I must confess that many times when I plan a vacation, I think about whether it could be the springboard for an article. That’s the life a freelancer: you’re always spinning your wheels trying to figure out if your life experiences are fodder for a compelling article. I especially enjoy this exercise when it comes to travel. There’s something particularly exciting about finding a way to write about my journeys in a way that’s helpful to the public. I was fortunate enough to be able to feature my travel experiences in two articles recently. Last December, when I headed to Mexico with my extended family, I wrote an article for Considerable with tips for creating the best intergenerational travel experience. This past spring, when my sister and I decided to take a long weekend getaway to celebrate my daughter’s college graduation, I wrestled with how to pitch that story. We were getting a great deal at a luxurious resort because it was in the depths of the desert; I wondered if there were other bargains to be found at similarly hot luxury resort destinations. Indeed, there were. Just as the three of us were packing up to leave our resort, I got an email from The New York Times travel editor that she wanted the story. The result was the piece, Chilling in the Desert, that ran in both the online and Sunday print edition. It’s definitely a perk of the job being able to write about your travel experiences and have that documented in a public forum. I hope I’ll have more opportunities to do this in the future as I embark on travel to new destinations.
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Julie Halpert 