National Geographic Traveler magazine is ceasing publication, leaving only Conde Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure in the world of travel glossies. In its near-three-decade run, I wrote two things for Traveler: an essay shortly after it debuted on trans-Atlantic crossings, and a story about Warsaw in 2013. This second assignment stands out as the single worst freelancing experience of my career. In fact, it was so dispiriting that I kept a journal during the editing and rewriting process, which lasted over a year. The subject was a city I had lived in and grown to love, so the story was understandably favorable, but – because it was realistic – it lacked the “excitement” and “romance” Traveler editors demanded.
“Like those at the other glossy travel magazines,” I wrote in my journal, “they are in the business (truly the mot juste) of promoting travel, not explaining the world. Their ‘concern for readers’ is nothing more than an obsession with advertisers (especially in these days of economic downturn). Just as they employ people to sell ad space, they hire writers to sell destinations – why else was I urged to be more enthusiastic? – so that the former can bring in more ads. It is why they refuse to allow, even in a predominantly upbeat story, anything that might disturb or sadden or dissuade potential travelers. It is why the quotes from locals are so benign. It is why the articles are so boring.
“I realize that this is the reality of magazine publishing (which paradoxically demands, in the travel division, a denial of reality). What maddens me is the charade put on by editors, the hypocrisy of pretending – or perhaps it’s a collective delusion – that they are all about “real stories,” that they value writing over salesmanship. It creates misunderstandings that lead to wasted labors in a process that verges on psychological cruelty.”
Listening yesterday to Dave Davies’ interview with Eric Snowden – who was speaking from his apartment in Moscow – I kept hoping for a question about his impressions of the city.
My essay on how a love of the unsung can help solve the problem of overtourism: https://lithub.com/standing-room-only-on-overtravel-and-the-joy-of-the-unsung/
On Facebook yesterday Spud Hilton, the recently retired travel editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, posted the news that the paper was discontinuing its Travel section.
Travel writing flourishes in the Bay Area as nowhere else in the United States, and the Chronicle Travel section was both a reflection of and a contributor to that phenomenon. If you were a travel writer, one of the highlights of any visit to San Francisco was picking up the Chronicle and reading the Travel section. Imagining the paper without a Travel section is like picturing the city without cable cars.
At Books & Books last night, Matthew Kepnes (aka Nomadic Matt) spoke about his new memoir, Ten Years a Nomad, before a standing-room-only crowd, one member of which, a tall, thin woman, wore a T-shirt that displayed three small boxes labeled "Single," "Taken," and "Collecting Passport Stamps." Not surprisingly, the last box was checked.