All posts by Jason Demant

Advice On What To Pack For A Long-Term Trip

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Packing is never an easy task. When I started packing for my year-long trip, it was one of the most difficult parts to planning for the trip. After a lot of trial-and-error and getting some experience on the road, I was able to finally settle on what the perfect things to pack were.

If you’re considering a long-term trip yourself here is some general advice:

  • Figure out approximately how often you want to do laundry. My recommendation is every 5 days. (If you start out with 5 days of clothes, as you travel this number will steadily increase – not because you buy more clothes but because you’ll wash things in the sink and your smell test will become easier to pass.)
  • You’re not traveling to the moon; don’t pack for every imaginable situation. If you need something you can almost always find what you’re looking for or something close to it at your destination.
  • You can send things home too. If you end up packing too much, not a big deal. Sending packages home is reasonably priced.
  • If it gets cold, you can buy a jacket. If it’s hot you can buy extra T-shirts.
  • Think versatility. Almost everything in your pack should serve more than 1 purpose. You’ll see what I mean below.

To see a detailed list with pictures of what I packed for my year-long trip check out the full post.

If you’re a female, you may be more interested in the female edition.

15 Words & Phrases To Leave Out of Your Travel Writing

working on the beach jcdoll

“One of the best-kept secrets of the Andaman Island’s is the exotic Havelock Island. Its breathtaking sunsets are a jewel that is a must-see for every traveler.”

If you’ve done your share of travel writing or reading, you may have been rolling your eyes at my description. (If not, think about if it invokes any sort of non-generic sense of what the Andaman Islands are like.)

Over in the Matador U Resource Section, I recently came across a couple of fun articles discussing 15 words and phrases they never want to see in travel writing again. As someone who has read a lot of travel writing, I must say that the author really nailed it. Here are a few of my favorites from the article:

Best-kept secret — Really? Are you sure The Purple Dinosaur Bar is Denver’s best-kept secret? You found it, after all, and now you’re publishing its location, so it’s a bit of a stretch to call it a secret, much less a well-kept one.

don’t-miss/ must-see — A bit of a bully, are you? What are you going to do to us if we miss it, huh?

Just give us your experience. Let us decide for ourselves if South Dakota’s Corn Palace is a must-see or a see-maybe-if-I-happen-to-be-driving-through-South-Dakota-someday-and-need-to-use-the-bathroom.

Mecca — Mecca is of course an actual place you might travel to or make reference to, and in either of those cases, it’s a perfectly appropriate word to use. But a Shopping Mecca? A Snowboarding Mecca? Really?

Would you ever refer to a “Shopping Basilica of Guadalupe?” Or a “Snowboarding Konark Sun Temple?” Sounds dumb, right? Okay, then.

exotic — “Exotic” is relative—it just means “different” or “foreign”, and depending who your reader is, that could mean ao dai, guayaberas, or blue jeans—so focus on describing your experience, and let your readers murmur, “oooh—how exotic!” if they so choose.

breathtaking — Was your breath literally taken away by the beauty of that sunset? Probably not, so this word is overkill. Unless you’re blue in the face and suffering from awe-induced oxygen deprivation, look for another word.

You can check out the entire list of 15 words over on the Matador U Blog:

Photo Credit: Jcdoll

Jason Demant is the co-founder of Unanchor.com, where you can find self-guided tour itineraries for your next trip. For the latest on travel-writing you can follow him on Twitter @Unanchor, or join the I Love Travel Writing Facebook group.

Become a Paid Travel Writer at Unanchor.com

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I’ve previously written that the best way to become a paid travel writer is to find demand first and write second. Here’s a perfect example; my company, Unanchor.com, has announced that we are paying writers up to $100 to write travel itineraries. In the following post, I’ll tell you a little about Unanchor.com and why you should consider writing for us. Continue reading Become a Paid Travel Writer at Unanchor.com

Travel Writer Interview & More Travel Tips

2152923603_7d7f42e390Travel-Writer Interview

Over on the travel blog, Runaway Jane, there was a guest post recently published by travel writer Mark Hodson. It’s an excellent read for anyone interested in travel writing. Mark started travel writing full-time in the mid-1990s and has seen the industry change a lot since beginning. In the article, he provides many great insights on why the industry has gone through so much change. At the end of the article he also explains why it’s so easy to become a travel writer today and also why it’s even easy to get those coveted free press trips.

You can read the entire article here – http://www.runawayjane.com/who-would-want-to-be-a-travel-writer/

Travel tips, travel tips, travel tips!

Finally, as someone who’s always on the look out for more travel tips, there was a great post over on the Travel section of Reddit.com. The topic was, “What is the single greatest piece of travel advice you have received or can give?” There were 166 comments. Here’s a few of my favorites:

“You’ll end up with either a good time or a good story” – Rodnet

“Pack half as much as you think you need and be ready to spend twice as much as you think you’ll need.” – Unicynicist

“Remember that you are in the air and flying, remember that not too long ago that was impossible, be happy you’re not spending three months in a covered wagon getting to where you’re going.” – XLII

“Carry a tool that you can use as a can opener, a fork, a knife, and a wine opener. You save a lot of money going to a market for food.” – Parle

Check out all of the tips here: http://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/fzk1o/what_is_the_single_greatest_piece_of_travel/?sort=confidence

Jason Demant is the co-founder of Unanchor.com, where you can find self-guided tour itineraries for your next trip. For the latest on travel-writing you can follow him on Twitter @Unanchor, or join the I Love Travel Writing Facebook group.

Three Travel Tips – GroupOn, Wikitravel & Room77

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Here are 3 recent travel tip discoveries & the associated web sites:

  1. GroupOn, LivingSocial, etc. – Unless you live under a rock, you’ve most likely heard of these flash deal sites. One overlooked way to use them though is for your next vacation. A few weeks (or even months) ahead of time, start subscribing to the daily deals for your destination. Find deals for great restaurants and cool activities. There are deal sites like these all over the world now as well.
  2. Wikitravel.org – This is my go-to site for general travel-planning information. They have good overviews for each country and most cities worldwide. For really popular destinations the information goes really in-depth. Like all wiki’s though, you should take the recommendations with a grain of salt. Anyone (e.g., hotel and restaurant owners) can easily go in and recommend their own places.
  3. Room77.com – This is a new company that launched last week. They’re the “SeatGuru for hotel rooms”. Not all hotel rooms are created equal and this site will help you find and book the room with a great view. They’re only in 16 cities so far, but expanding quickly.

Jason Demant is the co-founder of Unanchor.com, where you can find self-guided tour itineraries for your next trip. For the latest on travel-writing you can follow him on Twitter @Unanchor, or join the I Love Travel Writing Facebook group.

More Ways to Become A Paid Travel Writer

cool outdoor shotI’ve often said the best way to become a paid travel writer is to find jobs that pay first and to write second.

Over on The Lost Girls website, they’ve put together a pretty great list of sites that are pay for your travel writing articles. This is a great place to start pitching.

You can find the list here: http://www.lostgirlsworld.com/2011/01/travel-freelancing/

Make sure to check the comments for even more sites that are willing to pay for travel writing.

Jason Demant is the co-founder of Unanchor.com, where you can find self-guided tour itineraries for your next trip. For the latest on travel-writing you can follow him on Twitter @Unanchor, or join the I Love Travel Writing Facebook group.