Here you'll find all the help and advice which has helped me gain a tiny foothold in the travel-writing market.
Beware of all the hyped up courses on the market encouraging you to believe that travel writing is all free trips and fun. Anything but -- unless you are truly a travel addict and a workaholic, happy to watch everyone else enjoying a sunfilled holiday while you struggle to find a new angle which will help you sell your article.
The Travelwriters website has a brilliant forum frequented by some of the great names in travelwriting and newbies alike. Everyone here is very generous with advice and help to give you a realistic picture of the industry. It's hard work. You may not make much money. But if you have the travel bug and love writing, you'll get the best advice here.
The travel offers however are for trips starting from USA -- not sure how much use it will be for UK journalists though I am investigating a new holiday package in Italy to see if it can be accessed from UK. Will let you know.
If you have already started writing and have some clips to show for it, try joining Mediakitty to connect with offers of free trips.
 A street view in Veliko Tarnovo, the historic capital of Bulgaria. I'm not happy with the photo as it gives no impression of the liveliness of the town nor the beauty of its buildings or settings. It is here as a reminder that my photography has to improve fast. None of the photos from my last trip were up to scratch.
Learn from my mistakes. And there are many.
Weekly travel writing updates , thoughts and advice can be found in my writing blog. I am looking into cameras and photography so will mention helpful sites there.
This is the prestigious "must attend" exhibition for everyone in the British Travel Trade --the place where travel organisers, agents, journalists and everyone connected however loosely with the trade gets the chance to network and exchange promotional ideas.
Thanks to IW Tourism Sales Manager Liz Walker and Press Officer Sue Emmerson, I learned a lot about the costs and expertise involved in runnimg a regional tourism event. The day saw me staggering home laden with contact numbers and promotional material from all over Britain.
I have enough homework and possible leads for stories to last me for years.
I have been appointed writer/researcher for Fishers Travel SOS Emergency Cuide for Travellers in my local region and thoroughly enjoying myself. I like the trotting around to verify details but my eyes are a bit sore with all the internet research and inputting copy.
The guides are concise and tightly structured --not too much data but a very tight timespan in which to complete the work. This is a good thing for me and an excellent way to gear up for doing my own guide later.
Treating writing mathematically gives you a target per day. Finish it early and you're free to do something else. Dilly about and you're on the computer till midnight and beyond with gritty eyes. I'm learning.
Guide finished, and then off to Bulgaria. In case you're wondering I have bought my camera -- a Panasonic Lumix because
- of the fabulous lens
- of seeing recommendations from photojournalists I respect
- of the price. I bought a virtually new just out-dated model.
- I paid less than half of the original price. Hurrah.
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