Advice from a man who gets paid to go on holiday.
There are many misconceptions about working in the travel industry. Robert Upe, a travel writer with more than 30 years experience in journalism, says the most common one is people thinking his career is one endless holiday. When standing in line at the tennis once, he overheard a group of people discussing what would be the best job in the world.
“They all started saying, ‘Travel writer!’ I felt like saying, ‘No, it’s not!’” laughs Upe. “Your whole mindset is different when you’re working. You’re always on the lookout for your intro, or your angle or quotes. You don’t relax.”
But he knows he can’t complain. Throughout his career Upe has been to the Galapagos Islands, Switzerland and Papua New Guinea. He’s cruised from South America to Antarctica, visited whaling stations and watched killer whales hunt for seals. He’s fished for salmon on a remote helicopter trip through Canada and has been on so many African safaris he can speak casually about getting up close and personal with gorillas and lions.
For 20 years Upe edited the travel section of the Age. He now edits Paradise, the in-flight magazine for Air Niugini. He’s won multiple awards for his work, including three for ‘Best Story’ from the Australian Society of Travel Writers. He began work as a cadet journalist at the Courier in Ballarat, and then moved to the Herald Sun sports desk before landing a section editor job at the Age.
Following Upe’s career path today would be difficult. “The opportunities for being a staffer on travel in a major newspaper or magazine are so limited now that they’re almost not worth considering,” he says. “It took me 30 years to get here. I don’t think people have the patience for that anymore.”
He says the way to go now is to freelance. “Have a speciality,” he advises. Upe wrote a weekly winter ski column for a decade while editing property and sport sections full-time. Being on the fringes of the travel industry helped him find his first travel-editor job and gave him a speciality he could use to approach publications for freelance work.
“If you can find a little niche for yourself, whether it’s skiing, or food, that helps to set you apart from other freelancers,” he says.
Establishing a good online presence is also important. “You don’t have to be travelling overseas to create a portfolio of travel writing. You can write about things in Melbourne,” he says. “Put up your stories and photos, and start doing some networking with other writers.”
He says when pitching story ideas, make sure you tailor them to each publication. With the rise in online journalism comes opportunities to write shorter, news-based travel stories. “Keep it short, but not so short that there’s no detail,” he says. “You don’t want to do a multiple pitch, just your best idea.”
If you work hard to establish your name, you might eventually be sent on an all-expenses-paid working holiday. Upe agrees he’s got it pretty good.
“I think those people were almost right about it being the best job in the world. On a recent trip I stayed in an overwater hut on an island with an idyllic beach, where the jungle comes down to meet the sand. I went surfing in perfect waves and I was the only one there. It was a real adventure.”
