Writing about travel is a popular and often lucrative, way to express yourself and sharpen your skills as a writer. Whether you’ve decided to try your hand at copywriting for money, you have a class project that requires it, or you want to have an enduring chronicle of a trip you take, this advice is for you. No matter what the purpose of the piece may be, you want your writing to be of a caliber that you would want to return to and read again even years later.
If you are a student, in particular, chronicling a long trip can help you sharpen your academic writing skills. Even though there are many tools out there to help you get the job done right, a first-class essay help service can help you settle on the best topic and present it in a way that best helps you engage your readers.
With all of that in mind, let’s have a look at five ways you can improve your writing while chronicling a trip.
#1 – Decide How You Will Take Notes
If you are traveling by land but not driving, you have the perfect opportunity to take notes and write down a few critical observations. Just looking out the window of your bus or train and taking in the exciting details about the things and places you see will help you build a solid story for your article.
If you do happen to be driving, invest in either an inexpensive voice recorder or a smartphone app that will allow you to speak your notes instead of writing them. You can always jot down the finer points on paper when you stop or reach your destination.
#2 – Choose A Specific Topic and Stick With It
Trying to chronicle every detail of a trip can be difficult unless you are tasked with writing a pages-long, very comprehensive article. Be very careful about straying from your subject. If you choose to write on the architecture of a city, don’t sidestep into talking about dining or nightlife. If needs are, write a separate article on that.
That brings up one other important point: be sure to choose a topic with enough material to round out your article. Most writers stray from their subjects when they run out of exciting things to say about it. Be sure that the notes you take provide enough points to tell a complete and compelling story without filler.
#3 – Avoid Becoming Cliche in Your Descriptions
The Internet is rife with colorful, over-expressive copy about travel destinations. Before you succumb to cliched words and phrases like “picturesque” or “breathtaking,” ask yourself what specific feelings and impressions you get from the trip. Give your reader an accurate accounting of the things you see and experience along the way from your perspective. People don’t care about “mesmerizing vistas.” They would much instead read about what it felt like to step out onto that balcony and get your first whiff of warm, salt air.
#4 – Don’t Dwell On the Negatives
Better still, don’t bring them up at all. Tales of losing your passport, food poisoning, or any of the myriad of things that travelers fear happening to them while oceans away from home don’t make for good reading in a travel article. You want to be vivid in your descriptions of things, but too much transparency makes the article about you, not the reader. This is the opposite of what your effort should accomplish.
#5 – Be Direct and Succinct
Many writers allow the details of the piece to get lost in its words. Don’t over-use words. Keep your sentences relatively short and free of extraneous words and phrases. Instead of “Peering out the window, my eyes caught a glimpse…” just say, “Out my window, I saw…” Overstatement decreases the quality of your writing and motivates people to stop reading.
As you travel, we hope you will keep these few words of advice in mind. It is our sincere hope that what we suggest will help you become a stronger, more confident writer. The best way to get there is to write all the time, whether it’s on something you’ve been assigned or just something that you like. Whether for a grade or just for posterity, you want what you produce to reflect your enthusiasm as well as your knowledge.
