Anyone looking to become a travel writer will find plenty of books and articles on the subject in print. The problem is, nearly all of them are becoming as fossilized as the print media world they cover. Travel Writing 2.0 is a book for the here and now, with advice for succeeding in a media landscape turned upside down.
Containing tips on the multiple paths available to writers who want to earn money from their travels, this new book also contains advice from more than 65 other working writers, editors, and publishers. Full-time bloggers, e-book-only authors, and webzine publishers are joined by successful writers still making a good living from magazines and guidebooks.
“Unlike past books for travel writers, this is a handbook for the business and marketing side of this pursuit—with clear advice on how to actually make money from travel writing in the switchover to digital media,” says Tim Leffel, author of the book. “Those writers seeing the most success in the current climate are those who are adapting the best and forging their own path. Travel Writing 2.0 provides the map on how to get there.”
Published by Splinter Press, Travel Writing 2.0 became available in August 2010 from all major online retailers and at Amazon.com. See more at the Travel Writing 2.0 blog.
The trailer above is from the Hollywood movie Couples Retreat, filmed in October 2008 at the St. Regis Resort on Bora Bora, French Polynesia. Three of the four couples vacationing at the resort are there to play while the fourth is trying to work out marital problems. The couples soon discover that participation in the resort’s couples therapy is not optional.
Couples Retreat is one of 21 films featured on SouthPacific.org’s South Pacific Films page, plus nine travelogues from Easter Island, Fiji, Samoa, and Tahiti. All listings include links to online bookstores in the U.S., Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Australia, and New Zealand for easy ordering. Why not add a few South Pacific films to your collection?
Recompression chambers are used to treat scuba divers suffering from cases of the bends when dissolved gasses form bubbles inside the body. This can be caused by resurfacing too quickly or diving too deeply, among other things. Persons suffering from divers’ disease are treated by oxygen therapy inside a recompression or hyperbaric chamber.
Such chambers are few and far between in the South Pacific, and in emergencies, divers have been evacuated to Australia or New Zealand for treatment. Visiting scuba divers will be comforted to know that both Fiji and French Polynesia have working recompression chambers in their main hospitals, and both have moved in the past year.
In Suva, Fiji, the recompression chamber originally at Suva Private Hospital on Amy Street has moved to Colonial War Memorial Hospital on Waimanu Road. The Fiji Hyperbaric Unit (tel. 321-5525) is staffed from 7 am to 5 pm weekdays on call for emergencies 24 hours a day. In Papeete on Tahiti, French Polynesia, the recompression chamber (caisson hyperbare) formerly at Mamao Territorial Hospital on avenue Georges Clemenceau has moved in early 2010 to the new Centre hospitalier de Polynesie francaise ( tel. 46-62-62) in Pirae just east of Papeete.
You’ll arrive at Faa’a International Airport near Papeete on the island of Tahitiafter flying 7.5 hours from Los Angeles, five hours from Auckland, or seven hours from Sydney. If your time is limited, you should consider catching a connecting flight or fast ferry to one of the Leeward Islands right away. Flights to Huahine, Raiatea, and Bora Bora are frequent, and the Air Tahiti office at the airport can sell you a ticket if you haven’t booked in advance.
With two weeks at your disposal, you could visit two or three of the Leeward Islands and see Tahiti and Moorea on your return. With only one week, you could visit one of the Leewards plus Tahiti and Moorea. Your travel budget may be the deciding factor, as flying to Bora Bora for a few days isn’t cheap. To cut costs, simply focus on Tahiti and Moorea alone. Visitors with three weeks and sufficient funds can do all of the above, plus the Tuamotus or Marquesas. Those with one month in French Polynesia could visit all five archipelagoes with the help of an Air Tahiti air pass.
Budget travelers with three weeks in French Polynesia could consider flying to Bora Bora immediately upon arrival, then working their way back to Tahiti by ferry with stops on Raiatea and Huahine. Whatever time is left at the end of the trip could be spent on Moorea and Tahiti.
Many visitors fly to Tahiti to join a prearranged cruise to the Leeward or Marquesas Islands. If that’s the case, two days are enough to see Tahiti’s highlights, with one day spent in Papeete and another on a trip around the island. A third and fourth day on Moorea are highly recommended if Moorea isn’t included in your cruise. In short, how you plan your trip will depend on who you are. If your main aim is a beach holiday or some focused scuba diving, you should seriously consider booking a package tour to control your costs and avoid wasting time. It’s not hard to tour French Polynesia independently, but this is an expensive destination, and to save money you’ve got to be prepared to cut corners at times.
A true piece of untouched paradise awaits you. Friendly Bungalows located on the volcanic outer island of Tanna in Vanuatu offers the chance to experience once in a lifetime authentic Robinson Crusoe-style adventure travel.
Tanna, most famous for its rumbling active volcano, is home to some of the worlds’ most ancient and still practiced kastom ceremonies and which feel as though they could be from another era. Visitors to Tanna, and guests of Friendly Bungalows, now have the chance to see and take part in elements of these ancient traditional ceremonies. Visitors to the kastom village can try ancient cooking techniques, dropping food into the naturally boiling hot ocean water until it rises to the top, or perhaps visit the sulfur springs and dig for the hot rainbow coloured clay used for centuries as custom face paint for ceremonial dances.
No matter what you discover, a visit to the village promises to be a mesmerizing authentic experience. Such visits can be arranged by the managers of Friendly Bungalows, Mary and Jessel – in fact, Mary is from the village. An informative local guide can be arranged to explain and translate.
With a handful of thatched Melanesian-style bamboo bungalows on a sweeping black sand beach, all with private coral floored ensuites and large verandahs with hammocks overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Friendly Bungalows offers the chance to step back in time and truly experience the warming hospitality of Vanuatu.
The fast ferry King Tamatoa will go into service at 7 am on Friday, March 5, 2010, as it leaves Quai Sud near the Tahiti Tourisme office on the Papeete waterfront. This sleek, modern 134-meter vessel will arrive at Huahine at 10 am, Raiatea at 12:50 pm, and Bora Bora at 4:35 pm. The first return voyage from the Leeward Islands to Tahiti will embark from Bora Bora at 3:15 pm on Sunday, March 7, 2010.
As well as serving the needs of local commuters, the King Tamatoa will give a shot in the arm to French Polynesia’s ailing tourism industry. Fares on Air Tahiti have continued to rise and it now costs over US$450 to fly from Papeete to Bora Bora and back with stops on Raiatea and Huahine. Fares on the King Tamatoa will be half that. Air Tahiti’s stranglehold monopoly on travel to the Leeward Island is about to end.
The regular schedule of the King Tamatoa will be two trips a week, departing Papeete Wednesdays at 9 am and Fridays at 1:45 pm with variations on holiday weekends. From Bora Bora, the departures will be Thursdays at 7 am and Sundays at 1 pm. This ferry is operated by the shipping company Raromatai Ferry in Papeete which you can call at 45-32-63 or fax 45-32-43. Bon voyage!
My travel guidebooks have been serving island travelers since 1979. Moon Handbooks South Pacific is now in its 8th edition, and Tahiti and Fiji each have guides of their own. This blog site is intended to share new facts as they cross my desk, and to discuss issues of interest to visitors. So grab a seat: We're off on a virtual island tour.
