Exploring the World and Sharing it with Others


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Europe is my backyard, my territory, my beat. Travel writing has forced me to embark on adventures I wouldn’t otherwise be nutty enough to consider.

I’ve crawled around silver mines in the former East Germany after border guards refused to give me an entry visa because they informed me the CIA would be suspicious of the stamp in my passport. I’ve had my hair pulled by angry flea marketers in Spain, intent on selling fake designer watches to tourists. I’ve had my passport confiscated by officials on a dark street corner in Romania and I’ve been chased by the Mafia in an Eastern European country I refuse to name.

In all my adventures in 11 European countries, I can’t remember a single trip that went as planned. Trains were late. Hotel rooms were cramped. Restaurants were closed for renovation. Concerts got canceled and operas were sold out. Tour guides were rude and tourist shops overpriced. Buses had flat tires or ran out of gas. Planes got fogged in. Those were the more successful
journeys.

While travel writing might appear exotic to an outsider, it’s not first-class work. I’ve shared bus seats with chickens and hotel beds with fleas. I’ve slept on railway station floors and airport benches. I’ve been spit on, cussed at, held at knife point, grabbed, pinched and kicked.

People are fascinated by intimate details about far-flung places they might never get a chance to visit, so the writer must capture enough sights, sounds and smells along the way to translate into words that create travel stories.

Roberta Beach Jacobson
Cat Lady

June 27 2008 12:36 pm | Sapphire Drinks

3 Responses to “Exploring the World and Sharing it with Others”

Anonymous),
  1. Angus Says:
    July 5th, 2008 at 4:31 pm

    This sounds more like an introduction than a column. Yes, travel writing is an adventure, and more often than not an adventure only graduates to being a positive experience when you tell others about it.
    There are a whole shelf of books about horrible travel experiences. This piece sounds like a good intro to one of those.

  2. Dee Says:
    July 5th, 2008 at 8:07 pm

    Wow! I don’t think I’d be interested in going to those places. Guess I’ll hang out in the USA!

  3. Film Hound Says:
    July 10th, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    Tell me more! Would love to hear the backstories on the aforementioned adventures.

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