How I got my job as a travel writer
How I got into travel writing...
I knew I wanted to be a journalist from a young age but initially was more interested in news so, after my degree (Politics, Newcastle University), I did a one-year post graduate diploma in journalism and then worked on a regional daily newspaper for two years.
After one too many death knocks, (which is when you try to get an interview with the family of someone who's recently died. Nice), I decided I needed a change of scene and applied for a fashion editor job on a fashion trade magazine.
Two years later I went for the style editor position on You & Your Wedding magazine in London. It was during my stint there that I went on my first press trip to the George V hotel in Paris which was SO gorgeous it persuaded me that travel was probably a very good area of journalism to go into...
When I got back I begged my editor to let me set up a honeymoon section and she agreed I could run it alongside my normal job but for no extra pay. I jumped at the chance and before I knew it had all of the travel PR and editorial contacts I needed to expand my career and never looked back, writing for as many publications as I could.
I was lucky enough to be headhunted for the Cosmopolitan position after I'd written a couple of features for them and the former travel editor left.
How I make it pay
Freelance travel writing is notoriously hard because an awful lot of people want to do it and there aren't that many publications which have travel sections (plus some don't even pay for content).
Initially I had a niche (honeymoons) which meant I was approached by various editors when they wanted luxury and romantic travel features.
The bills have always been paid thanks to part-time editorial positions at various magazines over the years, including Cosmopolitan and You & Your Wedding, and I write for lots of titles, from the Daily Telegraph and The Times to BA and Family Traveller.
What an average day is like
There isn't really an average day and that's what I've always loved about the job. In one week I can be in the Maldives at the opening of a new hotel, working on a feature and interviewing a celebrity.
Wherever I am though, most days kick off with me answering emails - I receive at least fifty a day, mainly from PRs letting me know about new hotels, press trips, tourist board initiatives, invitations to events and global news.
Even though the role of travel editor for Cosmopolitan is part-time, there's always something to do daily, whether it's helping out the fashion team look for a hotel for a shoot, arrange a trip for a journalist, meet a PR to discuss ideas or plan forward features.
The highlight of the job is...
The travel, obviously. My job has taken me to places on the planet that I wouldn't otherwise have visited, like Green Island off Taiwan, circling Mount Everest in a tiny Buddha Air plane and diving with sharks in the Galapagos. It's an incredible privilege and one that I never, ever take for granted.
Aside from the travel, I love writing, so it's a bonus to do that every day, plus this job has given me the chance to achieve things I never dreamt of, like writing books and guidebooks, radio and TV appearances and lecturing.
My advice to you...
I highly recommend specialising in a specific area, whether it's a country or a type of travel, at least at the beginning of your career.
When you go on a trip, the only way to make a decent amount of money is to sell it on to a number of publications, so build up as many contacts as possible and be inventive about who you pitch to; think foreign newspapers, in-flight magazines, websites that pay and specialist titles as well as the usual newsstand publications.
Try and keep up-to-date with social media (Twitter and Instagram) which is really useful in the travel industry.
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