ticket out at that place. What this means is that I practice have hundreds of thousands of miles, simply they're scattered amidst a skillful 10 airlines or so, which doesn't do me much good at all!

Do you lot ever have whatsoever ethical dilemmas with the work you practice?

For certain. Magazines and guidebook companies are hardly footing writers' bills anymore, meaning we often rely on comps from boards of tourism, hotels and restaurants. Obviously, when a hotel knows you're coming, they are going to try to bear witness you their best side. Y'all have to keep this in mind when writing your review. Thus, I always similar to read a diversity of consumer feedback from sites similar Trip Advisor to see what other people recall. That said, I've been to some places where I was staying for free and didn't end upwards writing about–or else, wrote bad things, the truth–because they only weren't up to par. If a place sucks, I'thousand not going to say dainty things only because they put me up for the night. Merely I recollect a lot of travel writers do, which is why people frequently question what nosotros write–and rightly so.

Companies also like to approach journalists to review products, and specially now with the far reach of the Internet, so many writers and bloggers are eager to take the product and write a glowing review in exchange for gratuitous stuff. Not me. I get a lot of these requests through my web log. I'm not a free billboard. I'm happy to sell ad space or write upward products I use on a regular basis or am truly passionate most, simply nine times out of 10 I decline such offers.

What is the all-time thing that'south happened to yous every bit a outcome of the piece of work yous do?

I learned to scuba dive. I was deathly agape of the ocean until I went to the Republic of the maldives on an assignment a few years ago and was coaxed into diving on a cartel, more or less. Today, I effort to program the majority of trips around where I tin swoop–my husband and I went to Borneo on our honeymoon to practice just that–and never would have imagined I could turn my crippling fear into an all-consuming passion.

What motivates you to keep doing what y'all're doing?

Knowing that there's still so much of the world to come across. Terminal I counted, I'd visited in the neighborhood of fourscore countries, which means I've nevertheless to explore a good two-thirds of the earth!

Who practise you lot wait upward to within your industry & why?

Andrew Evans. He'due south a fellow travel writer, who is at present a contributing editor for National Geographic Traveler, and he's such a hustler and gets things done. For example, his lifelong dream was to go to Antarctica, and he made that happen this bound by coming up with this fascinating concept in which he spent ten weeks taking a series of buses from DC to the tip of Due south America, and then boarded a Nat Geo boat that sailed the Antarctic ocean. I loved following his Twitter and video footage on his journey; he's just then poetic and tin can really convey the spirit of a identify in a mere 140 characters. I'g too a fan of the work of Andrew McCarthy–yes, that Andrew McCarthy. He recently nabbed the biggest award in the travel industry, and it was much deserved!

Rate how happy you lot are with what y'all do out of 100 (100 beingness the best, 0 being devastatingly awful) on an average day.

eighty. I'd like to be doing more long-form features and less 200-give-and-take pieces here and there, but information technology's all about paying one'south ante, right?

Is there much career progression available to you lot? What would you like to do next?

Eventually–like, x years down the line–I see myself doing less commercial travel writing and delving more than into the humanitarian side of things, every bit well as lesser known cultures and their people. I'd as well like to pen volume-length travel narratives, like Bill Bryson, but peradventure with more a fictional slant.

Practise yous think yous'll continue doing this for the residuum of your life?

I will definitely be continuing to travel–and for a task–in one class or the other for every bit long every bit I continue to piece of work. Ditto to writing. Whether or not magazines specifically are my future depends largely on the outcome of the industry and whether or not it can survive the Internet take over. My fingers are crossed!

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