Writing from the comfort of a couch/bed, being somewhat of your own boss, traveling the globe. Sounds glamorous, doesn’t it? Really, though, being a travel writer isn’t about the glam. And that’s because there really isn’t any glam.
Unless you land a column in Conde Nast Traveler or you get the privilege of working for someone like Arthur Frommer, for example, you won’t make a lot of money off of your travel writing. It’s not a lucrative career, and I wouldn’t advise attempting to make it your primary source of income.
Here are a few of my travel writing job titles: City Editor, Columnist and Contributor. They sound so official, don’t they? I’d be lying if I said I didn’t absolutely love writing/blogging for different magazines and websites. However, I would be lying if I told you I made enough money to buy even a month’s worth of groceries. In fact, I have two part-time jobs (one in the writing field) to keep me going… barely. So why do I do it?
It all started in college. I wrote for the school paper and I became an unpaid intern at a Chicago tourist magazine. I’ve always wanted to be a journalist, but it wasn’t until I was almost finished with college that I set my sights on becoming a travel writer. I studied in Rome, Paris and London, all the while, writing in journals each time I took a trip, keeping a travel column for the paper and taking a travel writing course. I didn’t have many expenses back then, so working for free didn’t phase me.
Although it is difficult to work for peanuts, I’m still doing what I love. And, honestly, each new project I take on gets me the experience/exposure I need to move on to the next big thing. Sometimes it seems as though employers want to hire people that have years and years of experience for the most basic of positions. With that in mind, a wise person once told me that I had to make my own experience if no one was going to give me any. She suggested that I start this blog. And because I did, I now write for the world’s first digital travel magazine (subscribe for FREE), and I’ll be heading out on two press trips this month!
While my life isn’t too glamorous, I get by nicely. I have another big plan in the works that will hopefully allow me to make travel writing a more lucrative and permanent career. For now, I happily blog/write/tweet/facebook about my travels, I market residential real estate and I mix tunes/host karaoke. I’ve got a BA under my belt with an MA in the works. Things can only go up from here.
