A debate over the Hari article and other Dubai-bashing stories, such as a recent piece in the Toronto Star titled 'Dubai how not to build a city' (this one in the whole "city of superlatives" sub-genre, and equally as bad as Hari's, laced with just as many cliches and factual and historical errors) is raging in the blogosphere, particularly on UAE blogs such as Grape Shisha, who posts about the Toronto story; Secret Dubai Diary (a blogger who surprisingly liked Hari's piece); and the UAE Community Blog, where SamuraiSam posts a hilarious piece titled Dark Side, in which he writes: "Dear international media, You need to write more articles that reference the 'dark side of Dubai', there are clearly not enough." Sam links to 12 articles, including stories by the BBC, The Guardian, ABC News, The Times, Time, and Bloomberg, which all use the 'Dark Side' in their melodramatic headlines. This is exactly why I thought Hari's piece was a parody. There's the 'Dark side of the Dubai dream', the 'Dark Side of Dubai's Boomtown', the Dark side of Dubai’s economic boom..., Carole Cadwalladr explores the dark side of Dubai, and - my favorite - 'The Dark Side of Splendor." What about 'The Dark Side of Journalism'?

Terry has written a particularly fine post on the subject (his last), 'This is my last Dubai goodbye', over at his blog Wide Angles Wine & Wanderlust. Do take a read.

The story 'The Dark Side of Dubai' apparently wasn't the parody I had hoped it to be, however, while I was disappointed to see The Independent (a paper I have written for before - on Dubai) print such an appalling piece, I'm pleased to see that in an effort to provide some balance they have printed Emirati columnist Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi's 'If you think Dubai is bad, just look at your own country' (although Dubai of course is not a country, it's a city-state or emirate). Also see the reprint of the story at The Huffington Post just to read the articulate comment from SAS. You might also want to read Al Qassemi's piece 'Looking at the bright side of Dubai' in Arabian Business. The British government's response to Hari's piece, the BBC's recent Panorama story on Dubai, and a slew of other stories, is also interesting - read 'UK Government distances itself from Dubai criticism', the result of a Foreign Office-organized press conference in Dubai, which has appeared in a number of publications. It will be fascinating to see if the debate continues in the media, especially the news media. We all know media organizations have agendas. Editors carefully weigh up whether and how to run with stories. Essays like Hari's don't slip in accidentally. So it will be interesting to see if and how this discourse impacts the travel media where advertising plays a powerful and pivotal role. Airlines like Emirates and Etihad spend huge dollars on advertising.

There is an art to creating itineraries that are inspirational (the kind travellers want to rip out of magazines and print off the web to save for a trip) and useful (one travellers can follow and have a great time or pick and choose from and still have fun). It's not rocket science. So I'm always astonished when travel writers get them so wrong. Take this recently published 24 hours in Abu Dhabi itinerary:

"Kendall Hill rises early for a taste of coffee and figs, palaces and souks, all set in a desert of gold".
First off, few people rise early in Abu Dhabi. Barely anything opens before 10am. It's sweltering most of the year, so people stay in unless they've got a job or can hit a swimming pool. They head outdoors around sunset to enjoy the cooler temperatures and balmy breezes. Like most Middle Eastern cities, Abu Dhabi is a late night destination; the city is at its buzziest in the evenings. To see it at its best, take it easy during the day, see a sight or two, but you're best sleeping in, relaxing by the pool and conserving your energy for the long, lively, late nights.

7am The first activity is an expensive 'breakfast' of coffee "served on a silver tray with a plump date and a gold-flecked chocolate".
Is that really going to get you through the long day ahead Kendall's scheduled for you? And if you're not staying at Emirates Palace (only 39% of SMH readers probably are; the April rate is AED 2150/Aus$800 for a Coral room, excluding breakfast, and in this economic climate, even affluent travellers will probably opt for a more affordable option), are you really going to get out of bed at 6am to cab it to Emirates Palace for coffee, a date and a chocolate when you could be lingering over the free, lavish breakfast buffet that most Abu Dhabi hotels include with the room? You're on holidays!

8.30am You're off to "the port area of Al Meena" (um, Al Meena means 'the port') to "lose yourself in the souks selling carpets, dates... the cleanest fish you'll ever see and fine fruit and vegetables from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Nearby is the Iranian souk, which houses traders who have crossed the Gulf by dhow to sell household goods and homewares, spices, rugs and fabrics. Prices are tax-free..."
Where do I start? This is full of factual mistakes and bad advice. In the UAE everything is tax-free, even in malls and supermarkets. While it's a good time for the fish and fruit&veg souq, the Iranian Souq and Carpet Souq are best from 5-6pm onwards. The Iranian Souq doesn't 'house' anyone; you'll be lucky to find a soul around before dusk. The atmosphere is best post-sunset when the locals go shopping. The writer is also setting you up for disappointment: he should be warning you these are very modest souqs (far from the sprawling bustling markets in Dubai and nothing like those in Damascus or Cairo), so you're most certainly not going to get lost and there's very little to buy. And you should not be buying anything at the Carpet Souq, which only sells synthetic rugs of the kind you'd find in K-Mart. Authentic carpets are best bought from reputable carpet shops; expats and locals go to the Carpet Souq for the traditional Bedouin cushioned floor seating that's unique to the Gulf.

12.30pm "For a falcon's-eye view of the city, take a lift to the top of the Le Royal Meridien hotel... Here, on the 25th floor, there's a rooftop revolving restaurant that non-diners are welcome to visit for a peek at the spectacular panorama."
A standard on my itineraries, this is where I take guests on their last night in Abu Dhabi - for pre-dinner cocktails around 6pm to enjoy the sunset! Why on earth you'd send people here at midday when it's empty for "a peek" when you could send them here later for drinks is beyond me! ... it's because at 1pm you're tucking into "a Levantine lunch at the Lebanese Flower restaurant in downtown Khalidia" at a simple, casual Lebanese eatery that is likely to be empty once again. Great eatery but it's busiest in the evenings, when you'll have the bonus of people-watching. And why you'd want to fill up on a multi-course Arabic meal in the middle of the day is baffling. Most of SMH's Aussie readers would also want a glass of wine or cold beer with their lunch when they're on holidays. I'd be sending readers to a seafood restaurant or alfresco cafe at a hotel by the beach, so they have that option (like all restaurants outside of hotels, the Lebanese Flower doesn't have a liquor license). Nothing beats a glass of crisp white and Omani lobster or oysters sitting in the sunshine overlooking the gorgeous aquamarine Arabian sea.

2pm "Drop by the Cultural Foundation for an insight into the character of the Abu Dhabi people... the foundation hosts regular exhibitions, events and lectures and houses the national library and a cinema screening Western and Arabic films."
Um, not at 2pm it doesn't. The Cultural Foundation shuts its doors to the public at 2pm, re-opening at 5pm. In the morning the place is dead except for school groups and staff; evenings are when it comes alive with nightly performances, screenings and festivals.

5pm For once, the writer has you doing something at the right time, going on a desert safari, although normally they leave town earlier to try to get you to the desert at this time for some dune bashing, sand-boarding, sunset camel ride, BBQ and belly dancing.

9pm "Toast the day with a cleansing ale in the lush oasis of Le Meridien... home to a lively "culinary village" - Turkish, Thai, French, Tex-Mex and more - and has tap beers in the Captain's Arms pub."
The writer neglects to tell you your desert safari won't get you back to town until 9pm at the earliest, but generally 10pm, and you'll have to change before heading out. Rather than send you for a beer at a smoky British Pub where the bar's propped up by expats at the "culinary village" (restaurants set around gardens), I'd be sending you out for a local experience to one of the city's many sheesha cafes opposite The Corniche (waterside drive) to try aromatic sheesha (hubbly bubbly/narghile/water-pipe) with the Emiratis and Arab expats. Or if you don't inhale, to simply take in the atmosphere over tea. If you prefer something stronger, I'd be suggesting an alfresco lounge bar for a nightcap as you listen to Arabian chill-out music, and if you're up for more, a club to listen (like the one pictured) to live music or have a boogie. One of my favorites hosts a weekly Lebanese night, popular with Arab expats who dress up and dance to improvisational folk-jazz performed by a live band with a DJ spinning. It's a unique experience. But instead...

11pm "Spend the night at the Shangri-La Qaryat Al Beri, a striking canal-front complex of hotel, villas, spa, souk..." Lovely hotel. Although not on a 'canal'; Abu Dhabi is an island and the Shangri-La is on the mainland looking across to the island. But when did you check in here? Because you've been flat out since your 7am 'breakfast' at Emirates Palace (30 minute's drive from here), you didn't even have time to return to the hotel to change your clothes for the desert or change for drinks at the Captain's Arms, and there's no way they'd allow you in wearing casual gear. But now you're checking into a hotel at 11pm when you should be out enjoying a sheesha or drink? Nobody should be in their hotel room in Abu Dhabi at 11pm. The restaurants are still busy and the bars are just getting started. If you're not into drinking and dancing then you should simply be doing as the locals do and strolling the waterfront promenade savouring the balmy evening sea breezes. The last place you should be is tucked into bed!

Pictured? The dome at Emirates Palace, a must-visit if you're not staying here, but head here in the evening (not at 7am!) for a meal, cocktails or a coffee, when, like everywhere in Abu Dhabi, the place just buzzes with activity and the people-watching is unbeatable.

A travel story 'Sydney Beyond the cliches: Hidden Gems' is so not full of 'hidden gems' and is so completely full of cliches that I couldn't resist that little nod to American 80's humor (I just love that scene in the satirical mockumentary Borat where he's mislearning how to be funny). But what else would we expect from The Sydney Morning Herald Travel section which has only itself to blame for destroying the fine reputation it once had by publishing stories that seem to either have been penned by teenagers for school newspapers (read this gushy teen diary-style entry about learning to surf: am I wrong to think that the SMH's readers are mostly over the age of 15?) or poorly written pieces without narratives or angles. Take this one on Sydney, which, for want of a better angle, they lazily pass off as a 'going local'/'insider' take on the city. The amusing thing is that to a Sydneysider (I was born and bred there) none of these things are 'hidden' (but then the writer was a guest of Tourism NSW which leads me to believe she doesn't live in the city), certainly not Campbell Parade North Bondi (every backpacker in the world makes a beeline for Bondi Beach around the corner), definitely not Nielsen Park and Shark Beach, Vaucluse (which even Tourism NSW's site says is a popular family picnic spot; I hazily recall a night skinny dipping there some 16 years or so ago), probably not the 'swanky hotel' she doesn't name, and obviously NOT the Hilton hotel's Zeta Bar. It's the Hilton. That alone should preclude it from being a 'hidden' gem, especially as it's on the front page of the hotel website. The bar looks very stylish - it's designed by Tony Chi after all (which oddly enough she doesn't mention) - but don't call it a hidden gem. What's worse is the 'writer' goes as far as to provide a long list of the many celebrities (which alone can't make it a hidden gem) who have been there from the bar's website:

From the story: "You never know who you might spot, the bar has played host to lots of celebrities, including Jessica Simpson, James Blunt, Snoop Dogg, Nicole Ritchie, Hugh Jackman, The Veronicas, Perez Hilton, DJ Samantha Ronson and Jimmy Barnes".

From the website: "Zeta Bar is fast becoming a Sydney icon with visiting international celebs. Jessica Simpson, Kimberley Stewart, James Blunt, Nicky Hilton, Snoop Dogg and Nicole Ritchie have all partied there... And Aussie A-listers Jennifer Hawkins, Hugh Jackman, Ian Thorpe, and Megan Gale often stop by for a beverage..."

Now that's really lazy. Hang on, let's give her some kudos for some research - it appears she asked the PR people for a couple of extra celeb names to drop. If these 'insider' secrets and the writer's local knowledge and travel savvy haven't impressed you enough already, read these priceless last sentences about the bar's cocktail list: "The extensive menu features everything from the classics, a pina colada in a pineapple topped with cream and a sparkler (p-lease! Was this the first time this writer ever looked at a cocktail list - or had even been to a bar?!), to a cool martini, and the more unusual. If you're really brave, try the bacon-infused cocktail. Tipped to be the next big trend in cocktails, it comes with a rasher on a swizzle stick and a maraschino cherry. It's odd. But it's interesting." What I find odd (but less interesting) is how these 'writers' actually get published. Could an editor have read this story and actually thought this is a good insightful piece of travel writing? I'd be asking for a re-write or an ending at least. What's happened to the Herald? Read Terry's more thorough analysis here: Sydney's odd unfinished weekend. Yep, this one's really had us scratching our heads this week - along with Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck food poisoning scandal and the even more scandalous media coverage of course.

Pictured? Not a hidden gem but definitely a local favorite, and it does do interesting cocktails: Tamanya Terrace at the Radisson SAS Dubai Media City.

I find it curious how reporters work sometimes. I answered a few questions last week for a reporter who was writing a story on Dubai for a travel news syndication site that produces 'news' stories that are then picked up (or not) by their subscribers. Although I answered just a couple of questions from a long list of questions I suggested were better directed toward a Dubai Tourism spokesperson and a real estate expert, a brief part of one of my responses in effect became the story. So far it's appeared on a travel insurance website (take a look here at: More to Dubai than Glamour Alone). What I find odd is that the suggestion was that my answers would contribute to a much larger story but instead they became the story. Which leads me to wonder... was there ever a 'story' in the first place? Or had the reporter's editor just directed the writer to come up with a story on Dubai, any story on Dubai? Which explains the odd combination of questions directed to me. Or perhaps there was an idea for some kind of story initially but because the writer couldn't find anyone else to comment, my quote simply became the story. What do you think?

You probably think there is no comparison, right? The freelancer has all that wonderful freedom, can pick and choose her jobs, sleep in if she wants, and be all creative all day. The retail job is mundane, monotonous, dull, and pays badly. Well, think again, and take a read of this insightful piece by freelance writer, Caitlin Kelly, who sometimes writes for the New York Times: 'My Retail Job, Crazy as it Seems, Keeps Me Sane'. As for me, I'm too busy with the guidebook writing to even blog at the moment. I'm rising around 7.30-8am most mornings (too late for my liking), after three attempts that start with the first alarm that goes off at 6.30am - ah, how I remember the days when it only took one alarm for me to bounce out of bed. But the late starts are because I'm not going to bed until 2am. I'm working 15 hour days at the moment. I should be doing 18 to meet these deadlines, but 15 is all I can manage, as I've been leading this crazy existence for a while now. So, a retail job is not sounding too bad after all, after reading Caitlin's story. Well, these guys look happy, don't they?

"Dubai has always been seen as a playground for the rich. What is the Dubai tourism authority doing to pull in people with less money?" That was one question among others that came to me Friday via the DK-Rough Guides PR office, as author of DK's Top Ten Dubai and Abu Dhabi guidebook, from a London journalist writing a story on Dubai. Although I suggested he contact Dubai Tourism for comment, I still shared my thoughts. While Dubai Tourism has appeared to focus on marketing Dubai as a luxurious, safe 'sun, sand and shopping' destination, the media, which loves covering the rich and famous and the glitz and glamour, has lapped it. There's no denying Dubai does luxury well (better than many places), but it's always been so much more than simply a lavish destination where you can spoil yourself silly, especially to the people who live in Dubai. When I lived in Al Mankhool, for five days a week my everyday experiences were more centered on Dubai's gritty backstreets (the 'off-the-beaten-track') and the city's heritage, culture and arts. We'd regularly walk to the Creek and Bastakiya, wander through Bur Dubai souq to Shindagha, both for exercise and to shop at the Shindagha supermarket, browse the souqs at Bur Dubai or across the Creek at Deira, or see a traditional performance at the Heritage and Diving Village. We'd frequently stroll along the Creek and through the parks, especially Al Seef Road and Za'abeel Park. We'd attend opening nights at galleries like The Third Line and B21, and we'd go to events like the Dubai International Film Festival. Occasionally we'd do very 'local' things like watch the camel training or even go falconing with some of the local guys. It was only on weekends when we'd go out with friends for drinks, dinner and a dance, at the bars, restaurants and clubs in the five-star hotels that we'd experience 'luxury Dubai'. But our Dubai, the Dubai most locals and many expats (not all) experience, is the one I've always tried to promote through our guidebooks and writing like our Insider's Guide to Dubai. But while Dubai for us is a set of complex experiences and representations, for much of the global media and potential tourists (as I'm reminded everyday) it's nothing but a luxury destination. It's time Dubai Tourism gets serious about re-branding Dubai and telling the world about the things its residents love about the place. Don't you think?

"A couple of years ago when I first started reading travel articles about all the new develop- ments in Dubai, I could never have guessed that this would happen," Erica from Blissful Travel wrote in response to my post on Dubai yesterday, which was actually a pointer to Terry's post on Dubai's Global Reporting Meltdown over at Wide angles, wine and wanderlust, so read that first. I spontaneously began my response to Erica this morning with "I couldn't have imagined it either... unless perhaps I'd given it some serious thought..." So I did give it some thought...

This should probably begin with "Once upon a time..." Because I'm thinking this is a bit of a fairytale, a rags-to-riches story. Well, that's how The Media likes to make it out. Or rather have it play out. You see, in the beginning Dubai was a media darling. She was Cinderella after her makeover at the ball. Or - because I should use a more contemporary analogy - she was like the beautiful young starlet who suddenly appears on the Hollywood scene. She gives an okay performance in an indie film, but she's attractive and has charisma. She wears the glammest dress and most gorgeous gems to the ball, or rather, the Oscars, and all of a sudden she's in the spotlight. Everyone's talking about her. And The Media starts writing about her. Everybody catches on and suddenly she's everywhere. She's on every talk show, every gossip site, in every magazine. Life couldn't be more perfect for this rising star. Who wouldn't want this much attention? Everyone wants to be her, to be with her, to live her glamorous lifestyle, to feel part of her 'in' crowd. But then she makes a mistake or two... a bad dress choice or movie role, a bad boyfriend? And then she really messes-up in their eyes... perhaps a racial slur? Filmed taking drugs? Or worse, in a none-too-flattering position in a park (or at a beach?) without clothes on? But the starlet doesn't care. She was an indie film goddess to begin with after all. She fascinated and intrigued long ago - even if it was just her friends and family. So then, The Media turns on her, her fans (who never really knew her anyway) turn on her. They're all against her now and are gleefully showing her at her worse, and printing all those bad hair days. The thing is... there's a career and a livelihood at stake here. So what will the starlet do next? Is an image makeover in order? Or does she need to prove that she can really perform? (Because her family and friends know she can shine.) Should she even care? SohHow do you think this story is going to play out? Because we know we're nowhere near an ending yet...

Speaking of Dubai, the little city-state has taken quite a beating in the media lately with a number of negative articles about its apparent economic meltdown, written as if the rest of the world weren't in recession. My partner and co-author Terry Carter, who is also a writer and photographer who blogs at Wide angles, wine and wanderlust, has posted about recent coverage in 'Dubai's Global Reporting Meltdown' in which he analyzes the sloppy journalism that at times verges on racism. Take a look and let us know what you think.

The Guardian summer holiday travel writing competition winners have been announced and you can read the best 50 stories - five winners and 45 runner-ups - on the paper's website. 1300 stories were submitted. I actually expected they might have received more entries. Perhaps the thought of an editor cutting the stories from 500 to 100 words was too much for some? The winners included Blue Spanish Skies, a tale about hiking in Mallorca, Bathing by Numbers, about a beach holiday in Croatia, and Moor the Merrier, about a boating trip on the Thames. While I thoroughly enjoyed reading the winning stories, I must admit I found the edited entries a tad frustrating to read - sometimes it was as if the narrative was just beginning to engage and then they were cut short (funny about that), while at other times they simply made no sense, as if a chunk was missing from the middle. I can understand why the Guardian wouldn't publish the full pieces in the paper version of the newspaper, but I'm not quite sure what the point was in editing them for the website. I'd love to read them in their entirety. What did you think?

These guys? They're in a back street of the medina in Marrakesh. Arguing over which story they liked best no doubt.

This post continues from yesterday's post in response to a reader's request for advice on developing a freelance travel writing career and financing research trips:
11. When you get a guidebook commission, start pitching story ideas on the destination - the fee for a single story could equal a quarter of your guidebook fee. Sell enough stories and you're finally profiting from travel writing. Keep in mind some publishers, such as Lonely Planet, forbid you from writing for their competitors on the same geographical area that you've written on for them, making the job less lucrative and making it difficult for you to develop destination expertise: read your contract so you don't breach it.
12. Can't get a guidebook commission? Consider fact-checking work - while it doesn't pay as much, it's a good way to develop research skills and it develop your contacts, and - if you're willing - can get you to a city or country. A fact-checking fee may only cover your air-fare, but once there you can be developing ideas and gathering content for stories to pitch and write when you get home.
13. Got a magazine commission but no guidebook work? - ask your editor for a letter or email confirming the commission tp forward to airlines, hotels, car rental companies, etc, to secure 'media rates' (established discounted rates, like corporate rates) and complimentary stays. (Check this is okay with your editor first as they may have a policy stipulating their writers can't accept discounts or freebies.)
14. Before jumping into full-time travel writing, ensure you have savings in the bank - even when you get a commission, the contract and cheque/bank transfer can be a long time coming. Sometimes projects are commissioned at the last minute (especially when another writer falls through or schedules change), so you need to be prepared to jump on a plane even if your payment hasn't gone through.
15. Do your guidebook research write-up at the destination - most writers go to a city or country, do their research, then fly home to write up the book. Consider renting an apartment in the destination (cheaper than moving between hotels), staying longer, and thus gathering more and better quality content from which to produce stories later on.
16. Embark on content-gathering trips in between commissions - you have a guidebook to research and write in one destination, then another book four weeks after manuscript submission in a nearby country. Don't waste air-fares flying home, but use the period in between to do some content-gathering; do an overland trip between the destinations or base yourself in a cheap but interesting place in-between to scout stories.
17. Can't get any commissions at all? Be creative - explore other options for getting to a destination that you can write about. Find work as an English teacher, yoga instructor, seasonal worker etc, and develop a story on working holidays focused on your experience. Line up some volunteer work with a charity or aid organization and write about volunteering abroad.
18. If you must self-finance your first research trip, then don't spend more than you'd ordinarily spend on a holiday, in case your investment doesn't pay off later, and seek out destinations and experiences that are unusual or rarely written about so you have a greater chance of getting something published.
19. Once you have been commissioned - develop your relationship with that editor, go the extra mile for them, stay in touch, and keep pitching ideas - especially if this is the only person who has commissioned you so far! If the editor likes what you do and keeps publishing you, then stick with that publication and take the opportunity to build your portfolio. You can branch out later on.
20. Ensure you continue to get commissioned - once you're established as a travel writer, continue to develop your greatest assets: your research and writing abilities, your travel and travel industry knowledge, your understanding of the market, travellers and readers, and your destination expertise. In other words, keep travelling, keep reading and writing, and always keep your readers in mind.

An aspiring travel writer who is starting her freelance travel writing career has emailed me: "I've been reading a lot about financing and tips for freelancers on how to save money, but never on how it actually works at the beginning. I know that it's different for every freelancer and also for every travel writer as it depends on what you do, whether you write travel guides or articles for magazines and newspapers, but what I've never found is how you can finance your trips. The beginning will be self-financed, but then press trips? I think an editor will finance someone's trip only if they are really established writers. And here comes the first difficulty for new writers." Well, here are some tips for Angela and other readers who are embarking on travel writing careers, based on what's worked for us:
1. Keep your day job and become a part-time travel writer in the beginning - generate content on your holidays and weekends away. This way you're not spending money you wouldn't ordinarily spend, and the career shift is less risky. Write about the place where you live. Publishers are increasingly finding value in resident-writers for their local knowledge and insider advice. Use this period to develop your research and writing skills and refine your craft.
2. Subscribe to professional websites and organizations such as Media Bistro to learn how to pitch and how to promote yourself and your work. Once published, join Travelwriters.com, International Travel Writers Alliance or Media Kitty to find out about commissions and learn from other travel writers by engaging in the forums.
3. Get prepared and get organized - email magazines and newspapers via their websites to get writer's guidelines and editorial calendars. Find out how the pitching process works and who to pitch to. Create your own database of editors and industry contacts using the resources above, magazine mastheads, and your own networking skills; join LinkedIn.
4. Learn the art of pitching - writing a good pitch can be as hard as writing a good travel story. Media Bistro is fantastic for this information.
5. Start pitching editors - but only when you have confidence in your writing ability and strong story ideas. Respond to editor's requests, on sites such as Travelwriters.com, for content on destinations you've developed expertise in, such as your hometown.
6. Appreciate that getting the first commission is the hardest - be patient, politely persistent and persuasive without being a pain-in-the-butt. Learn self-promotion skills. Start a blog as a creative outlet, to develop your writing skills and as a showcase for your work.
7. Spread your pitching efforts wide - consider all publishers, publications and platforms. Contact editors of all kinds of magazines (don't limit yourself to travel magazines, which are highly competitive) and newspapers (try your local or regional paper first, as big city papers are as competitive as magazines). Consider digital forms, from online versions of magazines and newspapers to travel websites.
8. Contact guidebook publishers - start with guidebooks you relate to as you'll be expected to identify with the audience, make choices with readers in mind, and write in an appropriate style. Find out what their writer approval process is; each publisher operates differently.
9. Focus your efforts on getting a commission - a commission is an assignment where the editor agrees to publish your story based on your pitch (idea). The agreement can be informal (an email) or formal (a legal contract). It will involve money up front if it's a guidebook, but for a magazine or newspaper you'll be paid on acceptance or approval of the story or when the story's published.
10. Why guidebook writing commissions are good - a guidebook commission gets you there! Guidebooks involve a large fee and 40-50% of that fee up front. The fee will be fairly low if you don't have experience, but as your experience increases, the fees increase. While the fee may not seem like much when stretched across an eight to 12 week research and writing period, the fee is what gets you to the destination. While you're there you can be gathering content you can later use to write stories for magazines and newspapers.
And that's just half of it! I have another ten tips for you...

By Terry* and Lara
In a hilarious article posted on CNN’s website in association with Career Builders, there's a list of ten 'great' jobs in travel and tourism. Given that we earn our collective livings from the industry, we thought it might be enlightening to deconstruct the article and perhaps set ourselves on a new career path. And so the story begins: "Vacations are one of the best things in the world. You visit new, exotic and beautiful places; you make memories with your vacation companions; you experience different cultures and best of all, you get a break from reality." Hmmm, we’ve always looked at travel as a chance to see how other people live and experience other cultures, but a break from reality? Isn’t travel about seeing other people’s reality and comparing it with your own? "Think about it. There's someone accountable for the mode of transportation you chose to get to your vacation spot; someone responsible for booking your tickets; someone in charge of the activities you embark on; someone taking care of your entertainment in the evening, serving your drinks, showing you the sights. The list goes on." This list could only go on if it included having someone come around at a predetermined time to give you your medication and remind you to take your teeth out before you go to bed. "Though the pay is generally not as high as in other industries, jobs in travel and tourism provide workers with an enjoyable atmosphere, flexible hours and opportunities to meet new people." It’s okay, we’re travel writers who are used to crappy pay, so lets get started...
1. Amusement and recreation attendant
Umm... a what? A golf caddy? A carnival worker? Someone who sets up games? This is number one on the list? This must be a parody.
2. Concierge. Duties: Remember Tim Curry in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York?
No. But comparing the job of a concierge to a character in a crappy Hollywood movie is odd. Besides, having a job where you have to say "Sure!" to someone who wants a sushi restaurant in Milan must grate a little. We’ll pass on the concierge job.
3. Cruise ship director
We guess this means entertainment director. We’re also guessing we can’t swim to shore after the third night straight watching the captain dance to The Girl from Ipanema with a pensioner. We’re still betting this article is satire.
4. Curator
Now this would be awesome, apart from the fact you need just a little more training than the carny (sorry, amusement and recreation attendant) setting up the Ferris wheel in the first job suggestion…
5. Gaming Dealer
What?! Travel and tourism? Right...
6. Lifeguard
Ahh, lifeguard... visions of a hairy-chested Hasselhoff and an inflatable-chested Pamela Anderson. But the job description gets complicated: "…and rescue those in danger of drowning, if necessary…" I guess if you have all those sexy lifeguards around you, you’d want to make sure that someone is really in trouble before interrupting chatting up your workmates to actually save someone…
7. Information clerk
Dear CNN and partners, any job in any industry that includes the title ‘clerk’ is not going to be a great job. Sorry. But we have seen the movie Clerks.
8. Recreation worker
Sounds like fun until you realise you have to run an aquarobics class at 7am, Thai chi at 9am, a children’s workshop (aka babysitting) from 10am until 2pm, sunset stretching on the beach with arthritic 70-somethings before leading the karaoke hours with your rousing rendition of My Way, before setting the alarm for 6am to get ready to do it all over again. We may not have seen Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, but we’ve seen Groundhog Day.
9. Taxi driver or chauffeur
Now CNN’s really grasping at straws. And, yes, we’ve seen Taxi Driver.
10. Tour and travel guide
At least this has some merit. Tell us more… "Duties: Think Gary Growbowski in The Break-Up." We hadn't even heard of this film (although obviously we have now we've looked it up), but did we mention we’ve seen Groundhog Day? Now, unless the job involves taking tours such as those run by Context, where you get to share your expertise on a subject (consolidated while getting a PhD on the topic), and don’t have to recite bad jokes and espouse faux ‘insider’ knowledge while holding an umbrella aloft in the optimistic hope that the forty disinterested people shaking off the effects of last night’s drinking session will actually be listening, then we’ll pass again.

Pictured? Elephant wranglers at the Four Seasons Tented Camp, Golden Triangle, Thailand, one very cool job in travel and tourism that the story neglected to mention. Now, the article was a parody, right?

*Terry is my co-author and husband; as holders of masters degrees in media studies, we both get a kick out of deconstructing the media.

By Lara & Terry*
If you've just joined us, this continues from the previous post so read this first.
So, why would these three places now get glowing reviews in an updated guidebook? What do they have in common? The answer: all of these places do excellent public relations. And when you read the reviews it’s quite easy to tell that the writer hasn't set foot in any of the places, or if the person did, they were blindfolded. A quick search on Google revealed that many of the reviews of the restaurant we left out of our edition use the same language to describe the chef, the preparation of the food, and the cuisine itself. It’s not a coincidence. It’s simply a recycled press release. And to the writer in a hurry on a tight budget, the 'general consensus' is enough to tick it off for inclusion and write the review from the establishment’s website, a press release, or other lustrous reviews.

In this particular city, we had tried all the restaurants we put in the first edition of that book, as we’d been regular visitors to the city for years. And on subsequent visits we used our local industry contacts (hotel staff, chefs and so on) to identify new places to try. But what we found most interesting from our guidebook test were the other reviewers’ responses to the restaurants we didn’t think were very good. When we discussed this with our informed local contacts in the restaurant or hotel business they almost unanimously said: “I can never understand why foreign writers think that place is so good!” One famous chef we recently interviewed knows exactly what we’re talking about. He told us that one dish that was on his menu for only a couple of months a few years ago keeps appearing in 'reviews' of his restaurant in travel guidebooks and articles. He blames one high-profile magazine article (which has since appeared on the internet) for this and is bemused by diners coming in and asking for the dish! The mention of this dish is his benchmark for judging whether the writer has even looked at his menu.

And this is why buying a guidebook is such a lottery. If you’ve been to a city before and you’re looking to buy a guidebook on it for another trip, look for a review of a hotel or restaurant you know. Is it in there? Good. Does the review make it sound remotely like the place you know? Yes? Excellent. If it doesn’t list it or it describes it in a way that’s not like the place you know, leave the book on the shelf.

Just as an aside, we were relieved to find that our names aren’t mentioned at all in the current incarnation of that first book we originally authored. It’s somewhat petty of the publishers, seeing our content was original, but considering the state of the current edition, we’re actually grateful!

Pictured? One hotel in Northern Italy that in no uncertain terms lives up to its eco-friendly credentials, Vigilius Mountain Resort. This is a photo of our room. We actually stayed there. Do you trust us?

By Terry* and Lara
Sometimes when you visit a restaurant or stay at a hotel recommended by a guidebook, and it’s either nothing like you expected or you’re wondering what the fuss is about, don’t worry, the problem probably doesn’t lie with you. It’s quite likely the fault of a lazy reviewer. When we recently revisited an Italian city we’ve written extensively about, we dropped into a couple of bookshops to thumb through the latest guides to see what insightful new content had been created on the city. Our little test is to look for reviews of places we know intimately and see whether the writers know their stuff and/or whether we are simpatico with their thinking.

In this particular city (which shall remain nameless), we know one hotel extremely well, having had several lengthy stays there while researching the city. So we know about this certain hotel’s marketing gimmick and claims to being an “eco-friendly” hotel, which have little foundation. We mentioned this in our review of the property for a book on the city several years ago. Indeed, we wrote the review from our room there! But in an updated edition of that book, the new review by another author essentially reflects the hotel’s press release rather than the reality - that would have been revealed by a quick inspection and a couple of well-chosen questions. In the same guidebook, flicking through to the eating section, we noticed that a couple of well-known restaurants we were told we “had to” include in the book now get glowing reviews. One, we’d been able to convince the editor to leave out of our edition, as our meals had been ordinary and stupidly expensive. The other, we gave an average review; we had to include it because it had such a high profile. On both counts, we argued our case strongly. By doing so we felt we were doing the right thing by the readers.

This is how we approach our reviewing. If our readers are going to a destination and only have a couple of days to spend there, we obviously want them to have the best experience possible. If we’re going to send them to a so-called “eco-friendly” hotel that isn’t very eco-friendly at all, we’ll tell them why: because it’s a clean, decent-value hotel in an expensive city, despite its disingenuous eco-claims. If we think a restaurant doesn’t warrant inclusion, we’ll leave it out. And if we think another restaurant is very average but has to be included because of its high-profile chef and famous investors, we’ll reluctantly put it in, write a critical review, and leave it up to the reader to decide whether they want to spend their hard-earned cash there or go to another restaurant we wholeheartedly recommend instead. When writing reviews and labouring over these issues, we always ask ourselves: would we recommend the place to our friends? And would we be happy to go there with them?

The photo? It's the funky lobby of Qamardeen Hotel again, in Dubai. And no, they're not paying us, we just love this property and think it's one of Dubai's most stylish, best value, and yet, bafflingly, most underrated hotels.

* Terry is my co-author and husband, who occasionally blogs for Cool Travel Guide.

The Guardian's travel section is running a Summer Holiday Travel Writing Competition which for its runner-ups will also provide a very real (and for some, painful) introduction to the travel publishing industry and the role of the editor. Readers are asked to submit 500 words about their holiday and what made it special, providing as much detail as possible. The Guardian's travel editors will then choose the five best entries across five different categories, each of which will win their authors one of five holidays. And - lucky them! - they'll get their stories published in their entirety in the Guardian's travel section. No such dream prize for the runners-up, however... they'll have to make do with a hefty dose of reality. Each of their 500-word pieces will be edited down to 100 words by the travel editors. (Other entries will be uploaded to the readers' Been There tips section.) If you still want to be a travel writer after seeing your finely-crafted words whittled down to one fifth their original length, then you probably have what it takes to be a travel writer, so good on you. Go for it! If you find yourself in tears over how they've savaged your precious piece writing, then you'd better stick to short stories, poetry or simply postcards. As for the five winners... frame those pieces and enjoy them while you can. Because if you do go on to become a travel writer, rarely will your writing ever be published in its entirety again. Now, that's not always a bad thing either...

By Terry and Lara
When we were in Milan recently we had drinks with some hotel executives we’d met in Istanbul while attending the W opening. The PR person of the Milan hotel where we’d met for aperitivi told us how impressed she was that we’d had several story commissions on the hotel, its restaurant and Chef Jean-Georges, and that those had been published already, and she asked if we wanted to be included the next time she was coordinating a press trip. We very politely declined and she understood exactly why. If we’d been on a journalist’s junket in Istanbul we wouldn’t have had the freedom to pursue the stories that we did. And she agreed. But it was our recent visit to Venice where we got to observe the behaviour of one too many tour groups, and a story we read on spas in Thailand (more on that little gem soon), that brought home one of the reasons why we really don’t like the organised press trip. It’s because of its complete disconnect with the kind of travel that ‘normal’ travellers do. In a nutshell, junket journalists are treated like a cross between pampered pooches, 80-somethings on a shore-leave guided tour from a cruise ship, and package tourists whose last independent thought for the duration of their holiday was figuring out how they managed to get their name tag on upside down at the airport. We write for independent travellers, and by travelling independently ourselves we gain a better understanding of the logistical challenges that independent travellers face. Junket journalists don’t have to worry about finding that carpark in Venice, deciding how best to lug those bags to the hotel (do we walk, pay a porter or take a water taxi?), decide whether the exorbitant cost of the parking and ludicrously expensive Internet access means we should be changing hotels, and so on. These decisions are taken away from the junket journalist, who can just concentrate on gushing about how fabulous it is to be on a junket and to be a travel writer. While publications will sometimes state that the writer stayed courtesy of such and such a hotel or was flown in by a certain airline, and that’s great to see, we also believe that travel journalists should declare whether they were on a junket or not, so the reader can judge for themselves how much salt to sprinkle on the tale. We’ve read so many of these gushy stories, we can usually tell by the end of the second paragraph. But can you? And would knowing that the writer had been on a free package tour to the destination affect your reading of the story? What are your expectations of a writer and their travel experience when reading a travel story?

*Terry Carter is my husband, co-author, and a travel photographer

By Terry*
Continued from part 2 and part 1.
Anon continues:
* “The miracle of Dubai is also made possible by a largely invisible army of cheap labour: 90 per cent of the population are foreigners, including Western professionals lured by the black gold, but mainly Filipino maids and nannies, and construction workers from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh” and “Construction workers are paid a paltry US$100 a month and sleep in huge hostels, where 20 people share a single bathroom.”
Yes, those construction workers, waiters, maids, nannies and shop assistants I talked to every day for years were just a mirage. But the ‘invisible army’ and the mention of mistreatment of workers are obligatory in any story on Dubai that takes a negative stance. I’m starting to feel nostalgic for the old days when it was obligatory to mention the cruel Arabs and the five-year-old camel jockeys…

Workers’ conditions and living conditions for the underprivileged is an issue everywhere but If I write about New York restaurants, should I devote a paragraph to the illegal dishwashers from South America without health insurance who help keep America’s economy just above the waterline? Should I write about Maori alcohol and incarceration problems if I write about New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc? If I write about Outback Australia, should I always mention the ‘Aboriginal problem’? Is a travel story the place to talk about globalisation and the migration of workers looking for a better life and getting screwed? Sometimes. But if you’re going to do it, be balanced. Oh, and the last time I heard the term ‘black gold’ was on the Beverly Hillbillies theme song. Man, I love me some banjo. Can’t get the song out of my head now.

* “We also check out Little India, swarming with tourist tat touts and shops cluttered with cheap Chinese-made clothes and plastic utensils, which are what real people use”.
What sort of utensils do the people who aren’t real use and what do you have against utensils made of materials other than plastic? (Note: for those shopping for plastic utensils, the author probably means Karama Souq.)

* “Shindagha, the original site from which Dubai grew, is by the river mouth. Sheikh Saeed's house, the former home of the ruling Maktoum family, has been 'carefully restored' and is open to view.”
Why is carefully restored in inverted commas? Are those Arabs trying to trick Anon again with a ‘fake’ house and yet another fake experience? Is there nothing really authentic in Dubai? Not according to Anon.

* “Nearby, the Heritage and the Pearl Fishers' villages purport to offer a glimpse of traditional life - with credit card facilities.”
It’s actually ‘Heritage and Diving Villages’ and the author clearly didn’t visit during the frequent Emirati events (pictured), including traditional dances and singing, as well as our favourite, the rifle-throwing competitions – you don’t need a credit card for those, just for the ‘fake’ souvenirs. You also don’t need a credit card to buy the authentic breads and snacks made by ‘real’ local women, just some small change.

* “In fact, there are few historic buildings left standing. Between the corrosive elements of sun and wind, mud walls don't tend to last long and for the past few decades, Dubai's natives have been more enthusiastic about building comfortable, modern mansions than restoring mud huts.”
We’ll overlook the inaccuracies and horrid sentence construction, but damn those ‘natives’ wanting to live in comfortable, modern mansions when they could live in a ‘mud hut’ with no air-conditioning for the sake of not appearing ‘fake’ to a New Zealand ‘journalist’ who can’t even get his ‘facts’ straight. The cheek of them.

* “A dignified older man offers us dates and coffee spiced with cardamom.”
At last, the Wilfred Thesiger or Lawrence of Arabia moment that Anon has been looking for happens! Luckily, it wasn’t an ‘undignified’ older man that he met. I hear they’re not as friendly.

* “Hospitality is one of the most highly esteemed virtues in Islamic culture. The touching family scene straight out of centuries past is disrupted by the arrival of a giant SUV sending up clouds of sand. The other men of the family are arriving.”
Damn, just as Anon’s Orientalist dream – straight from ‘centuries past’ – is realised, it’s snatched away by ‘fake’ Arabs and their ‘fake’ 4WD’s. Don’t they know anything about authenticity, like, you know, white New Zealanders earnestly doing the Haka? By the way, it’s Arab (and especially Bedouin) hospitality that Anon might be thinking of and Islam is a religion.

* “When we recount our meeting later, our guide is quick to quell any romantic notions of traditional lifestyles surviving into the 21st century. It turns out Bedouin all live in the city these days, and drive to their estates at the weekend. "Camel caretakers", predominantly from Southeast Asia, are paid a pittance to do the actual day-to-day camel wrangling.”
Wow. Sounds like these tour guides are a real downer in Dubai. As soon as you think you’ve found something authentic – baaaaammmm – they’ll spoil it for you!

And so it turns out that the only ‘real’ moment of Anon’s Orientalist Dream Tour was fake as well.

* Terry Carter is my husband and co-writer.

By Terry*
So, where were we? If you’re just joining us, see this post about an Orientalist fantasy of an article on Dubai in The Sydney Morning Herald by an anonymous author who I'm calling 'Anon':

Anon writes:
* “The encampment is furnished with modern flush loos…”
Yes, they’re all the rage in Dubai now, the Sheikh apparently has a gold one! Clearly the author wanted to pee in a dark, smelly, open pit. Damn you, oil money!

* “Locals in traditional white dishsasha robes and headdress are commonly seen getting happily loaded on alcopops in hotel bars.”
Alcopops? Probably not a local. Common? Nope. And the robes are more commonly known as ‘dishdashas’ which means robe anyway, so Anon's said they’re wearing ‘robe robes’, but that’s a minor point an editor could have picked up. If there was one…

* “Men from neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which has a much more hard-line approach to liquor, frequently slip over the border for a quaff before driving home.”
Hard-line? It’s illegal in Saudi. And that’s a long way to drive home drunk from Dubai, a round trip of at least 800km (see this map.) Perhaps the author meant Bahrain where Saudis drive across the Johnny Walker Bridge, woops, I mean, King Fahd Causeway to imbibe. But the vision of drunk Saudis driving home all the way from Dubai would probably make a great road movie. Especially if they sang ‘99 bottles of beer on the wall’ in Arabic...

* “Like our ‘desert experience’, much of Dubai is essentially fake. Forty years ago, Dubai was a dusty fishing village on the banks of Dubai Creek.”
Clearly, Anon wanted it to stay like that so he could have an authentic Orientalist experience. How dare they build new ‘fake’ buildings. Damn you, oil money!

* “Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also prime minister, and vice-president of the United Arab Emirates, is estimated to have a personal wealth of US$16 billion. Yet he apparently has the common touch: his FaceBook site has 6995 registered fans.”
Clearly a lot more than Anon, but what’s the point? Sheikh Mo also has his own website.

* “The sheikh has bankrolled some of the city's more fantastic constructions, such as the Burj Al Arab hotel - the only six-star hotel in the world - and the world's tallest building, the Burj Dubai, which is under construction.”
None of which is entirely true, and yet another ‘journalist’ gets the Burj Al Arab’s hotel rating wrong. Dubai has a five-star rating system at the moment. The Burj Al Arab is not classified although they claimed to be the world’s first ‘seven-star’ hotel. So Anon isn’t even close no matter which way you look at it.

* “I find myself wondering how New Zealand would spend the money if we suddenly had trillions of dollars injected into the economy: massive rugby stadiums in every suburb, perhaps?”
Really, did an editor – either in New Zealand or Australia – actually read this dribble? Did Anon even realise he typed this instead of just thought it?

And yes, indeed, if you can believe it, it gets even worse.

* Terry Carter is my husband and co-writer.

By Terry Carter*
Dubai is still sizzling as a travel destination, no matter what part of the planet you look at it from. But let’s look at Dubai from an Australasian travel media perspective for a moment. Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald and sister publication The Age love running stories on Dubai, but they've really run out of steam if their latest article is any indicator. But really, what should we expect from a once well regarded publisher that has a blog called ‘The Backpacker’ that explores themes such as 'Joining the Mile High Club', 'Travel cliches (sic): are they worth it?' and 'How to get rid of your backpacker'. Seriously. However, this latest anonymously authored story, which ran in New Zealand’s Dominion Post first, manages to set the bar to an all-time low, appearing like a package tour report that wouldn’t be out of place on TripAdvisor. The 'author' of the article has an odd preconception about Dubai from the start, but then feigns surprise when the destination doesn’t live up to his skewed expectations. So, what does he do? Call the story ‘Truth and Trickery in Dubai’. So, what's wrong with this story?

‘Anon’ as we’ll call the writer, is disappointed to learn the belly dancer on his desert safari is from Egypt, claiming she’s no more a Dubai local than he is (we’ll assume it’s a ‘he’). Last time I checked Egypt was in the Middle East and New Zealand wasn’t. We’re already off to a weird start. I don’t want to get into the much-contested origins of belly-dancing, but if you have an Egyptian belly-dancer in front of you, that’s a lot more authentic an experience than most visitors to any Middle East destination get these days. Even in Egypt itself (arguably the spiritual home of the dance), you’ll probably be confronted by the ‘fake’ shimmying of an Eastern European dancer if you go to an ‘Oriental’ show.

Anon then contradicts himself by saying it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the dancer isn’t a Dubai local as “one is lucky to see an ankle belonging to a local woman, let alone an exposed navel”. Actually, local women do a dance similar to the ‘belly-dance’, just not half-naked, not in public, not in front of men, and certainly not for creepy foreigners like Anon. So, let’s get this straight. He’s saying: the belly dancer is inauthentic because she’s from Egypt, Dubai women don’t do the belly dance, therefore Dubai=Fake. Or perhaps that makes it doubleFake? Can’t argue with logic like that.

To be honest, I debated whether to bother going further to deconstruct this article, but a story as misanthropic, sexist, and filled with thinly veiled racism as this (not to mention being published in such well-regarded newspapers), deserves it. So, let’s just get the attacks on the people that our fearless Orientalist comes across out of the way first. Here are some of Anon's choice quotes:
“…a pock-marked Bangladesh-born wide-boy”
“…one hapless male whose game attempts to mimic her pelvic thrusts are slightly impeded by his fluorescent bumbag and complete lack of coordination”
“…fat-bottomed tourists” and
“It is fun to get lost in the narrow alleyways of the gold and spice souks and get high on the heady mix of cloves, cardamom, incense and armpit.”

Clearly Anon dislikes acne, fluoro bumbags, people lacking dancing skills, fat-bottomed tourists, and people who don’t wear deodorant. I’m still trying to figure out why this is exclusive to Dubai. Really, did anyone edit this? But what Anon really dislikes is how ‘fake’ Dubai is. And he’s in Dubai to separate the truth from trickery.

But if Anon was ‘tricked’ about what to expect in Dubai, who deceived him, and what were his expectations? It’s clear – at least for the purposes of creating an angle for his story – he was expecting some sort of Orientalist fantasy of Bedouin goat-hair tents lining Dubai’s main thoroughfare Sheikh Zayed Road, where there’s a ten-lane camel highway (and perhaps a flying carpet lane as well?) leading to ARABIA, while the score from Lawrence of Arabia fills the air. However, Anon never sets out his expectations at the start of the story. Heaven forbid that would create a narrative! But here’s a hint as to where his desires lay: the belly-dancer is “an exotic apparition” before the spell is broken and he finds out she’s a ‘fake’ from Egypt.

And it gets worse... (read part 2 here.)

* Terry Carter is my partner and co-writer