Traveling, writing, and getting paid for it! If that sounds appealing to you, you may be interested in learning more about how to become a travel writer. While you will probably not be one of the few who is able to turn travel writing into a full time career, it may serve as a fun and profitable avocation.

You can break into travel writing without traveling beyond your home town. Understand the realities of the business, select a few local points of interest, and use the tips below to create compelling stories that will be helpful to a reader.

For more information related to Air Travel check out some of these pages How to Book a Cheap Flight, New Air Travel Restrictions, Discount First Class Airline Tickets, How to Sleep On a Plane, How to Fly During the Holidays, How to Get a First Class Upgrade, How to Book a Last Minute Flight Las Vegas and How to Book a Last Minute Flight Hawaii. For discounts and deals try this page Travel Coupons.

For other careers related to travel see these pages How to Become a Travel Agent and How to Become a Travel Photographer. There are many different types of specialized vacations to write about. Here are a few examples; Super Bowl Vacation, How to Plan a Destination Wedding, How to Go on a Safari, and How To Plan A Roadtrip.

If you do not have one get a good quality digital camera and/or video camera so that you can add photos to your written stories, or borrow one from the place you are writing for.

Practice your writing as much as you can and see it in print to build up a portfolio of work and confidence. Consider places like writing for Mahalo on their How to team (try one Rush Week page a week in Tasks until you are accepted) or in Tasks on travel topics or research if Mahalo has that topic then fill in your topic in first letter capitalized and apply to write it for money or pick travel topics for pages to manage and expand on the content, local neighborhood free newspapers, or other Internet or publishing sources that welcome free or paid articles.

If you are not yet established enough as a travel writer to get free trips to write about, consider getting permission to write about it and volunteering to take a free volunteer trip with a charity. See How to Take a Volunteer Trip and How to Volunteer to start you off.

Share your travel experiences (Creative Commons photo by Erik Charlton)

• The odds are pretty good that you will not be published in National Geographic your first time out. Some writers do receive assignments that come with an expense budget, but most travel writers pay their own way, and submit pieces to several small regional publications before they are accepted. That said, if you are persistent, it is possible to cover or at least defray your travel costs by writing about your adventures.

• No matter where you live, some people would view your area as a travel destination. Begin by selecting a few spots of local interest, and writing about them. You can use a personal blog to publish your work, or you can submit the articles to your local paper. Your goal here is not to get paid, but to build up a portfolio that you can share when querying or applying for paying assignments in the future.

1. Keep your first efforts crisp and concise. As an unknown writer, you're more likely to break into the field with 250-500 word short pieces. Longer more lucrative assignments are given to writers that a publication has a relationship with.
2. Don't bother querying; for these short articles, write your piece and submit it to a publication that its a good fit for.
3. Follow trends, and create pieces that tie into current lifestyles. For example, in the spring of 2009, travel features about frugal destinations, cheap hotels, or vacationing close to home would be timely.
4. Be as specific as possible in your piece. An article discussing a walking tour of a quirky Parisian neighborhood is more likely to sell than a general article on Paris.
5. Include a sidebar with tips extracted from your text, and pictures if you have them.