Travel Writing 101: Meet Other Travelers and Improve Your Craft

Experienced travelers are beginning to demand more substance with their sightseeing, and learning vacations are a popular way to combine intellectual stimulation with entertainment and relaxation. If you're passionate about travel, and love meeting like-minded people, you may want to try a weekend travel writing seminar.

I attended three well-known courses last year, and while I'm already a full time freelance writer, what I really enjoyed was swapping stories over breakfast or dinner with other experienced globetrotters. At each of the three weekend sessions, group size varied from 15 to over 50 attendees, and while the age range was predominantly 35 +, there were a handful of adventurous twenty-somethings at each event. Couples were represented at all of the gatherings, but most attendees were traveling solo, which made mingling effortless. While all of the seminars are focused on travel writing, each one had a distinct focus, colored by the personalities and expertise of the presenters. All of the classes welcome active travelers who may not be pursuing a professional writing career but, as Herb Hiller of the SATW Institute puts it, "want to travel more authoritatively and keep better journals."

SPEND A WEEKEND IN ORLANDO WITH THE GUYS WHO REALLY DID WRITE THE BOOK

The annual SATW (Society of American Travel Writers) Institute for Travel Writing and Photography is held in Orlando, Florida at a historic B & B called the Courtyard at Lake Lucerne. Actually a collection of three charming Victorian houses and an Art Deco building of suites, the Courtyard offers a garden setting in the heart of downtown Orlando.

This is no Mickey Mouse learning vacation. It could be titled "Everything You Ever Need to Know About Writing a Travel Guide Book", and the faculty members are all well-known pros with hundreds of published articles and books to their collective credit.