How To: Become A Travel Writer

I get a lot of messages from people asking me how to make a living as a travel writer. I was recently interviewed about my career by BossBabe. During the interview, I tried to offer some general advice about how to travel for a living and shared my personal journey as an example. 

Sarah Harvey in the Maldives

Every path is different

In addition to what I told BossBabe, everybody's personal journey to working/living overseas will be different. I began working as a journalist more than 10 years ago (as a news reporter in London) and I'm still working in journalism today, as well as doing travel writing and content creation. It's been a pleasure and a privilege to have made 100% of my income from writing for more than a decade (it wasn't easy in such a competitive industry and I've had my fair share of challenges!).

So in my case, I had a solid trade behind me (journalism) before I started out in travel writing. I began freelancing and managed to get my first travel articles published (reviews of The Zetter Restaurant & Rooms in London, a weekend in Hungary and a gastronomic tour of Alentejo, a less well-known part of Portugal. Combined with my background in news reporting, this led to a job offer in the Maldives to work as News Editor of a travel magazine and news website. So my first foray into being a travel writer was a full-time staff role. After a year I built up the confidence to go solo and founded Manta Media, an association of freelance writers, photographers and other creatives based in the Maldives.

I won't go into the long story of everything I've been doing since then, but that is how I got the ball rolling. And like I said, everybody's experience will be different, whether you want to be a travel writer as your profession, or simply do some travel writing while living overseas. But a common theme in my story and other people's stories is having a solid, transferable skill-set behind you and building up contacts, rather than diving right in and expecting work to come to you.

So, it's hard to say 'this is exactly what you should do' - firstly because there's no guarantee of success for everyone, but also, secondly - the harsh truth of it is that not everybody has what it takes to handle life overseas, even if they think they do...

Sarah Harvey in San Francisco

#Harshtruth

This harsh truth is something that many people are too scared to tell you. As I mention in the interview, a lot of people love the idea of travelling and living overseas but then find the reality can be much tougher than what they ever could have imagined. Visiting somewhere on holiday (or even shooting through a destination for a few weeks as a digital nomad) is entirely different to actually living somewhere, in all kinds of unanticipated ways. It's definitely not like 'being on holiday forever'!

For example, your mental health can take a hit due to you being away from your support network/social circle, you might struggle to make new friends, you might have unexepected health problems and find the hospitals aren't equipped to help you...

Or even something seemingly less dramatic, such as you miss all the foods from home too much and can't stand the local food (fine for a week, but punishing after a month), or can't continue with your designer shopping habit because there isn't enough selection in your new destination. These examples sound small, but I've seen people leave countries for all of these reasons, and if you'd have told them how much it would get to them before they left home they'd have sworn it would be impossible.

Ponzi schemes

This is all why I don't agree with writers selling courses and books on 'How to be a digital nomad' or 'How to be a travel writer/blogger/influencer'. There's no precise formula and just because one person succeeded one way is no guarantee that you will too.

I'm not trying to sell you anything which is why I'm telling you this. To be honest, I feel like a lot of people trying to sell these kinds of 'courses' are pretty much facilitating a digital nomad/globo ponzi scheme - 'leave your home, come travel, I'll show you how!' (Clue: Their answer is really 'by writing/selling courses that tell others to leave their homes and travel' - just like them!). Is this kind of constant hustle really the 'freedom' you dreamed of?

This kind of reality check is really lacking from social media. Most writers and bloggers I meet overseas are actually working on side gigs too, or the blogging is the side gig, despite the fact they've got thousands of followers and seem to be pretty successful on the surface.

Blogging reality check

For example, very often they might be working as a teacher and make 10% of their income from blogging, but they introduce themself as a 'blogger'. While they're free to call themselves what they want, it's a little deceptive and personally I find it irresponsible, especially when I get messages from people who believe it's an easy and viable way to make a living and you have to explain all the hard work that will go into it. A lot of people who contact me seem to want an easy answer and are disappointed to hear that there isn't one. But morally, I can't pretend there is.

Of course, there are some bloggers out there who make a living solely from being very clever with their blogs (which requires good skills in engaging with people, negotiating sponsorship deals, PPC ads, etc. and a good dose of luck!) This is the unseen stuff that takes up more time than the actual writing...I'm just not a fan of the ones that pretend they sustain a jetset lifestyle from their blog when they usually make their cash elsewhere.

And I'm not writing this as somebody who wanted to be solely a blogger above anything else; journalism is my trade, I've always loved print media (not to mention it pays better than blogging) and I like the fact that journalists are bound by a Code of Ethics that influencers/bloggers aren't bound by (influencers can say anything they like and there's no obligation for the claim to be founded in reality!).

Sarah Harvey in the Mexican Caribbean

Making it work

However, going back to my main point: I'm not saying you won't find your own way of making it work - lots of people do. Or you could consider being an ESL teacher, web developer, graphic designer, hotel staff, sommelier etc who does writing on the side.

Working full time for a newspaper, magazine or website overseas, or remotely for one or two content creation clients are solid ways of making it work. If you want to work full-time for a foreign company where you can contribute some skills that they need, you'll need to demonstrate you can do something that nobody else can do, in order to get your visa.

Join Facebook groups such as The Copywriter Club, Digital Nomads Around the World and Female Digital Nomads for inspiration. Sign up to newsletters for remote jobs or join websites for ESL work.

Read up and research how other people do it (with a certain dose of cynicism when required); formulate a plan before diving in, and you'll have a much better chance of achieving your dreams.

8 Reasons to Live in Valencia in Your 30's

Valencia is vibrant and youthful; the third largest city in Spain and yet, mysteriously, one of the most under-rated. Fortunately, going under the radar gives it some significant advantages, especially for those of us relocating there in our 30's...

 

 1) Feeling Young, Wild and Free

El Carmen. Photo: Sarah Harvey

Valencia has the gritty, urban, up-and-coming vibe of Shoreditch or Brooklyn 10 to 15 years ago; shabby-chic bars, street art, quirky independent shops, alternative fashion, a flourishing live music scene, music festivals, wine festivals, food festivals...It oozes creativity and has that random juxtaposition of architectural styles (art nouveau/baroque/art deco/60s concrete block/derelict crumbling glory/bulldozed hole in the ground) that always gives the eye something to marvel at. 

Sure, it has its fair share of Erasmus kids but I never feel out of place because the majority of the city bars are full of people in their 30s. I did some digging and City of Valencia statistics back up my initial impression of a youthful city. Apparently 33% are aged 30 to 49, and 19% are 15 to 29. Sure makes a pleasant change from Nice...

 

 

2) Valencia is Social Central

This city gets 10/10 from me not just for how easy it is to make friends, but also for the sheer amount of social events throughout the week. It goes a huge way towards helping you settle in, even if you turn up solo. Perhaps that’s why out of all the cities I’ve lived in so far (Cairns, London, Male', Colombo and Nice), it’s my favourite yet. (I've visited 27 countries so far but visiting somewhere is an entirely different thing to living there).

After floating the idea on an expat forum and getting dozens of replies within hours, I started a Facebook group called Valencia Coffees and Co-working for digital nomads and remote workers who want to bring their laptops to cafes to work alongside like-minded people, and maybe to enjoy some after-work drinks sometimes too. It’s proving pretty popular and attracts a very nice crowd of mostly 30-something young professionals, the majority are copy-writers or working in IT. 

There are also dozens of events, day and night, organised on Meetup.com. CouchSurfing is pretty active here too, mostly in terms of people using the ‘Hangout Now’ function on the CS app. I'd recommend it as another great way of meeting open-minded, globally-minded types. 

It's also really easy to chat to randoms at bars, festivals and sports events, you'll be amazed by how friendly everyone is! 

3) It’s Easy to Settle In

The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia. Photo: Sarah Harvey

I’ve been chatting to a lot of fellow newbies about this because I wanted to find out if I’m not alone in finding it pretty easy to settle in here (even if you’re not yet fluent in Spanish). Well, it's certainly easier than the time I moved to a 2.2sq km island in the middle of the Indian Ocean then realised I didn't know anyone in the entire country or have any colleagues yet. So far everyone I’ve spoken to seems to agree that getting settled in Valencia is surprisingly easy. 

Certainly the fact that making friends in Valencia is a snap goes a long way towards helping you settle in, but there are also lots of useful online information resources (in English) such as Valencia Information Exchange and the two 'Expats in Valencia' Facebook groups. 

Marina Beach Club is a restaurant/bar/nightclub. Photo: Sarah Harvey

Wouldn't normally put 'lovely' and 'dentist' in the same sentence but I found a really lovely English-speaking dentist fairly easily, Puchades Clinica Odontologica; then opened a non-resident bank account at Bankia in Carrer de Russsafa within just 45 minutes, after simply walking in off the street and inquiring if it was possible. The very friendly clerk at Bankia only required my EU passport to open the account. There’s no set-up fee, the account is free for the first 6 months, and internet banking is available in English. (Pretty handy since most of us don't learn Spanish banking terms at school!). Most banks have an English-speaking member of staff, which was certainly a help. On that note, if you ever get really stuck with someone who doesn’t know any English, about a third of Valencians seem to be able to speak French! 

4) Eat. Sleep. Rave. Repeat.

You can party every night of the week in Valencia. But unlike in the notorious Spanish resort towns, you won’t find the streets filled with boozed-up bachelor party participants lying in pools of their own vomit. What you will find is find is bars and clubs full of people having a good time, all week long. There are bars absolutely everywhere but the best late-night venues are concentrated around Ruzafa and El Carmen. 

Valencia’s nightlife is really eclectic and fun, whether you’re going for cocktails with friends, dancing the night away in a club, or belting out some of your finest karaoke. That said, the nightlife never feels intrusive or OTT so if you’re just having a quiet stroll at night you won’t be bothered by hordes of party-goers either. 

My tip is to check out La Manera Coffee and Cocktails for authentic cocktails in the Old Town – I may be biased because it's run by friends of mine but it’s one of the few places to have an actual mixologist enforcing some quality control (cocktails can be a bit hit-and-miss elsewhere). La Manera is run by two cool Slovakian girls, so do your bit to support some ambitious female entrepreneurs!

5) You Can Climb that Fabled Property Ladder...

One of Valencia's many chilled-out plazas. Photo: Sarah Harvey

Trying to get on the property ladder can feel as slippery as Edmund Blackadder trying to shimmy up a pole covered in Castrol GTX. However, I’m not the only one to have noticed that Valencia right now offers us 30-somethings a tangible chance to actually own some property. What’s more, due to some major city redevelopment plans/the general pace of gentrification, buying a property in Valencia will be an amazing investment. So I’m wheeling out Anna who runs a Valencia-based property franchise for details: She tells me property values in Valencia have increased by around 8% in the past 12 months and this figure is expected to shoot up even faster in the next five years due to the redevelopment plans for the (currently shady) Cabanyal beach area and the proposed ‘Central Park’ being built over the railway tracks south of Xavia station. It’s currently possible to get a nice one-bedroom apartment in the city for €60,000 or a good quality 3-bedroom apartment for €105,000, according to Anna.

I'm still undecided on taking the plunge because I have too many other cities to explore after this one, but the idea is tempting...But even if you're only renting, you can get a really good room in a shared apartment for €400/month, and sliding towards something more studenty for €250/month or even as low as €150.
 

6) Fall in Love 

Photo credit: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Fall in love in Valencia. The city is full of fascinating, ambitious 30-somethings of all nationalities living life to the max. So even if you turn up single, you’re not likely to stay that way for long. What with all the social events, sports clubs (and let’s not forget dating apps) I will put money on you getting coupled up within months. Not that it's a meat market, it's just a magical kind of place...And if you are already with someone, it’s a great city to explore with them. I’m not going to start gushing about picnics in the park and yada yada, but Valencia is an amazing city, there are hundreds of bars and restaurants, there’s a 7km-long park, there’s a beach...you get the picture. One more observation: Seems like the majority of people in Valencia (Spanish and expats alike) don’t even start their families until their late 30s and early 40s, so you won’t feel like a social outcast for not having had everything figured out by 25, or, you know, having a career and an insatiable wanderlust...

7) Valencia is Foodie Heaven

Red Velvet cake at La Mas Bonita. Photo: Sarah Harvey

Life’s too short to not enjoy food. I’m sure you've figured this out by now too. Valencia is famous for being the birthplace of paella (OK technically speaking it comes from the rice fields of Albufera in the district of Valencia, which happens to be a cool day trip, but let's not split hairs). 

Tapas is, of course, in plentiful supply, and Valencia has more open-top sandwiches than mankind has ever known. They start from as little as €1, washed down with a €1.50 glass of red wine at one of my cheap-and-cheerful pre-party spots, Porque Lo Digo Yo in Carrer de Cadiz, in Ruzafa. (My favourite is the blue cheese with cured ham and tomato chutney). 

Even tapas can get a little boring after a while, but thankfully there are also a heap of international restaurants, including Thai, Chinese, Italian, French, Korean and sushi (the sushi isn't world-class but the rest are pretty decent). There are even five Michelin-star restaurants as of 2017.

8) The Active Outdoor Life

The Turia, Valencia. Photo: Sarah Harvey

The Turia (the huge riverbed that was turned into a 7km-long park snaking through the town) is one of the biggest hubs of activity in Valencia. Apart from being a superb chill-out space, there are cycle lanes and jogging lanes stretching the entire length of it. You can also join one of the many low-cost al-fresco yoga sessions or a group workout with a personal trainer for as little as €2-€5, such as with Tranamos. (If you insist on being indoors, gym bunnies will find countless gyms for as little as €20/month, or up to €120/month for the fancy Tyris Spa + Fitness gym in Avinguda del Regne de Valencia which has three saunas and countless hydrotherapy pools).

All kinds of sports groups for tennis, football, volleyball and hiking are organised on Meetup.com. Skateboarding and rollerblading is big, with the main hangouts being the skate park next to Parc Gulliver and at the Marina. 

Sadly, waves are almost non-existent in the flat, shallow bay although I have spotted some surfers occasionally catching some small waves. This is one thing that would make Valencia better, nay perfect…

Me, jumping for joy on the main beach (in winter)

I plan to investigate scuba diving options but it seems like the best bet is to join a dive centre in Valencia and they’ll take you to some coves out of town, which figures, because the visibility looks to be about 3 metres max at the city beach. (My standards are high after living in the Maldives, and I can’t help being disappointed by knowing we won’t see sharks or mantas, but will keep you posted on my future scuba outings!). 

In the winter, snowboarding and skiing can be found just two hours away in the mountains, again, if you don't know anyone, there are often group trips organised on Meetup.com.

  

There you have it, my first impressions of Valencia and why I think it's fantastic for 30-somethings...I should have moved here years ago! How about you?!

It was my job to review $4,000 per night resorts...The good, the bad and the ugly sides of life in the Maldives

It’s been almost a year since I left my home and friends in the Maldives. Now there’s a sentence I could never have imagined writing 10 years ago, as I fought for my life at the National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery in London. Perhaps it was my experience of being paralysed from head to toe by Guillain-Barre Syndrome and learning to walk again that inspired me to get out there and try to wring every last drop of excitement and adventure out of life. 

When you’re flooded with an overwhelming appreciation for simply wriggling your toes for the first time in months, or taking a tentative breath without a ventilator, the concept of ‘living in the moment’ isn’t too hard to get your head around. (Eckhart Tolle has this covered better than I do!) But I don’t like to linger on it too much, in fact I rarely even tell anyone about it. Mostly because I don’t want to think of myself as a victim. It changed me internally forever and I have taken some very positive lessons from it, the biggest one being to suck the marrow out of life.

I’m trying to seek out an extraordinary path and not fall into the trap of mediocrity or complacency. I hate how pompous that sounds when I read it back to myself (well, I suppose that’s always the danger with personal blogs…) but I know there’s so much more I want to achieve. And I know it requires continuing to push myself out of my comfort zone. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen so many amazing places (and because I know there are so many more out there still to see!) but I don’t feel completely settled anywhere yet.

At 16, the French Riviera - the bright, sunny home of the impressionist artists I admired so much - seemed like the ultimate destination for me, and I finally realised this dream last year. But since then I have explored more of the world, from Europe, to Asia, Australia and North America...And I’ve found that wanderlust is one condition you can never entirely rid yourself of! What’s more, now l’m looking at this region through adult eyes, I can safely say Somerset Maugham completely nailed it in one sentence: ‘The French Riviera – a sunny place, for shady people’. 

But back to the Maldives, and my somewhat neglected little blog. I was so busy writing articles, scuba diving, organising social events (OK, and being paid to write other people’s blogs) that I barely had time to touch my own personal blog. However, the past year in France has offered me the opportunity to reflect on my time in the Maldives. Right now, I’m based in Nice and it’s the breathing space I needed. A much-desired dose of the First World after living on an isolated island in the middle of the Indian Ocean for almost six years. Alright, where I was paid to review $4,000 per night resorts.

So of course all my new friends in France always ask me incredulously ‘And you left the Maldives – why?’. Well, of course I know how ridiculously fortunate I was to be able to do all the things I did there. Especially since I left the UK at the peak of the economic crisis, as friends and family were being made redundant, and being a freelance journalist in London was even harder than ever, with budgets being cut and publications going under left, right and centre.

Suddenly I found myself learning to scuba dive, swimming with whale sharks, booking private islands for parties with my friends, helping cover the 2012 coup d’etat, observing a fledgling democracy descend into chaos, spreading news about how to navigate 1,200 islands as an independent traveller in a country with only a basic public transport network…I had some of the most incredible experiences of my life in the Maldives. I also met some of the warmest, friendliest, most adventurous and fascinating people in the world amongst the Maldivians and 

expats I befriended there.

It was a massive learning curve, suddenly finding myself working in a country I had never visited before, adapting to the local customs and culture, trying to figure out the best way to dress in the city in order to avoid being stared at (it turns out there’s no simple answer to that!)…Bali, it is not. And perhaps unsurprisingly, a certain percentage of the population is actively hostile to decadent little expats setting up shop there.

There was little in the way of entertainment, save endless hours in coffee shops and watching DVDS, so we made our own fun...

And we REALLY had fun!

I did not ever live at a resort, I've just been lucky enough to have been able to review about 75 - 80% of them (so far). Everyone at home seems to think all the expats in the Maldives live in straw huts and sip cocktails on the beach all day. The reality could not be further from this. These are some
significant downsides to living in the Maldives, which people going on holiday to the perfectly-manicured resorts with all the comforts of home would never get to see. The overcrowded and polluted capital city (where most expats are based) is basically the opposite of what you picture the Maldives to look like: More than 100,000 people packed onto a 2.2 square kilometre island. Concrete high-rise blocks completely devoid of architectural inspiration. It makes Tower Hamlets look pleasant. Rats, cockroaches, mosquitoes. One cinema. One museum. Until recently, just one (artificial) beach where you can only swim fully clothed, due to cultural sensitivities in this 100% Muslim nation. (Most tourists aren’t even aware of the state-enforced religion, as the laws are different on resort islands to the island communities). 

Poor nutrition - due to most decent produce being redirected to resorts, and lack of space for large-scale agriculture. All the veg needs to be flown/shipped in from other countries before languishing in some kind of fruit and vegetable graveyard in the shops. (I got used to cutting about a third off anything I bought because it was rotten). Poor health: Dengue fever, fungal foot infections due to humidity, UTIs from dehydration, ‘tropical flu’ (I don’t know the real name but you lie in bed sweating for about 3 days and feel like you’ve been hit by a bus). 

Desalinated shower water which makes you hair slowly fall out. Too much tuna in everything you eat in the cafes which I swear makes everyone eventually go a bit bonkers due to the mercury and plastic particles. Fully-grown expat guys who don’t seem to realise it’s not Ibiza and they’re not 18. Wrestling with trying to convey the sights and colours of the islands without despising yourself for using clichés, but eventually being forced to type the words ‘azure’ and ‘turquoise’ in reference to the water a thousand times more than you would ever have wanted to…(I’m still haunted by ‘sparkling lagoons’ and ‘powder-soft sand’, although those day-dreaming of the Maldives from somewhere grey lap it up, and let's face it, they do sparkle, and yes it is that soft!). And then the little things you take for granted at home like being able to cook a spaghetti bolognese in your kitchen whilst drinking a glass of wine – which is totally illegal in the capital city. The wine I mean, obviously. And let’s not even speak about bacon smuggling.

Admittedly, some of those things I mentioned are weightier than others. And I have to reiterate how grateful I am to have experienced everything I did there, good and bad. I tell anyone who asks me that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say was the best of times and the worst of times. The euphoria of jumping off the roof of a boat into the sea with your friends; bouncing on a bed with a bottle of champagne at Four Seasons (in a villa that would have cost the equivalent of my monthly salary if it weren’t a work freebie); and the feeling of absolute isolation and blackness whenever things went wrong so far from the usual support network I have at home. I am not Maldivian but my life there and the people I met became part of who I am now.  

However, ultimately, as a foreigner, I am not allowed to purchase property in the Maldives (the only exception is certain ‘timeshares’ at designated resorts - and sadly my name isn’t Roman Abramovich!). I cannot ever become Maldivian unless I convert to Islam (with the law as it stands) and that’s not about to happen. And to be honest, having lived in London for 10 years and experiencing all the effervescence of its theatres, live comedy, art galleries, museums, bars, nightclubs and fashion (oh God I missed shopping!), I could never see the Maldives as somewhere to stay forever. 

The same goes for most of the expats: A significant proportion arrive in the Maldives and stay for only somewhere between 1 week and 3 months before bailing (having realised it’s not exactly Koh Pha Ngan, and yes it is a lot tougher than they had bargained for). The majority tend to stay for an average of a year; sometimes up to two. Then
there are a tiny percentage who are in it for the long-haul, but they are mostly the ones who marry Maldivians. The numbers tend to fluctuate from year to year - sometimes a heap of expats arrive, other years just a slow trickle. So after one of the most recent mass exoduses, I found just myself and a handful of friends remaining in the Maldives, such as the brilliant journalist JJ Robinson (who has recently been speaking at the Hay Festival about his book on political turmoil in the Maldives; less well-known for stealing my Milo chocolate powder and eating it raw with a spoon when we were flatmates).

But eventually even JJ departed to become editor of Himal Southasian journal in Kathmandu (after 5 years); my Thai best friend headed off for a new life with her fiancée in Australia (after 7 or 8 years off and on), my Californian best friend found a yoga instructor course in Costa Rica beckoning (after 4 years)…And by 2015 there were very few ‘long-service medal expats’ left in the Maldives. My remaining close friends were some Maldivians (who ended up relocating to some far-flung resort islands to be butlers and guest relations officers), and a rag-tag assortment of foreign seaplane and wheel plane pilots who were for the most part A) Extremely kind and welcoming and B) Largely batshit crazy. I’ll never forget persuading them to dance on the wings of the seaplane for my YouTube tribute to Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’ song. 

I rarely write about about personal things, not even on Facebook, but this post will be one of the very few occasions. Partly to explain my shameful lack of activity on my blog, and also to explain my backstory. One thing I know for sure, the Maldives is still part of my life. I’m genuinely honoured to be flown back to the Maldives to be ‘writer in residence’ for the Kurumba blog, to write magazine articles on diving, and hopefully to soon work on a travel documentary, amongst the other things I have on the go.

So I will be there again from time to time to update people on what’s going on, and continue to write about the things I know and love. My Maldivian friends very rarely ever say goodbye to each other, because everyone knows they will eventually run into each-other again on the island. And as the world seems to get smaller every year, I think that’s really apt.