career advice

For Any Question Relating to Those Wanting to Write and Travel:
It has been so long since I updated this page, but I thought it needed a 2025 refresh. I have built what I consider to be the original travel portfolio career, getting involved in many aspects of the business, but most of all, trying to cultivate and build real connection and relationships.

So many of us love to travel, meet great people, and discover the best places around the world. While I would absolutely love to sit down with each and every person who wants to work in this industry (either to write or to become a travel advisor), I just don't have the time. And I always say it’s a lot easier if you want to be a lawyer or doctor, because then at least there is a straight path, or what feels like one.

I look now at having published a book with National Geographic and Disney - a project that took six years from first pitch to completion. And now - what will I do next? I have some great projects and clients, but also am figuring out what I want to focus on. I always thought you reach SUCCESS and there you are. But it is a constant reinvention.
Here’s how I started.
I was a journalism major and always wanted to associate myself with and write for nationally recognized brands that I love. I had been tearing out pages of magazines for over 15 years and knew the editors and writers on the masthead. I made it my business to be in the know even before I had relationships in the industry.

In 2009, I started a blog called “Hotel Belle” which focused on hotel reviews. This was just as blogging was becoming a “thing” and I was able to take a niche expertise. I just so happened to get a meeting with the editor in chief at Travel + Leisure when I moved to NYC (my cousin met her at an event and basically harassed her into getting her card! Five months later, I had a meeting with her) and she gave me a shot to write for them. After that, I found more gigs writing for Forbes, USA Today, and eventually, National Geographic as Urban Insider–this is a whole other story. I didn’t want to be a total freelancer - I wanted to be at one brand.

What I do now took many years of struggle, challenge, wrong turns, and missteps. It wasn't a straight path. I read Gary Vaynerchuk's "Crush It" in one sitting on a flight from NYC to Dublin and it gave me focus and inspiration that I didn’t have before. I always knew what I wanted but never knew how I'd get there.

If you want to travel for work, you have to look at the options. Are you a good writer? Then you have to A. Write and B. Travel. I saved so much money working at things I hated at the beginning to do what I do now. You have to absolutely love and thrive on writing to make a living writing in any way. And you have to be nice to people, follow up, and be persistent to assigning editors without being a pest.

You also have to understand many aspects of the business to make money in travel media - what do sponsorships mean? How does SEO and now the AI revolution play a role, and newsletter statistics? What about social media? What does your own brand look like? All of these things mean much more than they did ten years ago. There’s no use grumbling about it, as Jerry Weintraub says, “Do not get attached to the world as it is, because the world is changing. Something new is coming. Every ten years, a big hand comes down and sweeps the dishes off the table.”

There are so many other ways now to work in travel without being a writer. The luxury travel agent and advisor industry has exploded in a way that I could just start to see happening in 2012. You can be a tour guide or tour director which I also do, or work at a hotel company that allows you freedom to grow in your career and travel throughout the properties. I wrote this article in 2012 and still get emails about it today. Most of it still applies today. Just know that, like everything, it is a job too - you have to be detail-oriented and learn the industry. Here’s a more recent piece for AFAR: The Best Advice for New Travel Advisors.

The more corporate jobs are great for most people because of the steady paycheck and ability to live a more balanced life.  It is tough for me to recommend to someone "go be a travel writer" if they don't have savings or a good support system, because it just doesn't work easily for most people, especially in the changing media landscape. Create a portfolio. Start writing locally in your own city. Start right out of college if possible, something that I didn't do. Don't just knock on doors - be a human wrecking ball and smash through them. Write for very little money if you have to get clips, BUT don't do it forever. Give it a time limit and then know your worth and demand it. Twitter matters. Facebook matters. Instagram matters. Be on there. Network but not in an obvious way. Relationships matter. By constantly trying to get in front of people, even if it took a year or more, I have made relationships in the industry that are priceless. I've worked really, really hard for the relationships I have.

I want both - to have a great home life and a great travel life. The older I get, the more being home and building things to do at home mean to me.
I wish you all the luck in the world finding your way! Enjoy the journey, I wish I had more at the beginning!

For general career advice, whatever your passion and focus might be - Joanna Goddard (A Cup of Jo) is spot-on, as she usually is!
Joanna Goddard: Ten Lessons I've Learned In My Career