Why Write On Travel
The first travel writer who fascinated me as a child was, in fact, an imaginary travel writer. With Jules Verne, I dared to travel around the world in 80 days, dared to set off on a journey to the centre of the earth, arrived on the Mysterious Island or spent five weeks in a balloon.
At the same time, as a child, I read at least 20 times, a book that I can say was the bridge to my later passion. It was called States of the World and had information about every country on Earth, from geographical to political, economic and cultural. Plus, it was stuffed with photos from every corner of the world, making me dream of one day getting to see at least some of those magical places.
It was the 1970s in a Romania under Ceaușescu’s dictatorship, when people’s right to travel was largely restricted. But that didn’t stop anyone from dreaming. After the 1989 revolution, when Romania became free and we could leave the country without any problems, the world took on new meanings and colours.
As a lifestyle journalist I have travelled a lot and written a lot about the places I have seen. In 1996, after attending the European Football Championship in England, a friend and I wrote a book which, in addition to the central football theme, was a travelogue through England and the cities that hosted the tournament matches. It was the first concrete idea for travel writing, a somewhat wild but truly wonderful one that would stay with me forever.
I then made my own travel websites and, when print magazines died, I was able to devote myself to them, travelling even more, writing even more lovingly. I can’t claim to be a globetrotter, nor even a traveller who strings countries like beads, but the experience I’ve gained and the fact that I’ve dreamed of being a journalist and writer since I was 6 years old, pushed me to build this site which is meant to be a place for all those who want to become travel writers, but also for those who already are and want to improve their writing, find new ideas and, not least, earn money from their talent and travels.
If my childhood dream has come true, my secret dream now – if Jules Verne’s stories are anything to go by – is to one day really go on a trip around the world. Then to write a book about it. If you have similar dreams, come on over to Write On Travel to talk about them!
