Travel Writing World

Today’s episode brings us to Mumbai, where Rajat Ubhaykar speaks with us about his travels hitchhiking through India with truckers. His adventures were published in his new book, Truck de India!: A Hitchhiker's Guide to Hindustan (Simon & Schuster 2019). Part travelogue, part immersive journalism, Truck de India! is a fascinating glimpse into an industry and an experience that is largely off-limits to westerners. We also speak briefly about the cultural and linguistic diversity of India and travel writing about the country.

You can read more about Rajat's book and adventure in a series of questions he answered here.

You can get reach out to Rajat Ubhaykar on Twitter.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Today’s episode brings us to Edinburgh, where Iain Campbell speaks with us about his travels through Pakistan, the holy mountains of Asia, and sketching instead of taking photographs while traveling. We also talk about his new book, From The Lion’s Mouth: A Journey Along the Indus, which was shortlisted for the Stanford Travel Writing Award’s Steppes Travel Adventure Book of the Year. Iain explored Asia's holy mountains in his first book, With Unblest Feet.

You can get reach out to Iain on Twitter.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

The novel coronavirus has brought the travel industry to its knees, its crash bringing the world of travel media along with it; and it would, as travel media is mostly an appendage of the travel industry itself. Case in point, the near-global paralysis of the travel industry has already resulted in the folding of some in-flight publications and the drying up of travel assignments and freelance opportunities. Travel writers across the globe are in a state of anxious uncertainty about how they will make ends meet, not just today when the need is the most urgent, but tomorrow when the dust settles. Travel bloggers, who generate income through traffic, ad revenue, and affiliate marketing, are also scrambling to protect themselves from the fallout.

Yet, with at least a third of the world on coronavirus lockdown, bookstores are reporting a surge in online sales. And my inbox is alerting me daily to new articles and blog posts recommending "the best travel books" for the vicarious or armchair traveler. Even Travel Writing World couldn't resist the urge. Surely travel book authors are seeing spikes in their sales, but with the global economy each day coming closer and closer to a standstill, one can't help but wonder how long it will last.

What will the post-coronavirus world look like for the travel industry and for travel writing, broadly speaking, when we unlatch our bunker doors and survey the landscape?

This was the question I asked a variety of writers in the travel writing space including well-published journalists like Jason Wilson and Amar Grover, renowned travel bloggers like Tim Leffel and Nomadic Matt, and travel book authors like Tim Hannigan, Jonathan Chatwin, Rolf Potts, Monisha Rajesh, and Paul Theroux.

Listen to the episode to hear what they have to say in this round-up episode of Travel Writing World—an unusual format for unusual times.

Paul Theroux was the only guest to submit a response via email, which I read at the very end of the episode and post below.

Paul Theroux

Paul Theroux, the well-known author of the recently-published On the Plain of Snakes, responded to my questions via email from Hawaii.

Travel Writing World: Commercial travel writing is in large dependent upon the travel industry. But with travel literature, if we could make such a distinction, the relationship is less direct. Do you have any insights into how commercial travel writing and travel literature might change as a result of the corona-crisis, if at all?

Paul Theroux: The "commercial travel writing" you mention is market-driven - intending to sell vacations, hotel rooms, restaurant meals, and it is nearly always up-beat. I don't disparage it, because it informs vacationers who have limited time to travel and services the travel industry. But "travel literature" - or let's say, "the literature of wandering" is quite different, low budget, somewhat open-ended, random and glorying in having a bad time full of life lessons. Your question is whether either of the two will change, and the simple answer is no - probably no change at all, because "travel writing" as a designation is maddening, and encompasses autobiography, mythomania, memoir, and topographical observation as well as adventures, exotic romances and ordeals. Of all of these I prefer to read about The Ordeal. By the way, Hawaii usually gets ten million visitors a year - and yesterday 120 visitors arrived. I have never seen Hawaii so empty.

TWW: What would you tell the aspiring travel writer whose plans are suddenly, if temporarily, grounded?

PT: Aspiring travel writers - aspiring writers of all kinds - need to be passionate readers - not of the new trend-spotting stuff but of the great novels and travel books. Ideally, this aspiring writer reads a biography of (say) Joseph Conrad or Jack London or Rebecca West - all three of whom were travelers - and then reads eight or ten books by Conrad or London or West. It so happens I have done this,

Today’s episode brings us to Bath, where Dan Richards speaks with us about isolation, mass tourism, and creativity. We also talk about his new book Outpost: A Journey to the Wild Ends of the Earth. We also talk about Jack Kerouac's On the Road and Dharma Bums, the Kerouac House in Orlando, Florida, and David Foster Wallace's Consider the Lobster.

Dan Richards is the co-author of Holloway (with Robert Macfarlane) and the author of The Beechwood Airship Interviews and Climbing Days. He has written for the Guardian, Harper's Bazaar, Caught by the River, Monocle, and the Quietus. He is an RLF Fellow at Bristol University.

Outpost was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards.

You can get in touch with Dan on Twitter and Instagram.

Outpost photos courtesy of Dan Richards

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Today’s episode brings us to London, where Peter Fiennes speaks with us about getting to know one’s own country, climate concerns and travel, and Brexit. We also talk about his new book “Footnotes: A Journey Round Britain in the Company of Great Writers.” 

Peter was the publisher at Time Out for many years, where he produced hundreds of books and magazines. His new book Footnotes was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards. You can contact Peter or learn more about him on Twitter or his website.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Today's episode brings us to Oxford, U.K., where Anna Sherman speaks with us about trespassing into foreign cultures, finding a voice in a new language, and thinking about time in Japan. We also talk about her debut book, The Bells of Old Tokyo: Meditations on Time and a City.

In the interview, Anna and I bring up The Book of Tea, The Daibo Coffee Manual, Daibo Dreamed of Coffee, and Pico Iyer, whom I recently interviewed for this podcast. You can read the excerpt of The Bells of Old Tokyo that deals with love hotels and language on LitHub. You can also read the text-based interview with Anna Sherman on our website.

Connect with Anna Sherman

Connect with Anna Sherman on her homepage or on Twitter.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Today's episode brings us to Birmingham, U.K., where Jonathan Chatwin speaks with us about modern Beijing and urban design, his travel writing influences, and his new book Long Peace Street: A Walk in Modern China (Manchester 2019). Jonathan holds a PhD in English literature and writes regularly on Chinese history and culture. His essays have been published by the British Film Institute, the South China Morning Post, and the Asian Review of Books to name a few. His first book is Anywhere Out of the World, a biography on the travel writer Bruce Chatwin.

Connect with Jonathan Chatwin

Connect with Jonathan Chatwin on his homepage or on Twitter.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Today's episode brings us to Orlando, where I'm recording a solo show! I give reflections following a year of podcasting, my goals for 2020, and some personal updates.

I wanted to do a one-year reflection on the show closer to the New Year's Day, but I couldn't because of wanting to honor my episode release schedule. This might seem odd as it is in the middle of January already and people are tired of these end-of-year reviews, but here I am.

2019 Reflection

The podcast is a year old and it has exceeded my expectations. Within the first few months of 2019, the podcast found its footing, so to speak, and has sharpened its focus. First, the show was about "the intersection between travel and creativity," but I found that to be a bit too broad. If you recall, I had chummy interviews with friends who live abroad. And those episodes were, as the name implied, a bit all over the place.

But sometime in the first half of 2019, the podcast came into focus and I was able to identify not just what I was really interested in talking about, but a hole in the market, so to speak. So, since we found our footing, I've interviewed established voices in the travel writing space like Paul Theroux and Pico Iyer. And I've interviewed young, energized, and emerging writers like Monisha Rajesh.

I am reaffirming my commitment to interviewing travel writers for the next year, with hopes to cover more diverse perspectives in the travel writing space. Stay tuned for more.

Listening Stats

I won't get into statistics too much here, as last year was the first year and we don't have a basis for comparison in terms of growth. And, to be honest, I'm not someone who stresses over the numbers. Though, I do look at them from time to time, and I'm humbled to report that last year we had some 1,300 unique listeners. So, if you're one of the 1,300, thank you! And I hope you keep listening in 2020.

Goals for 2020

Goal #1) I'd like to have more listeners. One way I plan on doing this is by opening up the website to guest articles that deal with the business and craft of travel writing. So, if you want to write a guest post, please send me an email or tweet with your idea.

Another tactic is that I am interested in publishing more written interviews. So, if you have written a travel book and want to be interviewed, please drop me a line.

You can, of course help me achieve my goal by sharing the show with your friends on social media, and by reviewing the show in your favorite podcast app. This really does help the podcast gain more exposure.

Goal #2) Work towards having the podcast become financially self-sufficient. The podcast and website does have some costs like hosting and domain expenses. The show demands considerable time for research, editing, and regular management. As I don't want to run ads on the show, I've opened up a Patreon page to help offset some of these fees. I don't have any patrons yet, but my 2020 goal is to get at least 2 new patrons a month. You can visit my support page to support the show with only a few dollars a month. A little goes a long way.

I do have some other goals, projects, and aspirations for the podcast in 2020, but I'm not quite ready to let the cat out of the bag. I’ll reveal those in due course.

Personal Update

I'll be finishing up an old project in 2020 that has been hanging over my head. The project is a book designed to help students make the most of their study abroad experiences. The book does have a narrative quality to it, but it is really more a guide or a manual for students to cultivate more meaningful experiences as they study abroad. As many of you know, I'm an educator by day and this book is for that side of my life .

And I've started working on a new travel writing project that's quite big and will take some time, but I'll reveal more information about that when it is more mature. The project has me going to some interesting places in 2020,

Today’s episode brings us to Kansas, where Rolf Potts speaks with us about writing travel memoir, the differences between memoir and autobiography, and his Paris travel writing summer workshops.

Rolf is an American travel writer, perhaps best known for his 2003 book Vagabonding. His essays and articles have been published in Nat Geo Traveler, Outside, The Guardian, and in the Best American Travel Writing 2000 edited by Bill Bryson. 

In the episode, we briefly mention Paul Theroux's books The Happy Isles of Oceania and On the Plain of Snakes, and the writing of Maggie Downs, Lavina Spalding, and Tommy Pico.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Today’s episode brings us to a highway in the Midwest, USA, where Alexandra Fuller speaks with us about challenging dominant narratives and about her experience as Guest Editor for the Best American Travel Writing 2019. 

Alexandra Fuller is an award-winning writer whose books include Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight (2001), Cocktail Hour Under The Tree of Forgetfulness (2011), Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier (2014), and Travel Light, Move Fast (2019). She’s written for publications like The New Yorker, National Geographic, and Granta to name a few.

In the interview, we also discuss the Des Moines Arts Center's exhibit on Monument Valley and Bertolt Brecht's A War Primer. 

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.