There’s No Easy Way to Travel Writing Heaven

I’ve been on the road in Colombia for a month now and, believe me, the thought has crossed my mind to “cheat” a bit and just finish the job in the quickest way possible. I’m getting paid only $25 a day to research and write about hotels, restaurants, and activities for what? Maybe I could just look up something online and write about it instead of actually going there. Who would know the difference?

My days often look something like this: Wake up and write as much as I can from the notes I took the previous day. (Morning is the only time my mind is fresh). Head out around noon and do some research — visit hotels, eat at restaurants, and participate in some activity that I can write about. Come back to my dorm room in the evening and jot down notes from my day. Go to bed.

Rarely do I go out, rarely do I feel like this is an authentic vacation. This is a job, just like my previous job as a high school English teacher. This is my new profession — one that doesn’t even pay for itself right now. I remain hopeful that it will one day.

Travel writing is not a glamorous job, as Thomas Kohnstamm, a Lonely Planet writer, explains in his new book, Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? Kohnstamm goes so far to detail his life as a travel writer that he admits he wasn’t paid enough (tell me about it!) to go to Colombia, so he never went and just wrote the book in California. For another assignment in Brazil, he sold drugs to supplement his income.

Unlike Kohnstamm, my moral values are in place and, though I kick myself for being a hedonistic and poor writer on the road, I wouldn’t trade this lifestyle for a minute. However, despite his immoral approach to travel writing, Kohnstamm still provides a golden nugget of truth: Travel writing is a career and individuals committed to this profession deserve greater benefits.

There is an inherent problem with the travel writing industry. Graduates fresh out of college delay their entry into the real world by snatching up jobs I want. I want travel writing to be my life, but for these youngsters it’s just a stint — something they can say they did before they settled down. And they are willing to do this same job for pennies. Travel guides like Lonely Planet keep payment low because they know someone write for their book if they can travel for free.

There is no solution to this problem. People like myself who come into the profession later in life have to start from the bottom wrung. Right now, it’s just a reality we have to live with.