What makes a good travel story?
I often get asked what makes a good travel story, and it’s something that hard to quantify. Evoking a sense of place, letting the reader in on things they don’t know, passing on useful information and skilfully managing to weave pertinent themes together are up there. But if there’s one thing that can certainly turn a piece of travel writing from run of the mill to exceptional, it’s having it written by someone reasonably famous.
Alex James in Tuscany
Celebrities are brilliant at travel writing, and I only wish more of them turned their hand to it. After all, I wouldn’t buy a paper for just any old recollection of a holiday in Tuscany. But if it was Alex James from Blur’s holiday in Tuscany, then it obviously becomes a must-read. I’ll have four copies please.
Dan Hipgrave in Spain
Similarly, a rambling piece about some Spanish city or other is instantly made into a work of high literature simply by inserting the phrase “by Dan Hipgrave from Toploader”. Who writes these pieces counts. And I prefer to get my insights from minor members of defunct indie bands.
Steve Craddock in Latvia
So imagine my delight when an e-mail dropped in my inbox today, from “Where & Now, the guide to inspirational travel and fabulous places to enjoy, eat and drink in London and its surrounding environs.”
Amongst the features in their new edition was this little doozy: “This week we welcome Steve Craddock, the lead guitarist of the influential Brit-pop band Ocean Colour Scene to WhereAndNow.com. Find out why he thinks Latvia is perfect for a pint and Devon an ideal place to pitch up a tent.”
Passé?
Ordinarily, I’d think articles on drinking in Riga and camping in Devon were a bit passé. But not when it’s written by Steve Craddock, whose solo on The Day We Caught The Train makes him the perfect person to be investigating such things.
More celebrity travel journalism
Thankfully, this trend for celebrity travel journalism is seemingly on the increase. Readers are treated to such powerful pieces as Cliff Richard explaining why he quite likes Barbados, Deeta von Teese ‘coping’ with the Maldives or Levi Roots’ reggae reggae guide to Jamaica.
More ideas for travel editors
The more of this, the better. And, just in case travel editors are struggling for ideas, here are a few stories I’d like to see.
- Wine-tasting in Burgundy with Mathew Priest from Dodgy.
- Melinda Messenger on how Mauritius is ‘just paradise’.
- Ainsley Harriott on why you can’t go wrong with EuroDisney.
- Jeff Fletcher from Northern Uproar does the Inca Trail.
- Britain’s stop staycations by Andy Maclure from Sleeper.
- Ruth Madoc on why Prague is the new Amsterdam.
- Andy Todd from Republica on Glasgow’s cultural renaissance.
- Corfu: the perfect family holiday by Nick Hancock.
- Melanie Sykes’ romantic Venice.
- Youth hostelling with Chris Eubank.
The latter, of course, is not my idea. It’s one of Alan Partridge’s from his legendary ‘Monkey Tennis’ pitching session to Tony Hayers, the director of programming at the BBC.
When Peter Fincham became controller of BBC One in 2005, he admitted that a significant proportion of Alan’s pitches would probably become programmes today. Wild Swimming with Robson Green and Ghost Hunting with the Happy Mondays give credence to this theory.
Sarcasm over…
Terrifyingly, my made-up examples of possible celebrity travel stories are almost interchangeable with real stories that supposedly high quality newspapers have run without a hint of irony. And that’s sad; really sad.
Who or what?
It shouldn’t matter who writes a story, as long as it’s good. I’m not arrogant enough to think that people look out for my byline. But I am happy if they read something I’ve written and think “I enjoyed that” or “that was really interesting”. The emphasis on the who over the what deeply disturbs me.
Travel, alas, is the thin end of the wedge; just you wait until you’ve got news features about Amanda Holden’s views on the Middle East peace process or front page teasers for “Gary Stringer from Reef: How to save the planet”. Not a nice thought, is it?
Tags: travel media, Travel Writing
I agree with all you say and would even add there’s something that doesn’t sit right about it all in a world recession economy. Someone else commented to me that there’s a need for celebrity journalism in bad times exactly because people want an extra voyeuristic escape from their troubles that has nothing to do with how they could ever realistically hope to travel themselves at the moment but provides them the additional thrill of looking at a place over a celebrity’s shoulder. Much like people went to the cinema during the great Depression to watch fantasy-style musical extravagnazas onscreen. Escapism in both instances. Although many people will equate travel with escape in any economy.
“Ruth Madoc on why Prague is the new Amsterdam.”
Someone commission it at once! Or have I read it already? It’s hard to know.
As a travel writer myself, I had insult added to injury once when I happened to have a travel piece published in the same issue of a Sunday tabloid as a celebrity writer. By some machinery mishap, his cheque was caught up in the envelope with my cheque and I received them both. It was for £1500, when my fee for a similar piece was £300.
Of course, none of these so-called stories are, I imagine, actually wriiten by the talentless D-list dipshit taking the trip. The are cobbled together by subs from a press release after the freeloading gimp has thrown a hissy fit in the spa and run up a huge bar tab. PRs reading this: tell us, why do you sanction these stories. Personally, I find them to be nothing short of an insult to my intelligence. It makes me want to avoid your resort/hotel/spa etc. Or is that just me?
Very good.
the proof is in the pudding…
people read them
An experienced travel writer once told me how he failed to get commission from a national after hearing these fateful words: “Sorry, Cheryl Baker is doing it”. How depressing.
And it’s not just UK celebs… El Pais today is running a story on why pop group La Oreja de Van Gogh, who happen to have a new album out (probably on Spotify if you can muster the enthusiasm), love San Sebastian, where they’re from: “It’s a lovely place and the people are really nice”. And they recommend staying at the super posh and very well-known Hotel Maria Cristina (upwards of €300 a night). What a tip! And if you can’t run to that? “Sleep on the beach”.
how about some articles by celebrities that I’ve heard of — there’s a definite generation gap here, David!
My suggestions:
Great Italian/French/African eateries by Meryl Streep
Coastal California nightspots by Clint Eastwood
Best places to stay in Park, Utah, by Robert Redford
The world’s best opera houses by Julio Iglesias
Cheryl: but they’re proper celebrities who have done something notable with their lives. And you’re also picking subjects that they may be reasonably qualified to talk about.
The whole point of the celebrity travel genre is that it’s complete nonentities (my list is of utter Z-listers even in Britain) talking about something they know nothing about. And the article being sold on name alone.
From the other side I’ve had celebs in resort who have been less than charming to the staff because it’s not their bread and butter and they are just treating it as a free holiday or a PR opportunity.
For an operator it has its pitfalls. In theory you get more exposure but they often don’t play “the game”. The resulting piece invariably is about them and not the destination.
An operator I was with paid for a reasonably well known author to go to Greece with his family for the Grauniad and although the piece got plenty of space he didn’t mention the resort once. It was very useful if you wanted to read 2,000 words about his divorce though.
I’m not sure I really agree with the tv comparison – I quite enjoyed Robson Green’s Wild Swimming! He was obviously commissioned to do this show on the basis that he is a tv personality and tv is his medium. Which I think is fair enough.
The issue with travel writing is slightly different, in that the celebrities are commissioned to write an article with very little evidence that they an actually write much more than their autograph.