Getaway Magazine editor Cameron Ewart-Smith gives great tips on travel writing for blogs from the Getaway Travel Blog Conference.

1. ‘We arrived tired and dusty from the road, thankfully the
beers were cold….’
Cameron Ewart–Smith

2. In everything we do we aim to enrich
people‟s lives through travel
www.getaway.co.za

3. Ten tips for Writing a blog post
1. Make your opinion known
2. Link like crazy
3. Write Less
4. 250 is enough
5. Make Headlines snappy
6. Include bullet point lists
7. Make your posts easy to scan
8. Be consistent with your style
9. Litter the post with Keywords
10. Edit your post
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/12/30/tens-tips-for-writing-a-blog-post/
www.getaway.co.za

4. Thank You
Follow me: @JustCam
blog.getaway.co.za
www.getaway.co.za

5. www.getaway.co.za

6. Jane Eager – AD, Getaway
www.getaway.co.za

8. Information Overload
Perceived Information
Real – can actually keep up with
www.getaway.co.za

9. www.getaway.co.za

10.  There are an estimated 200 million travel-
related blogs on the net, with hundreds
more being launched each day. But with so
many amateur bloggers publishing prosaic
or self-indulgent ramblings of the "Today I
went to a museum" variety, finding a good
read requires patience and dedication.
The Times
www.getaway.co.za

12. www.getaway.co.za

13. www.getaway.co.za

14. www.getaway.co.za

15. Originally:
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or
the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
Then sixth edition:
Origin of Species

16. Don‟t reveal everything too early, this builds anticipation
Good writing has its own rhythm and good travel writing
matches rhythm to the scene or journey being described.

17. Introduction
Backbone
Outro

19. Catch them and keep them. If you meander
into your story, your audience will meander to
the TV room to watch 7de Laan!

20. The sky is a crazy place. Man was not meant to fly, but because we
have an inherent urge to go places and see things we cram ourselves
into paraffin budgies and hurtle through the air at 700 km/h to our
next destination. Upward … and then onward! And, while some say
that the journey is part of the adventure, sharing a metal tube with
around 500 other passengers is bound to lead to some complications.
Would it not be great then, if instead of (or along with) that dog-eared,
never-read safety brochure that hides conspicuously behind your in-
flight magazine, we all got a passengers‟ guide to aircraft etiquette: the
do‟s and don‟ts of life six miles high. For the sake of my sanity, and
hopefully yours, I have taken some time to put such a guide together:
Tyson Jopson 2011 2000+ reads

21. Arabian nights and days in Morocco
Narina Exelby - February 2006
Morocco is a country that assails your senses: the air is tainted with incense, saffron and dust;
ancient cities burst with people and vibrant colours; smells of spices and incense only just mask
Third World vapour; strings of shoes dangle in the markets and oases form unexpected ribbons
in the desert. It's an explorer's heaven, a shopper's delight. Narina Exelby's imagination was
captured by this far North African country.
"Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar . . . Ashhadu an la Illah ila Allah . . . Ashhadu an Mohammedan
rasul Allah . . . Haya ala as-sala . . . Haya ala as-sala. . .." (God is great, God is great . . . There is
no god but Allah . . . Mohammed is His prophet . . . Come to prayer . . . Come to prayer. . ..)
All across Morocco the Muslim call to prayer wailed into morning. It pulled men from their
beds and squashed them into mosques; it snaked between houses and down narrow alleys, was
ignored by some and grunted at by jet-lagged foreigners who'd been bolted from their sleep.
Even for those who didn't heed the call, it signalled the start of another day - and, like a
vuvuzela at a Bafana Bafana game, Morocco just wouldn't be the same without it.

22. Stuff out there is complex so hold our hands
and explain. Think lowest common
denominator!

24. Putting your finger in a plug is stunning!

25. What does it smell like, sound like, taste
like …
You are trying to create a portrait of place

26. Your voice is the way you tell stories. If you are not a
particularly funny guy then don‟t try and reinvent yourself
in your writing. Be natural and explain what you mean.
Imagine you‟re sitting round the fire…

27. @pamsykes "Maybe stories are just data with a soul" <-- lovely.
via @martinduys @frogdesign
These days lots of competition and limited attention spans so be
entertaining.

28. There has been a 0,1% increase in deaths from mouse
addiction this year
vs
620 000 Americans died this year because of mouse
addiction. (619 380 last year)

29. If it‟s hard to read aloud … its hard to read.
Edit your own work ruthlessly

30. • Advice
• Top ten lists
• Short
• Recipes
• Quirky personal lists

31. ’The passenger's guide to aircraft etiquette': over 2000 views and 591 shares on Facebook.
http://blog.getaway.co.za/travel-ideas/travel-advice/passengers-guide-aircraft-etiquette/
Aquila rhino massacre: over 4900 views, over 1000 shares on Facebook
http://blog.getaway.co.za/travel-blog/aquila-rhino-massacre/
'A South African's guide to misguided tourists' : over 3300 views and 556 shares on Facebook, 37 comments
http://blog.getaway.co.za/travel-ideas/south-africans-guide-misguided-tourists/
Where can you go without a visa on a South African passport: over 2600 views, 264 Facebook shares, 22
comments
http://blog.getaway.co.za/travel-blog/sa-passport/
Six of Cape Town's best pizza restaurants: over 2500 views, 19 comments (most of them disagreeing with
choices)
http://blog.getaway.co.za/food/six-of-cape-towns-best-pizza-restaurants/

32. •Read, read, read
•Research
•Observe and listen
•Keep in touch
•Different field same, new, ideas
•Its okay to daydream
•Refine go with the flow
www.getaway.co.za

33. You dictate how your reader leaves. So you
need to ask: what is that one final, all
important thing people should know!

34. As I sat watching the black rhino move
closer ….
A gunshot sounded in the distance. The
poachers had got another one.
Suddenly a calf trotted out from behind her;
numbers in this reserve at least were
increasing.
She stopped, stared, uncertain, snuffling the
warm afternoon air. What the future held
wasn‟t clear … but I knew if we didn‟t act, and
fast, it would be too late.

35. And that‟s all I‟m prepared to say on that and
that‟s final.
Its hard to know what the right thing is, one
thing for certain everyone with a voice has the
opportunity to use it!

36. 1. What‟s the story not the whole story the story
2. Plan, brainstorm, research, refine, research, refine, research and so on
3. Think before you write
4. Work the title it may be the only shot you get
5. A great blurb entices your reader to give you their time
6. Introduction is everything. You have to catch them by the throat in the first line
7. Your words have rhythm all of their own.
8. Do not use puns, clichés, and slang
9. Colloquialisms are not widely understood – so fannies aren‟t what they‟re
cracked up to be everywhere
10. Be Friendly. Its not about the data its the way you tell the story
11. Break the rules every so often

37. There‟s never been a worse time for
publishers or a better time for
writers…
www.getaway.co.za

38. Thank You
Follow me: @JustCam
blog.getaway.co.za
www.getaway.co.za

40. There are an estimated 200 million travel-related blogs on
the net, with hundreds more being launched each day. But
with so many amateur bloggers publishing prosaic or self-
indulgent ramblings of the "Today I went to a museum"
variety, finding a good read requires patience and
dedication

41. Are you reading printed magazines …. than previously
www.getaway.co.za

42. 84%
enjoy getting content
ONLINE

43. www.getaway.co.za

44. •Follow me on twitter @JustCam
•Email: cameron@ramsaymedia.co.za
•www.getaway.co.za
www.getaway.co.za

45. Intro Para: You usually start a tale of mystery at the beginning, but in
the story of Adam‟s Calendar, the beginning is the mystery. So let’s start
with what is known and see where that leads.
Outro paras: The discovery of Adam’s Calendar and the stone ruins in the
hills nearby raise a complex set of questions whose answers, if they are ever
unearthed, probably lie in an alchemic mix of history, archaeology, astronomy,
geology and a bit of mythology. And if Heine and Tellinger’s examples are
anything to go by, to solve this mystery, you’d do well to throw away your
shield of preconception. Prepare for everything you’ve learned to be
challenged. So pack your sharpest senses of reason and apply blunt logic.The
sites are worth a visit even if it’s just for the spectacular views and fresh air,
but go before the masses arrive because there’s a good chance it’ll turn into the
newest, oldest carnival on Earth.
Evan Hausmann

46. The Nama Karoo biome covers a
vast portion of western and central
South Africa and is home to one of
the continents rarest mammals, the
riverine rabbit, Yet the area remains
undeveloped and its ecology is little
understood. In an effort to track
down its most famous resident,
Steve Mosely and a team of
adventurers followed the Sak River
on foot – and discovered a
fascinating otherworld, where the
sky is big and the animals are small.
Africa Geographic

47. Hours after eating a bellyful of
plants, a horse the size of a dog died
near an ancient lake. Its corpse
drifted in the water, then slipped
quietly to the bottom. Forty-nine
million years later the horse‟s
remains – down to the last meal in
its gut – were found in an
abandoned mine pit in the German
town of Messel, source of some of
the world‟s most extraordinary
fossils.
National Geographic

48. David Bristow
“Hell man, I just don‟t like to see a woman fishing. It‟s like seeing an oke working in the kitchen,
“bemoaned the bear-like Paul as we drove past a couple pulling out kabeljou on the long stretch of
beach near Mile 100.
The men who fish these frigid waters are real men and you can bet they don‟t let the fish get away
if they can possible help it. When they descend in droves, in 4x4s, buggies and trucks to cast about
for their supper you just know the fish are in for a hiding. This is man‟s work and their women and
children must sommer entertain themselves on the barren stretch of sand between the Orange
River Mouth and the Kunene. One thing there‟s no shortage of here is sand. Or fish.
Wolfie‟s enthusiasm for fishing I could understand: he and Henry gave up corporate jobs at
Rossing Mine to become professional anglers and they supply most of Swakopmund with fresh
seafood. Foe me „enough‟ has always been how much you can reasonable eat. For an enthusiast I
would imagine enough to be a decent stock in one‟s freezer. But what do you do with 40 five-
kilogram fish in just one day? And the same again the next!
By this stage I‟d had enough. I put down my rod, poured myself another drink and put up a mental
note–“gone fishing”.

49. •Follow me on twitter @JustCam
•Email: cameron@ramsaymedia.co.za
•www.getaway.co.za
www.getaway.co.za