1/15/2024 0 Comments Aviation travel writer![]() ![]() Which interesting characters did you meet?Īs with crafting a work of fiction, a travel article or essay needs memorable characters.īaskas said that on one assignment aboard a new flight on a new plane to a new destination, her fellow reporters were “writing about the chairs and the overhead bins. You’ll distinguish yourself from less creative freelancers, and you might just carve out a niche for yourself. So if travel writing is your goal, find new, unusual angles for your stories. My question was, ‘Show me your favorite thing.’ And they said, ‘You think that’s interesting? Let me show you the back room!'” Seeing those undiscovered treasures “led to literally 20 years of stories.” Of her travels, she said, “I was going around to a lot of museums. She recommends looking past landmarks and instead going behind the scenes. Harriet Baskas is a Seattle-based writer, radio producer, and author of the book, Hidden Treasures: What Museums Can’t or Won’t Show You. What is new and fresh about this destination? ![]() Whether you’re looking to break into the travel beat or want fresh travel writing ideas, read on for four key questions to ask yourself before pitching and writing your article. When it comes to travel writing, editors are less interested in sending writers to try out five-star hotels and more interested in well-told stories that capture a place, feature memorable characters, and showcase a destination in a new and compelling light. One that offers the chance to stop, stare, breathe in and view the world anew.Career Advice 4 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Writing Your Travel Article By Grace Bello October 10th, 2013 Yet, for all that, it’s so much more than a sacrifice: it’s an opportunity. Sure, it can be challenging and frustrating (and – yes – bloody expensive). ![]() But, truly, the main thing I’ve learned after two-and-a-half years of staying voluntarily grounded is this: rather than being an exercise in spartan self-denial, kicking the flying habit is an overwhelmingly positive experience for the traveller. My research and interviews with climate scientists, experts, campaigners and activists were compelling enough, in fact, to convince me to take the pledge in 2021 and again this year. We need to be operating fewer flights every year to stand a chance of hitting the climate targets set out in the Paris Agreement (for the longer answer: well, you’ll just have to buy the book). As it stands, the numbers don’t add up aviation growth and achieving net zero by 2050 are not compatible. I wanted to find out more – firstly on the practical side, experiencing first-hand all that slow travel had to offer, hopping aboard trains, buses, boats and bikes and seeing as much of the world as I could in between lockdowns and strict travel rules.īut I wanted to dig into the science too, to figure out whether there was a way we could keep flying in a way that was sustainable – be it through aviation technology or carbon removal schemes and offsetting. I decided I too would take the flight-free pledge in 2020, and I decided I would write a book about it, called Zero Altitude. And so it was that a new chapter in my life as a travel editor began, metaphorically and literally. I finally felt skam about all those flyg. By the end of 2019, my carbon footprint for flights taken alone would be up to a whopping 9.3 tonnes of CO2 – more than double the world average carbon footprint of 4.35 tonnes (to be clear, this is the average for all emissions an individual would contribute in an entire year, for every activity they do – not just flying). I sat down and counted how many flights I’d taken so far that year: 24 in less than six months. Something about talking to those people made me connect the dots between my own life and the bigger picture. And these pioneers had completely quit flying as a result. Campaigners said that, at this stage in the climate crisis, the carbon emissions from flights – which amounted to 860 million metric tonnes a year and equated to around 2 per cent of all emissions worldwide – could no longer be ignored. Translating to “flight shame”, this idea, promoted by prominent Swedes including Greta’s mother, the opera singer Malena Ernman, centred on the fact that flying was not something to aspire to but to feel guilty about. And, squarely in my “patch” of journalism, a burgeoning movement dubbed flygskam was taking off – or literally not, as the case may be – in Sweden. Extinction Rebellion protests were swelling with support Greta Thunberg had become a household name after her school strikes went global. The year before – that glorious time I shall always think of as BC (Before Covid) – was typified by a steadily growing momentum when it came to the climate emergency. I’ll hold my hands up: before 2020, I was a damn hypocrite. ![]()
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