15 Signs you are born for travel writing

Ever dreamed of a career in travel writing? Working in this field is not as easy at it might seem and comes with a lot of hard work and responsibility.

There are some skills required for being successful as a travel writer, so let’s have a look if you got what it takes:

An Adventurous Spirit

1. You are interested in exploring new places. Curious to see how these places differ from home, how they are unique to what you’ve seen so far and how you can get the most out of your stay there.
2. You are good at adapting to new situations. You can handle both a 5 star hotel as a camping trip. You are happy to push your own limits as well and try out things you’ve never done before.
3. You are someone that enjoys meeting new people. You like to listen to their life stories, try out their travel tips, meet their friends and families and always remember the good times you had with them when thinking back of a trip.
4. You’re not scared of travelling alone and explore a place without depending on pre-arranged tours or trips. You have travelled enough yourself to be able to make your own travel arrangements.

A Sense For Detail

1. You pay attention to everything you see, smell, hear, taste and feel around you. You remember all this as well – because you write every little detail down.
2. You are a natural storyteller. You love to share your experiences in an entertaining manner and like to see other people get excited about your stories.
3. You have an opinion about the things you see and hear around you. You can explain to others why you think one place is better (or worse) than another, why people should visit this particular restaurant, or participate in that activity.
4. You love to do research. You read a lot about the places you visit and can write about a destination’s context and history. Because you’ve done your research well, you are able to spend your time in the field to a maximum.
5. You read other travel articles on a regular basis and learn from these by looking at structure, topics, writing style, grammar, vocabulary, etc.

A Professional Mindset

1. You know what you’re good at, you know what a good story is and you can sell yourself, your ideas and eventually your articles and/or photos to someone.
2. You are a creative and original person. You can make quick changes when an article is not working, come up with unique topics and can provide additional photographs to your story.
3. You are friendly, polite and pleasant to work with. You are also very good in communicating.
4. You follow directions and guidelines very well. You can adjust your own ideas to those of an editor. You can deal with rejection and see it as a way to learn, to improve your work and be more successful the next time.
5. You are flexible in your hours. You have the time and space to seize opportunities that come on your path. You can leave right away if an editor asks you to. You don’t mind working infrequently.
6. You know how to handle a budget, stick to it and make your money last.

How did you ‘score’?

Ever though about taking the leap and working as a travel writer? Let me help you get started! In upcoming posts I will be talking a bit more about what’s needed to make it in the world of press trips, deadlines and freelance work.

Do you have a (secret) dream of becoming a travel writer? Tell us all about it!

TIP! Read this funny travel story of how things went south for me once at Schiphol Airport (but all was ok in the end)…