It’s kind of awkward, but on Tuesday, we’ll all arrive in Ottawa; Kevin, me, and…my boyfriend.

 

 

The thing is, Kevin was the one arguing in his favour.  What was I supposed to do?

Years ago, another travel writer, Lori Henry, and I were talking about whether we should stick with this whole travel-writing schtick or give it up. Lori shook her head, “There is no doubt that this is a love/hate relationship.”

To an outsider, the travel writing gig sounds like an amazing deal…and it sort of is…we go on trips, stay in wonderful places, experience a multitude of things…all for ‘free’.

But you know what they say about ‘free’, right?

The PR companies and Tourism Boards host writers with some very clear expectations. It is understood that a published story will result from being hosted on the aforementioned wonders. As well, the writer, while they’re on that trip, is expected to be constantly plugging the destination on their Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter feed.

But here’s the thing: sending out queries and pitches to try to place a story feels a little like chucking rocks into a bottomless hole; you almost never hear it land. But pitch one must, in the feverish hope that some editor, somewhere, will actually say yes. Mostly, the silence is deafening.

If you’re lucky, the editor hasn’t been fired, and, if you’re really fortunate, they might even answer you, and if you’re really really lucky, their particular publication might pay something more than peanuts.  This, my friends, is a rare and beautiful thing.

But generally, newspapers, magazines and print publications are almost extinct. Panicked, they try to reduce overhead by cutting editors and staff while relying more and more on advertorial and branded content. I’m sure it’s not unlike the last-ditch attempts of the stagecoach industry as they watched, terrified, while those first cars rolled off the factory floor, leaving their wooden coaches in their exhaust.

In other words, one could say the media business is in a state of flux (less polite people might use a different four letter ‘f’ word).

I met the aforementioned Lori Henry through the Travel Media Association of Canada. TMAC is an organization that offers writers opportunities to connect with PR companies and Tourism Boards, ongoing professional development and an annual conference. Belonging to TMAC promises the PR and tourism people that the writer has been vetted and has regularly published quality travel stories.

Hanging out with other writers, PR and tourism people at the annual conference and various ongoing province-based chapters is also a great opportunity to meet some pretty wonderful people. Lori Henry was one of those people.

Just before she left the business for the final time, Lori explained it to me this way. “Travel writing is kind of like that boyfriend that you, and all your friends know, is not particularly good for you. But then he shows up and woos you back with flowers and presents. And you know you shouldn’t go, but you give in, and he takes you to a wonderful place for dinner. There’s champagne and perfectly-plated food, and you think, oh maybe he’s not so bad…”

Lori nailed it with that description.

There is no question that I have been afforded huge perks in this business. I’ve traveled to places and had experiences that I would never have done on my own. I’ve flung myself into a 90-story South African gorge…

 

 

…zip-lined in more places than I can remember, paddled a rainy river in Oregon,

 

 

rode elephants in India while searching for the elusive white rhino and jumped off ridiculous cliffs into the Irish Sea.

 

 

But the arrangement has a cost that is getting harder and harder to pay. Or maybe I’m just losing the energy required to endlessly pitch ideas to an ever-decreasing circle of publications.

There’s also the added problem of competing with the advent of several zillion ‘influencers’.  These Instagrammers fill their feed with photos of themselves walking off into the distance, sporting curated outfits with one come-hither hand stretched alluringly back at the viewer, begging them to step into the frame and imagine themselves in that perfect environment.

 

 

 

The premise is that their followers will tread in their footsteps, traveling to that latest ‘it’ spot, an oh-so-perfect Instagrammable location.

It works.

Natalia Zakharova (pictured above) in her classic, and much-copied pose, is photographed by her husband Murad Osmann as they travel around the world. They have 1.2 million followers. And no one had to write a single sentence.

Which brings me back to this whole bad boyfriend thing. I have been waffling back and forth about renewing my TMAC membership. Do I really want to go through the re-qualification process? Do I want to start pitching more stories again in order to remain qualified?

He loves me. He loves me not.

Kevin, bless his soul, has been down this road with me many times over the years. He also knows I haven’t pitched an idea to a publication in ages. Instead, I have been working, endlessly it seems, on my memoir and spending more and more time on my mixed-media art projects.

Maybe, I tell him, I’m just done with this travel writing thing?

“Colleen…” he says, with that tone that says, come on now, “…you love meeting up with your ‘tribe’ and your press pass has brought you all sorts of opportunities that you’d otherwise miss. Submit your articles, pay your membership dues…what have you got to lose? Besides, you can always drop it next year.”

And so, in the end it was my husband who convinced me to get back together with my old boyfriend.

On Monday, my new press pass in hand, we will leave for a month-long trip to England, Greece and Albania. It is a personal trip. No pitches. No hosted stays. No stories except for the ones I tell here on this blog.

There’s just one exception..our first stop will be in Ottawa where we’ll be hosted by the lovely Fairmont Chateau Laurier for two nights.

 

 

Just me and my husband, staying in a gorgeous hotel…compliments of my lovely boyfriend.