Travel Writing | Making Sense Of Some Things

Every Englishman abroad likes to consider himself a traveller and not a tourist. Evelyn Waugh

I was invited to appear on a podcast. The episode is embedded below, but I thought it might be useful to record something here about my preparation.

The podcast, Action Packed Travel, is hosted by Peter and Felice Hardy, who are experts. So I thought beforehand about my own experiences of travel writing, and wrote these notes.

As you see, I numbered the various stories that sprang to mind, then sorted them by category:

trouble spots, city trips, travel for pleasure (holiday type stories), travel to Get A Story (ie, a strong narrative about something in particular), to promote elements of a place’s culture, and sporty/outdoorsy stuff.

I listed some publications I’d written for:

The Sunday Times, The Economist, The Financial Times, Wallpaper*, Harpers Bazaar, High Life, The Observer and Scotland on Sunday.

Then I wrote a list of the various places they’d taken me.

I found this exercise extremely satisfying.

I sent some of this prep to Felice, as well as a handful of photos, and we recorded the interview. It was great fun.

If you listen, you’ll find out which of the things listed above appealed to the Hardys.