'Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?'
A quick and brutally honest update before we return to our regular programming
I was perusing the shelves of my favorite local thrift over the weekend here in Beaufort when I came across a curious title: Do Travel Writers Go To Hell: A Swashbuckling Tale Of High Adventures, Questionable Ethics, And Professional Hedonism.
Between swashbuckling and hedonism, how can you go wrong?
Authored by fellow travel journalist Thomas Kohnstamm, the book's dust jacket goes on to highlight what Kohnstamm deems are a few of the qualifications required for being a travel writer based on his time and experience as a freelancer in South America. The book was a bargain for $1 and worth every penny in the comments I received from colleagues and friends after posting a photo of the cover on Instagram.
There’s no doubt this title, both contentious and brilliant, was meant to sell copies and elicit a strong reaction. Based on his experience penning guidebooks for publications including Lonely Planet (among others, I’m only a few pages in) — what the author is really doing is exposing the underbelly that exists within the travel writing world that rarely, if ever, gets any air because, let’s be real, the woes of a weary travel writer just doesn’t play on Instagram.
We’re here to sell escapism, wanderlust, and #aspiration, not jetlag, sleep deprivation and the anxiety of deadlines and the painstaking task of pitching into an abyss, all while trying to eke out a living in an extremely niche and highly competitive field.
Who — other than other travel writers — wants to read about a travel writer complaining about — well anything — when they get to travel around the world for free? It’s a valid question, and one that a good, non-travel writer friend pointed out over a few glasses of Costa Rican cacique and a couple rounds of Palace over the weekend.
Going on seven-years as a full-time freelance travel writer, I’ve witnessed firsthand the good, the bad, and the ugly of this industry. Travel writing comes with its own unique challenge set just like any other job, and the reality, as Kohnstamm writes, isn’t always perfect.
A bad work day, like one I had recently, can make you question everything. One issue travel writers constantly have to contend with is: if you have a bad experience, for example, you go to a hotel, and you have a less than optimal stay (say your room was dirty, or your wedding band was stolen) are you still obligated to write about it in a positive light? These things happen ALL the time by the way, in fact, both of these things have happened to me personally in 2023 alone.
As a journalist, your obligation is always to your reader. Period. But there’s a gray area that exists within the travel writing space that’s far more complicated to contend with and can result in compromising your integrity to please a publication or a publicist. It can drive you absolutely mad, and make you want to give it all up for the safety and security that comes with doing something, anything else — like a job that can afford to pay you a working wage so you can take the trips and go to the places you want to go on your own dime without compromise.
The best travel writers I know are the ones who aren’t willing to compromise their integrity for a prestigious byline. As someone who spent a lot of years trying to please others, I’ve learned the hard way that high-profile assignments will come and go, but at the end of the day, your integrity in business and in real life is really all you got.
On the good days, and there are many in travel writing, the opportunities that this line of work affords are incredibly rewarding. I’m still learning, and don’t get it twisted, I love this gig (most days), but I think there’s something to be said about keeping it real and being honest about the fact that despite what you see on Insta, it’s not all #unfiltered sunsets and walks on a deserted beach. And maybe, just maybe, Kohnstamm’s book is laying the groundwork for a deeper story waiting to be told about the reality of what goes on behind the scenes of travel writing.
Get at me Andy Cohen, I’m ready to dish..
In the meantime, The Beau Yorker will be back in earnest in early April with a complete debrief on my trip to Japan, along with a few newly minted stories, upcoming assignments, and a fun southern spotlight, so please stay tuned.
Oh and by the way, I’ve already promised my copy to someone, but if you want to read Do Travel Writers Go To Hell, the book is available on Amazon. If you read it or have thoughts, questions, or comments, I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a line or get in touch and I’ll see you back here, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in April.
XO — Mich