Resources
Sequestering travelers
Posted: March 6, 2013 Contents: Resources | Tags: fred gebhart, maria lenhart, Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation, sequestering travelers, sequestration, travel advice, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel market expert, travel writer, travel writing, tsa Leave a comment »The Federal Government is facing a deadline that will affect the American economy. As individuals a citizen may not completely understand how such deadlines as the “automatic federal spending budget cuts” that went into place Friday, March 1, affect their personal life. As a traveler the federal deadline has serious implications according to facts and opinions travel experts explained to Fred Gebhart and Maria Lenhart of Travel Market Expert. Travel journalists should brace themselves as experts expect:
Threatened reductions in air traffic controllers, customs clearance officers, and TSA officials staffing airport checkpoints risk long lines, system slow-downs, and general delays.
In addition, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood warned that sequestration would have ‘serious impacts on transportation services that are critical to…
Traveling and the global economy
Posted: March 6, 2013 Contents: Resources | Tags: bill poling, economics, global gdp, travel economics, travel experts, travel industry, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel research, travel weekly, travel writer, travel writing Leave a comment »Bill Poling of Travel Weekly reports stats on the travel industry’s effect on the global economy. All in all the report shows that the travel industry boosted the global economy and added trillions of dollars to the global GDP. Here’s a tidbit from Poling’s report:
In a report that again depicts the resilience of travel, the World Travel and Tourism Council estimated that the industry’s contribution to global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3% last year, the third consecutive year of growth.
The annual report, produced by Oxford Economics, said the direct contribution of travel and tourism in the global economy came to over $2 trillion, or 2.9% of global GDP. With indirect effects added, the total economic impact of travel and tourism rises to $6.6 trillion, or 9.3% of global GDP.
Prepared for a rush
Posted: February 16, 2013 Contents: Chapter 4, Resources | Tags: Clay shivers, Making friends model, travel journalism, travel writing 2 Comments »In the Resource section of the text college student Aaron Mashburn offers his “Making Friends Model.” Clay Shivers of Worldhum.com narrates his travel to Bangalore and his own execution of the “Making Friends Model.” Shivers explains through out his piece that for twenty years he has fantasized over a poster of a packed train ride through India. From the poster Shivers longed to reach that magical place, that place directly in the middle of local Indian culture.
Finally upon reaching Bangalore he gets his opportunity to be apart of the crowded train. As anticipation builds, the train takes off and literally is moving so slow that locals are able to out walk the train. This is what’s great about this piece. Because of this situation, a disappointing slow train ride, Shivers meets a friend, Rahim who had previously studied abroad in Pennsylvania. Figuring he has…
Expert advice, what not to do
Posted: February 16, 2013 Contents: Chapter 1, Resources | Tags: chapter 4, travel journalism, travel writing, what not to do Leave a comment »The Resources section of the text offers the travel writer advice from 100 freelance journalists. Carlo Alcos offers some good advice for the travel journalist in the article What Not to Do. Here’s one of his pieces of advice,
DO listen to yourself and be authentic to what your gut tells you.
Society these days is “noisy.” We’re being bombarded with information through news, websites, advertisements, social media; pulled and yanked in this direction and that direction. It’s enough to give you whiplash. It can be extremely hard to shut out the static and turn inward, into yourself to listen to what it is that you actually want. Go for a run; meditate; do some yoga; take a walk in the forest. Ask yourself questions and sense how your body reacts — your physiological responses like increased heart rate, a “funny feeling in your stomach”,…
Lowering language barrier
Posted: February 16, 2013 Contents: Resources | Tags: travel journalism, travel language, travel technology, travel writing Leave a comment »The Resources lists gadgets and apps every travel journalist should carry. David Miller of the Matador Network recently wrote about revolutionary technology for the travel journalist. Technology that will completely lower the language barrier between strangers from different cultures. Here’s a bit from Miller’s article,
This technology is still in its nascent form, but as more languages are added and the technology is refined, everyone from business travelers to anthropologists will be able to interact with locals in ways that were previously inaccessible or which necessitated having a 3rd person there.
Green Book
Posted: February 16, 2013 Contents: Chapter 2, Resources | Tags: black history, Deborah Bhattacharyya, Green book, negro-motorist green book, road trip, travel journalism, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 2 discusses guidebooks as a major part of the tourist process. As the text states guidebooks mediate the relationship between tourist and destination, as well as the relationship between the guest and host.
In the early stages of the 20th century blacks weren’t privy to such information much less experiences. A major fear and risk for African Americans was safety.
As a result a postal worker Victor Green put together a guidebook that showed blacks safe places to visit while traveling throughout the country: “The Negro-Motorist Green Book.” Nsenga Burton of the Roots.com explains to readers the books function and historical relevance. Here’s a tidbit from her article:
Like users of today’s popular recommendation sites such as TripAdvisor, travelers collected information during their journeys, which they shared…
Price for safety? Common sense
Posted: February 5, 2013 Contents: Resources | Tags: freelance journalists, lonely planet, lonelyplanet.com, mark broadhead, travel advice, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel writer, travel writing Leave a comment »The Resources section of the text offers advice from 100 freelance journalists. Mark Broadhead of LonelyPlanet.com offers his advice on safety while traveling. According to Broadhead,
Scan your travel documents and email them to yourself. It was traditional to photocopy your passport and visas, travel insurance etc, and keep them in a separate part of your luggage. But that’s old school. These days, digital is best – that way your documents won’t go missing even if your bags do.
It may seem like a breeze, but be advised that teaching yourself to ride a motorbike or jet ski in a foreign country is probably unwise. In Thailand, for instance, 38 people a day die in scooter accidents. Nb some travel insurance policies won’t cover scooter-related injuries.
Useful captions to enhance visuals
Posted: January 22, 2013 Contents: Resources | Tags: david miller, matador network, matadornetwork.com, photography, photography captions, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel photography Leave a comment »The text concludes with Resources for every travel journalist to consider taking advantage of. The matador Network’s David Miller drops another gem for the journalist. No doubt photographs have the ability to add value to a travel journalist’s work. Miller explains how to enhance these visuals with useful captions. Miller explains,
Instead of simply reducing / restating what’s already obvious in the photo, strong captions — what we at Matador call “narrative” captions — give the viewer context, backstory, information that the viewer CAN’T see for him or herself. This includes things like:
- Place names
- Subject names
- Backstory on the scene (example: at what point of the trip the shot occurred)
- Backstory or technical info on the shot itself
- Challenges or special circumstances not identifiable in the shot itself
- Information on future events the shot puts into perspective
Read…
Sleep capsules
Posted: November 19, 2012 Contents: Resources | Tags: frugal, frugal traveler, japanese capsule rooms, pods, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel on a shoestring, travel technology Leave a comment »Resources gives the travel journalist advice on how to travel on a shoestring. Pod hotels are listed as a resource to consider in order to sleep comfortably for a considerably low rate. Taken a step further are the Japanese capsule rooms. The rooms are about 3 ¼ feet wide and 6 ½ feet long – just enough for a bed, a small lcd tv, an alarm clock built into the wall, and free wifi. These tiny rooms go for about $46 a night. Perfect for any backpacker.
Travel writer as an Orwellian
Posted: November 5, 2012 Contents: Resources | Tags: aaron hamburger, freelance journalists, matador network, matadornetwork.com, orwellian, travel advice, travel journalism, travel writer, travel writing 2 Comments »Resources offers advice from 100 freelance journalists. Aaron Hamburger from the Matador Network offers this: Be an Orwellian. Here’s a tidbit from Hamburger’s article:
Orwell’s prime enemy was vagueness, dullness, and cliché. In his formulation, either you’re choosing language or language chooses you. Or as Orwell puts it: ‘Modern writing at its worst does not consist of picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images to make their meaning clearer. It consists of gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by somebody else.’
