≡ Menu

7 Best Ways to Improve Your Travel Writing Skills

How to get better at writing about travel.

Travel writing logo

Travel blog writing is a popular occupation nowadays. Even if you still don’t do it professionally, there is a chance you want to monetize your blog about vacations, new places, trips. The idea is great, but the problem is there are hundreds of similar blogs, thousands to be honest. It means it will be hard for you to make your stories popular unless you work hard and improve your skills in travel writing. Here are some first steps to take in that direction.

Read Books, Not Only Travel Blogs

To write quality posts or essays about traveling, you have to broaden your horizons. It is impossible to become a famous writer just using facts from Wikipedia and telling which restaurant you’ve found interesting to visit. It was enough, maybe 7-10 years ago when travel writing was emerging, but now you have to give your audience more than that. Start reading books about different countries, and not only guides and travel books, but quality literary fiction set in a particular place. This way you will get to know much more exciting details, grasp a spirit of people living there, etc.

Write About Your Small Trips – All of Them

The only way to become considerably better in writing is to write. As you have a specialty in mind, you should write in the boundaries of this field. However, unfortunately, there is a chance you don’t travel enough to write every day about some new place. Or do you? Consider travelling as something that happens when you actually leave your home. It means that you can write about your visit to the supermarket, to a vet, to a mall, to movies, etc. At first you may think that you are just wasting your time describing such ordinary things, but in fact, you are training your writing muscle and learn how to see unusual in ritual things.

Forget About “Narrow Streets of a Cosy City in Europe”

We all know those articles which use the same descriptions of the same things, and narrows streets of a lovely city in Europe is just a tip of the iceberg. It is just too boring to read already, so you have to find new senses, new words, new descriptions. We have already said that it is very useful to read books, not only travel guides, you should know that it also helps with descriptions rather much. Try to find not only synonyms but something that can sound like a paradox that will attract your reader’s attention. We all know, for example, that Paris is lovely, but at the same time, we forget about how many protests it lives through over one single year. Why not write about it?

Learn from Experts

It doesn’t matter whether it is about travel essay writing or blog, you may consider using help from writing services online, which hire professionals to deal with such tasks. There is no shame in addressing experts for assistance, and to learn from the papers or blog entries they write based on your instructions. You should remember that most of them have years of experience in a chosen field and that all of them, of course, if you address a quality service, are Masters and Ph.D. degree holders. It means that even if they travel less than you do, they know how to turn your ideas into impeccable pieces of writing.

Use Voice Recorders

Writing and talking are two completely different activities. When you start talking you give one type of emotion, and later, when you get to writing, you lose half of it, but you remember some facts you couldn’t come up with when you were speaking. It is a normal situation, nothing to be ashamed of. It is how our brain works. To increase the quality of your essays or blog entries dedicated to traveling, you should start using voice recorders once in a while. Tell yourself a story about the place you’ve visited, record it, and listen to it – you will find fresh descriptions, funny comparisons, and inspired ideas in your monologues. When we talk, we can’t edit ourselves as strictly as we do when we write, and it boosts our creativity.

Make Lots of Notes and Take Pictures

When traveling, you think that everything you see around is so easy to remember, so valuable, so impressive. However, in about several days, not even weeks, these memories will fade away, you will remember only some really emotional moments, and some random facts. It is ok for the most of people, but it is not ok for a travel writer. Details make a real difference when it comes to the quality of such texts. Take pictures not only of yourself but of newspaper stands, menus, shops, people passing by if it is legal in a particular region, food in supermarkets, roads, subway, etc. Later, looking through these pictures, you will feel much more confident about what you write. The same goes for notes.

Work On Structure

You feel emotional about your vacation, and you think it is a good idea to walk a reader through all the details starting with how you’ve called a cab to go to the airport late at night. Unfortunately, no one cares. If you just post blogs or write essays in the form of freewriting, you won’t have many readers, as people lose their interest rather fast. You should think of an engaging structure for your paper and work on catchy, yet informative subheadings.

SUPPORT

The only way I can continue my travels and publishing this blog is by generous contributions from readers. If you can, please subscribe for just $5 per month:

NEWSLETTER

If you like what you just read, please sign up for our newsletter!
* indicates required
Filed under: Travel Guide

About the Author:

has written 1185 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

0 comments… add one

Leave a Comment