The best way to learn about possible vacation locations is to read what other people who've been there, done that and got the T-shirt have to say. Some web sites offer amateurs a chance to write vacation destination reviews. A few pay in cash or gift certificates; others simply provide a chance to see your name in print. All you need is your travel experience and a few writing tips.
Browse through various online travel reviews to get ideas about content and technique. While some writing ability is necessary, there are as many styles as there are travel writers. Pick one that feels like you and adapt it to your needs.
Decide if you want to write about locations within a day or two of your hometown, or faraway exotic ports of call. This will allow you to focus your time, energies and expenses in a specific area and expand outward later if you choose.
Teach yourself to experience things through your own eyes and the eyes of the residents of your destination. Writing about both gives the reader a rare emotional perspective.
Make sure the first paragraph of each review reaches out and grabs your reader by the shirt. Your work must be grammatically correct, of course, but this is the writing genre for descriptions and color and all those adjectives you may love to use. A review should contain the perfect mix of factual information as well as your opinion of the service, the accommodations, the food, the shops, the prices and more.
Get started by publishing some reviews at non-paying, online travel communities. This type of experience will help you develop a good reputation and find an audience for your style. Then you can approach the publications that offer some reimbursement for your reviews, if you choose to go in that direction.
Start a blog and write whatever you want about wherever you choose. There are several free blog programs online and you can update them as often as you please. As a bonus, you can add Google or Yahoo ads to your blog page and make a few dollars from your monthly traffic.
