You can’t predict what’s going to happen on your trip, but you can do a few things to prepare for writing great travel stories:
1. Skim a quick overview of your destination’s history, from ancient to recent.
What appeals to you? Are there any stories you find fascinating? Dig deeper. You’re not trying to give yourself a full history lesson, necessarily, but try to hone in on one person and / or story that compels you. When you arrive, you’ll be excited to find out more.
For example, I read The Once and Future King by T. H. White in high school. Years later, I watched a fascinating documentary about the real-life King Arthur. Then I devoured The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, which is the story of the King Arthur legend told from the women’s point of view. When I finally travelled through Cornwall in England, I was over-joyed to learn that there was indeed a place called Tintagel, where the legendary King Arthur was born. I couldn’t wait to visit, and write about my experiences. I had built up a great deal of expectation around the history and legends that took place in that very spot. As I walked among the castle ruins, I reflected on all the stories I had read and loved. My visit to Tintagel was already rich with expectation and meaning because I had a personal connection to this place. Before even arriving, I had the seeds of my travel story, and I couldn’t wait to get started writing.
2. Are there any authors from your destination?
Bonus points if the book / author is famous. Some clear examples are Jane Austen in London, Paul Bowles in Morocco, Tim Winton in Australia. You don’t need to have read every book by this author, but you do have to know a little about the author’s background and time spent in this place. Were they born there or did they choose to live there later in life? What was it about this place that inspired this author? When you are there, can you understand / also feel this inspiration? Do read at least one of this author’s books. Can you see the place through those authors’ eyes, or is it lost to history? Either way, what does that feel like?
In college, I studied obscure 18th century women writers from England. When I moved to London, I visited the home town of one of the women–Hester Thrale–on the outskirts of London. Because this woman isn’t very well known today, I had to give background information to pique’s the reader’s interest in her story, and explain my own obsession with her life and her writing. While my journey to her hometown, Streatham, was not in itself momentous, I was able to create a story around my disappointment in finding that Streatham didn’t match my expectations. It was dingy and rundown, and I wrote about this disappointment alongside the personal reasons for my obsessions with Hester Thrale’s life and writing. Through my writing, I made meaning of this experience, even though visiting this place wasn’t nearly what I had hoped it would be.
3. Take note of the local products. Is there anything that fascinates you?
In Prague, amber fascinated me, and I became a bit obsessed with finding the perfect amber ring. Is there a story in these minor obsessions within the places we travel—rugs in Turkey, gold in India, opals in Australia–and the hunt to find the perfect representation of that obsession? What’s out there, what piques your interest? It could even be a unique and obscure trinket, an object that opens your imagination. Can you find out the history of this trinket? Can you talk to the local who made it, and learn more? Is there a story there? What does this object remind you of, why does it call to you? Does it remind you of something from your past that you could weave into your story?
4. Before you go, try to write as deeply as you can about your expectations of this destination.
What have you heard? What stereotypes do you apply to this place? Do you hold any unconscious beliefs about the local culture? Write it all down, and then take that notebook with you. What do you find that upends your expectations, and what do you find to be true? In the travelogue America Day by Day by Simone de Beauvoir, she finds that her impressions of American life were confirmed. She’s startled to find her expectations met, and it’s a charming moment in her story. What do you find to be true and untrue about your expectations? What do you uncover?
5. Plan to have a particular experience in this place.
It could be hiking up a volcano and contemplating the infinite, or visiting a spa and writing about beauty practices and beliefs in this new place. Plan some experiences, and while you’re there, have an eye toward story and deeper meaning. Again, do some research before you go on any unique experiences in this destination that appeal to you. Can this become some sort of quest? What are you hoping to find / learn from this experience? Does the experience meet your expectation, or give you something else instead?
Do you have any other tricks for preparing travel stories before you arrive? I’d love to hear them! Head over to the Facebook group Writing From Near and Far (travel memoir) to share your ideas and learn from others.
