Welcome to the wonderful world of travel writing! The beginning of this article has certainly been a challenge for me because I didn’t really know where to start, but as it begins to unfold, my thoughts become clearer! Thank goodness for cutting and erasing on my computer!

In this new era of laptops, digital cameras, and not knowing what other gadgets are on the market today, travel writing is still what it is! It is a real and vivid documentary of the things you saw, heard and did while on vacation or while traveling through some city or place in the forest. It is your point of view or your reaction to the environment around you. Putting it all together for a travel article, it is up to you to engage your readers in the image and let them feel your reaction as if they are right next to you. This is why it is so important to go beyond simply documenting your travels. Live them, feel them and let your readers feel your reaction through your words.

The next time you’re out on an assignment or just going on a weekend getaway, don’t forget your digital camera, an ample supply of rechargeable batteries, extra memory cards for taking pictures, and a bag full of ink-sized pens. handbag. spiral notebooks for taking notes.

When you are really where you want to be and you start taking photos, write everything down – write your reaction to the old woman in the window who looked like a witch and kept staring at you as you walked to the restaurant. Who was she? Why did he look at you as if he had seen a ghost? Why was she surprised when your eyes met hers?

Observe your surroundings and the people you meet. Write down everything that might be important to your next story; don’t trust anything by heart. Too much information is much better than not having enough.

Visit local resorts and ask for brochures and travel guides. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about the locals. Find out if there is any history in the area that is noteworthy for a destination travel article. Suppose Jesse James stayed at the historic hotel across the street and they had a room full of memorabilia (boots, gun, and belt), other things he may have left behind. There’s an angle to your travel story, but dig deep, what if that hotel is said to be haunted by someone other than Jesse James? Jesse James isn’t really enough for people to travel that far in any country to a run-down little hotel just to see a little room half full of Jesse James memorabilia. You have to dig deeper and find something that can excite your readers.

Request a room, stay there, listen to the creaks and things pounding in the night, listen to the ghost that haunts the hallway late into the night, did you see anything? Did the hair on the back of your neck stand on end when the cold stream of wind was thrown out of nowhere by you while you were standing in the hallway?

Write down the things you saw and heard. How did you feel? Let your readers feel the fear you felt being alone on the top floor of that haunted hotel. Where were everyone else? Why were you alone? Was it really haunted? Or was it just your imagination from the stories you had heard? Write it down and let your readers help you decide if the ghost was real or not. Did anyone else hear the noises you heard? Who was the shadow that slipped through your door just before you closed it? Who was crying in the hallway after you walked in and closed the door? When you opened the door, the sound stopped, there was no one there.

What about that blurry image that kept showing up in some of the photos you took? What was it? Who was? He didn’t see anyone when he was filming. Creepy, huh?

Write them an article that will prompt them to come to that particular place, an old ruined hotel with a creepy past ninety miles from nowhere, let them feel your excitement and fear as you crawl back to bed, don’t just tell them about the noises you heard coming from the hallway late at night; let them hear the fear as you write, especially when you heard the woman screaming in the next room and you were too scared to get out of bed to go see.

It may scare some people and they may never want to visit the haunted hotel, but its history will likely draw many people to that little hotel located in no country to see for themselves if it was haunted or not. That’s what your travel article should do: go beyond documenting the things you learned, the things you saw or heard, your readers must feel the same excitement you feel for a place or all the documentation in the world will never appeal to them. to this place. Especially if it’s ninety miles from nowhere!

In essence, you must present a travel story that goes beyond documentation: it must have real feelings that amaze the reader and make them want to visit the place of interest. Leave boring documentation to travel brochures and the like.

Bring out the reality and life of a place and people will be drawn to visit it again and again.