Introductory Post

     "To travel is to live. The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. Travel while you're young and able. Don't worry about the money, just make it work. Experience as far more valuable than money will ever be." 

      Traveling is an appealing experience. It’s an ideal way to leave your current life behind to pursue a more relaxing or adventurous break, or to live in and explore a new place. The experience of travel is commonly about venturing out there and bringing back experiences to share. There is this kind of role behind traveling that involves recording the experiences that are different from your common, home life.

     I have a belief that the reason for, or the result of traveling, is to open your eyes; to explore and see what is not normally seen in the daily drive to and from work. Does it help you to see better, with more detail, with interest in something different, especially once you have returned home to view the pretty, photographic snap shots of your experiences? Which is more important, the experience of your holiday, or the images to be studied and shared with family and friends at the end? The evidence of something different.

     Planning a trip to an exotic destination that has yet to be tainted by tourism? Good luck in finding one. The widespread use of blogs, social-networking sites, webcams and cell phones places just about every corner of the planet at our fingertips. Suddenly, anyone with a computer can be a travel writer and any day spent far from home can be instantly shared with “friends” you’ll never see.

     Does all this imply the end of literary travel writing? Hopefully not, but in the age of globalization, the world has be-come more accessible and undeniably more “connected,” at least in technological terms. Travel has shifted in style and scope while tourism—that market-driven substitute for a voyage of discovery—runs the gamut from “packaged” to pretentious. In the 21st century, the well-crafted travel essay has begun to look as nostalgic as a dusty khaki safari jacket sans logo.

     But what is more satisfying than a literate ramble around a beautiful city or a seemingly empty beach with a lively, articulate mind? The hook need not be as dramatic as a great escape from warring tribes or some life-threatening meteorological event. Travel is internal as well as external, and so the “story” is free to focus on subtle shifts of inner awareness. In the words of Norman Douglas, writing in the 1920s, good travel writing “invites the reader to undertake three tours simultaneously: abroad, into the author’s brain, and into his own.”
 
     As long as wanderlust exists, an engaging travel essay will appeal to readers who expect more than mere information. (Leave that task to the travel guides.) And while there is no foolproof formula, there are a few “rules of the road.” Your travel essay will be a success when it leaves readers with a fresh, vivid memory of a place they’ve never seen.

     Because a good travel essay should be readable in one sitting, it takes an artful approach to focus your lens, calibrate your timing, build your structure, and discover colorful threads to weave through the fabric of your essay. As the writer, your task is to use your imagination to “omit and compress,” as Alain de Botton describes it, in order to steer your reader to “critical moments” and, I would add, unforgettable images.