Get started by learning about this huge and widely varied genre by visiting Travel Writing Net: http://www.travelwriting.net//. Check all the links.

Talking Travel With Roy Lowey, http://www.ttrn.com/, may just have the most useful links for travel writers, as well as travelers. Begin your thorough exploration by clicking the entire list of links at the top of the National Association of Travel Journalists Association,http://www.natja.org/. Select Travel World Magazine,http://www.travelworldmagazine.com/. Keep exploring and learning all you can. You’ll be able to search for many excellent articles. Scroll down and click on Site Map.

Durant Imboden’s Writing.Org site,http://www.writing.org/index.html is good. Scroll his Articles Index to find Travel Writing, and read his article:http://www.writing.org/html/a_travel_writing_1.htm.

Lorry Pattons’ Travel tips ‘n’ Tales, http://lorrypatton.com/Browse, check out links, and especially the Terms of Use Copyright link at the bottom of the page. (TIP: Press Trips, when they appear, will be found under News, which is separated by topics. Sometimes none are listed.)

Check out Scott American Corporation at,http://www.scottamerican.com/. For free information, click the GoGo for travelers, and be zipped to, http://www.gogoinfo.com/where you’ll find a wealth of information. Click Site Map and surf the results, and grow your travel writing knowledge exponentially!

For example, at Cathay Pacific Airways, by surfing the links you can learn about baggage, in-flight health, airports, lounges, aviation logistics, and antenna farms, etc. Let each spark ideas to topic spoke.

Check Destinations at each airline to learn which cities to focus on when getting ideas for in-flight magazines. Don’t skip Travel Publications. Check each publication for submission guidelines.

*NOTE: Travel Publicity Leads is for travel writers with some experience, not beginners or students. The services offered should not be used until you have developed experience in the niche of travel writing. Study how other writers looking for press trips or press kits use the listing service.

Travel Press Kits
BootsnAll Press Kit is an excellent example of what may be included in a press kit:
http://press.bootsnall.com/.

Many companies, locations, media, etc., offer press kits. Get started by typing “travel press kit” into www.dogpile.com. The search will return different results, depending on what new information has reached the Internet. For example, I found links to:http://www.roadandtravel.com/company/marketing/presskit.htm;
http://www.wildernesstravel.com/ (search press kit).

Expect to find unexpected perks as you build your databases. For example, at http://www.alaskatia.org/, the official Alaskan Vacation Planner, although the site didn’t look impressive, when I scrolled I found a link to a calendar of events, and at the very bottom, two excellent resource links, the Industry Glossary, and the Site map.

Travel guides
Do lots of homework online by checking the multitude of online travel guides for destinations, accommodations, etc. Pamela Lanier hosts several websites you can link to from her interesting site:http://www.pamelalanier.com/. Roll your mouse over her site carefully so you don’t miss any links.

Lanier Travel Guides, http://www.travelguides.com/ is one example. On the http://www.lanierbb.com/ page, Check the destinations link to find thumbnail sketches of destinations. It offers a site map where you can select from their database of destination information. Great for gathering data and generating dozens of ideas to topic spoke! ALWAYS check her Site Map on each page.

Travel writers association
International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association,http://www.ifwtwa.org/.You can spend days surfing this site and not get to all of the information you can glean, free!

Graduated memberships are available. The online application(s) give the fee(s). Memberships include newsletter, Press Pass, that lists press trips, conferences, markets, etc. Click Magazine, to view it online. Spend some time exploring this excellent site, because you don’t know what freebies you’ll find unless you do!

Locate Chambers of Commerce at:http://www.2chambers.com/

Currency exchange calculators:
XE.com, http://www.xe.com/
http://tinyurl.com/5adhd
Yahoo Finance, http://tinyurl.com/4oqxy
X-rates.com, http://www.x-rates.com// provides rates of exchange and alphabetical list of countries.

Rec.Travel Library: http://www.travel-library.com/. Personal travelogues and worldwide travel and tourism information. Has important link to Airline Ticket Consolidators. The travelogues listed in the Library sometimes contain links to personal home pages. People put their travel stories online in the Travel-Library and include their personal web sites for a variety of reasons. Almost none of these writers are making any money from writing their travelogue. HOWEVER, with persistent surfing, you can also locate interesting sites such as places for working and volunteering. Maybe you’ll discover someone interesting, and write a profile article.

Other information sites and press packets
Check out state websites, too. For example, see Montana information here: http://travel.state.mt.us/ (TIP: Click Search and Helpnear bottom page to get a VERY comprehensive alphabetical list of what’s in Montana! (quick link:http://travel.state.mt.us/searchhelp/siteindex/.) Sign up for a newsletter, if you’re interested in state that has a certain mystique popular with readers.

InterNetAdventures.net has recently launched a new Web site for journalists and editors researching adventure travel stories in the Rocky Mountain states, http://www.internetadventures.net/The site offers journalists complete online press kits for adventure travel companies. Go to:. *For information, email,info@internetadventures.net.

Airline websites can lead to a wealth of travel information, too. For example, from Northwest Airlines site map athttp://www.nwa.com/index/index.html, I located Frommers, an excellent international itinerary guide resource:http://www.frommers.com/.

FreeTrip(R) (Freetrip.com, Inc.) http://www.freetrip.com/ has a quick and dirty calculator for best route between two points– and, importantly, gives you approximate driving time. It allows you to constrain the trip to or away from certain highways if all you’re looking for are the text descriptions of how to get somewhere.

Centers for Disease and Control, Traveler’s Health, http://www.cdc.gov/travel/travel.htm, provides international travelers with current information on disease outbreaks and health issues. Includes information on recommended vaccinations, and links to CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program for sanitation inspections on international cruise ships.

Travel writing isn’t only about making trips or visiting destinations; let topic spoking lead your writing in many directions. This venue can be challenging, but the rewards are many. Give traveling a try, if you have a strong constitution and itchy feet.
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