Travel, Cruise

Shortly after the BlogHer 08 conference, I met fellow Seattelite Debbie from Delicious Baby. We talked about a bunch of stuff that’s relevant to travelbloggers including what makes me, in my role as the contributing editor for travel, pay attention. Debbie suggested that I post my guidelines. What makes me stop and take notice? What makes a travelblog leap off the travel list here on the BlogHer site and on to my own blogroll? (And did you know, I see every new blog that’s added? When you add your blog, I know, and I click. Secret powers.) Over two years ago (!!!!), I complied a list. It’s time to revisit it.

A disclaimer: It should go without saying, but this is personal opinion only. You go ahead and do what you want with your blog, it’s your playground, your self-expression. This list tells you what *I* look for, not some talent scout, not BlogHer as an organization, not some blogstar maker, just me. Got it? Okay then.

Here’s what I said in 2006 followed with some updated comments.

1. Make it physically readable, for starters. I can’t read pink text on a yellow background, for example. And sometimes, wow, there is so much going on that I can barely find the text.

Wow, does this matter more than ever! Just this week I had my specs updated, again. My 40 something eyes are doing what my doc tells me is perfectly normal but don’t think I’m not pissed as hell about it. That means no, I can not read your tiny white san serif text on the black background, no matter HOW much I zoom. Think of the reader. Won’t somebody please think of the reader!

2. Minimize the design toys, please. Everyone wants a custom blog, but if you don’t really know what you’re doing, you just end up with noise. There are lots of perfectly acceptable templates to use, it’s not a crime to use them, especially if you’re a good writer. I want to read you, not hire you as a designer.

This goes for all those widgets too. I’m a minimalist, still. I get that all the sidebar candy can help build community, I get that you want to share the love. I get why you lke those things. I totally do. But as a reader, that stuff hurts my eyes. Think long and hard before you put something on the page. What does it offer your reader? What does it offer you? Do you know? You should.

3. Reading itineraries is really boring, unless they’re mine. I skip right over blogs that list where the writer went without telling me anything about happened there. These things get hidden in entries - first we went to the Museum, then the park, then we took the subway back to the old part of the city…. Meh. Doesn’t tell me anything. What did you do, see, eat there?  No changes here. This is still completely true.

4. Turns out I do want to see a picture of you, who knew? I love the surprise of seeing that some big dude in a Hawaiian shirt and a silly hat is writing culturally sensitive stories about visiting holy sites. Or some hard core outdoors climber is a woman of a "certain age." Same deal. Still totally true.

5. Speaking of pictures, bring ‘em. It’s nice when there are thumbnails in the posts, or a single photo up top, and then, after reading, I can go click through to an album. I don’t care for it when people use a linear blog format for photoblogs, however, there are better ways to present photos only. If you’re keeping a photoblog, use a tool that’s designed for it, not one that’s designed for text.

I’ve become a bit more forgiving on this because, I admit it, I love seeing your travel pictures. Love it. I’m the neighbor who will sit through the three hour slide show of your trip to the Mall of America. Crazy, but true. Do pay a little attention to what’s happening when you use text and photos together - sometimes if the photos are too big you’ll end up with a paragraph stacked along one skinny edge and that’s too hard to read. Rather than fuss about how you present your photos, now I’d just like you to make sure they don’t break your readability.

6. In general - though not always - I tend to breeze past Live Journal and My Space blogs. Sorry, but mostly, I’m not seeing compelling reading in those implementations, or they’re too noisy to read.

Yup, this is still true. I also tend to avoid the travelblog hosts - not because I don’t like them, but because something about the way that content is indexed means I rarely find it. This is a shame because there’s good stuff in there, I’m quite sure of it. So I guess I’d add that I pay attention mostly to self hosted stand alone blogs. Mostly. It’s not 100% true but if you’re at your own URL, you’re easier for me to find.

7. Negativity can be okay as long as it’s not cultural imperialism. "Oh my god, I ate the most disgusting thing ever!" is all right as long as it’s followed by a description of what the thing was and how it’s a local specialty and you had the nerve to try it. Props to you for being adventurous. Just don’t diss the locals, man.

Culturally sensitive and insightful commentary catches my interest every time. And yeah, I know that you can end up some place where it seems like everyone is trying to rip you off or sell you something - ask me about Hoi An some time. Wow, was that exhausting. But if you always remember that you’re the outsider, that you don’t understand how things work when you’re traveling, you are unlikely to fall into the unforgivable sin of cultural superiority. I’ll have none of that. This doesn’t mean I have no sense of humor about cultural foibles, but be careful, okay? I am extremely unforgiving of anything that seems racist or nationalist.

8. Too much introspection? "I was thinking about my friends back home and how they were so not having this experience that was totally changing me and everything is different now…" Click. Next please. I get that travel can equal huge transformation, but I’d so much rather read about how that transformation is being experienced. Is that too woo woo to make sense? Maybe. Maybe you get what I mean. Ditto for irony and ubercoolness. What’s the point in traveling if you’re going to be all inside your own head or distant from what’s happening in front of you?

Oh my god, this is still so true. If I wanted to read about philosophy and enlightenment, that’s what I’d be reading. It’s not travel, it’s introspection. I’m not saying that stuff is invalid, I’m just saying it isn’t interesting to me as travel reading. Here’s an analogy: I hated the "Pray" section of Eat, Pray, Love. I. Did. Not. Care.

9. Gimme the details! I absolutely want to read about how the waiter looked like he was wearing his Grandmother’s wig, that hair could so not have been real, or how the train station smelled of cigarettes and pee and oddly, roses. Good travel writing doesn’t miss the little things sitting in the corners in the background.

This still defines good writing for me. Anybody can see the Eiffel Tower. Can you see the woman in the headscarf in the background? She’s talking on the cell phone while pushing a baby carriage full of baguettes. If you show me the what’s happening around the Tower, it’s so much more than a snapshot.

10. Take me with you. This is difficult to define and quantify, but good travel writing makes the reader feel like they’re on the trip too. Put me in the car, on the bus, next to you on the plane. I really want to be there, so take me with you. No, seriously, take me with you. I can be ready to go in, like, 20 minutes.

It still only takes me about 20 minutes to pack. But I really can’t go anywhere until my new specs come in, okay? They’re due next week.

Pam blogs about travel and other adventures at Nerd’s Eye View. If you’d like to talk to others about what makes a great travelblog, join the Travelblogger’s Forum.

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