Travel writers on the road balance research, observations & interviews while writing when inspiration strikes. Photo by: Pedro Ribeiro Simoes
It’s hard to pinpoint a “typical” day in the life of a travel writer, since the nature of the gigs varies so wildly. Some travel writers go on assignment for 48 hours, others a week or two months.
But one thing is constant: whether they’re white-water rafting down the Colorado River or hopping neighborhood cafes in Paris, travel writers pack a lot into a research day.
A travel writer’s day starts early and ends late. To best manage your time, schedule ahead your on-the-ground research days, packing in meetings while being realistic about the amount of ground you can cover.
I learned the hard way once how long it can take to drive the DC beltway.
Nine Planning Tips for Travel Writers:
Early birds catch words. Set your alarm and hit the ground running – morning is one of the best times for a writer to tackle key tasks, like writing up yesterday’s notes, eyeballing that day’s schedule, posting blog updates or emailing editors. Morning is a great time to take the pulse of a destination, too.
Take care of business, but be willing to follow your muse. Morning hours can be some of the most inspiring for creating copy. Our minds are fresh in the AM and creative inspiration may strike before the hectic research day starts to demand our time.
Be open to spontaneous exploration – or take it a step further and schedule in “free time.” It’s great to plan out any trip, for work or pleasure. But sometimes the best travel experiences are the unplanned ones.
Hit places when most people don’t. Eat a late breakfast, and then go to museums about 30 minutes after the doors open. You’ll slip in behind the school groups that had queued up for the morning opening, and you’ll have the place comparatively to yourself.
When touring museums, like the Tate Modern or Centre Georges Pompidou, chat with the teachers and students – they’ll give you great perspectives to use in your piece.
Take café breaks. I like to hit the pause button and regroup in mid-afternoon, to review notes from the morning, capture follow-up thoughts and write some draft paragraphs with research details firmly in mind. I check emails, make calls, catch up on news and confirm my agenda for the rest of the day.
Observe other café patrons for a sense of the zeitgeist, those common threads that people are talking about. Fuel up on coffee or chai and head back out for the rest of your day.
Line up interviews. Try to book time with curators or docents for behind-the-scenes insights on those museums and galleries. Tour Brooklyn Bridge Park with media representatives who can show how development plans will help the park will evolve over time.
Try to catch local chefs in the early afternoon, when lunch has wrapped up but before the dinner prep kicks in.
When interviewing people, whether planned or spontaneously, let them know who you’re writing for, and start them off with a couple softball questions. Establish trust with your interview subjects, and make them comfortable before asking anything potentially sensitive.
A great question to ask when you’re starting to wind down your interview is an open-ended one, that’s also direct:
“Is there anything else you think our readers should know about?”
You’d be surprised — this invitation to speak freely can lead to some of your best quotes.
For hotels, the sweet spot is between 12-3: After checkout, but before new guests start rolling in. Try to see a representative room if you can. You can let them know you’re a travel writer and hope the transparency goes both ways (you want to see a sample room, not a showcase one), or opt to ‘secret shop,’ to see how the property engages with the general public.
For a great window onto a hotel, consider telling them you’re looking to book a block of rooms for an upcoming wedding or event, and ask to see a couple of different room categories, like the corner suite and a standard double. How they react to you will say a lot about how they’ll treat the public.
Dine at Happy Hour. You’ll stretch your travel dollar, beat the dinner crowds and have a good window onto how a restaurant comes alive with the night – or doesn’t, a red flag indeed.
When you’re reviewing restaurants, consider more than just food – setting and atmosphere go a long way too. If you don’t get a chance to eat at every place, consider asking a couple people leaving the restaurant what they thought.
Happy hour by its nature is a social time, great for striking up conversations with locals to get insights direct from the source.
Hotel bars are another good place to chat with travelers, who are often happy to connect and share their perspectives – and may lead you to new story ideas in different destinations.
What are some of your best practices and suggestions for making the most of your travel writer day?