Writing About Your Travels

There are professional writers who spend all their working time writing travel articles or books. Anyone who travels, near or far, benefits from reading them. I doubt any of them are readers of my blog.

What about hobbyist writers like me? Can I write a travel article and submit it somewhere? Of course I can. And I have! You could do it, too, but there are a few things to keep in mind if you want to try this kind of writing. 

Decide if you want to write a travel piece with nothing but facts and figures or do you prefer the personal essay style, putting in your feelings, your experience as well as recommendations. This is the kind of travel writing that I have done. I like to share my experience but also include a reason that I would go to this place, to give the reader the desire to visit the same place at some time. 

I like to tell my reader why I am in this particular place, how it affected me, good or bad, and some little anecdote to make the piece personal. 

Keep a travel journal wherever you go. You'll be glad you did when you get home a week later and need to refer to it for some information you will include in what you write. If you had a strong emotion when visiting someplace, jot that in your journal, too. That is somethng you'll want to include in your article.

Don't wait too long after you return to write the article. That old 'strike while the iron is hot' comes into play here. Write while you are still excited about the place and the memories are fresh. 

Dave's Travel Corner is a website that publishes travel articles. It's been in existence since 1996. If you like to read about travels of other people, it's a super place to spend some time. If you want to submit a travel piece, check the submission page.  Many of the articles there are about exotic places but I don't think it is necessary to write about some foreign port. Places near your own home could offer enough for you to write about and submit. If you went to some really neat spot in Indiana, people from other areas might find it of interest. 

I've had two travel articles published at Dave's Travel Corner. You can read them here and here. The first one is about a hotel in a small town in Germany and the second highlights our visit to the town in Germany where my husband's grandfather grew up. I noticed that the guidelines ask for photos. When I sent my stories, photos were not requested so the photos with the stories are not my own.

I wrote about a special little village in Nova Scotia called Peggy's Cove. That article was published here. After visiting the UK and Ireland, I wrote a travel story about the food in the pubs in both places. It was published twice and also posted at Our Echo, a place where writers can post whatever they write. You can read Pub Fare in the UK and Ireland at Our Echo. I wrote it because the food ion the UK and Ireland has long been given a thumbs down, but we were pleasantly surprised during the time we spent there.

Maybe these samples of a few of my travel articles might give you some thoughts on doing the same and a bit of inspiration.