The Six-Figure Travel Writer

“Smart Cities” highlights a city undergoing an interesting cultural shift often with a focus on new initiatives to protect the environment. There is a 150-word introduction covering why and how the city is changing. This is followed by the subheadings “Eat,” “Play,” “Stay,” and “Shop.” There are three options highlighted for each covering restaurants, attractions, hotels, and shops respectively with a third-person description. A quote from a local can sometimes be found in the introduction. Cities covered in this section include Aarhus, Denmark; Newcastle, Australia; and Kigalia, Rwanda.

“The Globetrotter” is a celebrity profile written in a Q&A style. The piece runs from 750 to 1,000 words and focuses on the celebrity’s travels. There are about 15 questions which change with each issue but some are frequently seen including: “where you have just come back from?” “where in the world have you felt happiest?” and “name a place that lived up to the hype.” Actresses Chloë Sevigny and Rosamund Pike were recently profiled for this section.

“The Outsider” takes the form of a profile covering an adventurer, athlete, or someone related to the outdoors, wildlife, or the environment in some way. The piece runs from 800 to 1,200 words long and covers who the person is, their work, what their upcoming projects are, and any interesting or humorous anecdotes about their career and life. Articles are written in third person and include quotes throughout the piece. Sometimes, these are written in the style of a third-person introduction followed by a collection of quotes from the person being profiled and sometimes the quotes are interwoven throughout the article. Examples include “Why the World Needs Barry Lopez,”  profiling the author and his new book Horizon, “The Warrior Mentality,” about special forces veteran David Goggins and his new memoir, and “The Human Experiment,” a profile of author and personal trainer, Ben Greenfield, on the extreme things he does in the name of fitness.

“Navigator” is made up of about 10 articles written by different contributors which cover art, culture, food, people, and travel topics in United destinations worldwide. Articles range from 200 to 500 words and are written in third person. Quotes are sometimes used from relevant people, such as business owners or locals. Articles often describe a newly opened hotel, attraction or show or give travel recommendations to the reader. The articles change with each issue, although “The Meal,” “The Stay,” “The Drink,” “The Vintage,” “The Detail,” and “The ‘Hood” are seen frequently. “The Meal” describes what goes into a different dish in a new restaurant. “The Stay” describes a newly opened hotel covering the décor, amenities and food. “The Drink” covers new drinks and cocktails and “The Vintage” describes a particular bottle of wine. “The ‘Hood” rounds up about six recommendations from local business owners for things to do in a different city each issue. There are usually about three further articles which change with each issue. These could cover, newly opened bars, museums, a quirky attraction or a trend, for example. Recent examples from “Navigator” include “Solitary Contentment,” describing the Àni Dominican Republic resort, “Old Dog, New Tricks,” covering Deep Dog, a new gastrobar in Seattle, and how they make their signature hot dog, and “Swim With an Olympian,” covering the latest offering from the Palace Hotel Tokyo where guests can book a swimming lesson with an Olympic swimmer.

“Double Take” is a 400-to-500-word article that explores bicultural life in Japan. It’s written in first person, usually by an expatriate living in Japan, and frequently centers around one specific encounter that showcases the intersection of two cultures. For example, one recent article discussed what it was like to receive the kairan — or “neighborhood circular” — as a foreigner. In this story, the writer described feeling pressure to circulate the kairan around her neighborhood, despite lacking Japanese fluency. Like many “Double Take” articles, the writer incorporated scenes, dialogue, personal narration, and frequent Japanese terminology throughout the piece. Other past articles discussed a Japanese-American couple that disagreed on the importance of sugar, a mother who helped her son use Japanese ferments for a science experiment, and an expat family who chose to raise their kids in Japan. Text is accompanied by original artwork. There are no images or sidebars.