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. The reader should understand that he is paying money for an experience, not for an appliance. Henry David Thoreau wrote, "It is not worthwhile to go around the world to count the cats in Zanzibar." Both the travel writer and the traveler must understand that.For some 5,000 years of recorded history, the only way humankind could travel faster than on a horse was to fall out of a tree. And most people stayed close to home. Today, people travel to distant areas in a matter of a few hours and that means the travel writer faces a credibility standard. The thousands who have visited a place before the travel writer gets there set the standard. The travel writer must realize that in his or her mass audience there are many readers who know more about the place than the travel writer can learn in a brief visit. There's no way the writer can pull the wool over these readers' eyes. He can't fake it and keep his credibility. It's that simple. The other share of your audience those who haven't been there might someday go. And if they find the destination to be quite different from what the travel writer has pictured, they will never again believe or will always be skeptical of anything that travel writer ever writes.It's a matter of trust.Travel writers, especially those who are on newspaper staffs, don't have the luxury of spending weeks in a destination. Two to 4 days are more likely, and that's hardly enough time to get to know the place especially when you're supposed to be an expert when you leave.There's no question in my mind that the most important element in competent travel writing is "knowing the place" before you get there. You can accomplish this by reading anything and everything you can get your hands on. A reporter doesn't begin an interview with a celebrity by asking how the celebrity spells his or her name. The reporter already knows that and, one hopes, a Page 297lot more about the celebrity. The same principle applies to doing a destination piece. Otherwise, the destination piece is going to be awfully "thin," and that just isn't good travel writing.HONORING THE TOP TRAVEL SECTIONS IN THE NATIONWhich newspapers offer the best travel sections? The best ones are always worth the time to check out.In 1997, the Boston Globe, St. Petersburg Times, and Contra Costa Newspapers in California were honored for best newspaper travel section of 1996 in the 13th annual Society of American Travel Writers Foundation Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition. The sections were honored for their current information, original columns each week, feature packages, travel consumer news, local travel news, for their tips that travelers use to keep informed and alert on the road, and for tips about day trips.Christopher Reynolds, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, was named travel journalist of the year in 1997. ("Times travel section," 1997)Even the shortdistance or regional traveler needs information to best use his or her time and resources. Travel writing serves this purpose when done well. Business travelers need guidance on all aspects of their travel (including airlines, ground transportation, hotels/motels/inns, restaurants, and entertainment), and an entire industry catering to business travelers has evolved in this century. Included in that movement is a subdivision of the travel publication industry that produces magazines and newsletters aimed at veteran travelers.Simply writing about your recent vacation will not get the job done. Most traveloriented publications provide a standard fare of information for the traveler, or the person thinking of traveling, or the person simply daydreaming about traveling some day. "Travel writing is an overcrowded field and much of it is poorly written," says Southern Californiabased freelance travel writer Kit Snedaker (1998, personal communication). Snedaker, who writes for The Robb Report and for Westways, Southern California AAA's magazine. She is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers, believes good travel writing means hard work: It is no vacation. Page 298Too many travelers believe they are travel writers after managing a post card and the rest are in it for the free trips. They write payback stuff. But the best make stories out of it. The biggest fault is what I call the "Summer Vacation" story. "We climbed on board and then we went to . . . and then . . . and then . . . " It's a diary and about as interesting as watching a fly climb up the draperies.Readers of the travel pages, as well as readers of the business pages of contemporary publications, are generally erudite. These persons are those in the higher income brackets with the money and time to spend going places. Thus, many of them are likely to be well traveled and informed readers of your stories. And, as some travel editors will tell you, the writing must simultaneously serve two distinct audiences: people who have not been to the place you write about and people who have already been there.Christopher Baker (1989), an awardwinning fulltime travel writer and photographer who specializes in adventure travel articles, has published work in most of the nation's major travel magazines. He describes what makes a travel manuscript a winner:A successful travel article does more than conjure up unforgettable images and lead readers by the hand. It entertains, provides reliable and useful information, and tells the truth. But if you fail to place your reader vicariously on that mountaintop or on that beach you've described, you will not sell your article in this highly competitive market. (p. 22)How can you succeed? What do you write about? You write about places to visit. You tell readers about historical places, annual festivals, national parks, cities, resorts, and inns. You tell them about places to stay, restaurants with views, and the easiest and cheapest ways to get there. You convey the richness, the color, the excitement, the fun, the moods, and the atmosphere. You give important information such as admission prices and times for an attraction. But you also relate personal experiences, such as the best place to park in a busy neighborhood New Orleans' French Quarter or Boston's North End, for example to make your story complete.Thus you find the unusual, the unique, the odd, and the entertaining
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