Truth in Travel Writing
Tom Swick: Contemplating and celebrating the world of travel
07.13.09 | 12:53 PM ET
Photo by What if truth in travel extended to the contributors’ page?
Lauren Haberdy (“Caribbean Carousel”) now adds islands to the list of places she hates writing about. “They’re like big resorts, where everyone’s on vacation except you,” she complains. She was amazed by how, even at waterfront restaurants, she would always be seated next to the kitchen. And she would like to apologize to everyone who was at the café in Gustavia the night she broke down in tears.
Constantine di Silva Mantuöes (“Down Argentine Way”) is actually the pen name of Burt Denk. Denk was delighted to get this assignment because of a lifelong love of tango and an urgent need to pay the rent. “I really don’t think we would have been able to stay in Hoboken,” he says, “with just a kill fee.”
Theodore Wysbickla (“Laotian Days”) was about to apply to law school when we contacted him about visiting Luang Prabang. “I’ll probably still become a lawyer at some point,” Wysbickla says. “At least I’ll get more respect than I do as a travel writer.”
Jacqueline Mester (“The Desert Light”) has worked out of a Volkswagen van ever since she had to foreclose on her house. “If you’re going to be homeless,” she says, “you may as well be a travel photographer.” In her free time, Mester enjoys taking pictures of people in vintage clothing that doesn’t quite fit.
Louis Deland (“Around the Baltic”) spent most of his time in Poland alone and irritated by the unintelligibility of the language. Lithuania wasn’t much better. He says, “You wonder, constantly: What the hell am I going to write about these people?” Deland’s latest book, about his search for the soul of a unified Germany, has been rejected by 46 publishers.
Eurydice Basilica (“The New Green Tourist”) has written for numerous publications that are no longer in business and authored three books that are now out of print. “I am grateful to any editor who doesn’t see me as a jinx,” she says, quickly adding: “But it’s not like I’m the only one.” Basilica is currently at work on a new identity.