GoMad Nomad Travel

A review of Tim Leffel’s Travel Writing 2.0

By Isabel Eva Bohrer

Pull up Google and type in an SEO rich phrase: “How to Become a Travel Writer.” A barrage of pages advertising travel writing as a dream career will come your way. “Get Paid to Travel” is the basic message. Stay in luxury hotels for free as you are wined and dined in the most exclusive restaurants. It seems too good to be true; why would anyone want to do anything else?

In his latest book, TRAVEL WRITING 2.0: Earning Money from your Travels in the New Media Landscape award-winning travel writer Tim Leffel debunks the stereotypes, stripping the profession down to its myths and realities. As the author of hundreds of articles, three travel books, several travel blogs and the editor of an award-winning webzine Perceptive Travel, Leffel knows the industry inside out. But what really makes him unique is that, as Chuck Thompson puts it, he “not only has all the fact, but isn’t afraid to share them.”

Travel Writing 2.0 is a fundamental resource for any writer seeking to do exactly what the subtitle says: “earning money from your travels in the new media landscape.” In a casual and humorous tone, Leffel gives a rundown of the industry, and how it has changed with the advent of the internet, blogs, social media, in short: the 2.0 world. In fact, Leffel’s book itself is the physical encapsulation of such developments; available as an E-book or an ODP (On Demand Publishing) paperback, Travel Writing 2.0 does nothing less than place itself in the 2.0 market.

In just under 250 pages, Leffel offers a well laid-out strategic plan for the aspiring travel writer. From authoring guidebooks to penning print for Trade magazines, every aspect of the travel writing profession is addressed with its advantages and disadvantages. Leffel presents the situation as it is: a competitive market in which a writer needs to find his or her niche. He portrays the perks while putting us through a reality-check. Clearly, “Get Paid to Travel” is too simple of a description for the entire profession.

What’s great is that Leffel isn’t the only one who talks in Travel Writing 2.0. Quotes from over fifty other travel writers embellish and emphasize his points. To top it off, the book ends with an entire section dedicated to useful print and online resources. It’s an easy read but a lot of information to put into action.

Feel the need to get going? If you’re still waiting for the book to arrive from Amazon, sign up for the accompanying blog on www.travelwriting2.com. Learn from Leffel, and maybe in a decade or three, you will actually be staying in a five star hotel, for free. If you’re looking to do that any sooner, get a job that will actually pay the bills from the start.

Isabel Eva Bohrer is a freelance writer and photographer who has dispatched articles from over twenty countries across five continents. In homage to the Spanish capital, she currently publishes MADbudget: The Ultimate Guide to Madrid. Learn more about her work at www.isabelevabohrer.com.

By Stephen Bugno

Here are some practical tips to improving your travel and your writing.

Get the details

Photo Credit: Roz Abbotts

Write descriptions of the five senses. A big mistake in my past 22 years of travel journaling (I started keeping a journal on a family vacation to the Southwest U.S. when I was seven years old at my mother’s strong suggestion) was not capturing the details.

I’m the kind of writer who likes to write about my travel experiences after they have digested. I get a better sense of the magnitude of the events as they fit into my life and the trip, and the publication I’m writing for, long after they have occurred.

But three months after the fact, when I want to write about that four days in a Nicaraguan village living with Sandinistas, I need to able to look back into my journal and read the details of the chirping chicks and squealing piglets that woke me up in the morning, the pungent smell of the burning rubbish piles, and the colorful hand-painted signs hung around the community.

Get quotes down

Another thing I’m really bad at: remembering quotes. I need to take my own advice here and carry a notepad or a small tape recorder. Write those quotes down ASAP. During practically all of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Love Pray, I was asking myself, “How did she remember all these long, detailed conversations?”

Elizabeth…if you are out there… how did you remember all those quotes?

Write every day

I have a bad history of getting behind on my journal. At the end of the day running around Madrid art museums, churches, cafes and clubs, I’m either too tired or too drunk, and chances are, you are too. Whip out that journal during your morning coffee or at coffee number two, or even at coffee number three. Write during the day when you are awake, alert, and sober.

Back it up

The days of Paul Theroux mailing back photocopies of his hand-written journal from a Nairobi post office may soon be over. Although that is still an option, times are changing. I have been taking photographs of my journal pages and uploading the images onto Google Picasa. Do it regularly.

I learned this the hard way when I had to hand over my shoulder bag as I was held up at knife-point on the beach in Nicaragua. My journal was in the bag. I was not diligent staying up-to-date on backing up my journal. Following that incident I wasted a week being annoyed, frustrated, unmotivated and just plain pissed off. I didn’t pick up a pen the whole time.

If you keep an electronic journal, back your documents up online at Google Docs. Or, for a third backup, carry a USB flash drive or a portable hard drive or better yet, pay for an online storage service.

Plan less

I wrote a detailed post about this over at Bohemian Traveler inspired by Susan Orlean’s suggestion at the New York Times Travel Show to do less background research and show up at your destination less prepared. She offered firsthand accounts of when she was more successful writing about a place when she had fewer preconceived notions. She thought that a place “loses its freshness” if you know too much about it.

Have a project

Tony Perrottet had another good suggestion at the Travel Show. He once traveled around Paris using a 19^th century food guidebook.  This could be done with any historical book, or not even a book at all. Follow your own interests, be it jazz, architecture, wine, graffiti, or ethnic minorities. Your detective work will have you running around to different places meeting lots of different people. Interesting, experience-rich travel leads to interesting writing.

Stephen Bugno’s articles and essays have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, and Transitions Abroad magazine. He edits the Gomad Nomad Travel Mag.

By Scott Homan

Traveling abroad for roughly the last decade has often included visiting internet cafes in even the most remote locations. Usually built for locals, they also serve as a connection home for vagabonds. But a new trend has emerged worldwide as people are increasingly traveling with portable wireless devices and computers. The latest are the eight to eleven inch laptops referred to as mini laptops or netbooks. They often weigh less than three pounds (1.5kg) and some boast a six to ten hour battery life and a surprisingly low price tag.

The last night in Munich before we all scattered around Europe. Photo credit: Jenn Vargas

Bringing a netbook is becoming more common. Depending on the hostel, somewhere between 10% and 20% of backpackers are now carrying one. A number of travelers, including myself, even bought one while traveling. What makes toting a netbook such a great idea is the ever increasing availability of free or inexpensive WIFI in public places, hostels, hotels and cafes.

Whether you’re off for a couple of weeks or gone for a full year with an around-the-world ticket, traveling today involves computers of some kind. Having a PC can make traveling an extension of a person’s real life instead of a temporary diversion. A netbook provides entertainment, escapism, and makes you more accessible to family and friends. But more importantly, it allows you the ability to work remotely, keep you on the road longer, and a place to journal. In addition, it is a reliable and virus-free place to backup photos, prepare blog updates offline, do research, change and update your iPod/mp3 player, download applications and videos, watch videos, edit photos, and share photos, music and videos with new friends. You will save money by not paying for use of a public PC, there is no line and no pressure to log off or a closing time and it’s very easy to skype home and talk as long as you would like.

All of the above are what we now consider normal in day-to-day life, however we are traveling to experience something new and interesting. This connected world of ours may distract us from conversations with others or time spent exploring and taking in a new environment and culture. As it does at home, hours can quickly evaporate that could be better spent escaping from our super-connected life. Other possible negatives include the added weight and the additional risk that involves carrying another valuable gadget. Your netbook will also gain in value as you use it to backup photos and videos, and draws attention from those who may be inclined to steal.  It’s a regular business in places to rob backpackers. Your cash and laptop are goldmines. It’s important to try and keep it concealed or at least out of sight when it’s not being used.

After buying my netbook, I attempted to eliminate some of my things in an effort rid my pack of an equivalent amount of weight. It can potentially replace books, but I find that I don’t really enjoy reading from a screen like I do printed pages even though I’ve already downloaded a dozen books in PDF format that I’d love to read. I did however get rid of four of my eight printed books (I’m a little ridiculous) and a few magazines I had accumulated. Now I no longer need the second larger iPod that I brought to back up photos.

It is possible to do a lot of the above with public computers as we’ve all been doing during the last decade. But this can be frustrating. For instance, I love to write while traveling and that can be done electronically without lugging a PC. My blackberry has served me well to type on but I have found no way to get the text files off of the phone without a data plan. A number of backpackers I met used their iPhones to stay connected and to write on. Most companies will send you the un-lock codes for whatever phone you have simply if you ask them before your trip.

I used various PCs for a few hours per week during the first four months of my Latin American trip. Using online services can work well, such as auto-saving blogs at www.blogger.com, writing a draft with your web-based email, or using online word processing systems like Google Docs. I have found that I’m often nowhere near a public PC when I feel like writing. When a PC is free to use in a hostel there is usually a 15 to 30 minute limit and a line which is a strange and unwelcome time pressure. In internet cafes there is also a time pressure from the cost and the business closing time. Needless to say I have a lot of unfinished writing saved in various places.

For most of us, connecting with family and friends is the primary reason for getting online and often takes the most time. An important part of this is connectivity for portable devices like memory cards to upload and back up photos while on the road. PC’s found in internet cafes are often old, slow and lack good connectivity and sometimes ridden with viruses making them a pain to use. I’ve had two different computers blue screen on me while online. It can take minutes to load a web-page and hours to upload a few photos in some places and to protect from viruses they may have the option blocked completely. Most internet cafes are equipped to use Skype and there is usually at least one headset that works OK. Uploading photos and surfing the web is possible but often agonizingly slow.

To protect your new investment I stumbled onto a relatively inexpensive option that works quite well. Travel Insurance often costs $700 or more per year including medical, theft, and transport back to your home country. If you’re like me and willing to hedge your bets on the amazing phenomenon of free (or inexpensive) health care in third world countries, but are still concerned with theft, you’ll find renter’s insurance for just over $100 per year to cover that risk. Most insurance companies have an inexpensive option for renters. It usually covers at a minimum $15,000 worth of goods and it is of no importance to them where on earth your insured things are, even if they’re strapped to your back in a sketchy area somewhere in a country that ends in STAN.

Don’t forget to bring a lock and use the provided lockers in your hostel. Most places where you pay to sleep are more than happy to store some or all of your things in a more secure area when you feel the need. Also you can add at least one person to your renters insurance free of charge which is great for your travel friend or for a couple.

For me, the three pound PC, long battery life and $350 price tag were just the right combination to make the leap and start toting this thing along. But depending on your style, a few hours here and there at a cafe and writing with a pen and journal may be all you need to make your trip a connected and fulfilling one.

Scott Homan has traveled extensively through Latin America and Europe in the last six years with thirty countries under his belt. An avid hiker and snowboarder, he seeks out national parks and mountains wherever they may lie and loves the unique cultural variation of every locale. For the search, the change and the challenge he’s lived in various states east coast and west, as well as in Spain and Ecuador.  Originally from rural Wisconsin, he enjoys the Rockies of Colorado from a base in Boulder when not traveling.

Avery grew up on a small farm in north Florida where she cultivated a love for barefooted living. As an adult she took this lifestyle to a remote island on the edge of Everglades National Park owning and operating an organic cafe and gallery. The seasonal business allowed for summer travel, ultimately leading to the decision to sell and travel even more.

Since then she’s been getting by as a yoga teacher, writer and recently added cycling guide to her occupational summary. After living a year in sunless Normandy with her French husband, Avery successfully lobbied to set up camp further south. She and the Normand now live in a small village in the south west corner of France sandwiched between the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean. When she travels she looks for the simple and natural.

She blogs at Avery’s Typewriter.

Avery’s posts on GoMad Nomad:

Learning French in France

The Same Dirt

Stephen Bugno has been writing about travel ever since his mother made him keep a travel journal at the age of 9 on a family vacation to the southwestern United States. Since then his travels have taken him to four continents and his writing has been published in more than ten online and print publications including the San Francisco Chronicle and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He specializes in off-the-beaten-track destinations, budget and independent/alternative travel and travel narratives.

He temporarily resides in Fredericksburg, Virginia, freelance writing in addition to editing the GoMad Nomad Travel Mag.

He blogs at Bohemian Traveler and  Blog of a Modern Nomad

Reach him at stephenbugno [at] gmail [dot] com

Emolyn Liden has been volunteering, working, and traveling her way around the globe for almost a decade. When she’s not traveling she’s at home in the mountains of western North Carolina. She’s a writer, knitwear designer and avid fiddler. Read her knitting blog at Emolyn Knits

She blogs for GoMad Nomad at Emolyn’s Travel Snapshots

Emolyn’s recent posts on GoMad Nomad:

Teaching English in Madrid

By Stephen Bugno

Photo credit: Jay Bergesen

With a multitude of guidebook publishers, choosing the best guidebook for your next trip can be challenging. Which guidebook should you take? Well, it all depends on your personality, how you travel, your budget, and where you’re traveling.

Entering your favorite bookstore or even a quick search on amazon.com reveals more travel guidebooks than you thought existed: Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Foder’s, Frommer’s, Rick Steves’, Let’s Go, Blue Guides, Bradt, the list goes on. Sometimes it’s as simple as letting the most frequently updated version of the particular country win. But it can get more complicated than that. Here I’ll sum up the best guidebooks:

Lonely Planet

The biggest travel guidebook publisher, Lonely Planet has a quarter of the market sales and has been bought out by BBC. Around since 1973, they are tried and true, offering an enormous title selection, from Bolivia to East Timor. But bigger isn’t always better. Tony Wheeler’s once budget-only series has now turned into a guide-for-all. One of the few complaints I hear is that because of the enormous popularity of these books, its users often wind up at the all the same places by night’s end. Ideal user: independent, worldwide traveler.

Rough Guides

The biggest competition to Lonely Planet, Rough Guides came onto the travel scene in 1982. Also a guide for all budgets (but definitely puts an emphasis on the lower-budget end) RG has fewer titles than LP and has less of an emphasis on the logistics of travel, but overall more background information and are a great companion to traveling in all parts of the globe. The RG city titles, from Chicago to Cape Town, are especially good. Ideal user: budget, independent worldwide traveler or adventurous expat.

Moon

A U.S. series, as opposed to the Australian L.P. and the British R.G., Moon are packed in the same way detailed practical travel information and substantial background research. Moon’s authors are more than travel experts—they are politically and culturally minded, informative, adventurous, and inspiring. They write their entire book, as opposed to many authors being contracted to write certain sections. Moon covers North and South America especially well; however, they are expanding into Europe and Asia. Ideal user: an independent traveler or foreigner living abroad in North, Central or South America.

Rick Steves’

America’s European travel guru offers guides to nearly all of Europe, with new titles stretching eastward every year (now including Istanbul). He will be the first to admit his books are not sufficient if you want to explore all parts of France. He recommends carrying an additional guidebook for that. What he does though, is gives you fantastic recommendations for all budgets for the particular destinations he finds most interesting. His books are impeccably accurate, updated every year, focusing on mom and pop establishments with more local color. His overall philosophy is that spending less money will keep you closer to the culture you traveled so far to experience. Ideal user: family or couple traveling to Europe with limited time and a keen interest in the culture.

Let’s Go

Originally tailored towards student backpackers spending the summer on a European whirlwind, Let’s Go has expanded. Although primarily low-budget focused, they do offer some mid-range choices and give good nightlife recommendations. Titles have expanded beyond Europe and now include a few destinations in Southeast Asia and Latin America. Ideal user: young traveler going to Europe ready to party.

Bradt

Bradt guidebooks are fine if you’ve got a substantial budget, a Land Rover, and a local guide. But they lack a lot of the practical information for traveling around by public transportation and finding cheap accommodation. They are reliable guides overall and cover many off-the-beaten track destinations. Bradt guides may be your only choice for many African countries. Ideal user: A well-funded, middle-aged adventurer or aid worker going to a developing country.

Blue Guide

First published in 1918, these are more a cultural guide than a travel guide. They are great reference books that focus on art, history, and architecture; and include great diagrams, maps, and plans. Most titles cover European regions, cities and countries but include some worldwide titles. Ideal user: history buffs looking for detailed background information on art and architecture; not necessarily even a traveler.

The Others

Frommer’s and Fodor’s

Once the king of Budget travel, Arthur Frommer sold his name. Now Frommer’s caters to the middle to upper class traveler. Nevertheless, they are reliable guidebooks updated frequently with practical information and advice similar to Fodor’s.

DK Eyewitness and Insight Discovery

These books might be good for the coffee table. They have nice diagrams, are fun and interesting to look at, but are heavy in weight and lack lots of important transportation and accommodation information that you will need while traveling. Best to leave them at home.

Whatever you do, don’t take an out-of-date guidebook (Or you may choose to deliberately not take a guidebook). Make the $20 investment for a $3000 trip.

Stephen Bugno has been traveling and living abroad for the better part of ten years. He authored the Nomad’s Guide to Uzbekistan and his bookshelf is stocked with mostly Moon and Rough Guides. He edits the Gomad Nomad Travel Mag.

photo credit: Barbora Nemcova

The Philadelphia Inquirer—The only print publication on the list, The Philadelphia Inquirer publishes short personal travel essays from readers in a column called Personal Journeys. Guidelines: http://www.philly.com/philly/travel/60739932.html. They pay $25. Contact editor Bill Reed at travel@phillynews.com.

Gomad Nomad Travel Mag—This web magazine for independent-minded travelers specializes in off-the-beaten track destinations and pays $25 for per article. They accept destination pieces, living, working, and volunteering abroad articles, as well as travel stories and essays. See the submission guidelines at http://gomadnomad.com/submissions/. Contact editor Stephen Bugno at gomadnomadtravelmag@gmail.com.

World Hum—Currently publishing many established writers, they might be a difficult place to break into travel writing. But they’ll give you a shot if you’ve got talent. World Hum is the premier travel magazine on the web today and oublish travel stories as well as feature articles under other columns. They pay $100 and up. See submission guidelines: http://www.worldhum.com/info/submissions/. Contact editors Jim Benning and Mike Yessis at dispatches@worldhum.com.

Transitions Abroad—Now solely online, this is a magazine with a mission to bring you educational and responsible cultural immersion travel articles. They publish anything to do with living, working, volunteering, or studying abroad. They are interested in informative, accurate, and practical articles and will give writers with less experience a chance. See the writer’s guidelines at: http://www.transitionsabroad.com/information/writers/writers.shtml.  Contact editor Gregory Hubbs at: webeditorial@transitionsabroad.com.

Matador Network—Actually a network of 12 magazines in one, Matador is the largest independent travel magazine community on the web (they get over 700,000 unique visitors per month). They only pay $25 per story but are straightforward and uncomplicated people to work with, not to mention a hot publication and a writing/travel community you’ll want to be a part of. They take a wide variety of material. See submission guideline at: http://matadornetwork.com/contributors/. Contact the editor Julie Schwietert at: Julie@matadornetwork.com.

Posted by Stephen Bugno for the Traveler’s Desk

Gomad Nomad’s European correspondent Gilbert Carlson has crossed the continent countless times, usually with his thumb up. From Syria to Norway to Morocco and all the places in between, he blogs on Gomad Nomad’s Follow Gilbert and resides in Paris when not on the road.

Follow Gilbert Travel Blog

Gilbert’s posts on Gomad Nomad:

The Parisian’s Paris

To Say We had been to Kosovo

Carefree Travel on the Cheap

Jett Thomason works for the U.S. government managing small agricultural development projects in Africa. A former Peace Corps volunteer in Uzbekistan, he has worked in Afghanistan and Iraq and traveled extensively in Latin America and the former Soviet Union. In his current job, Jett copes with responsibility and limited time for indulging wanderlust by writing the occasional blog entry and travel story.

Jett’s posts on Gomad Nomad:

On the Water in Guinea: Part I

Notes from Lamu, Kenya

Working Notes from Rwanda

A Mother’s Medicine

Minarets and Pigeons

Of Rice and Rams: A Boy’s Circumcision Ceremony in Uzbekistan

The Country that doesn’t Exsist: Trandniestria

Ramadan in Kandahar

A Swim in Lake Tanganyika