travel writer secrets
Photo by KaLisa Veer on Unsplash

The life of a travel writer looks glamorous. Paid for vacations, elaborate dinners, beautiful accommodations, once in a lifetime experiences done in the name of research. The life of an influencer looks even more fabulous. All that and more, just for posting a photo. At least, that’s how it appears from the outside. But ask any travel writer or influencer about their job, and they’ll rush to tell you it’s not that easy. It requires long hours, constantly pitching yourself and your ideas, being tech and photo savvy, and is often paid in experiences, which don’t pay rent or student loan debt.

Then there are the things they won’t tell you. Like how sometimes marketing companies pay them to go on trips, how they don’t always eat the food they post photos of on Instagram, that that “candid” shot took 100 takes, that they don’t visit every place they write about, that click rates determine which articles get posted, that almost no one’s Instagram following is as it appears, and more.

I’ve been a travel and food writer for about six years now, and boy have I learned a lot. Not only about dozens of places and types of food, but also about the industry. I spent the last few weeks talking to a couple dozen other established travel and food writers, bloggers, and Instagrammers about the behind-the-scenes aspects of their jobs. Here’s what we in the industry know, and what you should think about the next time you’re scrolling through articles or your Insta feed.

Travel Writing vs. Blogging vs. Influencers

Is there a difference? Yes, definitely. Though the rise of social media, especially Instagram, has enmeshed them.

travel blogger secrets

Travel Writers

Traditionally, travel writers are paid to write for newspapers, magazines, or online sites. They rely on interviews, research, and first-person experiences to create a factual, hopefully entertaining article. They are beholden to deadlines, editor questions and fixes, and ethics clauses. They must be strong writers, usually trained in journalism or creative writing, as it’s a writing job first and foremost.

“You’re not a traveler who’s writing, you’re a writer who’s traveling,” travel writer Diane Daniel told me. “You will not be on anything resembling a vacation (to be successful at least) and half your time will be gathering menus, open/closing hours, etc., and you’ll visit a week’s worth of places in a day.”

Travel writing often goes beyond reviews or the ‘go here, do this’ type of article, which is something many travel writers feel their audiences don’t understand. The best travel or food writing is often longform essays, historical accounts told through food, or in-depth interviews.

“I’m continually surprised how many people think a food/travel writer is always a reviewer – that our sole purpose is to pass judgment on a place. There is very little understanding of food and travel writing beyond that,” said writer Renee Alexander.

Travel writers are also never paid to travel.

“One major misconception is travel writers get paid to travel. No, I get paid to write and edit, so I’m usually losing money while traveling because it cuts into work time,” said writer Meredith Bethune. Influencers, on the other hand, are often paid to travel and sometimes charge a day rate for appearing at a destination.

Travel Bloggers

Bloggers also write, though they are their own editors and don’t have to adhere to standards of traditional publications. They rely on their personality or niche to draw people in. They usually include more photos in their posts, and their social presence is almost just as important as the actual blog. Still, though bloggers are their own bosses and content and style is in their control, it’s hard work to be successful.

“I have never worked harder in my life,” said Mariellen Ward, of starting her blog breathedreamgo. “Sixteen-hour days were the norm for years, much of the time hunched over the computer. Traveling and blogging at the same time is even harder as you are busy and tired, and sometimes just can’t get a WiFi connection.”

There’s also another skillset bloggers are expected to have, one that writers or influencers can get away with not understanding.

“People may not realize how technical travel blogging is,” said Ward. “You have to have a lot of technical knowledge about WordPress, Search Engine Optimization, various social media platforms. It’s mind-boggling.”

Travel Influencers

Those who are pure influencers, who do not have any website or job outside of their social media feeds, rely even more on personality. At least, the good ones do. Influencers post photos and captions that draw people in and rely on their style/looks/photography skills/personality shining through get people to continue to care about their lives and follow them day in and day out. Many influencers work hard to curate their Instagram feeds and build an online persona, delivering something consistent to fans on a daily basis.

Then there are some who barely post captions and have a large following only because they’re either a celebrity or are buying followers and likes (more on that later). We’re not counting professional photographers here, who are extremely skilled and have large followings because of their talent, regardless of personality. Since Instagram is a photo-driven media, photographers can often amass large followings, making them influencers in a way, but as ‘influencing’ is not their jobs–they are paid to be photographers–we’re not counting them in this category.

“Being an influencer does require some skill,” said Suzie Dundas, a travel writer and influencer. “Aside from interpersonal skills to connect with your followers, you need photography skills, certainly significant editing skills (I edit almost everything in a professional editing program before putting it on Instagram) and a willingness to stay up-to-date on digital and social trends. If you enjoy doing that, great – if you’re doing it to make money, you’re going to spend a lot more time on it then you thought and you may not like what your hourly wage ends up being.”

How They Come Together

Instagram confuses everything. Now, travel writers use Instagram to encourage followers to read their articles, often gaining large followings, which in turn makes it easier for them to travel cheaply (more on that later), which in turn allows them to keep writing. But call any travel writer–even those with large followings–an influencer or blogger, and she’ll probably be offended. There’s a skillset writers/journalists are specially trained for and have often spent thousands of dollars in university courses on, and that makes the job seem more rigorous than that of a blogger or influencer. Plus, the pay per article is usually less than an influencer/blogger daily rate, adding to some animosity toward those who call themselves travel writers when they aren’t being held to the same publication standards.

“Travel writing is accessible to anyone who wants to start a blog, which is great. But it means you have wildly different skill and professional experience levels within the industry,” said Dundas.

“I wish people knew that this didn’t happen overnight for me when they say “I want to do what you do,” said writer and blogger Melissa Curtin. It takes hard work and discipline as a writer.”

Chelsea Davis, a San-Francisco based travel writer, agreed. “You can’t just quit your job. People say ‘how do I do what you do? Can I just start writing?’ No! Social media has really changed the perception of everything.” 

This is a frustration of mine as well. Often, friends or family will email asking how I “travel for free” or how they can start a travel blog so they can travel full-time. It’s upsetting for a number of reasons. One, I didn’t start writing because I wanted to travel. I have a degree in journalism and have always loved writing and traveling, then realized the two could go together. I strongly believe that if you want to be a travel writer, you have to be a writer first. If you want to write for national magazines, you also need to know how to interview, how to fact check, how to really draw something unique and interesting out of an experience. It’s not simply listing where you went and what you saw and ate that day. So many people get into travel writing or blogging because they want free things or free trips, but it has to be the other way around to be successful. You can’t fake the writing. If that isn’t your forte, try travel photography, or go the influencer route, or start a tour company, or do something else related to travel. But don’t insult professional travel writers by acting like it’s some simple thing you can get into by setting up a website and booking a flight. This is our career and we’ve worked hard for it.

What Travel Writers Wish You Knew About Their Jobs

travel writing jobs

That It’s a Job and Has Its Downsides

“It is an extremely tiring and strenuous job. It’s mentally exhausting too. I’ve been on press and blog trips where you are often working 15 hour days–tight two to three day programs where you leave your hotel room at 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. and often don’t return until midnight. At which point (as with most freelancers) you have email and phone calls to catch up on. I also promote my work and brand across social media, so at this point, it’s time to curate content, share/post/tag/comment,” said Rome-based writer Maria Pasquale. “I love my job. I love writing and storytelling and sharing my experiences, which most of the time are out of this world. But when you literally ‘eat and travel’ for a living, the perception is that you don’t work, that you don’t need downtime or a day off, and that work is perfect. On the contrary, like all jobs, there are days when you could throw it all in–a pitch that gets rejected, an editor who never responds, a client or publication who doesn’t pay. The list goes on.”

Side note for those not in the know: freelancers ‘pitch’ stories to magazine editors, meaning they send them an idea and hope that idea is accepted. For most freelancers, stories are not assigned, meaning writers are constantly trying to sell ideas to editors, which can feel like a full-time job in itself. Even if an idea is fantastic, it might not get accepted because of budgets, because it doesn’t fit the magazine’s theme for that month, because something similar is in the pipeline, because another publication has published a story in the same vein recently, because an editor is simply too busy to answer every email, and any number of reasons. Often freelancers pitch one story multiple times before it gets accepted. It’s exhausting, though thrilling when you do get a “yes.”

Food writer Michele Herrmann said people think she just goes out and eats. “No, I’m feverishly taking notes and posting on Instagram to help me remember what restaurants I went to and what exactly I ordered. I’m usually writing before bed and checking emails in the morning. I’m always thinking of possible story ideas, too. Plus, we often get to an overseas destination with only a night to get settled in and then off and running the following day,” she said.

“Many people assume we’re on vacation 24/7 traveling to some exotic locales, but it’s really just traveling to a job, whether that be Bali or no-name Kansas,” said writer and blogger Lauren Monitz. “Every trip is about the next story or photo angle, which means waking up at sunrise to beat all the tourists to the major attraction and avoiding the harsh midday light, all while trying to keep a constant flow of work in the pipeline while on location. For those of us who freelance full-time, it also means working much more (and irregular hours) than a typical 9-5. It’s not a lifestyle for everyone and oftentimes, personal relationships are strained. For one, if you’re never around, you miss major milestones and events, but constant travel can also be stressful and inherently hard on your body. That’s hard for a lot of people who don’t travel regularly to understand when the response is a patronizing, “Poor you, your life is so hard.”

Plus, it’s often done solo. “I travel maybe eight months of the year and it can get really lonely at times!” said travel and food writer Eileen W. Cho.

That They Don’t Make Much Money

“I think many people who don’t know about travel writing or blogging think I may be rich or that my husband is footing the bill. Ha! Often, I travel on media trips [more on these below] all over the world. Instagram and photographs on social media give false images of a grand lifestyle,” said Curtin.  “I don’t think most people know that travel writers/food writers/writers, in general, have other jobs to make money. It is almost impossible to make enough money as an independent journalist and survive unless you are hired full-time by a magazine or get some sort of brand endorsement as an influencer. I teach private clients math, reading, and writing all over LA when I am not traveling, which is where I make most of my money.”

Let’s Talk Rates

Writers get paid for the stories they write about a trip or an experience, with rates ranging from $25-$1000 or so, depending on the publication. National magazines like Food & Wine, AFAR, Condé Nast Traveler, and others pay around $300-$500 for online stories, slightly more for print. Some, like the New York Times and other larger publications, pay $1 per word, and the typical story is around 500-800 words. Small publications like Roads & Kingdoms and Curiosity Magazine pay around $150 per story (though, I promise, we really are trying to raise that here). Then there are publications with a huge reach that barely pay at all, which is appalling. Places like Forbes and the Huffington Post have contributor networks, paying based on page views or paltry fees like $250 for five stories per month. If you’re in the upper echelon of writers, making $700 on average per story, you’re doing pretty well and it might sound like a lot to readers. You get to travel somewhere amazing, write about it, and get paid.

But let’s break that down. How many stories would you need to write per month? The average American salary is around $52,000 (which, by the way, is not enough to live in most major cities). That breaks down to about six stories per month. Now, if you could only focus on writing, that would be possible. But many travel writers are freelance, so they don’t have a guaranteed number of stories per month. They must pitch ideas, research any stories that are accepted, take trips, interview sources, then write the article. It’s almost impossible to write six major stories per month once you factor all that in, and even if it was, the hourly rate would be incredibly low. Plus, getting six stories accepted per month at major, higher-paying publications is laughable.

One way writers subsidize travel is by taking press trips (see below). But, “a lot of publications won’t accept coverage from press trips, under the idea that it’s not an unbiased article if you’re writing it to make the trip sponsor happy,” said Dundas. This makes sense, but “if you’re not allowed to accept compensated or free travel, and the outlet only pays $150 an article, that trip is going to cost you far more money than you’re going to make coverage from it.”

Every single travel writer I know has another form of income, whether it’s copywriting for businesses (I write for law offices, tour companies, and international development organizations), brand partnerships on social media, renting their homes on Airbnb while they travel, teaching, driving for Uber or Lyft, bartending, or even holding full-time jobs in unrelated industries.

Perhaps journalist Alyssa Pinsker summed it up best when I asked what people should know about travel writers. “That we’re dirt poor,” she said.

But enough about trying to make you feel bad for us. We realize despite all this our jobs have many perks, and most of us love the work.

Here’s what you should really know:

Things Aren’t Always What They Appear

travel writing tips

“I’m a honeymoon expert and I am often in the most romantic situations all alone,” said writer Jenna Mahoney.

“I don’t drink alcohol but I write about wine and spirits like the best of them,” said writer Inka Piegsa-Quichotte. “I do my research, though.”

Oftentimes, writers haven’t even been to places they’re recommending, especially if that place is on a roundup like “20 Best Coffee Shops In Chicago,” or “10 Waterfalls You Have to See Before You Die.” Those lists are often written based on research, word of mouth, online reviews, and pulling from other articles on the same topic. Lists are often recycled versions of other lists, meaning the same places will show up again and again.

“As a guidebook writer I find that managing people’s disappointment in the reality of travel writing— “you mean you haven’t eaten at all the restaurants in your [500 page] book?”— is one of the most exhausting parts,” said writer Jen Rose Smith. “I have so many conversations that start with me explaining the industry, but end with me feeling bad about my work.”

I had the same experience while writing a guidebook about Chicago. It was impossible to visit every one of the 170 hotels and 300 or so restaurants. So I relied on research, calls to staff, reading menus, asking friends who had been, and lists on the ‘best hotels in Chicago.’

This is standard practice, but you should be wary when reading lists and know the writer probably hasn’t been to all of the world’s most beautiful waterfalls or every one of the best rooftop bars in America.

Then, there’s the relationship between advertising, social media, and publications.

“There are some publications that want clicks,” said Davis. “You want to be genuine and true to your voice, but at the end of the day publications want all these views.” [Hence the title for this article–clicks help us make money, which helps us pay writers. We’re not immune to the system].

If Travel Writing Doesn’t Pay Well, How Does Anyone Do It?

travel press trip secrets
This photo was taken on a recent press trip. One perk of traveling with other writers is that no one touches the food until it’s photographed.

Press Trips

Press trips, or media trips, are trips hosted by a tourism board, a hotel, or a travel company, usually with the help of a PR agency. The company will pay for flights, accommodation, activities, and meals for a group of writers or influencers, showing them the best of their destination in hopes of positive articles/lots of social media coverage. Writers are not paid to attend trips, but everything on the trip is covered. Bloggers and influencers are sometimes paid a day rate.

“I think many people don’t know that I work with hotels, tourism boards, cities, countries, airlines, brands, and more to help promote an area, destination, or event. Often the entire trip is planned for me. I just show up,” said Curtin.  “As a food and travel writer, I think most people don’t know that I get pitched countless emails a day inviting me to media dinners which I pick and choose to attend.”

The Unglamorous Side of Press Trips

“I see and do as many things in three days time as normal people might see and do in a one-week vacation,” said writer Jennifer Dombrowski. “I often don’t even get to choose what I’m eating at restaurants; it’s selected for me. I have to go on hotel property tours and often look at pools or a beach I’d rather be relaxing at than photographing. I also have to respond to emails or even work on another client’s project because I’m running my own business, and that doesn’t stop because I’m on a trip.”

“It’s a work trip, just like a salesperson would have their travel paid for by the company if they had to go out of town. The work we’re doing is fun, yes, but it’s still work,” said Dundas. Press trips have deliverables. Some, like Instagram posts and photos they can use for advertising, are within your control. But some aren’t. For example, as a freelance writer, I don’t have control over editors who assign stories. So I may go on a trip thinking that an editor will want me to write a story about the experience, but what if the experience changes and it no longer matches the story? Or what if the editor leaves the publication and the new editor doesn’t want it? In those cases, you’re under a lot of pressure when you return to quickly write about the trip to make the sponsors happy, but whether or not you find a publication who wants it isn’t in your control.”

“Press trips are always exciting and an excellent way to get a glimpse into a destination. However, when they are group trips with multiple journalists it can be difficult to find unique angles for articles in order land commissions from ideas that crystallized during the press trip,” said writer and blogger Lola Mendez. “All of the journalists are having the same experience and have similar contacts, so it can be a bit of a struggle to be the first to pitch an idea from the destination to your editor.”

The Glamorous Side of Press Trips

We get to stay in beautiful hotels, visit dozens of places per year, eat at the best restaurants, go on private tours, get special treatment everywhere we go, and generally live a pretty fabulous life for a few days. Sure, they try to pack as many activities in as possible and show you everything about a place in a short time, and yes you have to be taking notes and asking questions, and no you don’t always get to pick what you want to do/see/eat, but you also get to visit a lot of places you might not otherwise. Plus, these trips are usually packed with meetings with historians/winemakers/curators/business owners/other experts–you learn a ton.

And, based on the money talk we had before, writers would never be able to visit Bora Bora or a number of other destinations without going on a press trip. Which brings us to the next point.

How Does This All Affect Coverage?

“If you can afford the kinds of trips we can go on and can have these types of experiences, you’re not going to go home and write about it. You’re going to jump on your private plane and go somewhere new. If you’re paying for this on your own dime, writing is not what you do” said Davis. “There are publications that are ethics first, but lots of places say that and don’t follow through, because it’s not sustainable. It would be hard to find people who could afford to write about this stuff otherwise.” 

“The food and drinks are comped. Sometimes the whole menu might come out as a tasting menu or they let you pick a variety of items, but the experience is almost always over the top,” said Curtin. “The restaurant wants to show you the best time and let you try their best dishes.”

While in most cases the average reader’s experience in a place will still be wonderful (just without a few over the top dinners or luxury accommodations), in others the differences between writers and readers could be dangerous.

“I went to El Salvador last year and it’s pretty dangerous there in certain areas for their own citizens, especially women,” said Davis. “But I had an amazing experience–no one tried to harass me at all. Part of it was because I was a tourist, and part was because I was there on a trip where everything was taken care of and I had a guide. In the story I wrote, I made it very clear that I 100 percent recommend getting a guide because you’re just not going to be able to come and see all these spots I went to without one.  If someone only wrote about the experiences, that could be dangerous.”

For the most part, writers don’t write negative things about a place they’ve visited on a press trip. But, they don’t always write positive things, either.

“I typically only write about things I love and tend to shy away from negative reviews where I just won’t write about it if the food or destination wasn’t mind-blowing. I will follow up with the PR team email to let them know the experience was horrible or what may have gone wrong,” said Curtin.

“I can see how things like press trips and free stuff can sway writers to portray things in the best light possible,” said Davis. “That said for me though, if I am on a trip and there are things I don’t like, I just don’t write about it.”

This was the general consensus among everyone I talked to, with a few exceptions of something being truly terrible and writers feeling the need to warn readers away.

In the end though, a press trip will never provide a truly genuine experience.

“The realization that the only way to get a real feel for a place is to travel incognito took some time in coming,” said writer Payal Dhar. “Press trips will only ever give you a polished version of events, and the way organizers and hotel/destination staff fall all over you is not the way they would treat regular travelers. The other shock was that if they know you’re press, you get extras in food and drink, as well as in other ways, stuff that is not accessible to the usual traveler.”

I love press trips, but they only give a taste of a destination and I take them for what they are. They’re work trips where I will learn a lot about a destination or brand. If it seems like somewhere I would like to have a more local or in-depth experience later, I’ll try to come back with my boyfriend or friends. You certainly cannot become an expert in or truly get a feel for a place on a press trip, but you can get an idea. Press trips are work, but most days they beat the hell out of any other day job.

Let’s Talk Instagram

influencer secrets
Photo by Mesut Kaya on Unsplash

“Instagram really portrays a certain type of travel–everything being super glamorous or very scenic and it just kind of filters out a lot of the realities of destinations that people might not want to showcase,” said Davis. “That makes sense because Instagram is based on curated photos, but in terms of traveling to destinations that are beautiful but have other things going on, whether it’s political issues or poverty or things that are hard to describe with a pretty picture, those things get overlooked a lot.  A lot of people judge destinations on the Instagram value–on what pictures you can take and how beautiful it is. There are people who travel to see the world and how it really is, but also people who travel just for the photos. Instagram is a filtered, best version of everything. People, destinations– everything.” 

On Getting the Shot

“You don’t just show up to a destination, take a selfie and get paid for it, influencers pre-plan every shoot in advance from scouting angles to bringing specific outfits, props, and accessories,” said Monitz.

“If you’ve ever seen people posing for photos when you’re on vacation and thought ‘that person looks so dumb posing,’ don’t worry – I think the same thing while I’m posing. Sometimes, I put myself in photos because I need perspective or a focal point, not because I really want to be in the photo. I get enough creepy Instagram messages from men as it is,” said Dundas.

“I think with people who are not in the travel industry, the perception is that it’s super glamorous and amazing and awesome, but people don’t realize how much effort goes into taking pictures that look perfect. It’s a huge facade and it makes it look like these people are just snapping perfect photos out of nowhere–boom! One and done. When really they have a professional photographer, and they edit the shit out of photos. If people knew how much effort went into taking that candid picture a lot of the awe would be taken out of those types of accounts,” said Davis.

On Gaining a Following

Long story short, far more people than you think have someone helping them.

“From someone who is in this industry, I think Instagram is important. It’s changed freelancing. It’s like a currency.  It helps with certain aspects of being a freelancer, and the pressure to have a lot of followers changes what I post. If you have a lot of followers, it seems like you’re super legit, so people buy followers all the time,” said Davis. “Most people don’t tell you if they have someone helping their account [commenting, liking photos, following similar accounts, etc.].  I would love to have an organic following of thousands and thousands of people who are so interested in my stuff, but I don’t.”

Most other people don’t either, and most average Instagram users don’t realize that a lot of the accounts that have tons of followers–even those that seem genuine–did not get them organically. Almost every influencer I spoke with admitted to paying for followers or paying someone to spend hours liking and commenting on posts for them.

“I think people might be interested in how much of a circle jerk the whole social media influencer gig is. There are comment/like pods where hundreds of so-called influencers trick the system by liking and commenting on each other’s posts on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. They aren’t really influencing anyone,” said Sarah May Grunwald, a travel and wine writer who has also written for Curiosity Magazine. “Then it makes companies and agencies believe they actually have a real audience, so they pay them for sponsored posts. But nobody who is actually paying for services is influenced, the posts are just seen by other fake influencers who are in on the game.” She said it’s currently like this in the wine industry as well. 

On Instagram Life vs. Real Life

“I went on a press trip for an ice cream company, and about three-quarters of the people on the trip were Instagram influencers–not journalists in any capacity,” said Leigh Kunkel, a Chicago based food and travel writer. “What was really shocking to me was the amount of waste.  First, they were portraying things in a way that wasn’t particularly honest–one girl at our first dinner grabbed a plate of gnocchi served family style and took a photo like she was eating all of it, but in reality just ate salad. It’s frustrating because many of these influencers, many of whom are women, act like they eat an enormous amount of food and are still thin.”

This has the potential to make people depressed about their own body image or food consumption, when in reality it’s all a lie.

“They would also go out of their way to go to a restaurant, order whatever thing it was they thought they had to Instagram, then throw it out,” said Kunkel. “They ordered it just for a photo, which I found super wasteful. Their entire world revolved around showing people their food, and it was really kind of unnerving to see the disparity among what they were putting up publicly and what was actually happening.” 

It’s not just food influencers who are disingenuous. It bothers me to see travel influencers post captions like “just pack a bag and go,” encouraging people to leave their lives behind to travel and making viewers think it’s possible and easy. Often, these influencers have wealth from an outside source, or are paid by hotels and other brands, yet they make it seem like they simply chose this lifestyle and it can work out for anyone if they want it enough. Not everyone can quit their job–whether it’s because of financial obligations, health insurance, taking care of family, or any number of reasons. Saying “just go” is a form of travel shaming that makes people feel bad when they can’t do it, when in reality very few people can and there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes.

So, What Is Genuine, and How Can You Tell?

travel influencer secrets“It does really help to read things by people who live or have lived in the place they’re talking about,” said Kunkel.

That’s probably the easiest and most important tip to follow. Local writers have history, perspective, and dedication to a place. Their stories are inherently going to be more accurate and nuanced. At Curiosity Magazine we try as much as possible to work with local writers because their expertise really shines through in the stories.  Of course, there are times when a writer has visited a place and an outside perspective provides a unique angle.

Personal essays are one form of travel writing where it doesn’t matter if the writer is local–it’s about the experience. Interviews are another example where even if not written by a local journalist, you’re getting a local’s perspective in the quotes.  Readers can also look to publications with high standards and ethics clauses to know whether the article they’re reading is biased.

When reading blogs, look for local bloggers in the place you’re researching, or follow bloggers who provide insight and personal impressions of a place, not just a regurgitated itinerary of what they did/saw/ate.

When it comes to Instagram, look closely at followings. Does someone have a massive following, but few comments on their photos? Those followers are probably fake. If they have a lot of comments, but they’re all spammy things like “Great shot!” or “Love this!” there’s a good chance those comments are paid for or bots. Have you noticed someone gain a following very quickly? Unless they did something to become famous overnight, that following is not real.

Learn to read and look at everything critically. You can enjoy an influencer’s beautiful resort photos while realizing she’s probably getting paid to stay there and share. You can read an article about the next ‘must-visit’ destination and understand that the writer probably visited as part of a press trip. It doesn’t make the photo less beautiful or the information in the article less accurate. It just makes it less envy-inducing, which is probably a good thing.

Travel writing is a business, and the rise of Instagram has intertwined it with marketing more than ever. Be smart about whose advice you buy, remember Instagram isn’t real, and do travel writers a favor and stop calling their careers vacations. But next time one of us tries to make you feel bad for us, you can also remember these words from travel writer Johanna Read: “Despite all of this, I wouldn’t trade it for my old executive job for a second.”

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