travel writing essay example

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Great Travel Writing Examples from World Renowned Travel Writers

Are you ready to be a better travel writer? One of the best ways to do this is to read great travel writing examples from great travel writers.

Writing about travel in a way that keeps your reader reading is not always easy. Knowing how to write an irresistible first paragraph to entice the reader to keep reading is key. Writing a lede paragraph that convinces the reader to finish the article, story or book is great travel writing. This article features travel writing examples from award-winning travel writers, top-selling books, New York Times travel writers, and award-winning travel blogs.

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typewriter with a piece of paper that says travel writer, a notepad and old fashioned pen and cup of coffee.

The writers featured in this article are some of my personal favorite travel writers. I am lucky to have met most of them in person and even luckier to consider many friends. Many I have interviewed on my podcast and have learned writing tips from their years of travel writing, editing and wisdom.

11 Great Travel Writing Examples

Writing with feeling, tone, and point of view creates a compelling story. Below are examples of travel writing that include; first paragraphs, middle paragraphs, and final paragraphs for both travel articles as well as travel books.

I hope the below examples of travel writing inspire you to write more, study great travel writing and take your writing to a higher level.

Writing Example of a Travel Book Closing Paragraphs

Travel writer Don George holding a glass of wine

Don George is the author of the award-winning anthology The Way of Wanderlust: The Best Travel Writing of Don George , and the best-selling travel writing guide in the world: How to Be a Travel Writer .

He is currently Editor at Large for National Geographic Travel, and has been Travel Editor at the San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle, Salon, and Lonely Planet.

I had the wonderful opportunity to see Don speak at Tbex and read from one of his books as well as interview him on the Break Into Travel Writing podcast. You can listen to the full podcast here .

Below is the closing of Don’s ebook: Wanderlust in the Time of Coronavirus: Dispatches from a Year of Traveling Close to Home

I continued hiking up to Lost Trail and then along Canopy View Trail. Around noon I serendipitously came upon a bench by the side of the trail, parked my backpack, and unpacked my lunch. Along with my sandwiches and carrot sticks, I feasted on the tranquility and serenity, the sequoia-swabbed purity of the air, the bird and brook sounds and sun-baked earth and pine needle smells, the sunlight slanting through the branches, the bright patch of blue sky beyond.

At one point I thought of shinrin-yoku, forest bathing, the Japanese practice that has become widely popular in the U.S. This was a perfect example of shinrin-yoku, I thought: Here I am, alone in this forest, immersed in the sense and spirit of these old-growth redwoods, taking in their tranquility and timelessness, losing myself to their sheer size and age and their wild wisdom that fills the air.

I sat there for an hour, and let all the trials, tremors, and tribulations of the world I had left in the parking lot drift away. I felt grounded, calm, quiet—earth-bound, forest-embraced.

In another hour, or two, I would walk back to the main paved trail, where other pilgrims would be exclaiming in awe at the sacred sequoias, just as I had earlier that day.

But for now, I was content to root right here, on this blessed bench in the middle of nowhere, or rather, in the middle of everywhere, the wind whooshing through me, bird-chirps strung from my boughs, toes spreading under scratchy pine needles into hard-packed earth, sun-warmed canopy reaching for the sky, aging trunk textured by time, deep-pulsing, in the heart of Muir Woods.

You can read the whole story here: Old Growth: Hiking into the Heart of Muir Woods
Please also download Don’s free ebook here: Wanderlust in the Time of Coronavirus
In addition to writing and editing, Don speaks at conferences, lectures on tours around the world, and teaches travel writing workshops through www.bookpassage.com .

Writing Example of a Travel Book Intro Paragraphs

Francis tapon.

Francis Tapon , author of Hike Your Own Hike and The Hidden Europe , also created a TV series and book called The Unseen Africa, which is based on his five-year journey across all 54 African countries.

He is a three-time TEDx speaker. His social media username is always FTapon. I interviewed Francis on the Break Into Travel Writing podcast about “How to Find An Original Point of View as a Travel Writer “. You can listen to the full podcast here .

Below is the opening of Francis’ book, The Hidden Europe:

“This would be a pretty lousy way to die,” I thought.

I was locked in an outhouse with no way out. Outhouses sometimes have two latches—one on the outside and one on the inside. The outside latch keeps the door shut to prevent rodents and other creatures who like hanging out in crap from coming in. Somehow, that outer latch accidentally closed, thereby locking me in this smelly toilet. I was wearing a thin rain jacket. The temperature was rapidly dropping.

“This stinks,” I mumbled. It was midnight, I was above the Arctic Circle, and the temperatures at night would be just above freezing. There was no one around for kilometers. If I didn’t get out, I could freeze to death in this tiny, smelly, fly-infested shithole.

My mom would kill me if I died so disgracefully. She would observe that when Elvis died next to a toilet, he was in Graceland. I, on the other hand, was in Finland, not far from Santa Claus. This Nordic country was a jump board for visiting all 25 nations in Eastern Europe.

You can find his book on Amazon: The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us

For $2 a month, you can get Francis’ book as he writes it: Patreon.com/ftapon

Intro (Lede) Paragraph Examples of Great Travel Writing Articles

Michele peterson.

Former banking executive Michele Peterson is a multi-award-winning travel and food writer who divides her time between Canada, Guatemala, and Mexico (or the nearest tropical beach).

Former banking executive Michele Peterson is a multi-award-winning travel and food writer who divides her time between Canada, Guatemala, and Mexico (or the nearest tropical beach). Her writing has appeared in Lonely Planet’s Mexico from the Source cookbook, National Geographic Traveler, Conde Nast’s Gold List, the Globe and Mail, Fifty-five Plus and more than 100 other online and print publications.

She blogs about world cuisine and sun destinations at A Taste for Travel website. I met Michele on my first media trip that took place in Nova Scotia, Canada. I also had the pleasure of interviewing about “ Why the Odds are in Your Favor if you Want to Become a Travel Writer” . You can listen to the full podcast here .

Michele’s Lede Paragraph Travel Writing Example

I’m hiking through a forest of oak trees following a farmer who is bleating like a pied piper. Emerging from a gully is a herd of black Iberian pigs, snuffling in response. If they weren’t so focused on following the swineherd, I would run for the hills. These pigs look nothing like the pink-cheeked Babe of Hollywood fame.

These are the world’s original swine, with lineage dating back to the Paleolithic Stone Age period where the earliest humans decorated Spain’s caves with images of wild boars. Their powerful hoofs stab the earth as they devour their prized food, the Spanish bellota acorn, as fast as the farmer can shake them from the tree with his long wooden staff. My experience is part of a culinary journey exploring the secrets of producingjamón ibérico de Bellota, one of the world’s finest hams.

You can read the full article here: Hunting for Jamón in Spain

Perry Garfinkel

Perry Garfinkel has been a journalist and author for an unbelievable 40 years, except for some years of defection into media/PR communications and consulting.

He is a contributor to The New York Times since the late ’80s, writing for many sections and departments. He has been an editor for, among others, the Boston Globe, the Middlesex News, and the Martha’s Vineyard Times.

He’s the author of the national bestseller “ Buddha or Bust: In Search of the Truth, Meaning, Happiness and the Man Who Found Them All ” and “ Travel Writing for Profit and Pleasure “.

Perry has been a guest on my podcast twice. He gave a “ Master Class in Travel Writing ” you can listen to the full podcast here . He also shared “ How to Find Your Point Of View as a Travel Writer ” you can listen to the full episode here .

Perry’s Lede Travel Article Example from the New York Times

SAN FRANCISCO — A block off Grant Avenue in San Francisco’s Chinatown – beyond the well-worn path tourists take past souvenir shops, restaurants and a dive saloon called the Buddha Bar – begins a historical tour of a more spiritual nature. Duck into a nondescript doorway at 125 Waverly Place, ascend five narrow flights and step into the first and oldest Buddhist temple in the United States.

At the Tien Hau Temple, before an intricately carved gilded wooden shrine and ornate Buddha statues, under dozens of paper lanterns, Buddhists in the Chinese tradition still burn pungent incense and leave offerings to the goddess Tien Hau in return for the promise of happiness and a long life.

You can read the full article here: Taking a Buddhist pilgrimage in San Francisco

Elaine Masters

Elaine Masters apologizes for pissing off fellow travelers while tracking story ideas, cultural clues, and inspiring images but can’t resist ducking in doorways or talking with strangers.

She’s recently been spotted driving her hybrid around the North American West Coast and diving cenotes in the Yucatan. Founder of Tripwellgal.com, Elaine covers mindful travel, local food, overlooked destinations and experiences. Elaine was a guest on my podcast where we spoke about “ How to Master the CVB Relationship “. You can listen to the full podcast here .

Elaine’s Lede Example

I jiggered my luggage onto the escalator crawling up to the street. As it rose into the afternoon light, an immense shadow rose over my shoulder. Stepping onto the sidewalk, I burst into giggles, looking like a madwoman, laughing alone on the busy Barcelona boulevard. The shadow looming overhead was the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. It had mesmerized me forty years earlier and it was the reason I’d finally returned to Spain.

You can read the full article here: Don’t Miss Going Inside Sagrada Familia, Barcelona’s Beloved Cathedral

Along with his wife, photographer Mary Gabbett, Bret Love is the Co-Founder/Editor In Chief of Green Global Travel and the Blue Ridge Mountains Travel Guide.

He’s also an award-winning writer whose work has been featured by more than 100 publications around the world, including National Geographic, Rolling Stone, American Way, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.

Bret’s Lede Example

Congo Square is quiet now. Traffic forms a dull drone in the distance. A lone percussionist taps out ancient tribal rhythms on a two-headed drum. An air compressor from Rampart Street road construction provides perfectly syncopated whooshes of accompaniment.

Shaded park benches are surrounded by blooming azaleas, magnolias, and massive live oaks that stretch to provide relief from the blazing midday sun. It’s an oasis of solitude directly across the street from the French Quarter.

Congo Square is quiet now. But it’s here that the seeds of American culture as we know it were sown more than 200 years ago. And the scents, sounds, and sights that originated here have never been more vital to New Orleans than they are now, more than a decade after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.

You can read the full article here: Treme, New Orleans (How Congo Square Was The Birthplace Of American Culture)

Middle Paragraph Examples of Great Travel Writing Articles

Mariellen ward.

Canadian travel writer and blogger Mariellen Ward runs the award-winning travel site Breathedreamgo.com , inspired by her extensive travels in India.

She has been published in leading media outlets worldwide and offers custom tours to India through her company India for Beginners. Though Canadian by birth, Mariellen considers India to be her “soul culture” and she is passionate about encouraging mindful travel.

Mariellen’s Middle Paragraph Example

While the festival atmosphere swirled around me, I imbued my diya with hope for personal transformation. I had come to India because a river of loss had run through my life, and I had struggled with grief, despair and depression for eight years. I felt I was clinging to the bank, but the effort was wearing me out. Deciding to leave my life and go to India was like letting go of the bank and going with the flow of the river. I had no idea where it would lead me, what I would learn or how I would change. I only knew that it was going to be big.

You can read the full article here: The River: A tale of grief and healing in India

Joe Baur is an author and filmmaker from Cleveland currently based in Berlin. His work has appeared in a variety of international publications, including BBC Travel, National Geographic, and Deutsche Welle.

He regularly reports for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and is the author of Talking Tico detailing his year of living in Costa Rica and traveling around Central America. I interviewed Joe about “ How to Find Unique Travel Stories “. You can listen to the full podcast here .

Joe Baur’s Middle Paragraph Example

I first became aware of the Harz mountains and the Brocken when reading the works of some of Germany’s great writers, like Goethe and Heinrich Heine. Legends of witches congregating with the devil being the main theme of the mountain’s mythology. I, however, was more interested in a refreshing time spent in nature rather than reveling with the devil.

The first stage from Osterode to Buntenbock was a warm-up to the more rigorous stages ahead. It began on sidewalks before sliding into the forest sporting a healthy shade of green — a gentle jaunt that made my hiking boots feel a bit like overkill given the dry, pleasant weather.

You can read the full article here: Follow the witch through the forest: 5 days hiking Germany’s Harz

Samantha Shea

Samantha is a freelance travel writer with bylines in Matador Network, GoNomad and more. She also runs the travel blog Intentional Detours which provides thorough guides and tales related to offbeat adventure travel in South Asia and beyond.

When she’s not writing she enjoys cycling, hiking, the beach, as well as language learning.

Samantha Shea’s Middle Paragraph Example

Suddenly, the spark of a match pulsed through the early-fall afternoon and my head snapped towards the men. Amir touched the flame to an unidentifiable object that seconds later made itself known by the deep earthy scent of Pakistani hashish.

Amir’s ice blue eyes focused intently on his creation: a combination of tobacco and nuggets of greenish-brown charas. He forced the mixture back into the cigarette, before bringing it to his pursed lips, flicking the match, and setting flame to his high.

I reached out from the cot to take my turn and took a deep inhale, acutely pleased. I savored the familiar burn of the drag, the rows and rows of corn and apple plants in front of me, the stuttered cacophony of animal exclamations behind me, and the generosity of the men to my left, some of whom we had just met an hour before.

You can read the full article here: Thall Tales: A Hazy Afternoon in Thall, Pakistan

Final Paragraph Example of Great Travel Writing Articles

Cassie bailey.

Cassie is a travel writer who has solo backpacked around Asia and the Balkans, and is currently based in Auckland. Alongside in-depth destination guides, her blog has a particular focus on storytelling, mental health, and neurodiversity.

Cassie’s Final Paragraphs Example

So my goal is to feel, I guess. And I don’t mean that in a dirty way (although obvz I do mean that in a dirty way too). This is why we travel, right? To taste crazy new foods and to feel the sea breeze against our skin or the burn on the back of our legs on the way down a mountain. We want to feel like shite getting off night buses at 4am and the sting of mosquito bites. We know we’re going to feel lost or frustrated or overwhelmed but we do it anyway. Because we know it’s worth it for the ecstasy of seeing a perfect view or making a new connection or finding shitty wine after a bad day.

My goal is never to become numb to all of this. To never kid myself into settling for less than everything our bodies allow us to perceive. I’m after the full human experience; every bit, every feeling.

You can read the full article here: Goals inspired by life as a solo backpacker

Lydia Carey

Lydia Carey is a freelance writer and translator based out of Mexico City who spends her time mangling the Spanish language, scouring the country for true stories and “researching” every taco stand in her neighborhood.

She is the author of “ Mexico City Streets: La Roma ,” a guide to one of Mexico City’s most eclectic neighborhoods and she chronicles her life in the city on her blog MexicoCityStreets.com .

Lydia’s Final Paragraphs Example

Guys from the barrio huddle around their motorcycles smoking weed and drinking forties. Entire families, each dressed as St. Jude, eat tacos al pastor and grilled corn on a stick. Police stand at a distance, keeping an eye on the crowd but trying not to get too involved.

After this celebration, many of the pilgrims will travel on to Puebla where they will visit some of the religious relics on display in the San Judas church there. But many more will simply go back to their trades—legal and illegal—hoping that their attendance will mean that San Judas protects them for another year, and that he has their back in this monster of a city.

You can read the full article here: San Judas de Tadeo: Mexico’s Defender of Lost Causes

I hope you enjoyed these examples of travel writing and they have inspired you to want to write more and write better! The next article that will be published is a follow-up to this and will include travel writing examples from my first travel writing teacher, Amanda Castleman. This article will include travel writing tips from Amanda and travel writing examples from her students as well as one from her own writing.

Great Travel Writing Examples from from the best travel writers. Beautiful travel narratives from that offer invaluable insights to better your own writing.

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Alexa Meisler is the editorial director of 52 Perfect Days. Born in Paris, France she has since lived in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon. She currently resides in San Diego with her husband and son where they enjoy exploring California and Mexico.

Travel has always been a part of her life; traveling to such places as Morocco, Tangiers and Spain as a young child as well as taking many road trips to Mexico with her grandparents as a young girl. Since then, she has traveled abroad to locations such as Russia, Taiwan and throughout Europe.

Prior to working at 52 Perfect Days she was a freelance travel writer; focusing on family and women’s adventure experiences.

Write a Good Travel Essay. Please.

Kathleen Boardman

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Editor’s Note: We know that many of you are looking for help writing travel experience essays for school or simply writing about a trip for your friends or family. To inspire you and help you write your next trip essay—whether it’s an essay about a trip with family or simply a way to remember your best trip ever (so far)—we enlisted the help of Professor Kathleen Boardman, whose decades of teaching have helped many college students learn the fine art of autobiography and life writing. Here’s advice on how to turn a simple “my best trip” essay into a story that will inspire others to explore the world.

Welcome home! Now that you’re back from your trip, you’d like to share it with others in a travel essay. You’re a good writer and a good editor of your work, but you’ve never tried travel writing before. As your potential reader, I have some advice and some requests for you as you write your travel experience essay.

Trip Essays: What to Avoid

Please don’t tell me everything about your trip. I don’t want to know your travel schedule or the names of all the castles or restaurants you visited. I don’t care about the plane trip that got you there (unless, of course, that trip is the story).

I have a friend who, when I return from a trip, never asks me, “How was your trip?” She knows that I would give her a long, rambling answer: “… and then … and then … and then.” So instead, she says, “Tell me about one thing that really stood out for you.” That’s what I’d like you to do in this travel essay you’re writing.

The Power of Compelling Scenes

One or two “snapshots” are enough—but make them great. Many good writers jump right into the middle of their account with a vivid written “snapshot” of an important scene. Then, having aroused their readers’ interest or curiosity, they fill in the story or background. I think this technique works great for travel writing; at least, I would rather enjoy a vivid snapshot than read through a day-to-day summary of somebody’s travel journal.

Write About a Trip Using Vivid Descriptions

Take your time. Tell a story. So what if you saw things that were “incredible,” did things that were “amazing,” observed actions that you thought “weird”? These words don’t mean anything to me unless you show me, in a story or a vivid description, the experience that made you want to use those adjectives.

I’d like to see the place, the people, or the journey through your eyes, not someone else’s. Please don’t rewrite someone else’s account of visiting the place. Please don’t try to imitate a travel guide or travelogue or someone’s blog or Facebook entry. You are not writing a real travel essay unless you are describing, as clearly and honestly as possible, yourself in the place you visited. What did you see, hear, taste, say? Don’t worry if your “take” on your experience doesn’t match what everyone else says about it. (I’ve already read what THEY have to say.)

The Importance of Self-Editing Your Trip Essay

Don’t give me your first draft to read. Instead, set it aside and then reread it. Reread it again. Where might I need more explanation? What parts of your account are likely to confuse me? (After all, I wasn’t there.) Where might you be wasting my time by repeating or rambling on about something you’ve already told me?

Make me feel, make me laugh, help me learn something. But don’t overdo it: Please don’t preach to me about broadening my horizons or understanding other cultures. Instead, let me in on your feelings, your change of heart and mind, even your fear and uncertainty, as you confronted something you’d never experienced before. If you can, surprise me with something I didn’t know or couldn’t have suspected.

You Can Do It: Turning Your Trip into a Great Travel Experience Essay

I hope you will take yourself seriously as a traveler and as a writer. Through what—and how—you write about just a small portion of your travel experience, show me that you are an interesting, thoughtful, observant person. I will come back to you, begging for more of your travel essays.

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Travel Essay

Being given the chance to write essays travel to places around the world is a privilege that shouldn’t be taken for granted. For some people, it’s a dream that isn’t quite easy to reach. After all, not everyone is fortunate enough to afford such luxury.

When one travels, it’s an experience that they want to share with others. They want to tell a story of the things they’ve seen, the people they met, and the culture they’ve experienced. Most people tell this story through photographs, video diaries, or even travel essays. Through this, they are able to express the thrill and joy from their travel experience. It’s not about bragging but it’s about sharing the beauty of our surroundings.

Travel Writing Essay

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Travel Photo Essay

How to Write a Travel Essay?

Writing a travel essay is simple. The only thing essential is how you deliver the message. When you travel, it’s important to pay close attention to details.

This would be anything from the structure, the ambiance, and the locals. Allow yourself to wander and focus on the uniqueness of the given place. Tour guides, natives, and travel brochures often provide a short history of a place that you could include in your essay. It’s also best to learn the backstory of a place through your own research. This will allow you and the reader to feel the historic value of a place. It’s best to create an essay outline of your experience for you to properly organize your thoughts.

Purpose of Travel Essay

You have probably read a travel essay in the past. This could be from blogs, newspapers, or magazines. Some essays are so well-written that it makes you feel like you’re a part of the experience. This would inspire you to visit the place at one point in your life. However, it’s not all about what to see or where to go. It’s about the experience. It’s about sharing the beauty of a place that most people aren’t aware of. Travelling isn’t only about having fun but it’s also about appreciating the world we live in.

It’s a descriptive essay explaining the endless wonders of mankind. A travel essay also provides a glimpse of the culture of a given place. Writers inform us of the living conditions of the people there, their character traits, and their outlook in life. These essays are meant to be informative for people to remember that there’s a whole different world out there to explore.

Travel Experience

Short Essay Sample

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Sample Space Essay

Why Is It Important to Write a Travel Essay?

Travel essays may be written for different reasons. This could be to promote a given location to encourage tourists for a given travel agency or even as a good subject for a high school essay . Writing a travel essay is important in such a way that we can promote local tourism.

Not only can this support a country’s economy but it can also contribute to a local citizen’s means of living. A travel essay is often more accurate and descriptive than a mere photograph. It simply brings the image to life.

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How To Write a Good Travel Essay

Home / Blog / How To Write A Good Travel Essay - Guide With Examples

Introduction

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”

-Gustav Flaubert

Packing the duffel with the bare essentials and hopping into the car, getting behind the steering wheel and driving with no perfect destination in mind – we all dream to live such a life, don't we? Travelling to unseen places and exploring what it has to offer can be an enriching experience. However beautiful can travel be as an experience, writing a travelling essay can be quite a challenge. It may seem easy to come up with the ideas that you want to include in the essay but putting them into coherent sentences can be difficult. Your words should be impactful enough to be able to sweep the readers off their feet and take them on the cliff or make them feel the saline breeze on a beach.

A perfect travel essay must reflect the journey and highlight the little-known facts about the region. It should be infused with the character and culture of the place. If you are feeling stymied while writing a travel essay, then we have some brilliant tips for you that can make the task considerably easy for you.

8 tips for an outstanding essay on travelling

Here are 8 tips that you can cash on to produce a winning travelling essay:

Be specific with the destination

Before you choose a topic for your travel essay, keep the time spent in the location in mind. If your trip is just for a couple of days, then do not make the mistake of writing about an entire city. Think it out practically – is it possible to travel through a city in just a few days? Take for instance your essay is about London. It is quite an insurmountable task to be able to cover all the distance even in a week. So stick to a particular destination so that you can include the nuances and minutest details of the place to paint a picture in the reader’s mind with your words.

Less guide, more exploring

Also, the destination need not be about an exotic locale. It can be a story about an idyllic rustic location in the suburb of the teeming city. It can be about a cottage up on the hills with just the view of snowy valleys and iced peaks. Your words should give the sense of exploring and not touring. The essay should not be like a guide. It should be a view of the location through your lens.

Know the location like the back of your hand

Before starting to write a travel essay, do your research. A travel essay isn’t a made-up story so there should not be any fake information. Readers will be looking for more than just the necessary information about the must-visit tourist attractions. So you need to go beyond the surface and include more about the history of the place. Just do not write about the restaurants – talk about the cuisine of the place and the story behind it, if any. To get into the innermost recesses of the location, you can speak to the residents of the area. To bring richness in your travel essay, you must reveal another side of the destination.

Include the nitty-gritty

The key to an impressive travel essay is to be able to break down the location into kernels and write the core details about them. As mentioned earlier, so not just write about the tourist attractions and restaurants in the destination. Write about the lesser talked streets and unknown landmarks and the history behind them. If the place is known for its delicacies, write about how the cuisine has evolved and who had started it. From quaint bookstores to ice cream parlours to run-down shabby pubs – shed light to such nuances to bring your essay to life. You can even mention the negative things that you have faced in the place – like irregular transport modes or impolite locals. These little details will help you make your essay more impactful.

Be creative with the writing style

Since a travel essay is more like an anecdote, there is no specific format to write it. Therefore, a travel essay gives you the scope of setting your foot into the unchartered areas of creativity. You have got the creative freedom to write what you want. You can study how the natives of the locale speak and learn some of the basic words and phrases they use. To put them into writing you can read the local newspaper to get the pulse of the city you are in. Using the colloquial lingo can help the reader get a closer peek into the lives of the people living in the place. It will reflect a slice of how they live their way of life. Your words should be simple and yet impactful to portray and not just merely narrate. Touch every bit of the rust in the roof to make the reader feel like they are on the same journey with you.

Make it personal

The travel essay is your story. So add some personal experience in the story and at the same time do not make it self-indulgent. Include stories that can resonate with all your readers. Your experiences should be able to bring the reader back to the travel destination and connect him with the place. It should be the perfect blend of narration of the experiences you had while on the trip along with a vivid description of the place. To achieve the balance, write your essay in first person perspective to give a real touch to the story. Include the most interesting bits that will help the reader connect with you. You can even include the quotes of natives living in the area you had visited.

Start with a captivating catch

Like every essay, the introduction is the key to make it an impressive read. The opening should be capturing enough to attract the reader’s attention. It should leave an impact and should make them want to go on reading the piece. Start with an unknown fact about the place and leave it hanging from the cliff. Use a tone of suspense to excite the readers to keep them guessing about the contents of the essay.

Make it vivid with images

For certain places, words may fall short in being able to explain the exact description of a place. You cannot describe how the sky looked with the mountains seemingly touching the clouds or the horizon fading beyond the sea. Certain things cannot be explained in words – like the color of the sky or the water! This is where pictures come in! Providing real images of the place in between can help the readers stay connected. Vivid photos can also make the readers understand the story better by bringing them closer to it. So make sure you take breathtaking pictures of the place you are writing about. The images will help your essay stay in the readers’ mind longer.

With the above tips, we are sure you will be able to write an excellent travelling essay that will impress your professor and fetch you a good grade.

And if you are still unsure about putting these to use, then below is a winning sample to show you how it is done!

Travelling essay sample

I have visited London several times, and yet it is amazing how I find something new to explore every time I visit the capital city. My visit last autumn too did not fail to surprise me. With the hustle and bustle and the rich royal history, London city has a lot to offer. Since I just had a few days to spare, I wanted to make the best out of this trip.

Although vast and sprawling, I decided to visit most of the city on foot this time. Now since in my previous visits I had seen most of the tourist-y attractions already, I wanted to take the path less travelled this time to discover the hidden gems of the city. The last time I had been to London, I had missed out on the chance to visit the chock full of literature and history that awaited me in the Shakespeare Globe Theatre. Being a student of literature, visiting the place where the Bard of Avon once enacted the plays he wrote was a spellbinding moment. And guess what? I also caught a staging of the Macbeth before I left the place. Before heading towards the Hyde Park tube station, I grabbed some of London’s famous Fish ‘n’ Chips from the oldest food market of the city, the Borough Market. From Hyde Park to Tower Hill in under fifteen minutes by Tube, I began exploring the Tower of London. It was there that I heard a guard speaking about where he hailed from. A quick conversation with Peter, I had gotten intrigued to know more about his village – Suffolk in Lavenham. I asked him how to get there and Peter, being the quintessential helping guide that Londoners are known to be, told me that I could either take a car from central London. Or I could wait for the next day and take the train from Liverpool to Sudbury and then take the bus route 753 and reach in around two hours. Having nothing to do, I spent that day in the British Museum and walking on Oxford Street.

The next morning, I started my journey to the quaint village of Suffolk. I had picked up a book about the village where I learned that the village had once housed Henry III in 1257. And a bonus for all the Harry Potter fans – the village also starred in ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ as Godric’s Hollow where Hermoine and Harry are seen to be visiting Bathilda Bagshot. On reaching the village, the first thing that grabbed my attention was the picture-perfect silhouette of prosperous medieval England with all the half-timbered houses. The lime-washed and brightly coloured buildings added an idyllic element to the village with the De Vere House standing out from the rest. Adding to the rustic touch was the fifteenth-century St Peter Church with its soaring height of a 141ft tower. The autumn breeze welcomed me as I walked on the leaf-covered high streets. I saw some young guns cycling around in a park and called out to them for directions. My stay for the trip was an Air BnB home-stay where I had to put up with an elderly couple – the Havishams. I still remember how on reaching the gate of the house, I had caught a waft of crumpets and hot scones. After an exchange of banalities followed by me gorging on the scones, I had found out about the hidden gems from Mr Havisham who happened to be quite a cheerful talker. He told me what a must-visit Hadley’s was when in Suffolk. I had then set out with a local map to find the hidden gem. On reaching I had found that Hadley’s was a cutesy ice cream shop, almost run down, run by an old lady. Here Rebecca told me how the ice cream parlour was opened back in the 1850s and was still known for their hand-made sorbets.

Like the sorbet, my stay in Suffolk had been a sweet experience – a trip of revelation. The tour – with all the lonely walks – had in an inexplicable way helped me to get my perspectives right. It isn’t the exotic locales and the flight above the clouds that make travelling my drug. Rather, it is little but beautiful discoveries like Suffolk that feed my wanderlust. Thank you, London. Thank you for being a wonderful experience, once again.

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Dave's Travel Corner

Seeing the World One Step at a Time

How to write a travel essay

November 22, 2023 by Josh Collins Leave a Comment

Travel essays and short notes allow you to dive deep into the memories and share your experience with readers. If written well, readers can explore new places without traveling or get inspired to explore new things. The location you have visited may contain many things to discuss: architecture, sightseeing, nature, culture, and much more. How can you tell about it in a short essay? Whether you are planning to write an essay, blog post, or another type of writing – all the tips below will help you craft an appealing paper.

Understand your goals

Before writing a travel essay: 1. Define the main idea you want to stick to in your writing. If you have a specific word limit, you may be unable to cover everything you wish to write about. 2. Check whether the professor asked you to cover specific experiences during your trip or stick to a more descriptive writing style. 3. If you are free of what to write about, make up a list of things you wish to focus on.

Understanding your goals will help you see the big picture and write the text within a limited time. If you were assigned to write an essay about your travel and can’t meet the deadline or have no ideas, you can get punctual help with essay writing from EssayShark .

Write catchy introduction How did your travel start? What were your plans? You can start with a quote about adventure or just begin your story by planning or arriving at the destination place. For example, here are some starters for travel essays: ● Who has said traveling is pricy? ● Don’t let the routine bore you; add a bit of spice with traveling to your everyday life. ● And the adventure begins!

Experiment with various approaches to engage the reader. You can put this step at the end when you finish the first draft, when the overall idea will be more transparent.

Add vivid descriptions First, think about whether you can attach images to your essay to make it more appealing to the reader and support your adventures with real photos. An additional illustration can create a unique atmosphere that will transfer the reader to the place you have visited.

Use a more relaxed writing style and understand that a travel essay is not a formal academic paper but more personal writing. Use the language you use every day, and avoid cliches and slang to sound more natural and appealing to the reader.

Focus on several ideas What if you have no solid experience in traveling? Or maybe you haven’t seen anything special to talk about. In fact, even a small town has its own spirit and local sightseeing that, you can tell in your essay. For example, you can discuss local cuisine the weather, and share specific descriptions of the places.

Tell the simple story The main aim of every travel essay is to help the reader wear your shoes and imagine what you have experienced during the trip. Describe your emotions and experience in detail to help the reader feel like they have already visited the place. Avoid listing attractions or telling the traveling process step by step. Share your thoughts, and use creative expressions to keep your natural flow.

Ensure your travel story has a standard format and contains an introduction, main body, and conclusion. Don’t interrupt your writing in the middle of an idea; wrap up everything you have said in a meaningful conclusion.

Wrapping Up In general, you can approach traveling essays from different points of view. Grab the reader’s attention with an exciting intro, add vivid details, and focus on several aspects of your journey to keep them reading. Share your experience in a storytelling manner, and your writing won’t be unnoticed.

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Jun 14 Writing the Perfect Travel Essay for Students1

Writing travel essays.

Writing college essays about traveling is a straightforward process for most students. As long as you can creatively connect the thrilling events in the correct order to give great flow, then everything else will flow effortlessly. The most important thing here is to know how to use your skills. You must be excited to compose a travel essay. After all, you’re about to have fun while completing this assignment.

Remember when you had to google a reliable service to write my college admissions essay for an affordable price? Luckily, not all essays demand that great extent of preparation and a professional approach.

Meanwhile, you simply can check https://uk.assignmentgeek.com/write-my-dissertation.html to be more free while studying and especially traveling

But you have to be careful. Remember that you have a lot of information, and you can't write everything due to the number of words set by the instructor. That's why you should be careful to avoid losing track of the essay. Here are tips on writing the perfect traveling essay for students.

Travel Writing Essay

Exploratory Glory YouTube Channel

Using a Capturing Introduction

The introduction is the part that hooks your reader. And of course, these are the first few lines of the write-up. Avoid boring cliches or statements like trying to describe what's traveling. There is nothing new here you are trying to indicate. This is a clear indication that you have nothing interesting to talk about. So, it's vital to start with something that catches the reader's attention.

How do you write an interesting introduction about traveling? You can begin with startling statistics or narrate unusual experiences you encountered while traveling. Still, you can

take a stance on something interesting about traveling. Tell the reader how interesting traveling can sometimes be.

Sometimes you can be stuck on how to write a captivating travel essay. In this case, you can try checking out travel essay examples and see the level of creativity in those essays. It will motivate you to write a great essay about the trip. You can also search the internet for an essay guide about traveling and follow it keenly when writing. Whenever you face challenges with managing your time effectively due to other assignments, you can find essay writing service Canada on Ca.EduBirdie. The professionals on this platform will write a quality essay that's captivating to read due to their vast experience.

One great way to keep up with your exam and essay knowledge is to try out ExamSnap so you can be ready for anything your teachers through your way.

Maintain the Standard Essay Structure

As stated above, you might have a lot of unique experiences to tell, but you have to follow the standard essay structure. This is the most crucial tip that you should always keep in your mind. You will easily earn marks for following the structure! The structure of the standard essay includes the introduction, body, and conclusion.

Following this structure keenly will help you organize your thoughts and ideas to maintain a high level of cohesiveness for your essay. Paragraphs must be connected, and ensure you don't repeat any information. A good body of a traveling essay should contain about 3 to 4 paragraphs. Each paragraph must have a unique idea that you are trying to explain.

Create An Outline

Do you want to keep your essay organized and in good structure? Creating an outline is the first step to writing a perfect traveling essay. This will help you stay on track and avoid missing any vital information. The outline should include a thesis in the introduction, key points, and concluding thought. The thesis should sum up the central point of the traveling essay.

It's normally written at the end of the introduction. This statement should give a reason that supports the main idea of the essay . Key points are the experiences that you went through while traveling. Is there any unique feature that you saw? If you nod your head in confirmation, you should describe it creatively.

Keep the Essay Simple

There are various benefits of being straightforward with your essay. Sometimes too much flowery language is not necessary for an essay. What matters is how you are presenting your points. Most instructors are highly interested in how you convey your message and not too much unnecessary information. Keep in mind that you don't have the luxury to talk about all the experiences you went through.

Your experiences might not be something unique to the instructor. Still, your travel destination may not be too dreamy! But you can present them nicely and earn good marks. So, describe just a few experiences in an organized manner, ensuring you don't sound like you are showing off your vocabulary . Too many difficult words interrupt the reading flow, and the reader may not even understand what you are trying to say.

Traveling is a thrilling part of everyone's life experience. This experience can be a potentially fascinating topic for your essay. Writing this essay requires minimal creativity if you follow the tips above. That's why there is a need to think through the ideas while writing your traveling essay creatively. If you are not careful enough, you will make unnecessary dull cliches in a bunch of disparate places and nothing new.

Author’s Bio

Sven Eggers is a prolific academic writer who impresses everyone with his accurate and well-researched writing and editing work. He’s been doing essays and dissertations right from his college days which gives him a competitive advantage. He relaxes in his free time by reading novels, watching sunsets and swimming in the ocean.

Writing the Perfect Travel Essay for Students

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Posted on Jun 21, 2017

12 Types of Travel Writing Every Writer Should Know

So, you want to be a travel writer?

There are plenty of reality doses out there already, so we’re going to focus on the positives, and what you can do to maximize your chances of travel writing professionally. One of the first steps: you should absolutely know your markets, and what types of travel writing are popular in them. In today’s competitive market, this knowledge can both help you structure your article and target the right audience.

In this post, we break down modern travel writing into three distinct categories: freelance journalism , blogging, and book-writing. Then we identify the prevalent types of travel writing each category is known for, to give you an initial sort of compass in the industry.

Freelance Travel Journalism

The truth is this: the travel sections in major publications (New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal) are slimmer now, so competition will be tall. But there are other outlets. Local newspapers are sometimes open to travel pitches from freelancers. Certain websites pay for travel articles, while magazines can be great for targeting niche audiences.

So what are the common types of freelance travel journalism?

Destination articles

Here, the game’s in the name: destination articles tell readers about a place to which they might want to travel one day. One of the most standard type of travel stories, these pieces act as the armchair reader’s bird-eye view of a place. Useful or interesting facts pepper the writing. History, points of interest, natural scenery, trendy spots: a destination article can touch upon them all within the framework of a broad narrative.

Where the average article gives readers a sense of the destination, the best of the best convinces readers that this is a destination they want, nay, need to visit. As such, though some destination articles are written in first person, the focus is rarely on the writer. Instead, the destination is the star of the show.

For examples of destination articles, check out:

Besalú, the most interesting Spanish village you probably don’t know (LA Times)
In Indonesia (Washington Post)
36 Hours In The Finger Lakes Region of New York (New York Times)

Special-interest articles

Special-interest articles are offshoots of destination articles. Instead of taking the reader on a tour of an entire country or city, these pieces cover one particular aspect of the destination. This kind of writing can cover anything from art in Colombia, ghost towns in the U.S., trekking in Patagonia, alpaca farms in Australia, motorbiking in Brazil, railroads in France, volunteering in Tanzania — you get the gist.

Since special-interest articles are narrower in topic, many writers tailor them for niche magazines or websites. Before you start pitching, we recommend flipping through the Writer’s Handbook , one of the most useful guides to the freelance publishing market, to see which publications fit your target audience.

For a taste of some special-interest articles, see:

Exploring Portugal — From Pork To Port (epicurious.com)
This Unsung Corner of Spain is Home to Fabulous Food (Washington Post)
Karsts of China's Getu River region attract rock climbers, other travelers (CNN Travel)

Holiday and special events

Holiday and special events travel articles ask writers to write about a destination before the event takes place. The biggest global events are magnets for this type of travel writing, such as the World Cup, the Olympics, the World Expo, fashion weeks, and film festivals. Depending on the publication, regional events work just as well.

Want to see what special events pieces look like? Have a read through these:

This summer’s solar eclipse is southern Illinois’ chance to shine (Chicago Tribune)
How To Plan A Trip To The 2016 Rio Olympics (Travel & Leisure)

You’ll recognize a round-up article when you see one, as it’ll go, “40 best beaches in West Europe,” or, perhaps, “20 of the greatest walks in the world!” It’s a classic tool in any magazine or newspaper writer’s toolbox, taking a bunch of destinations and grouping them all under one common thread.

Ultimately, a clear motif makes this type of article a breeze to read, as they’re a play on the ubiquitous List Format. But, OK, before you jump at this excuse to sacrifice your belly at 99 food trucks in New York City, remember that your premise should be original, not to mention practical. What’s tough is coming up with X ways to do Y in the first place, as that demands you put in the travel and research to produce a thorough write-up.

Want even more examples of round-up articles? Here you go:

12 new art exhibits to see this summer (Smithsonian)
21 ways to see America for cheap (Huffington Post)
41 places to go in 2011 (New York Times)

Personal essays

Publishers are experiencing something of a personal essay fatigue , so the market for more might be scarce these days. However, quality trumps all, and a good personal travel essay is just plain good writing in disguise: something that possesses a strong voice while showing insight, growth, and backstory.

Just don’t make it a diary entry. In an interview with The Atlantic , travel writer Paul Theroux said: “The main shortcut is to leave out boring things. People write about getting sick, they write about tummy trouble. They write about waiting. They write three pages about how long it took them to get a visa. I’m not interested in the boring parts. Everyone has tummy trouble. Everyone waits in line. I don’t want to hear about it.”

Here’s a jumping-off point for personal travel essays:

Taking the Great American Roadtrip (Smithsonian)

Have a burning opinion to share? Sometimes publications end up giving op-eds to staff, but there are always open calls for opinion pieces.

Travel op-eds are much rarer than political opinion pieces, but there’s a pattern to the ones that make the cut: good persuasive writing. If you can come at a topic from a unique angle (and argue your case clearly) then you may be able to publish your opinion.

If you’re in the mood for travel op-ed articles, see:

The West Coast Is The Best Coast For Food In America (Food & Wine)
Why Climate Change Is Actually Relevant To Travel (Conde Nast)

Travel Blogging

When typing “travel blog” into Google returns 295 million results, we can guess it’s a fairly competitive market.

Here’s the plus side: bloggers get to write what they want and go where they please. When it comes to blog posts, there are no editors, no gatekeepers. Only you and the “PUBLISH” button.

We won’t go revisit the types of travel writing we covered earlier (such as the roundup format). Instead, we’ll explore some of the other formats bloggers use to tell their travel stories. Since the rules of travel blogging are next to non-existent, our tally below is by no means definitive. And, again, our best advice is to note what your favorite bloggers do on their blogs.

Already running a successful travel blog? You might consider turning that blog into a book !

How-To articles are already fairly popular in magazines, but they’re positively omnipresent in the travel blogging world. Blogs provide a direct communication platform, allowing trust to build up quicker with the readers. As a result, for the search query, “How to travel Europe on a budget,” six out of the top ten results are posts from trusted independent blogs.

A How-To article is the most standard form of advice column a travel blogger can produce. It’s intrinsically useful, promising that it’ll teach something by article’s end. A blogger’s challenge is delivering fully on that promise.

How to read more How-To articles? We got you covered:

How To Start A Travel Blog (Nomadic Matt)
How To Travel Solo To A Party Destination (Adventurous Kate)
How to Visit Penang’s Kek Lok Si Temple (Migrationology)

Itineraries

Itineraries reveal the schedule that the writer took at a given destination, city-by-city or sight-by-sight. They’re meant for the traveler who’s embarking on a similar trip and needs a template. Typically, you’ll find that an itinerary post is an easy place for you to slip in recommendations, anything from the accommodation you used or the restaurants you tried.

You can use itinerary posts to reinforce your blog’s brand. For instance, an itinerary posted on a blog focused around budget travel will probably maximize cost-saving chances.

For more itineraries, see:

My Trip To Japan (A Complete Japan Itinerary)
Backpacking Vietnam on a budget: 2-3 Weeks Itinerary + Tips

Longform posts

Longform travel blogging tells a travel story through extended narrative content, as it takes a week’s worth of adventure and shapes it into a story. Longform blog posts about travel often end up being creative nonfiction : a way to present nonﬁction — factually accurate prose about real people and events — in a compelling, vivid, dramatic manner.

Photography can add another dimension to the form, as Emmanuel Nataf (our co-founder!) shows on his travel blog . And Reedsy's very own Arielle provides a glimpse into why she prefers longform travel writing on her blog, Steps, a Travel Journal :

My favourite kinds of stories are the ones that give you a real sense of place. That’s why I enjoy longform travel blogging: I get to describe the character of a place through the experiences I encountered there.

If you want to dip your toe into the sea of longform posts, you can also read:

The Cow Head Taco Philosopher King of Oaxaca (Legal Nomads)
The Best Worst Museum In The World

When it comes to writing a book, you can take all the challenges about travel writing from above and magnify it times 2,000. If you’re asking readers to commit to you for more than 100 pages, you’d best make sure that your book is worth their while.

As far as examples go, travel writing’s boomed in the mainstream book market recently. But there’s much more to it than Eat, Pray, Love and its descendants.

Travelogues

In travelogues, authors record their adventures in a way that illustrates or sheds insight upon the place itself. Travelogues possess a storied past, from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s Turkish Embassy Letters in 1763 to Mark Twain’s 1867 The Innocents Abroad , which paved the way for the sort of comic travelogues that Bill Bryson’s perfected today.

Up for some travelogues? Check out:

Notes From A Small Island , by Bill Bryson
In Patagonia , by Bruce Chatwin
Travels with Charley In Search of America , by John Steinbeck

Travel memoirs

Nowadays, travel memoirs are practically synonymous with Elizabeth Gilbert’s wildly popular Eat, Pray, Love and Cheryl Strayed’s bestselling Wild , which were both recently adapted into Hollywood blockbusters.

That said, be aware that you’ll need a pretty exceptional personal story for your memoir to compete in today’s market . If you’re still set on writing or self-publishing a travel memoir, it’s tricky to balance personal backstory and travel for 400 pages, so think about taking on a professional for a second pair of eyes.

Did you know? You can find Nicki Richesin , a top Bloomsbury editor who’s edited for Cheryl Strayed, on our marketplace.

In addition to Eat, Pray, Love and Wild , you can read:

Under the Tuscan Sun , by Frances Mayes
Coasting , by Jonathan Raban
Wind, Sand, and Stars , by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

As Oscar Wilde said, “I never travel without my diary. One should always keep something sensational to read in the train.” But these days, people are replacing diaries with travel guides — the ubiquitous Lonely Planet becoming one of the more common sights on transit.

Travel writing in guidebooks is straightforward, informative, and fact-filled. In addition, there’s a certain amount of responsibility that comes with the job. Lonely Planet alone is read by millions of travelers worldwide.

General Tips and Guidelines

As we mentioned before, the trick to producing great travel writing is ultimately simply writing well . To that extent, you should make sure to follow all the guidelines of good writing — not least, spell-checking your article before submitting or publishing it anywhere. You don’t want an editor or reader to see it while it stilll reads lik edis.

Also, keep in mind the tone, style, and vibe of the publication and platform (and by extension, your audience). A story about a moon-rock could go into a kid's magazine or it could go into Scientific America .

Finally, some category-specific tips:

If you’re freelance writing, always check submission guidelines. Publications may accept only pitches or they may welcome articles “on spec” (pre-written articles). Some sources only take travel articles that were written within 6 months of the trip.
If you’re blogging, brand your website (same advice if you’re an author who’s building an author website ).
If you’re writing a book, get a professional editor! An unedited book is an unwieldy thing, and professional eyes provide direction, continuity, and assonance. ( Layout designers can be important if you’re publishing a travel photography book, in the meanwhile.)

Travel writing isn't a cinch. In fact, it's a long and often hard grind. But by figuring out what type of travel writing you want to try your hand at, you're taking the crucial first step.

Have you tried travel writing before? Want to show us the cool travel blog that you're keeping? We're always in the mood for great travel writing + pretty pictures. Leave us a note in the comments and we'll be sure to check it out!

7 responses

Amanda Turner says:

20/03/2018 – 16:20

Thank you, this was very helpful. Here's one of mine: http://vagabondingwithkids.com/every-mothers-guide-to-piranha-fishing-in-the-amazon/

Travalerie says:

24/05/2018 – 18:42

I landed on this page Googling for one thing and coming up with another. Haha! But what I found instead was helpful as I'm devouring as much as I can on travel writing. A few months ago, I started a new travel business, revamped my website including a new blog, and am in the process of writing, writing, writing. I took 2 trips this year so far and wrote what seemed like a mini-novella. Burning out in the process. I know I can do better. But I had no idea what I was writing could be re-worked to fit a certain category of travel writing -- which is what I found helpful in this post above. Thanks https://www.travalerie.com/blog

Surya Thakur says:

04/03/2019 – 12:39

Very good information. Lucky me I discovered your blog by chance (stumbleupon). I’ve saved as a favorite for later! KuLLuHuLLs

David Bishop says:

08/05/2019 – 12:28

Thanks for this good article. I'm in my third year on the road and recently started my senior solo adventure travel website. I think my site has some pretty good stuff, of course. Take a look and tell me what you think. www.davidhunterbishop.com

Iris C. Permuy says:

23/05/2019 – 18:03

Thank you very much for all of these useful pieces of advice. I will make sure to implement them all on my travel blog, which is a combination of travel and gastronomy and uses the memoir and itinerary types, apart from recipes. Come check it out if you feel like it! I am more than open, eager for some professional feedback :)

Serissa says:

26/10/2019 – 14:53

This post is the perfect diving board for aspiring travel writers. I plan to link to this page from my travel blog if that is alright! ?? The link on my website will appear as "[title of this post] by Reedsy Blog". I assume this is alright, but if not, please email me directly to let me know! Thanks so much!

↪️ Martin Cavannagh replied:

29/10/2019 – 10:11

We'd be absolutely delighted if you shared this article on your blog :)

Comments are currently closed.

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What You Should Know About Travel Writing

An Introduction to Punctuation
Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
B.A., English, State University of New York

Travel writing is a form of creative nonfiction in which the narrator's encounters with foreign places serve as the dominant subject. Also called travel literature .

"All travel writing—because it is writing—is made in the sense of being constructed, says Peter Hulme, "but travel writing cannot be made up without losing its designation" (quoted by Tim Youngs in The Cambridge Introduction to Travel Writing , 2013).

Notable contemporary travel writers in English include Paul Theroux, Susan Orlean, Bill Bryson , Pico Iyer, Rory MacLean, Mary Morris, Dennison Berwick, Jan Morris, Tony Horwitz, Jeffrey Tayler, and Tom Miller, among countless others.

Examples of Travel Writing

"By the Railway Side" by Alice Meynell
Lists and Anaphora in Bill Bryson's "Neither Here Nor There"
Lists in William Least Heat-Moon's Place Description
"London From a Distance" by Ford Madox Ford
"Niagara Falls" by Rupert Brooke
"Nights in London" by Thomas Burke
"Of Trave," by Francis Bacon
"Of Travel" by Owen Felltham
"Rochester" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Observations About Travel Writing

Authors, journalists, and others have attempted to describe travel writing, which is more difficult to do than you might think. However, these excerpts explain that travel writing—at a minimum—requires a sense of curiosity, awareness, and fun.

Thomas Swick

"The best writers in the field [of travel writing] bring to it an indefatigable curiosity, a fierce intelligence that enables them to interpret, and a generous heart that allows them to connect. Without resorting to invention , they make ample use of their imaginations. . . . "The travel book itself has a similar grab bag quality. It incorporates the characters and plot line of a novel, the descriptive power of poetry, the substance of a history lesson, the discursiveness of an essay , and the—often inadvertent—self-revelation of a memoir . It revels in the particular while occasionally illuminating the universal. It colors and shapes and fills in gaps. Because it results from displacement, it is frequently funny. It takes readers for a spin (and shows them, usually, how lucky they are). It humanizes the alien. More often than not it celebrates the unsung. It uncovers truths that are stranger than fiction. It gives eyewitness proof of life’s infinite possibilities." ("Not a Tourist." The Wilson Quarterly , Winter 2010)

Casey Blanton

"There exists at the center of travel books like [Graham] Greene's Journey Without Maps or [V.S.] Naipaul's An Area of Darkness a mediating consciousness that monitors the journey, judges, thinks, confesses, changes, and even grows. This narrator , so central to what we have come to expect in modern travel writing , is a relatively new ingredient in travel literature, but it is one that irrevocably changed the genre . . . . "Freed from strictly chronological , fact-driven narratives , nearly all contemporary travel writers include their own dreams and memories of childhood as well as chunks of historical data and synopses of other travel books. Self reflexivity and instability, both as theme and style , offer the writer a way to show the effects of his or her own presence in a foreign country and to expose the arbitrariness of truth and the absence of norms." ( Travel Writing: The Self and the World . Routledge, 2002)

Frances Mayes

"Some travel writers can become serious to the point of lapsing into good ol' American puritanism. . . . What nonsense! I have traveled much in Concord. Good travel writing can be as much about having a good time as about eating grubs and chasing drug lords. . . . [T]ravel is for learning, for fun, for escape, for personal quests, for challenge, for exploration, for opening the imagination to other lives and languages." (Introduction to The Best American Travel Writing 2002 . Houghton, 2002)

Travel Writers on Travel Writing

In the past, travel writing was considered to be nothing more than the detailing of specific routes to various destinations. Today, however, travel writing has become much more. Read on to find out what famous travel writers such as V.S. Naipaul and Paul Theroux say about the profession.

V.S. Naipaul

"My books have to be called ' travel writing ,' but that can be misleading because in the old days travel writing was essentially done by men describing the routes they were taking. . . . What I do is quite different. I travel on a theme . I travel to make an inquiry. I am not a journalist. I am taking with me the gifts of sympathy, observation, and curiosity that I developed as an imaginative writer. The books I write now, these inquiries, are really constructed narratives." (Interview with Ahmed Rashid, "Death of the Novel." The Observer , Feb. 25, 1996)

Paul Theroux

- "Most travel narratives—perhaps all of them, the classics anyway—describe the miseries and splendors of going from one remote place to another. The quest, the getting there, the difficulty of the road is the story; the journey, not the arrival, matters, and most of the time the traveler—the traveler’s mood, especially—is the subject of the whole business. I have made a career out of this sort of slogging and self-portraiture, travel writing as diffused autobiography ; and so have many others in the old, laborious look-at-me way that informs travel writing ." (Paul Theroux, "The Soul of the South." Smithsonian Magazine , July-August 2014) - "Most visitors to coastal Maine know it in the summer. In the nature of visitation, people show up in the season. The snow and ice are a bleak memory now on the long warm days of early summer, but it seems to me that to understand a place best, the visitor needs to see figures in a landscape in all seasons. Maine is a joy in the summer. But the soul of Maine is more apparent in the winter. You see that the population is actually quite small, the roads are empty, some of the restaurants are closed, the houses of the summer people are dark, their driveways unplowed. But Maine out of season is unmistakably a great destination: hospitable, good-humored, plenty of elbow room, short days, dark nights of crackling ice crystals. "Winter is a season of recovery and preparation. Boats are repaired, traps fixed, nets mended. “I need the winter to rest my body,” my friend the lobsterman told me, speaking of how he suspended his lobstering in December and did not resume until April. . . ." ("The Wicked Coast." The Atlantic , June 2011)

Susan Orlean

- "To be honest, I view all stories as journeys. Journeys are the essential text of the human experience—the journey from birth to death, from innocence to wisdom, from ignorance to knowledge, from where we start to where we end. There is almost no piece of important writing—the Bible, the Odyssey , Chaucer, Ulysses —that isn't explicitly or implicitly the story of a journey. Even when I don't actually go anywhere for a particular story, the way I report is to immerse myself in something I usually know very little about, and what I experience is the journey toward a grasp of what I've seen." (Susan Orlean, Introduction to My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhere . Random House, 2004) - "When I went to Scotland for a friend's wedding last summer, I didn't plan on firing a gun. Getting into a fistfight, maybe; hurling insults about badly dressed bridesmaids, of course; but I didn't expect to shoot or get shot at. The wedding was taking place in a medieval castle in a speck of a village called Biggar. There was not a lot to do in Biggar, but the caretaker of the castle had skeet-shooting gear, and the male guests announced that before the rehearsal dinner they were going to give it a go. The women were advised to knit or shop or something. I don't know if any of us women actually wanted to join them, but we didn't want to be left out, so we insisted on coming along. . . ." (Opening paragraph of "Shooting Party." The New Yorker , September 29, 1999)

Jonathan Raban

- "As a literary form, travel writing is a notoriously raffish open house where different genres are likely to end up in the bed. It accommodates the private diary , the essay , the short story, the prose poem, the rough note and polished table talk with indiscriminate hospitality. It freely mixes narrative and discursive writing." ( For Love & Money: Writing - Reading - Travelling 1968-1987 . Picador, 1988)
- "Travel in its purest form requires no certain destination, no fixed itinerary, no advance reservation and no return ticket, for you are trying to launch yourself onto the haphazard drift of things, and put yourself in the way of whatever changes the journey may throw up. It's when you miss the one flight of the week, when the expected friend fails to show, when the pre-booked hotel reveals itself as a collection of steel joists stuck into a ravaged hillside, when a stranger asks you to share the cost of a hired car to a town whose name you've never heard, that you begin to travel in earnest." ("Why Travel?" Driving Home: An American Journey . Pantheon, 2011)
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Pros talking prose: the experts’ advice on how to improve your travel writing

May 25, 2018 • 7 min read

In search of some top tips to take your travel writing skills from proficient to prodigious? We chat to a selection of authors appearing at this year’s star-studded Hay Festival about how to cultivate captivating travel writing, their favourite destinations to write about, and the travel tomes that inspired them to hit the road.

Horatio Clare, author of Icebreaker: A Voyage Far North © Sam Hardwick

Horatio Clare – beach resort despiser and one-time Arctic sailor

Horatio is a Welsh-British author who has published a glut of literary works, from acclaimed children’s books to personal memoirs. His latest travel-focused text, Icebreaker: A Voyage Far North , details his time aboard a Finnish icebreaker ship traversing the Bay of Bothnia.

What's your top tip for producing compelling travel writing?

You have to find somewhere that lights you in order to write well. If beach resorts aren't your thing it's very difficult to produce a good piece about one. I personally look for a mixture of culture and nature; so for example, the east coast of Madagascar is easy, because the people, landscapes and animal and bird life are all so rich with interest and diversity. For me, combining history and local legends with the mystery and drama of the natural world enables me to produce my best work.

What's your favourite destination to write about?

Anywhere that is not a beach resort! I love writing about sub-Saharan Africa : Zambia and Tanzania are tremendous. But then Algiers is one of my favourite cities and Sicily is beautiful, and historically rich, and its culture and politics are a whirl of splendour and horror.

What's your favourite work of travel literature?

It changes but I am a great fan of Norman Lewis. His Naples ‘44 is peerless, but all of his works are wonderful. Voices of the Old Sea , about southern Spain before development and tourism got to it, is the very model of how you need to understand and submerge yourself in a place in order to produce a masterpiece. Of recent writing, Michael Jacobs' The Robber of Memories , about a journey up the Magdalena river in Colombia , is fabulous.

Patrick Barkham, author of Islander: A Journey Around our Archipelago © Marcus Garrett

Patrick Barkham – history buff and anglophile

Born in Norfolk, England, Patrick is Natural History Writer for the Guardian and author of several travel titles, including The Butterfly Isles , which was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize, and Islander , which delves into daily life on some of Britain's smaller islands.

When I am writing about a place I'm travelling around, I put my phone away and try to get completely in the moment, taking out my pen and notebook and writing obsessively about everything I see, hear, taste, touch, smell and think about. Attention to the small details of a place hopefully makes for more evocative writing.

I like writing about Britain because even in a supposedly homogenised and globalised society my home country has noticeable differences between even the most proximate places. It also has so much depth and complexity, and so many untold stories still to tell. Writing about 'home' also reduces some of the hazards of cultural imperialism, although the Welsh and the Scots have had to endure a long tradition of enraptured English visitors (such as me!) writing about them.

It's an obvious choice but I was very taken with Patrick Leigh Fermor's Between the Woods and the Water – for romance, chutzpah and warm-heartedness. I also admire what must be a fairly creative reconstruction of vivid memories, with the author writing more than four decades after he made his journey across Europe .

Dylan Moore, Hay Festival Creative Wales International Fellow 2018/19 and author of Driving Home Both Ways © Dylan Moore

Dylan Moore – familiarity seeker and hispanophile

Dylan Moore is an English teacher, writer and editor from Newport, Wales. He is the Hay Festival Creative Wales International Fellow 2018/19 and author of Driving Home Both Ways , a book that is part essay collection, part travelogue through life.

Find equivalence. It may sound like a highfalutin concept, but wherever I go in the world, and however different it is from my home in Wales , I am on the lookout for relatability. Where’s the Cardiff Bay? What do they have instead of Welsh cakes? Who’s the Gareth Bale? More often than not, the practice of holding home and abroad up to each other like a pair of mirrors sheds unusual light on the sense of a place. Once you’ve seen the parallels, it’s often easier to examine the smaller, more interesting ways in which places are different.

Spain . Some might stray little further than sun, sand and sangria or a city break in Barcelona , but for me the Iberian peninsula is a subcontinent. From the pilgrimage trail of the Camino de Santiago along the green Basque coast in the north to the majesty of the Alhambra palace in the south, from the intricate Moorish tile designs of Seville to the futuristic architecture of Santiago Calatrava, and from the art of Goya and Picasso to the noise and glamour of La Liga, Spain has it all, and more.

Abroad by Paul Fussell is a work of literary criticism about travel writing between the wars that touches upon many classics of the genre, including works by D.H. Lawrence, Evelyn Waugh, George Orwell and Robert Byron. Though I love the work as a whole, I don’t agree with the author’s argument that the twenties and thirties represented ‘the last great age of travel’; the fact that airplanes have largely replaced ocean liners and long-distance sleeper trains may mean we travel differently now, but for me the pull of elsewhere has lost none of its romance, and if anything the greater accessibility of ‘abroad’ has opened travel – and travel writing – to a wider range of voices.

Jasper Winn, author of Waterways: A Thousand Miles Along Britain's Canals © Jasper Winn

Jasper Winn – slow adventurer and extreme kayaker

Jasper Winn is a self-titled ‘slow adventurer’ who has spent most of his life travelling the world and now serves as the Writer in Residence for the Canal and River Trust. Jasper has written two books focused around long-distance kayaking: Paddle and upcoming title Waterways: A thousand miles along Britain's canals .

It seems to me that the most important commodity for the modern travel writer is having time. Committing a serious amount of time to researching a subject, to talking to people, to travelling slowly, to waiting around just to see what happens, to reading tens of books on a destination, is the key to producing great travel writing.

I miss being totally out of touch. For my first long distance trip across the Sahara and through West Africa in the early 1980s, initially hitchhiking and then pedalling a 20 quid bike I bought in a market in Ouagadougou , I had one phone call back to Europe in five months; apart from that and a few poste restante letters I was totally out of touch with friends and family. The internet has changed everything, and mostly for the better, but a good trip is still anywhere that feels wild, where I have lots of time and few plans.

Laurie Lee's As I Walked Out One Summer's Morning was the book that sent me off as a teenager, hitchhiking from Ireland to Andalucía , playing guitar on streets and in cafes to eat. Meanwhile, Irish travel writer Peter Somerville-Large's The Coast of West Cork , about a cycle trip along Cork 's coast where I grew up, made my own corner of the world both more familiar and much richer. That book showed me how writing could travel through time as much as through a landscape, weaving history, nature, social observation and quirky humour into one compelling narrative; an excellent example for anyone hoping to one day produce a great travel tome of their own.

You can hear more insights from all of these authors and many more at the Hay Festival, which runs from 24 May to 3 June. Find out more at hayfestival.org or follow @hayfestival

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Essays About Traveling: Top 5 Examples and 10 Prompts

Discover our guide with essays about traveling, including topic prompts that will make you write about traveling and hit the road for your next adventure.

Traveling is a much-loved activity by many; exploring the world and seeing new and beautiful places can be a great way to unwind and recharge. Many fond memories are created during holidays abroad, and we carry these precious times with us. But for those who only travel for official business purposes and never really get to explore destinations fully, travel can be a more stressful experience.

Beyond the anxieties one endures in planning a travel or boarding flights, traveling can do wonders for mental health, open our eyes to new experiences, help us be closer to nature, and allows us to reflect on our progress and accomplishments in life.

5 Essay Examples

1. rebooting the economy: restoring travel and tourism in the covid-19 era by patrick l. osewe, 2. humans may dream of traveling to mars, but our bodies aren’t built for it by charles wohlforth and amanda hendrix, 3. what’s sustainable about soaring private jet use by terry slavin, 4. instagram travel bragging is killing the family vacation by meagan francis, 5. pre-travel stress by sally black, 1. travel bucket list, 2. your first solo travel , 3. travel to ghost towns, 4. how technology transformed travel, 5. how movies influence our travel preference, 6. learning cultures from traveling, 7. earn from travel vlogging, 8. traveling through time, 9. your most memorable travel experience, 10. benefits of traveling while working .

“Even as travel restrictions and lockdowns have relaxed, cautious return-to-travel behavior among travelers—due in part to lingering health and safety concerns—suggests that the recovery process for the industry will be long and slow.”

The travel industry was one of the hardest hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. With its importance to the economy, especially in Asia, where the industry could easily account for 80% of the GDP, a fast recovery is imperative. To make this goal more attainable, multisectoral coordination in planning and implementing safety rules will be essential. You might also be interested in these essays about holidays with family and essays about journeys .

“Even a short, sortie mission to Mars and back would be extremely hazardous to human health. A Mars colony is out of the question. Living long-term on its surface is beyond the capacity of our bodies to survive.”

Amid the excitement over sending humans to travel to Mars, there has been emerging research that highlights the dangers of such missions. The space between the Earth and Mars already poses many obstacles. And even if, by rare luck, man reaches Mars, staying will be the next paramount challenge as consequences could mean a halt in blood circulation or blindness.

“When it comes to the carbon footprint of travel, there is nothing worse than traveling by private jet… Yet despite all the net-zero rhetoric from the corporate sector, and pressure from the flight-shame movement, private jet use is booming.”

As private jet use is starting to burgeon, society is demanding greater accountability from the ultra-rich and the commitment to invest in sustainable technologies for air travel. This could compensate for their use of private jets, a single one of which is estimated to be several times more polluting than commercial planes.

“What, I wonder, does the financial strain of planning a trip you can’t really afford do to your expectation level — and how much can you enjoy your vacation once there? When the bill arrives, do most find that the experience was worth the stress after all?”

The culture of bragging on Instagram is destroying the true meaning of family vacations. Where such experiences used to be for relaxation, fun, and strengthening of family bonds, family travels are now a ticket for boasting, requiring ridiculous expenses for which some families are willing to be in debt.

“While a vacation maybe me one of the highlights of your entire year, the days leading up to departure can be stressful. For some people, this stress can bubble over into a full-blown anxiety or panic attack complete with physical symptoms.”

Pre-travel stress is a common symptom for many. Worries often stem from hoping for the vacation to be smooth sailing. However, unpleasant incidents may always occur. On our part, we must focus on those we have control of, such as how we pack and how we address our ultimate pre-travel concerns.

10 Topic Prompts To Help With Your essays about traveling

Essays About Traveling: Travel bucket list

How far have you progressed in completing your travel bucket list? Take this essay to share your experiences in traveling to your dream destinations. If you haven’t started ticking anything from your travel bucket list, you can simply enumerate these places and explain what drove your attraction. For example, you may visit Italy for tasty authentic Italian food and drink.

If you’ve traveled solo, this is the essay prompt for you. Turn this essay into a guide for helping people travel solo. So, provide tips on planning a solo trip and making the proper arrangements. Share the places you’ve gone to and travel hacks that helped ensure your safety, especially as safety is a chief concern when traveling solo. Finally, don’t forget to write down what made you bold enough to try a solo flight and how it has benefitted you.

For seekers of thrilling adventures, ghost towns are the best place to travel. First, find a ghost city that allows tourists. Then take on a story-telling essay by narrating the town’s story from its birth to its abandonment. Finally, ensure to provide your readers with a list of what they must do to enter the ghost town’s premises.

Efficiency and convenience in travel are the best gifts technology has given modern generations. Gone were the days when you still had to scout for a hotel upon arriving at your destination. For this writing prompt, compare today’s travel experience with the days before the computer. You may extend your essay by adding what more digital advancements the tourism industry has in store for travel lovers.

Almost always, the setting of a favorite movie becomes a part of your travel bucket list. This desire stems from the longing to connect with your favorite characters and mentally relive your favorite movie scenes, this time with yourself in the picture. For your essay, write about film-induced tourism becoming a key strategy for marketing travel destinations.

Traveling is the best way to immerse in cultures and better understand the many worlds beyond your own. Share your experience traveling has helped open your mind to new cultures, practices, languages, and beliefs. To help your readers appreciate your trip, write a few paragraphs about the place, starting from its main point of attraction and its economic and socio-cultural statures. You can also interview other travel enthusiasts for this cultural essay.

Essays About Traveling: Earn from travel vlogging

Travel vlogging is one of the best ways to earn money while having the best time. First, give a short overview of the travel vlog industry to entice your readers into travel vlogging. Next, gather reports that inform how one can generate money from this venture and how much they can expect in time with quality content. Then, provide a list of recommendations. You can use tips from other successful travel vloggers as well.

Movies that tinker with time travel machines always appeal to many of us. This is certainly true for those thrilled over the possibility of visiting an era we can only imagine through our history books. If you were to time-travel, what historical period would you like to visit? Reveal this in your essay and explain why.

Share the most memorable travel experience with your readers and help them picture it with adjectives and vivid detailing. Your story doesn’t have to be a luxurious experience. It can be as simple as a scenic drive around the lake, a tan from a sunny beach, or your first travel by plane or boat.

Looking for more? Check out our guide on how to write a postcard .

The COVID-19 pandemic has made us realize that work can be done from a distance, pushing the telecommuting trends higher and fulfilling people’s travel vengeance. This essay cites the physical and mental health benefits of traveling while working. Share your opinion on whether companies should incentivize arrangements that allow work while traveling. For more help with your writing, read our guide explaining persuasive writing . If you are interested in learning more, check out our essay writing tips .

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

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Use our free Readability checker

Writing a great essay about traveling is a common academic assignment. It’s a simple task if you know useful tricks to tell readers an interesting story. Find enough information and use vivid observations. Know relevant facts to convince the audience. Follow helpful guidelines to submit a perfect essay about traveling experience.

Your College Essay About Traveling: Research a Certain Place

An essay about traveling is all about a specific place you visited. Look at relevant sources and try to write something unique or different. Recreate this place in your readers’ imagination. Be specific and creative in its descriptions. Before you start writing your essay about traveling with family, conduct your research. You should read more about a given place. Learn more about its backgrounds, religion, culture, and so on. This simple strategy will boost your curiosity and reveal other sides of your destination. If you struggle with remembering all the details, it is great to create a blog while traveling where you would put all the interesting stories, remember them and use them when needed.

Writing the Best College Essay About Traveling Experience

If you’re interested in the art of travel essay writing, make sure your paper fits these basic criteria:

Has a coherent structure and proper sections.
Gives the audience a good grasp of relevant data.
Meets the highest academic standards and contains clarity of expression.
Includes counter-examples and counter-arguments if appropriate.
Uses smooth transitions and signposting to help readers navigate your thoughts.
Contains proper references in the required citation style.
Offers strong claims with evidence.
Has a catchy essay introduction with a thesis and a clear conclusion.

Writing an Essay on Traveling Experiences: Useful Tips

There are certain tips that can help you submit the best essay about your last trip. What are they?

Use a capturing introductory section.
Use the 1st person perspective.
Include smooth essay transitions .
Conclude it correctly.

The introduction plays an important role in writing a great paper. Use excellent essay hook examples to grab readers’ attention. Introduce your major argument and use a specific tone to excite the audience. Your essay on traveling is a certain narration of personal experiences. That’s why you need to use the 1st person perspective to make this story real. Including all the experiences is a mistake because some of them are boring. Use only the most interesting ideas. Include people living in the chosen area and quotes or short stories of their lives. Why use transitions? Your story must flow from its beginning to the end. Add smooth transitions to achieve this goal. Use a few interesting details to connect all the parts of your story. How to conclude an essay about traveling expenses ? You need not only to start your paper strongly but also conclude it effectively. Sum up key ideas and include a call to action. Feel free to restate a thesis to do that.

What Else You Can Do: Improve Your Essay About Traveling

To enhance your traveling essay, use these tried and tested tricks:

Use images.
Avoid clichés and formal language.
Avoid assumptions.
Specify your story.

Avoid clichés or formal language to make your piece of writing sound more natural. Be sure to use only original and meaningful descriptions and let readers understand everything with ease. Use images in your thematic essay about traveling experience because visual descriptions are an effective way to make the audience understand your story. They bring the audience closer to it. Use breathtaking pictures because they’ll stick in people’s mind for a long time. There are certain errors that many students do when completing this academic assignment. Failing to specify a story about traveling is one of them. Cover minor details to make your paper interesting. Making assumptions is another common error that students make. You need to get facts about a specific place. Assumptions only tell readers a false story. Don’t assume if you aren’t sure about details.

Key Points When Writing a College Essay About Traveling

Keep these basic points in mind when writing your essay about why traveling is important:

Take a prompt question into account when reading relevant sources of information.
Before you start writing a rough draft, outline what you will say, what evidence you want to use, and how you’ll structure all paragraphs.
Use the essay introduction to state your thesis and outline major ideas.
Include only the facts relevant to your topic because using irrelevant information won’t bring you high grades.
Ensure that every point is clear because readers shouldn’t be puzzled over your words.
Use plain and simple language to make strong points and avoid writing confusing or complex sentences. Verbosity will only frustrate teachers. Use a readability tool to make your writing easy-to-comprehend.
Demonstrate your awareness of relevant materials.
Make sure all paragraphs are in their coherent order with smooth transitions.

The above-stated secrets will help you write a brilliant essay about traveling. If you still find this task challenging, pay for an essay at StudyCrumb and get proficient help from academic writers. They will solve all of your problems easily.

Daniel Howard is an Essay Writing guru. He helps students create essays that will strike a chord with the readers.

6 examples of gorgeous travel writing

Inspiration to help your next travel blog, guidebook, or article stand out from the crowd.

We live on a wondrous, ever-changing planet— from alpine lakes and cloud forests to ancient cobblestoned cities.

The best travel writers can transport readers to these far-flung destinations, and to introduce them to new cultures and experiences. When done well, travel writing can be an insightful, thought-provoking and even life-changing genre of writing.

And with interactive content platforms, it’s possible for travel writers to create truly immersive reading experiences online. In this guide, we introduce six ideas — and examples of travel writing — to help you create beautiful, interactive travel stories.

Whether you're a beginner travel writer, a publisher, destination marketer, or freelance travel blogger, we've got plenty of inspiration to get you started.

What do the BBC, Tripadvisor, and Penguin have in common? They craft stunning, interactive web content with Shorthand. And so can you! Publish your first story for free — no code or web design skills required. Sign up now.

The features of great travel writing

The best travel writing is unique, but there are still some general guidelines you’ll want to follow to make your travel writing stand out from the pack. Here are some travel writing tips to help you compete with the best examples of the genre.

Have a point of view. Great travel writers — from the travel books of Bill Bryson and John Steinbeck to the documentaries of Paul Theroux — all have very specific points of view that are difficult to copy. Find your voice, and your travel articles will truly sing.
Take great photos. The best travel writing is visually immersive, using high resolution images and video to engage the reader’s senses. Even if you’re not creating a photo essay , modern travel writing relies of great visual assets.
Use multimedia content where you can. If you can, create audio and video assets, too, and consider building out your story with a digital storytelling platform to use interactive features. Embed podcasts and clips to keep the reader engaged.
Learn from the best. Keep track of longform feature stories in the New York Times and the Washington Post, and steal their techniques. (Good travel writers borrow, great travel writers steal, to butcher TS Eliot.)
Create a beautiful web presence. We love the print Lonely Planet travel guides, but these days you need to produce stunningly engaging content on the web. Standards are high, but you’d be amazed what you can do with modern interactive content platforms.
Provide a sense of adventure — even if you’re not strictly doing ‘adventure travel’. Whether you’re writing a first person travel memoir or writing about your backpacker’s trip through the Amazon, you want to keep your reader engaged with your travel experiences.
Make it educational. Teach the reader something new about the world they’re exploring.
Edit your work. The best travel writers kill their darlings and pay attention to details — hello, commas — knowing that this is how the best work is created.

Want to improve the efficiency of your writing process? Check out our list of the best writing tools .

Inspire readers and move them to action by exploring a location's unique history and culture. By focusing on just one place, your readers get the chance to experience it deeply through your words and imagery.

Intrepid Travel's Shorthand story 'Welcome to Olkola Country' is simple, yet effective. The highlight of the story is its elegant writing — a blend of reporting and personal narrative that explores the history, culture, and ecology of an ancestral land of the Olkola people in Australia. The story is elevated with thoughtful photos and videos, and ends with a call to action for the newly-inspired reader.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out our roundup of ten stunning photo essay examples .

The right images can make a story feel polished and inspired.

2 . Time travel

Taking readers back through historical moments is a great way to achieve more depth in your stories.

In the story The Museum of Atari, Mario and Electronic Childhood Dreams , Channel News Asia uses Shorthand to create a stunning visual story about a little-known museum of retro video games in Singapore. The highlight of the story is an interactive scrollytelling timeline about the history of video games, which is created using the Shorthand Reveal feature and animates a pixel character as the reader scrolls.

Our Reveal section allows animations like this to be controlled by the reader's scrolling.

3 . Immerse your reader

When words and photos simply aren't enough to convey the complexity of a travel story, add another layer of reader engagement using various forms of media.

The Sydney Opera House story A Guide to Dance Rites uses multimedia to bring indigenous culture to life. With elements like animation, slideshows, and embedded audio clips, readers can feel fully immersed in one of Australia's most traditional dance competitions.

Embed your own code to add further customisation to your story.

With Shorthand, remember that you always have the option to add custom HTML to add further customisations to your stories. See a list of our recommended third party tools in this support document .

4 . Just the highlights

Traditional evening scene from Kyoto, Japan

Not every trip allows for the luxury of time. In order to get the point across, sometimes a quick and to-the-point listicle is all that's necessary to deliver a clear and time-efficient message.

Mansion Global's story 6 Cities, 6 Continents takes a quick jaunt around the world to some of the best cities to buy a dream vacation home. The destinations are all tied together by an interactive map that tracks a route between the cities — a creative use of the Shorthand Reveal section .

Interactive maps can help connect different locations in your story.

5 . Keep it practical

Travel stories don't always need to inspire wanderlust or transport readers to far-flung destinations. Some of the most effective and important travel stories simply provide practical advice — whether that's how to exchange currency, say "thank you" in a foreign language, or avoid danger.

Travel Weekly's story Traveling While Female explores how female travellers can stay safe, and uses data to stress the importance of improving women's safety abroad. By displaying the data as interactive graphics, Travel Weekly draws extra emphasis to key statistics.

Make your data memorable by giving it special emphasis.

6. Zoom out

When you've written a couple of beautiful travel stories, what's next?

Tie together your creative vision by consolidating your stories into a single landing page. You can use Shorthand to create a home for all of your stories, whether that's by using our Collection section or by including links in other section types.

For example, Luxury Travel nests all of their feature content within a Shorthand story. The page takes advantage of our media-rich sections to create a scrolling archive of their beautiful travel stories.

Consolidate your features in a single Shorthand story.

There are myriad ways to turn a Shorthand story into a landing page. Here's another example from Perth Now, which takes a simple, colourful approach.

There are many ways to customise a Shorthand story to serve as a landing page.

Creating a unique online travel story can seem like a daunting task, but Shorthand's many easy-to-use features exist to help make your stories exceptional. There are thousands of destinations waiting to be written about, and we can't wait to see where your stories take us next.

Publish your first story free with Shorthand

Craft sumptuous content at speed. No code required.

How to Travel and Write an Essay

T raveling to new places and having new experiences can provide wonderful inspiration for writing essays. Immersing yourself in different cultures, interacting with new people, and exploring unfamiliar terrain engages your creative mind. Using your travel adventures as essay topics allows you to share your insightful reflections. Reading reviews of essay writing services can give you ideas on engaging writing styles and techniques to make your travel essay compelling. Here are some tips for traveling and gathering material to write a compelling essay.

Pick a Focused Travel Goal

Rather than trying to do everything, pick a particular aspect of travel on which to focus your essay. This could involve food, architecture, nature, art, history, or interacting with locals. Choosing a specific emphasis will help shape your travels and give your essay direction. For example, if you want to write about regional cuisine, plan your itinerary around visiting iconic restaurants and food markets. Or if exploring national parks is your priority, design your trip to hike various trails and take in diverse landscapes. Picking a travel concentration spotlights what matters most for your essay topic.

Keep Detailed Notes and Media

Be sure to keep notes about your travel experiences, as memory alone is unreliable. Use your phone or a notebook to write descriptions of key places and events. Capture telling details, snippets of overheard conversations, interesting quotes from people you meet, and your personal reactions. In addition, take ample photos and videos to add visual elements and jog your memory later when writing your essay. Gathering detailed sensory information, verbatim conversations, and media will enable you to vividly convey your travels.

Get Off the Beaten Path

While tourist hotspots yield common experiences many travelers share, explore lesser-known areas for fresh essay material. Wandering side streets and alleys or chatting with shop owners away from crowds provides unique perspectives. Hiking secluded trails showcases wilderness most never experience. Seeking out locals’ haunts and hidden gems exposes you to rare sights, sounds, and people unlikely to appear in standard travelogues. Venturing off the predictable beaten path unveils captivating topics to distinguish your essay.

Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

Challenge yourself on your travels by trying things outside your comfort zone, which will give you intriguing insights to inform your writing. Sample exotic cuisine with ingredients you can’t identify. Learn basic phrases in the native language. Navigate public transportation on your own. Talk to strangers from very different backgrounds. Accept an invitation to an unusual cultural event. Pushing past familiar habits and fears boosts opportunities for uncommon experiences, stimulating reflections to share in your essay. Facing uncertainty and discomfort allows you to access a fuller, richer range of travel moments.

Reflect on Your Interior Journey

While cataloguing external places and events, also focus inward on your inner terrain. Note how travel affects you emotionally and psychologically along with the physical destinations and activities. Record when you feel wonder, irritation, joy, sadness, connection, isolation. Analyze what triggers these responses. Ponder how unfamiliar surroundings surface unanticipated reactions, or how you apply filters and assumptions unconsciously. Consider if this self-discovery challenges or reinforces your worldviews. Examining your interior shifts alongside exterior impressions provides deeper insight. Reading an Academized review reinforced the importance of weaving together outer and inner dimensions to craft a multi-layered essay.

Find Themes and Connections

As you travel and gather essay material, look for overarching themes that emerge. Do certain ideas or patterns recur as you journey? Do you keep learning similar lessons? Find common threads to tie together diverse experiences for a unified essay focusing on key themes. Or spotlight thought-provoking contrasts revealed through your travels. Additionally, consider connections between your voyage and broader context. How do your observations reflect historical, social or cultural phenomena? Can you compare and link your individual trip to larger collective issues? Identifying meaningful themes and links helps shape a compelling, impactful essay.

Craft a Strong Essay Structure

Once you return from travels filled with observations, memories, artifacts and inspiration, it’s time to organize everything into a structured essay. First, revisit all your travel documentation and media, inventorying the best highlights to develop your central idea. Craft an introduction hooking readers’ interest while overviewing essay themes. Use each subheading to structure key travel experiences into engaging sections reinforced with vivid details, quotes, and examples. Analyze how these experiences interrelate and what insights they reveal associated with your themes. End with a powerful conclusion synthesizing main points and their significance. Edit carefully to refine language, verify facts, streamline structure while intensifying descriptions. Follow this process to translate your travel discoveries into an engaging, insightful essay.

Adding organization through focused subheadings provides natural breaks allowing readers’ eyes to rest while you emphasize key sections. Incorporating variable sentence types creates welcome rhythm and pacing variation. Contrasting longer complex sentences with shorter punchy ones, and trading sentences brimming with adjectives for straightforward construction alternates language patterns to maintain reader interest. Using low perplexity sentences when suitable enhances comprehension. Integrating these creative writing techniques keeps your travel essay lively, clear and compelling from start to finish.

So captivate readers with an essay unveiling your travel adventures and realizations. Immerse in cultural curiosities, venture off script, expand beyond your comfort zone and analyze what you uncover. Then organize intriguing experiences into an engaging essay emphasizing unforgettable impressions that reveal broader insights. With planning and attention, your travels can form the basis for a memorable, meaningful essay.

The post How to Travel and Write an Essay appeared first on Sunny Sweet Days .

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Travel, Essay Example

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Introduction

Virtually everybody travels at various times in their life, and for an enormously wide range of reasons.The word itself usually brings to mind recreation, or the desire and plan to go somewhere new for enjoyment purposes.Even in this type of travel, however, it can be seen that the experience itself provides limitless opportunities because a change of environment creates changes in perspective.New places, different people, and elements of unknown culture trigger responses in the individual which, even when relaxation is the goal, must have a strong effect on the individual’s ways of seeing and thinking.Then, the mechanics of travel often challenge people, just as assessing the experience afterward adds other dimensions.No matter the form or reasons, one factor is inevitably in place when people travel: in leaving their known environment, they are entering into others which will have many and diverse influences on them, but still have the effect of emphasizing the identity of the traveler.

Reasons for Travel

In examining the multiple reasons behind travel, it is important to understand that all are significant because travel is rarely easy to arrange and actually do.As will be explored shortly, there are many demands that must be met, even when the travel is relatively unplanned.Consequently, what motivates people to travel are usually powerful motivations.Enjoyment is by no means the least forceful of these motivations.Whether it is the individual, the family, or a group of friends, this type of travel is both widely carried on and felt to be necessary.It very often happens that the sheer force of routine creates the need to alter it.The daily habits of work, school, and even social activities become stifling because they do not vary, and it is believed that a complete changes of scene will refresh the mind and the body.How people pursue even this one type of travel may occur in very different ways.Some plan trips in which they will be engaged in sports or recreations not available at home, such as skiing and scuba diving.Here, the travel emphasis is on the physicality.Conversely, some arrange times and locations in which they are completely free to do nothing.In these cases, and whether the object is to be able to lie on a beach for hours or explore a foreign city, the impetus is more about breaking free from a known schedule while experiencing the unknown or different.

Connected to these types of travel, yet very specific in itself, is the honeymoon trip.This is travel as a kind of ritual or celebration;the married couple, it is felt, should be away and in a place wherein they know no one but themselves, so that a greater intimacy may be gained.At the same time, honeymoon travel exists to provide the same pleasures as vacation travel; it is the “break” from the normal life linked to the opportunity to see the unknown.Less common but related to this is the traveling done after a divorce or life-changing experience.In such cases, the individual often feels an intense need to escape from the known environment and rely only on themselves, and in an arena in which no one knows them.It is a kind of self-therapy, in that the isolation of being a stranger allows the person to better know and investigate their feelings away from all that has been defining them.

More pragmatic is the traveling done for business or for education.The first is, in fact, often not desired by the individual, for it is little more than an extension of their work.There are opportunities to take in new scenes and cultures, and it is ordinary for business travelers to do this as a means of making the effort more personally rewarding.The demands of the business trip come first, however, and it is equally ordinary that business travel be limited to nothing but work and the necessary accommodations in the new setting.This is as common with touring dance or theater companies as it is for corporate employees sent abroad to secure contracts, oversee operations, or conduct any other facet of commerce.This practical aspect is both present and somewhat different when travel is made for education.On one level, and whether the travel translates to the need to actually study in a removed location or investigate a subject, the learning is the primary concern.Education, however, is less confined as a pursuit than business.Consequently, many who travel for this reason set out to take in more experience of the new arena, for this will often assist in the acquiring of whatever education is desired.This type of travel nonetheless reflects the same ambitions of all travel, with the possible exception of travel done strictly for business or to attend to an event, such as a funeral; it is about experiencing elsewhere what is not available at home.

The Mechanics of Travel

Not surprisingly, the type of travel dictates how it is to be arranged.First and foremost, arrangements of all kinds have undergone a radical change in recent decades, in that individuals now set up the transportation, lodging, etc., that was once often the responsibility of the professional travel agent.The Internet permits people to scout out schedules and pricing for every type of transport, from buses to international flights, and to then make the selections best suited to them.The same is true for accommodations and activities to be arranged prior to leaving; literally hundreds of thousands of websites promote the attractions and offerings available worldwide, just as many services combine options and let the individual plan every element of the trip.Travel agencies still exist, but the enormous savings in money and convenience now have increasing numbers of people booking and ;paying for flights and hotels completely on their own.Equally important here is that, given the intense competition in the travel and tourism industry, every effort is made by these venues to cater to all budgets.

This modern convenience notwithstanding, arranging travel remains a demanding task.Except for those cases in which a business fully finances the travel, the first consideration is usually expense.Travel inevitably means leaving the home environment to live, even for a short time, elsewhere, so the transportation, accommodations, and other necessary expenses do not figure into the normal budget or routine.It is thus essential that, even before the first arrangements are made, the individual has a good sense of what they can afford.A mistake or miscalculation here may have disastrous effects both on the travel and on the aftermath.For example, the benefits of a much-needed vacation at an expensive resort will not be long-lasting when the individual returns to face large debt created by it.A true understanding of what means are available, then, is vital if the travel is to be successful.

Once the travel budget is known, the traveler is then actually assisted in deciding on the transportation and lodging.The very limited budget may translate to no option beyond the bus, as it may require securing the least expensive room, hostel, or boarding house, or even the need to arrange for staying with acquaintances.Conversely, he larger budget enables the individual to select a luxurious flight and premium accommodations.The available funds also, and importantly, go to both distance and duration of trip.Less money typically equates to nearer travel destination, as more allows for a wider range of options in places.Similarly, the lessened concern over money allows the traveler to lengthen the trip, whereas others may feel the more pressing need to end the vacation expenses and return to work.

It is interesting and very common that, for many, a major concern in travel is determining what to bring, and how much of it.Some of this concern is generated by the airline restrictions in place today, wherein luggage once taken care of as part of the ticket price is an additional expense.This aside, however, people usually struggle with identifying their needs in this area.In plain terms, people tend to over-pack.They are fearful of being without clothing or items they rely upon, and they ignore some of the realities of travel itself.First, they do not take into account that most anything they could require will be available at the destination.Then, there is often a concern about changes of clothing in environments in which, as in vacation destinations, these things are unimportant.The sensible traveler, yesterday and today, follows one basic rule: take only that which is necessary, and/or cannot be had at the destination.As a general rule, it is always advisable to travel as lightly as possible, if only because there are fewer possessions to be responsible for while away from home.

Personal Experiences

In terms of personal experiences, I find travel both an exciting and challenging activity.As may be expected, the reasons behind my traveling greatly affect how I feel about each episode.For example, some years ago I was compelled to travel because of a death in the family, and this to me is an experience unlike any other.It is travel, but it does not offer the usual advantages or attractions of other types; it is travel as an obligation, with a set and unhappy objective to be met.Less extreme than this, but still reflecting a kind of lack of enjoyment, is travel I have done to investigate job and educational possibilities.On these few occasions, as with the funeral trip, it is all about structure, planning, and the specific goal.Times are fixed and arrangement are not made with any real sense of happy anticipation.

At the same time, I have found that even these highly practical trips have nonetheless reflected aspects of travel I have experienced on vacations.What happens, and even under the most strict circumstances, is that the travel brings to me a renewed sense of myself.No matter the purpose for the trip, the process of distancing myself from my known environment is occurring, and I feel this is the fundamental appeal and benefit of all travel.Even as I have scrambled to make an appointment in a strange place, there has existed still the excitement of taking in a new landscape and the challenges of making my way through it.Even as I have journeyed to pay my respects to a deceased relative, I have nonetheless had the feeling of being more myself, simply because everything that defines me in ordinary life was left behind.It is strange, but it seems to me that the greatest effect of travel is that reinforcement of who we are always.The strange place simply and inevitably underscores our own identity because we are compelled to react and adapt to the unknown.Put another way, I think the farther we go in travel, the nearer we come to ourselves.

This quality of travel as reinforcing the sense of self is, for me, most profoundly felt when I have gone places purely for recreation.At these times, with no obligations to distract me, I can be open to everything new around me, and this is as true of the actual scene as it is of the people and the different way of life.At a tropical setting once, I remember thinking how the people around me for whom this was the “regular” environment were different.Their behavior and speech was more relaxed, and everything seemed to move at a more leisurely pace.Even while this scene was within my own country, I nonetheless felt as though I were taking in another culture, simply because place itself so powerfully affects the ways people live.As this happened, my own idea of who I was and how I myself lived was all the more emphasized, and this is the great and refreshing power of travel in my eyes.

As noted, a wide variety of reasons go to why people travel, ranging from the urgent need to attend to business to the equally urgent need to get away and do nothing.Equally varied are the means by which any travel may be arranged, although the guiding principle is budget.Travel, then, is as diverse an experience as any that human beings engage in, as it affects people in individual ways.Reasons may change during the travel, just as anticipated outcomes may not turn out as expected.In all of this, however, it seems that one element is in place, no matter how or why the travel is done.This is the element of the individual coming to a stronger sense or idea of themselves because the surrounding landscape is completely different.In traveling to the new and in leaving behind the known environment, people enter into arenas which will have many and diverse influences on them, and yet also reinforce their own identities.

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Travel: Personal Experience

One of my passions is travelling. Travel involves visiting new places and meeting new people and having varied experiences. I come originally from Romania and have travelled to UK and US. I remember the quote by Samuel Johnson: “All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it”. I have had the luck of visiting better countries and I believe my travel experiences have taught me a lot about human life and helped me expand the way I see things.

When I first travelled within Romania, it opened my eyes to how other people live. I saw how people lived happily even though they did not have much money or luxuries. It taught me that to be happy, money is not the only thing. I must have an attitude to be happy with what I have. It also taught me to accept people from different races and colors. When I travelled abroad, I saw new cultures and different lifestyles.

It was very exciting and adventurous. I learnt to enjoy these new experiences, to become part of these varied cultures by taking their food, wearing their dresses, etc. This has created in me the awareness that people all over the world are basically the same but they are different in the cultures – have different ways of talking, singing, enjoying, dancing, writing, building, dressing and conducting business. I have acquired a more global perspective of the world we live in. My knowledge has thus expanded because of my travel.

Self-confidence is another quality that I developed as a result of travelling. Whenever I travel, I had to be responsible for my own luggage, tickets and documents. I had to be careful in taking flights and cabs. When I was in my home country, I used to be shy to talk to new people. But during my travels, I learnt to talk to strangers and ask for help whenever I needed it. This gave me the confidence that I can make new friends. Also, new places sometimes had new customs that I had to adapt to.

Travel is the time I use to read and listen to music. This also gives me the time to reflect deeply on my life’s goals and where I am right now. It is an ideal opportunity to break free from a routine lifestyle. I feel very much relaxed during my travel and enjoy seeing new scenes and landscapes. It gives me time to discover more about myself. For example, when I was in Los Angeles, I saw a rock music performance at a club where everyone danced. I had not danced earlier at clubs. But when I joined the fun, I was surprised to realize that I enjoyed the experience a lot.

Travel also gives me a sense of being free and independent. It makes my mind open to new experiences all the time. Even during a flight, I get to taste new food, hear a new language, see new ways of dressing and listen to new kinds of music. This is very exciting and I thoroughly enjoy my life during these moments.

Through my travels, I have made many new international friends. Conversing with them has helped me understand their cultures better and I also have opportunities of improving my English which is now very important when travelling in UK and US. Moreover, as I intend to study in United States, it is good to improve my language skills before I begin my studies. Travelling to the United States has also helped me absorb their local culture and understand the value of hard work.

Above all, whenever I return to Romania after my travels, it helps me appreciate my home country a lot. I value Romanian culture and the warm way in which people relate to each other. I can appreciate it all the more when I travel abroad. Thus, my passion for travel while giving me fun, dreams and confidence, has also educated me, helped me embrace new cultures and new communication skills, adopt a more global perspective, improve my English and given me lots of good friends and wonderful memories. It has made me a richer person internally.

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IvyPanda. (2023, November 24). Travel: Personal Experience. https://ivypanda.com/essays/travels-personal-experience/

"Travel: Personal Experience." IvyPanda , 24 Nov. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/travels-personal-experience/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Travel: Personal Experience'. 24 November.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Travel: Personal Experience." November 24, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/travels-personal-experience/.

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Bibliography

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Essay On Travel

500 words essay on travel.

Travelling is an amazing way to learn a lot of things in life. A lot of people around the world travel every year to many places. Moreover, it is important to travel to humans. Some travel to learn more while some travel to take a break from their life. No matter the reason, travelling opens a big door for us to explore the world beyond our imagination and indulge in many things. Therefore, through this Essay on Travel, we will go through everything that makes travelling great.

Why Do We Travel?

There are a lot of reasons to travel. Some people travel for fun while some do it for education purposes. Similarly, others have business reasons to travel. In order to travel, one must first get an idea of their financial situation and then proceed.

Understanding your own reality helps people make good travel decisions. If people gave enough opportunities to travel, they set out on the journey. People going on educational tours get a first-hand experience of everything they’ve read in the text.

Similarly, people who travel for fun get to experience and indulge in refreshing things which may serve as a stress reducer in their lives. The culture, architecture, cuisine and more of the place can open our mind to new things.

The Benefits of Travelling

There are numerous benefits to travelling if we think about it. The first one being, we get to meet new people. When you meet new people, you get the opportunity to make new friends. It may be a fellow traveller or the local you asked for directions.

Moreover, new age technology has made it easier to keep in touch with them. Thus, it offers not only a great way to understand human nature but also explore new places with those friends to make your trip easy.

Similar to this benefit, travelling makes it easier to understand people. You will learn how other people eat, speak, live and more. When you get out of your comfort zone, you will become more sensitive towards other cultures and the people.

Another important factor which we learn when we travel is learning new skills. When you go to hilly areas, you will most likely trek and thus, trekking will be a new skill added to your list.

Similarly, scuba diving or more can also be learned while travelling. A very important thing which travelling teaches us is to enjoy nature. It helps us appreciate the true beauty of the earth .

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of the Essay on Travel

All in all, it is no less than a blessing to be able to travel. Many people are not privileged enough to do that. Those who do get the chance, it brings excitement in their lives and teaches them new things. No matter how a travelling experience may go, whether good or bad, it will definitely help you learn.

FAQ on Essay on Travel

Question 1: Why is it advantageous to travel?

Answer 1: Real experiences always have better value. When we travel to a city, in a different country, it allows us to learn about a new culture, new language, new lifestyle, and new peoples. Sometimes, it is the best teacher to understand the world.

Question 2: Why is travelling essential?

Answer 2: Travelling is an incredibly vital part of life. It is the best way to break your monotonous routine and experience life in different ways. Moreover, it is also a good remedy for stress, anxiety and depression.

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Travel Writing Monday 16th of December, 4 pm. I got out of the plane and walked down a glass tunnel, disappointed. During the whole trip, I was imagining that it would just paradise. A bright blue sky, exotic birds, multi-coloured pelicans, coconut trees everywhere and the pulchritudinous sea. I was wrong. The airport was at least ten miles away from any town and more than fifty miles away from the sea. The only thing that was true was the sky ’s cyanosis and lividness and it kept my hopes up that I would soon be putting my feet in the Pacific Ocean. I could hear people talking in lots of different languages. In front of me was Asian group talking, with their ever shrinking cameras hanging …show more content…

The man kept on asking similar kind of questions to my parents and then ten minutes later, they were free to go. We took a taxi to the hotel . During the taxi journey, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the view. The viridescence of the trees and the magnificent landscape. I had a feeling that I was never going to leave this place ever again and I know that this was where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I could sense the freshness of the breeze and smell the delicate perfume of summer. Once arrived at the hotel, I undid my suitcases and went for a walk on the beach, it was nearly 8 pm and the it was starting to get really dark. I lied on the beach thinking of all the things I was going to do the following day like windsurfing and scuba diving. I feel something touching my arm and I suddenly wake up, I don’t know how long I had been lying on the beach for. A man with dread locks and an eyebrow piercing dark skinned was looking at me and started taking to me in Spanish I didn’t really understand what he was saying because of his strong accent but all I heard was “quieres uno?” Waving a joint at me I didn’t know what to say so I said, trying to put a really nice Spanish accent so that he wouldn’t realise that I was foreign, “Si, pero que tienes?” and he said in English “cannabis” and I

Unfortunately I see this conversation ending with Celeste and Jim both very upset and no solutions to the conflict being discussed. It seems that at the end of this scenario the conflict was beginning to spiral out of control, and communication was shutting down. It will end with Celeste and Jim blowing up at each other and not being willing to understand the others perspective about the situation. They will not talk for a while after this happens and Jim will hire Nikki as he intended to from the beginning. As a negative end to this conflict I see Jim and Celeste looking back over the conflict still trying to defend their position (retrospective goals).

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were so excited, so we wanted to see the beach before we go to our hotel. We got a little wet,

Mission Trip Essay

Bam! It hit me like a speeding truck. Two weeks in Cuzco, Peru had shown me what it is really like to be struggling in all areas in life. This specific mission trip showed me outside our borders there are people in need of basic necessities in life. I spent the better of two weeks learning about myself and the people I was determined to help. Teaching has always been a part of my life, however, after these two weeks, I learned that teaching is exactly what I want to do with my career. The students I was able to work with had not had a proper education, and my teaching them put them that much farther into a life they hadn't imagined ever having. The compassion and empathy I felt in my heart for my students had shown me that teaching is the right

Personal Narrative: The Maze

When my mom and dad woke up they got there bathing suits on and started heading to the water/ocean. Our hotel was right on the beach shore. So we could leave our room. And walk out the hotel. And that's where the water was, nothing but the Cold Salty Water.

Swimsuit Alternate Ending

After a few minutes we finally reached the beach, I felt the hot sand beneath my feet. I had already changed into the swimsuit while we were at the store, I was just focused on getting into the water.

Travel Memoir

I remember the day just like it was yesterday, the pale color and coldness of her skin. The sky was clear blue, soft, with a touch of red, and the trees seemed stiff in their bright green shade. The wind was blowing with its humid dry air. And All I could do was stand silently in disbelief, caught up in my own thoughts and calm as I ever been. Wondering what I could have done differently to change the course of time, life had taken us upon. Since that very day a chunk of my heart was ripped away, and broken into pieces… “Oh how I miss her so much.”

Personal Narrative - Travel Writing Essay

I went to Burger King with three friends. We walked a long way then I

Descriptive Essay On Vacation

The only sound that filled my ears was my keyboard clicking as my fingers raced across it. I had been procrastinating from finishing this assignment all evening, but I knew I needed to get it done. The burning sunset was shining through the windows as I was finishing up. It was a peaceful silence, until I heard the soft whispers of my parents that ignited my sense of curiosity. I was concentrating hard; doing my best trying to make out the hushed words that were being spoken.

Why Do People Travel Essay

First, I just want you to ask yourself a little and simple question. Why do you travel? Have you answered it? I sincerely want you to answer it before I do so, that will help you understand with more ease. The first one I thought of was to learn. Many people, in fact, love to travel to get to know a country’s culture, food, language and landmarks. This will help people be more culturally diverse, open-minded and usually more balanced people. The second reason I thought of was to have an adventure. Naturally, some people are more adventurous than others so they prefer doing something they have never done before. For instance, people who live near the ocean have the tendency to visit more mountainous places so they can have new experiences and do more radical activities. Another obvious reason is to spend some quality time with your family. Nowadays people work during most of their days and go back home already tired, meaning they have less time for their families and people they love than before. Thus, they often go for a journey together during holidays and sometimes even weekends. The final reason I have got is quite different

Studying Abroad Essay

12 Works Cited

money to cover the expenses you plan to occur, and extra in case of an

Personal Narrative Essays-Creative Writing : The Lost Island

our boat room balcony. I rubbed my hand against my eyes to make sure I was awake.

Planning Your Perfect Vacation Essay

After you choose your destination the next thing you must do is reserve your airfare and hotel. This may be tough because there are many websites and travel agents that you can go through. I have found that it is cheaper and easier to go through Expedia.com. You can book your hotel and flight all together and pay one low price. I have also found that flying with Southwest Airlines is very cheap and they have many one way stops all across the country and for a cheap hotel that is very nice I recommend the Extended Stay America.

Traveling With Kids Essay

Traveling can be hard, especially if kids are involved. Any parent knows that traveling with kids can be tricky, challenging and fun all at the same time. As a matter of fact, the process might seem like an endless amount of things to do, all for a short time. Like in almost every aspect of life, however, with tons of preparation and patience anyone, including you, can plan a family trip trouble free. This article will focus on how you can make traveling with kids easy, exciting and yes, even relaxing.

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Great Travel Writing Examples from World Renowned Travel Writers

11 Great Travel Writing Examples

Writing Example of a Travel Book Closing Paragraphs

Below is the closing of Don’s ebook: Wanderlust in the Time of Coronavirus: Dispatches from a Year of Traveling Close to Home

Writing Example of a Travel Book Intro Paragraphs

Below is the opening of Francis’ book, The Hidden Europe:

Intro (Lede) Paragraph Examples of Great Travel Writing Articles

Michele’s Lede Paragraph Travel Writing Example

Perry Garfinkel

Perry’s Lede Travel Article Example from the New York Times

Elaine Masters

Elaine’s Lede Example

Bret’s Lede Example

Middle Paragraph Examples of Great Travel Writing Articles

Mariellen’s Middle Paragraph Example

Joe Baur’s Middle Paragraph Example

Samantha Shea

Samantha Shea’s Middle Paragraph Example

Final Paragraph Example of Great Travel Writing Articles

Cassie’s Final Paragraphs Example

Lydia Carey

Lydia’s Final Paragraphs Example

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Jun 14 Writing the Perfect Travel Essay for Students1

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