How to Write a Travel Essay

Among a great variety of essays, a travel essay is one of the most beloved among students. They all like to travel or dream of traveling. Accordingly, it gets much easier to depict everything on paper. However, they may not be able to clearly reveal all they wanted. Luckily, it can be helped.

We have one great opinion of Lauren Bradshaw, who is an expert writer and blogger at CustomWritings. Here is her quote: “Travel essay writing is one of the favorite essay types of most students because it is easy and dear to the heart. However, certain rules and academic demands may bring you to ruin the best ideas. That’s why students ought to learn what must be done, use useful tips, and be enthusiastic about what they are to create”. This useful blog post tells how to write a flawless travel essay to get an A+ grade.

Choose the Destination Point

First, you are to decide what place to depict in your travel essay. Make sure you’ve been to it at least once. Secondly, focus on several attractions. Don’t overload your text and readers with too many of them. Choose the ones that have impressed you and base your story on them.

Use Strong Words

A travel essay is based on the art of description. Consequently, you are expected to use strong descriptive words. They should provide readers with a feeling that they have really been to the place you describe. You should “show” more than “tell.” Use strong descriptive words for:

• Place;
• People;
• Environment;
• Time;
• Culture;
• Traditions;
• Activities;
• Events, etc.

Additional tip: Keep your sentences simple and short.

Prefer the First Person Viewpoint

When you write a travel essay, it’s better to stick to the first-person mode. Remember it for good because it’s one of the most important rules of travel writing. If you use the pronoun “I,” you show that you’ve really been to the place(s) you describe. Your readers begin to trust you subconsciously. They don’t want to read about the impressions other people told you.

Be Straight to the Point

Another vital tip is to cut it short and get to the main point of your essay as soon as possible. The purpose of every essay is to write a short, catchy introduction that ends with a thesis statement. It should clarify the place you want to describe and why. Avoid going in circles because your readers may quickly lose any interest in your travel essay. The typical structure is as follows:

• Introduction. Provides general facts about your story.
• Thesis statement. Clarify your purpose and is placed in the last sentence of the introductory part.
• Main body. Develops your thesis statement, provides details, descriptions, and explanations.
• Conclusion. Summarizes the entire essay, states the outcomes, and interprets them from your viewpoint.

Be Honest

Honesty is likewise important to achieve success. Even if you did not like something about the place you’ve visited and are depicting right now, tell the truth. It shows your readers that you care about them and want to reveal a true story. Remember that readers of travel blogs need the information whether a certain destination point is worth their time and money.

Add Pictures

Travel writing surely requires visual support, and you are expected to add some images in your travel essay too. Don’t forget to take some good photos of the place you describe. When you add it to the text, describe it straight away. Thus, your readers will understand why you have chosen to use a concrete image.

Describe What You Achieved

Every story needs a logical ending, and a travel essay is no exception. As it’s not a scientific paper (unless you conduct in-depth research on the history of the place), your outcomes are your achievements. Tell your readers why this trip was so special for you and how you enriched your inner world. For example, you may tell that you:

• Met new friends;
• Received uncommon experiences;
• Learned more about culture;
• Learned more about the differences between people;
• Changed some of your world views, etc.

This information is vital. If you clarify it, your readers will surely like the story. Even if you didn’t like the visited place too much, it still means something, and thus the story becomes complete.

Expand the Story

It is likewise vital to make your story bigger than a simple description of a few attractions. Going beyond a description, you may add dialogues. They make any travel story livelier and more enjoyable. Talk to people in the location you’ve visited. Some of them may tell you funny stories, and some give a captivating report on the history of the city or village. Obligatorily add your emotions about your conversations and explain them. Thus, you’ll make your text more readable and will expand the story.

Things to Avoid

It’s likewise vital to mention things that may spoil your essay. You should constantly keep them in mind to avoid mistakes. They are as follows:

• Avoid clichés and stereotypical thinking;
• Don’t use formal language;
• Don’t write too long sentences;
• Avoid too many descriptions;
• Prefer an active voice;
• Make smooth and logical transitions;
• Support your descriptions with emotions.

Finally, you should reread the whole story twice or thrice. It helps to identify some weak points in the story or detect grammar mistakes. Use grammar checkers to receive dependable feedback and spot the mistakes you commonly omit. Ask others to read it.

Try to keep in mind our tips, or save this blog post to your bookmarks. Thus, you will always have the necessary answers close at hand. By following them, you will surely write a top-quality travel essay to guarantee the best grades for this task. We likewise recommend reading a little travel essay samples to understand how different authors build their stories.