Home in on travel writers’ local knowledge

Like migrating birds, it seems many travel writers reside part of the year in one country, part in another. Travelwriters UK members live all around the world. Not surprisingly perhaps, many also have second homes or are former residents of places that they still visit frequently.

So many editors now ask for a writer or journalist who is resident or ‘on the spot’ in a destination that Travelwriters UK, the travel writers’ website, has added a new page – showing where its 60 travel writers live, or at least, where they are currently based.

The new Local Knowledge page (travelwriters.co.uk/localknowledge.htm), also headed “Writers in Residence”, pinpoints journalists with genuine, up-to-date local information.

Travel journalists are obviously a restless lot. Some are hardly ever at home. One who ‘lives’ in Devon spends most of the year in Andalucia. Another has a home in Yorkshire but is usually in Austria. Another gives her address as the Isle of Wight but spends several months each year in Thailand. A travel-writing couple whose home is in Cambridgeshire are based for the whole winter in Arizona.

This diversity is clearly shown on Travelwriters UK’s new page, where a RED listing is a main home, while a PURPLE listing is a second location, lived-in for part of the year.

To find a travel writer with up-to-date local expertise anywhere from Austria to Australia, California to the Canaries (and pictures to go with it), take a click through the Local Knowledge page. Not forgetting, of course, the Specialities page. Because even if the place is totally uninhabitable, there’s sure to be a Travelwriters UK member specialising in it.

Travelwriters UK (travelwriters.co.uk) is a website showcasing professional travel writers, photographers, broadcasters and editors whose work is used in the UK. They range from fast-track newcomers to award-winning veterans.